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.
Jackie Cooper did not like his performance, writing in his autobiography that he felt an older English boy should have played Jim Hawkins..
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, 1974 -
Eric Clapton's second studio album 461 Ocean Boulevard, started a four-week run at No.1 on the Billboard charts on this date.
The house featured on the album cover is 461 Ocean Boulevard in the town of Golden Beach, Florida near Miami where Clapton lived while making the album. He recorded the album at famed Criteria Studios between April and May 1974, where, in 1970, he had recorded Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs with Derek and the Dominos.
August 17, 1979 -
Handmade Films released the classic religious satire film, Monty Python's Life of Brian in the US on this date.
After the first take of the scene where a nude Brian addresses the crowd from his window, actor, writer, and director Terry Jones pulled Graham Chapman aside and said, "I think we can see that you're not Jewish", referring to Chapman being uncircumcised. It was corrected in subsequent takes with a rubber band.
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.
August 17, 1987 -
Tom Waits released his ninth studio album, Franks Wild Years, on this date.
Franks Wild Years is the final piece of what is loosely considered the Rain Dogs trilogy (1983’s Swordfishtrombones (which featured the song Frank’s Wild Years )and 1985’s Rain Dogs, marking his third collaboration with wife Kathleen Brennan.
Today's moment of Zen
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, 1907 -
Pike Place Market, the most popular tourist destination in Seattle, opened for business on this date.
Today, it’s the oldest continually operating farmer’s market in America
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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