Today is also Chocolate Day (If you're a chocoholic, then you have two more chocolate days to celebrate! World Chocolate Day is on September 4 and National Chocolate Day is on October 28.) The date commemorates the introduction of Hershey's Kisses on this date in 1907.
Remember kids, chocolate is actually the seed pod of the fruit of the cocoa tree - so it must be healthy for you, eat up.
It's Father-Daughter take a walk together day,
If all of that weren't enough, it's Richard Starkey birthday today. And all he has to show for it is a photograph.
And I believe he still won't sign it for you.
July 7, 1936 -
The first ever television show was broadcast by NBC/RCA on this date. It was seen by only a few hundred people who had access to the new television.
The first ever program featured newsreel items, as well as a variety show of sorts, which included female dancers performing a water lily dance, a fashion show and some comic bits.
July 7, 1939 -
Jean Renior's prescient masterpiece, Rules of the Game, starring Marcel Dalio, Nora Gregor, and Paulette Dubost, premiered in Paris, France on this date (because of World War II, the film did not officially open in the US until 1950.)
Despite being considered by historians to be one of the best films ever made, the picture almost became a lost art. Claiming that it was bad for the morale of the country (due to impending war), the French government banned the film about a month after its original release. When Germany took over France the following year, it was banned by the Nazi party as well, who also burnt many of the prints. Allied planes then accidentally destroyed the original negatives. It was thought to be a lost picture. In 1956, some followers of director Jean Renoir found enough pieces of the film scattered throughout France to reconstitute it with Renoir's help. Renoir claimed only one minor scene from the original cut was missing.
July 7, 1944 -
Universal Pictures releases the sequel to The Mummy’s Tomb, The Mummy's Ghost, directed by Reginald Le Borg and starring Lon Chaney, Jr. and John Carradine, in U.S. theaters on this date.
In the scene where Kharis trashes the Scripps Museum, Lon Chaney Jr. drove his fist through real glass--it was supposed to be breakaway glass, but the prop man forgot to replace it before shooting started--and a shard of it flew up and cut him through his mummy mask in his chin. In this scene, Kharis can be seen bleeding, and it's real blood.
July 7, 1960 -
Universal Pictures releases the horror film The Brides of Dracula, directed by Terence Fisher and starring Peter Cushing, in the UK on this date.
In an early draft of the screenplay, Count Dracula was meant to have returned from the dead at the film's beginning. He was then to have taken center stage for the remainder. However, Christopher Lee refused to reprise the role for fears of becoming typecast. The inclusion of the Baron Meinster character was added quite late during pre-production.
July 7, 1977 -
The 10th film in the James Bond oeuvre, The Spy Who Loved Me, directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Roger Moore in his third outing as James Bond, (Barbara Bach and Richard Kiel co-starred), was released in the UK on this date.
By the time this movie was made, the James Bond film franchise was the most lucrative in the world, and many manufacturers wanted their products featured. There was great competition for the company that would supply Bond's car. Don McLaughlin, Public Relations Manager of Lotus, realized that the best way to win this coveted position was to make the producers chase after him, rather than going begging to them. One day he turned up at Pinewood driving a brand new unreleased Lotus Esprit, with all identifying names covered up. He parked it outside the Bond set, knowing that the producers would see it when they broke for lunch. Once the car had attracted a crowd, all clamoring to know what the car was, McLaughlin nonchalantly got in the car and drove away without answering any questions. As he had expected, the producers were desperate to discover what the car was, and producer Albert R. Broccoli later chose it for this movie.
July 7, 1984 -
The single Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood became Britain's all-time best-selling single (at the time) on this date.
In America, any sexual innuendo contained in this song got little attention, but it caused plenty of controversy in the UK. The song entered the UK singles chart at #77 on November 12, 1983, and was at #35 when Frankie Goes To Hollywood performed it on Top Of The Pops January 5, 1984. The song jumped to #6, and on January 11, 1984, BBC Radio 1 DJ Mike Read announced on air that he refused to air Relax because of the single's controversial artwork and lyrics. He didn't know it at the time, but the BBC was planning to ban the single, and do so soon afterward.
July 7, 1984 -
Prince's song from his upcoming movie Purple Rain, When Doves Cry goes to #1 on Billboard's Hot 100, giving his first #1 hit, on this date.
There is no bass on this song. Prince took out the bass track at the last minute to get a different sound, though he hated to see it go. "Sometimes your brain kind of splits in two - your ego tells you one thing, and the rest of you says something else. You have to go with what you know is right," he told Bass Player magazine.
Another failed ACME Product
Today in History:
July 7, 1456 -
Pope Callixtus III retried Joan of Arc on this date; the trial acquitted her of heresy 25 years after her death.
July 7, 1865 -
Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold and George Atzerodt, convicted co-conspirators of the Lincoln assassination were hanged in the Old Arsenal Penitentiary on this date.
Unfortunately, the conspirators dropped about five or six feet, which proved insufficient to break their necks. They were allowed to hang for 25 minutes to ensue the job, if not done well, was at least completed. Mary Surratt became the first woman executed by the United States.
July 7, 1928 –
Wonder no more where the expression came from -
It is described as “the greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped".
July 7. 1946 -
Our favorite, germophobe, bisexual billionaire, Howard Hughes was pulled out, barely alive, from the fiery wreckage of an XF-11 reconnaissance plane that Hughes was testing over Beverly Hills, by, William Durkin, a US Master Sergeant, who happened to be in the area, on this date.
Hughes' injuries were extensive;including a crushed collar bone, 24 broken ribs and numerous third-degree burns. Miraculously, he survives, although he is never quite the same. It's believed that Hughes' long-term addiction to codeine was a result of his convalescence from this near fatal accident.
July 7, 1947 -
The US Army sends a team of men to a reported crash site near Roswell, New Mexico. This 'recovery' has become the subject of intense speculation, rumor and questioning. There are widely divergent views on what actually happened and passionate debate about what evidence can be believed. The United States military maintains that what was recovered was a top-secret research balloon that had crashed.
Many UFO proponents believe the wreckage was of a crashed alien craft and that the military covered up the craft's recovery. The incident has turned into a widely-recognized and referred to pop culture phenomenon, and for some, Roswell is synonymous with UFOs. It likely ranks as the most famous alleged UFO incident.
Remember, the Truth is out there.
July 7, 1952 -
During her first Atlantic crossing, the SS United States crossed the finish line in the great race for the fastest Atlantic crossing ever.
To this day, no other liner has ever come close to her speed record in that maiden crossing - in a record 82 hours, 40 minutes.
July 7, 2005 -
16 years ago on this date, four bomb explosions struck London's transport system during the morning rush. Three Underground trains were hit within half an hour, and a double-decker bus joined the toll, thirty minutes later.
A group calling itself "The Secret Organization of al-Qaida in Europe" posted a claim of responsibility, saying they were in retaliation for Britain's involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. Over fifty people were killed and more than 700 injured.
July 7, 2006 -
The Western Black Rhinocero, one of the rarest of the Black Rhinoceros species, was hunted to extinction, on this date. Its extinction can be attributed to the illegal poaching of the animal.
And so it goes.
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