Do you remember the 21st Night of September?

Love was changing the mind of pretenders



While chasing the clouds away ...


Each year the International Day of Peace is observed around the world on September 21st. The General Assembly has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples.



Given all that is going on in the world today, it's a nice idea to have a day dedicated to celebrating peace.


Two giants of animation sharing the same birthday:

September 21, 1912 -

Chuck Jones, animator and director of Warner Brothers cartoon characters Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, was born on this date.



He has directed three films have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Duck Amuck, One Froggy Evening, and What's Opera, Doc?.

September 20, 1920 -

Jay Ward, cartoonist (Rocky and his Friends, Bullwinkle), was born on this date.



Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Bullwinkle Moose, and Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties were in fact conceived, designed, and created by Jay Ward's boyhood friend and sometimes business partner, advertising artist Alex Anderson.


September 21, 1957 -
Our favorite nipple rouge wearing actor, Raymond Burr, had another go at episodic TV when Perry Mason premiered on CBS-TV on this date.



Raymond Burr originally auditioned for the role of Hamilton Burger, but was chosen for the title role instead.


September 21, 1968 -
The police drama ADAM 12, premiered on NBC-TV on this date.



Fresh out of the academy, Probationary Officer Jim Reed is paired with veteran Officer Pete Malloy. However, Kent McCord had already appeared as LAPD Officer Jim Reed in Dragnet 1967 nearly a year before this show debuted.


September 21, 1975 -
Sidney Lumet's amazing film, Dog Day Afternoon, starring Al Pacino and John Cazale, premiered on this date.



Although he had initially agreed to play the part of Sonny, Al Pacino told Sidney Lumet near the start of production that he couldn't play it. Pacino had just completed production on The Godfather: Part II and was physically exhausted and depressed after the shoot. With his reliance on the Method, Pacino didn't relish the thought of working himself up to a state of near hysteria every day. Lumet unhappily accepted the actor's decision and dispatched the script to Dustin Hoffman. Pacino changed his mind when he heard that his rival was being considered.


September 21, 1992 –
Parlophone Records released Radiohead’s debut single, Creep, on this date.



Thom Yorke based this on a song called The Air That I Breathe, which was written by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood in 1972. After Creep was released, Radiohead agreed to share the songwriting royalties, so this is credited to Yorke, Hammond and Hazlewood.


September 21, 1993 -
The police drama NYPD Blue, premiered on ABC-TV on this date.



Dennis Franz (Detective Andy Sipowicz) and Gordon Clapp (Detective Greg Medavoy) are the only actors to appear in all twelve seasons.


September 21, 1993 –
Nirvana released In Utero, their third and final studio album while Kurt Cobain was still alive, on this date.



Initially, the album was going to be called I Hate Myself and I Want to Die - Kurt Cobain's typical response to "How are you?" The final title was taken from a poem written by Courtney Love.


September 21, 2001 -
A benefit concert organized by the four major U.S. television networks in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, America: A Tribute to Heroes, aired on this date. The program was shown on 35 separate broadcast and cable networks simultaneously.





Done in the style of a telethon, it featured a number of national and international entertainers performing to raise money for the victims and their families, particularly but not limited to the New York City firefighters. The telethon raised $150 million in pledges.


Today's moment of Zen


Today in History:
September 21, 1327 -
Former King Edward II came to a particularly painful end on this date.

Edward had been overthrown by his wife, Isabella and her lover, Roger Mortimer. Edward had pissed off Isabella royally for among other things, sleeping with men. Isabella and Mortimer had Edward II imprisoned, after his abdication in favor of his son, Edward III.



It was rumored that Edward had been killed by the insertion of a piece of copper into his rectum (later a red-hot iron rod, as in the supposed murder of Edmund Ironside - King Edmund II was murdered in a lavatory; stabbed in the bowels when he sat down to relieve himself). Murder in this manner would have appeared a natural death, as a metal tube would have been inserted into the anus first, thus allowing the iron rod to penetrate the entrails without leaving a burn on the buttocks.

As I have said in the past, sometimes it is NOT good to be the king.


September 21, 1897 -
The New York Sun ran its famous editorial that answered a question from 8-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon: "Is there a Santa Claus?"on this date.



Obviously, times were different back then given that The New York Sun was printing an editorial about Christmas in September.


September 21, 1915 -
With a winning bid of £6,600, Mr. Cecil Chubb purchased Stonehenge and 30 acres of land at auction. He donates the monument to the British state three years later.



He donated the monument because he could not figure out how to reset Stonehenge correctly.


September 21, 1937 -
George Allen and Unwin, Ltd. of London published the first edition of J. R. R. Tolkien's novel The Hobbit on this date. It was illustrated with many black-and-white drawings by Tolkien himself.



The original printing was only a 1,500 run and sold out by December due to enthusiastic reviews.


September 21, 1950 -
I always want to say to people who want to be rich and famous: 'try being rich first'. See if that doesn't cover most of it. There's not much downside to being rich, other than paying taxes and having your relatives ask you for money. But when you become famous, you end up with a 24-hour job.





William James Murray, one of the funniest sentient human beings was born on this date.


September 21, 1981 -
On August 19 1981, President Reagan, who had pledged during the 1980 presidential campaign to appoint the first woman to the Supreme Court, nominated Sandra Day O'Connor as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, replacing the retiring Potter Stewart. Ms. O'Connor was confirmed by the Senate 99-0 on this date and took her seat September 25.



In her first year on the Court, O'Connor received over sixty thousand letters from the public, more than any other justice in history.


September 21, 1983 -
In a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on this date, Interior Secretary James G. Watt jokingly described a special advisory panel as consisting of 'a black ... a woman, two Jews and a cripple.'

Although Watt apologized, he later resigned .

Oops!



And so it goes