Today is National Thrift Store Day. The day was created to promote shopping at secondhand stores in their home towns today, (keeping social distance in mind of course.)
Hey, it's not always the highest quality, but the price is right.
Today is also known as Cat Night. (Remember the dog days are over.) The term Cat Night harks back to a rather obscure old Irish legend concerning witches and the belief that a witch could turn herself into a cat eight times, but on the ninth time (August 17), she couldn’t regain her human form.
August 17, 1908 -
Fantasmagorie, considered by some film historians as the first fully animated film in history, was exhibited for the first time ever at the Théâtre du Gymnase in Paris, on this date.
To make this film, the director, Émile Cohl placed each drawing on an illuminated glass plate and then traced the next drawing-with variations-on top of it until he had some 700 drawings.
August 17, 1934 -
MGM released its version of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, starring Wallace Beery, Jackie Cooper and Lionel Barrymore, on this date in NYC.
MGM boss Louis B. Mayer insisted on a happy ending, so there had to be a re-shoot. Wallace Beery so resented this that he sabotaged the extra work by blowing his lines, staying in his dressing room for hours or taking long breaks. As a result, what was scheduled as a one day shoot took four days.
August 17, 1959 -
Kind of Blue, Miles Davis' brilliant and influential jazz album, was released on this date by Columbia Records.
It has been regarded by many critics as the greatest jazz album of all time.
August 17, 1960 -
A great George Pal sci-fi classic, The Time Machine was released on this date.
George Pal wanted the disk on the machine to spin clockwise for travel into the future and counter-clockwise for travel into the past. Due to the way the mechanism was built it was deemed too expensive and time-consuming to add the reversing feature.
August 17, 1979 -
Handmade Films released the classic religious satire film, Monty Python's Life of Brian in the US on this date.
When Michael Palin as Pontius Pilate addressed the soldiers daring them to laugh, he was truly daring them. The soldier extras were ordered to stand there and not laugh, but not told what Palin was going to do. Palin, in fact, can barely stifle his own laughter when saying "Biggus Dickus" in front of the soldier asked if he finds the name "risible".
August 17, 1986 -
Pixar Animation Studios released its first film, Luxo Jr., directed by John Lasseter.
The film sent shock waves throughout the industry. At the time most animators were fearful of the computer; Luxo Jr. made them appreciate that it was just another tool.
Word of the Day
Today in History:
August 17, 1807 -
Robert Fulton's North River Steamboat began heading up New York's Hudson River on its successful round-trip to Albany. It was the first vessel to demonstrate the commercial use of a steam engine for river transportation.
For some unknown reason, a friend and biographer of Fulton incorrectly referred to the steamboat as 'The Clermont' and the wrong name has stuck ever since.
August 17, 1892 -
It ain't no sin if you crack a few laws now and then, just so long as you don't break any.
Brooklyn's own, Mae West, actress in burlesque, vaudeville, Broadway, and movies, was born on this date.
August 17, 1896 -
Bridget Driscoll, a 44-year-old mother of two, becomes the world's first automobile fatality when she steps in front of a car outside the Crystal Palace in London. At the coroner's inquest, Arthur Edsall stated he had been driving at only 4 mph.
August 17, 1929 -
James Horace Alderman, convicted of murdering two Coast Guardsmen and a Secret Service agent in 1927, was hanged at 5:00 a.m. at Coast Guard Base 6 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on this date. It was reported in the media that Alderman's neck was broken and he died a painless death.
And I always thought seamen knew how to tie knots.
August 17, 1943 -
Robert De Niro, American actor, was born on this date.
He and Martin Scorsese were brought up blocks apart in the Greenwich Village area of Manhattan, but never formally met when they were young. When introduced at a party in 1972, the two came to realize that they had seen each other many times but had never spoken.
August 17, 1945 -
... All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others....
Animal Farm by George Orwell, the most famous satirical allegory of Soviet totalitarianism, was first published, on this date.
August 17, 1948 -
Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard was arrested for passing bad checks in San Luis Obispo, California, on this date. In court a fortnight later, Hubbard pays the $25 fine.
August 17, 1980 -
Dingos snatch baby Azaria from a campground near Ayers Rock, Australia, on this date. Her mother, Lindy Chamberlain (Meryl Streep - A dingo ate my baby), is later convicted of murder and spends three years in prison, but the conviction is ultimately overturned.
Apparently there have been a number of baby/dingo incidents over the years; dingos cannot differentiate animals from humans. Finally, Ms. Chamberlain was cleared of any wrong doing in regards to the death of her daughter.
August 17, 1987 -
Rudolf Hess was found hanged by an electrical cord at Spandau prison,aged 93. He had been incarcerated there for 40 years, 21 of those years as the solitary inmate.
In 1941 Hess flew to Scotland with ideas of peace in his head, making Hitler very very upset.
August 17, 1998 -
President Bill Clinton became the first sitting president in American history forced to testify in a criminal case investigation of which he was the focus (having sex with Monica), on this date. Other presidents before Clinton had testified before grand juries in the past, but they had always done so to give evidence against others.
Thomas Jefferson testified against former Vice President Aaron Burr. Gerald Ford testified in a trial of a man who had tried to assassinate him. Jimmy Carter testified in the bribery trial of a financier named Robert Vesco. But Clinton was the first sitting president ever to be served a subpoena to testify in his own indictment.
August 17, 2008 –
American swimmer Michael Phelps became the first person to win eight gold medals in one Olympic Games on this date.
Phelps win of the eight gold medals surpassed Mark Spitz for the most golds by an athlete at a single Games.
And so it goes.
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