Plum Island, owned in its entirety by the United States government, is an island in the Town of Southold in Suffolk County, New York. Operated by The Department of Homeland Security, it’s used to run war games for the possibility of a massive cyber-attack and resulting massive loss of power. It’s completely forbidden for anyone to go there.
... He that shall live this day, and see old age, Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours, And say “To-morrow is Saint Crispian.” Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars, And say “These wounds I had on Crispin's day.
October 25, 1928 -
Carl Theodor Dreyer silent masterpiece The Passion of Joan of Arc starring the amazing Marie Falconetti, premiered in Paris on this date.
Much of the project's budget was reserved for the expensive sets, although Carl Theodor Dreyer used so many close-ups that very little of the actual sets are seen.
October 25, 1957 -
One of Frank Sinatra's best movie performances, Pal Joey was released on this date.
This is one of Frank Sinatra's few post-From Here to Eternity movies in which he did not receive top billing, which surprisingly went to Rita Hayworth. Sinatra was, by that time, a bigger star, and his title role was predominant. When asked about the billing, Sinatra replied, "Ladies first." He was also quoted as saying that, as it was a Columbia film, Hayworth should have top billing because, "For years, she WAS Columbia Pictures", and that with regard to being billed "between" Hayworth and Kim Novak, "That's a sandwich I don't mind being stuck in the middle of."
October 25, 1957 -
The greatest 50s Drive-in movie, The Amazing Colossal Man, opened in NYC on this date.
American International Pictures released this in a double feature with Cat Girl.
October 25, 1965 -
Jean-Luc Godard's take on Sci-Fi Film Noir, Alphaville, opened in NYC on this date.
It is unknown who did the voice of the Alpha 60 computer. The voice of Alpha 60 was performed by a man with a mechanical voice box replacing his cancer-damaged larynx who wanted to remain anonymous.
October 25, 1967 -
The Lerner and Loewe take on the the Arthurian legend, Camelot, starring Richard Harris, Vanessa Redgrave and Franco Nero, premiered on this date.
For a post-marriage bath scene with Vanessa Redgrave, Richard Harris startled everyone by strutting onto the set completely nude with a large erection.
October 25, 1971 -
The PBS children's show The Electric Company premiered on this date.
Marvel Comics allowed the show to use the character Spider-Man for free. To commemorate the partnership between Marvel and the Children's Television Workshop, Marvel published a special series called Spidey Super Stories, easy-to-read adventures of Spider-Man that occasionally featured members of the Short Circus. A shortened version of the comic, featuring only characters from the Marvel Universe, appeared in the Electric Company's spin-off magazine.
October 25, 1975 -
Quite arguably the funniest episode ever broadcast on network TV, The Mary Tyler Moore Show - Chuckles Bites the Dust first aired on this date.
Influential comedy writer Danny Simon used to read this script to his classes as an example of excellent writing.
October 25, 1978 -
The independently produced horror film Halloween, directed by John Carpenter and starring Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis, premiered in the US on this date.
From a budget of $300,000, the film went on to gross $47 million at the US box office. In 2008, takings that would be the equivalent of $150 million, making Halloween one of the most successful independent films of all time.
October 25, 1982 -
Bob Newhart's second successful-sitcom Newhart, premiered on CBS-TV on this date.
The show was videotaped in the first season, later episodes were filmed. It was Bob Newhart's idea to begin using film from season two onward in order to give the show a more realistic look.
An important book for the times
Today in History -
It's 1415, as it has been often said, times were hard - the only way to tell who the king was in England was looking for the person with the least amount of crap on him. The wastrel son of a usurping King led a ragtag army into another sovereign nation on this date.
After giving a stirring speech, the outnumbered army beats the far superior and well fortified army and wins the decisive Battle of Agincourt on this day. More than one hundred years later, either William Shakespeare or a bunch of other people wrote a slew of Henry plays
It's now 1854, this time. The British want to maintain their naval superiority of the globe and continue to enjoy the fruits of sodomy on the open seas. The Russian Tsar (or Czar, as most monarchs are to busy to get a proper education, so they could barely figure out what type of monarch they are) decided that the Russian naval needed to get into a little of those high seas hijinks, began moving his army towards Turkey, hoping for a Russian port in the black sea. Thus, buggery is one of the underlying causes of The Crimean War.
It typical British fashion, on the morning of October 25, 1854, the English were winning the Battle of Balaclava (not Baklava, the delicious Greek pastry wars, to be described at a future date, but the goofy hat war with the ear flaps) when Lord Cardigan (yes, of sweater fame) received his order to attack the Russians fortifications.
Unfortunately for the Light Brigade, the Russian army was also on the other side of the valley that they were charging towards. The brigade was decimated by the heavy Russian guns, suffering 40 percent casualties.
It was later revealed that the order was the result of Alfred Lord Tennyson needing a new hit poem and not intentional.
October 25, 1881 -
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso, the Spanish-born doodler and noted womanizer (considered the most influential artist of the 20th century) was born on this date.
I wonder if his paintings are still worth anything?
October 25, 1920 -
On a fine October day in 1920, King Alexander of Greece (cousin of my favorite Greek itinerant sailor - Philippos) was walking in the gardens of the royal palace in Athens. The young monarch was walking with his favorite dog when they were attacked by a pair of wild monkeys (once again, I can't make this stuff up.) Alexander attempted to drive the monkeys away from his dog but was bit during the scuffle.
The incident proved fatal for both parties. King Alexander suffered an infection and died from sepsis on this date and the monkey was destroyed when the Greek people sought revenge for the regicide. His father, the former King Constantine I (Philip's uncle) was called back into service to be king until his disastrous actions in the Greco-Turkish War.
Winston Churchill said, 'It is perhaps no exaggeration to remark that a quarter of a million people died from this monkey bite.'
Once again, sometimes it stinks to be the king.
October 25, 1931 -
In every home there is a heartbreak
This story is truly not for the faint of heart.
Elena Hoyos, a pretty and vivacious 21 year old Cuban-American girl died from tuberculosis in Florida on this date. While this is sad, it wouldn't be noteworthy other than for her middle aged neighbor with a strange infatuation with Elena. Carl Tanzler (also known as Carl von Cosel), German-born radiologist became obsessed with his young neighbor. Not only did Mr. Tanzler attempted to treat and cure Hoyos with a variety of medicines, as well as x-ray and electrical equipment, that were brought to the Hoyos' home but Tanzler showered Hoyos with gifts of jewelry and clothing, and allegedly professed his love to her.
In April, 1933, Tanzler removed Hoyos' body from the mausoleum, carted it through the cemetery after dark on a toy wagon, and transported it to his home. Carl, with a little help from some home embalming, lived with Hoyos' corpse until October, 1940, when Elena's sister Florinda heard rumors of Tanzler (now known as Von Cosel) sleeping with the disinterred body of her sister, and confronted Tanzler at his home, where Hoyos' body was eventually discovered. Von Cosel was not charged with a crime because the statute of limitations on grave robbing had expired. Elena Hoyos was eventually buried at a secret location. Von Cosel, separated from his love, used a death mask to create a life-sized dummy of her, and lived with it until his death in 1952.
(This story is even more disturbing then you think, I've left some of the very unsavory details out for those readers with a more delicate nature.)
October 25, 1938 -
The Archbishop of Dubuque, the Most Reverend Francis J.L. Beckman, denounces the newfangled Swing music
-- the latest craze -- as nothing more than "a degenerated musical system... turned loose to gnaw away the moral fiber of young people" on this date.
Its cannibalistic rhythms are said to lead one down the "primrose path to Hell."
October 25, 1955 -
Sadako Sasaki was a Japanese girl who lived near Hiroshima, Japan. She was only two years old when the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. As she grew up, Sadako was a strong, courageous and athletic girl. In 1954, at age eleven, she became dizzy and fell to the ground. Sadako was diagnosed with leukemia, the "atom bomb disease".
During her time in the hospital her condition progressively worsened. Around mid-October her left leg became swollen and turned purple. After her family urged her to eat something, Sadako requested tea on rice and remarked "It's good." Those were her last words. With her family around her, Sadako died on the morning of October 25, 1955 at the age of 12.
October 25, 1957 -
In chair number four of the barber shop at the Park Sheraton hotel in Manhattan, Mafia don Albert Anastasia, the Lord High Executioner of Murder Inc., was shot five times by the Gallo Brothers, under orders from Carlo Gambino.
The barber shop is now a Starbucks - such are the vagaries of life.
October 25, 1983 -
In order to maintain an uninterrupted supply of nutmeg to satisfy global demand, the United States of America invaded the Caribbean island of Grenada.
The invasion was rationalized as a rescue mission for the American medical students at the local school. A good friend of mine was at the school at the time and was widely quoted in the media.
October 25, 1991 -
On the way back from a Huey Lewis concert, rock promoter Bill Graham was killed when his helicopter hits high-voltage power lines in Vallejo, California on this date.
So, he died because he had to listen to Hip To Be Square.
Before you go - not sure that you're aware but,
Halloween is 6 days away,
The general election is 9 days away,
Thanksgiving is 32 days away,
Plan accordingly!
And so it goes
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