September 18, 1951 -
Tennessee Williams' Pulitzer Prize winning play, A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Elia Kazan and starring Marion Brando, Vivien Leigh, and Kim Hunter, premiered in Los Angeles on this date.
Mickey Kuhn, who plays the young sailor who helps Vivien Leigh onto the streetcar at the beginning of the film, had previously appeared with Leigh in Gone with the Wind as Beau Wilkes (the child of Olivia de Havilland's character Melanie), toward the end of that film when the character was age 5. When Mickey Kuhn mentioned this to someone else on the set of A Streetcar Named Desire, word got back to Leigh and she called him into her dressing room for a half-hour chat. In an interview in his seventies, Kuhn stated that Leigh was extremely kind to him and was "one of the loveliest ladies he had ever met."
September 18, 1951 -
20th Century Fox premiered the science fiction classic, The Day the Earth Stood Still, directed by Robert Wise and starring Michael Rennie and Patricia Neal, in New York, on this date.
The Army refused to cooperate after reading the script. The studio then approached the National Guard, which had no qualms about seeing the Army depicted in a less-than-flattering light, and gladly offered their cooperation.
September 18, 1963 -
The show that taught elderly men, twin cousins might be lured into immoral acts with the purchase of grilled sausages - The Patty Duke Show, premiered on ABC-TV on this date.
Patty Duke (Patty Lane / Cathy Lane), William Schallert (Martin Lane / Kenneth Lane / Uncle Jed Lane) and Jean Byron (Natalie Lane) are the only actors to appear in all 104 episodes.
September 18, 1964 -
The most normal family's ever presented on US television, The Addams Family premiered on ABC-TV on this date.
The train-crash sequence, in which the model trains collide and explode, was shot once, and that footage was used every time Gomez wrecked model trains.
September 18, 1965 -
Kleenex stock rose precipitously as I Dream of Jeannie premiered on this date.
According to Sidney Sheldon in his autobiography The Other Side of Me, NBC wanted to film season one in black and white because they didn't believe the show would last more than one season. He offered to pay the extra $400 per episode needed for color filming. Screen Gems executive Jerry Hyams advised him, "Sidney, don't throw your money away." The first season was filmed in black and white, then colorized much later (as was the first season of Gilligan's Island).
September 18, 1965 -
Mel Brooks and Buck Henry started their fight to keep the world safe from KAOS when Get Smart premiered on NBC-TV on this date.
Barbara Feldon was two inches taller than Don Adams. In order to make it appear that Adams was taller than Feldon, he would either stand on a small platform, or Feldon would stoop down. Also, for most of the show's run, Feldon wore mostly flat shoes, and very rarely wore high heels.
September 18, 1968 -
The film musical Funny Girl with Barbra Streisand premiered in NYC.
William Wyler was asked by a friend whether Barbra Streisand had been hard to work with. He replied, "No, not too hard, considering it was the first movie she ever directed."
September 18, 1978 -
We first started living on the air in Cincinnati when WKRP in Cincinnati, premiered on CBS-TV on this date.
In some scenes, bulletin boards or wall spaces are plastered with bumper stickers for radio stations across the USA. They were sent by real-life radio DJs who were avid fans of the show.
September 18, 1987 -
Pet bunnies felt a cold breeze on their neck when Fatal Attraction, starring Michael Douglas and Glenn Close, opened on this date.
When Glenn Close's agent first called to express her interest in playing Alex Forrest, he was told, "Please don't make her come in. She's completely wrong for the part." Director Adrian Lyne also thought that Glenn Close was "the last person on Earth" who should play Alex.
September 18, 1994 -
Ken Burn's series about America's favorite past time Baseball, premiered on PBS on this date.
Ironically, first aired in the fall of 1994 when much of the season and the World Series were cancelled due to a strike. This made it the only "baseball" available to millions of unhappy fans at what should have been the most exciting time of the season.
Don't forget to tune in to ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour today.
Today in History:
ACME would like to issue a Trigger Warning - all children and those with delicate natures should turn away from their computer screens as we discuss the bizarre deviant sexual behavior on the part of our founding fathers:
On September 18, 1793, President George Washington laid the foundation stone for the U.S. Capitol. According to numerous sources, President Washington "laid the stone in a Masonic ceremony... preceded by a parade and followed by celebration and feasting."
September 18, 1851 -
The New York Times published its first edition on this date. The newspaper, initially called the New-York Daily Times, was founded by Henry Jarvis Raymond, a politician and journalist.
September 18, 1932 -
24-year-old starlet Peg Entwistle dove head first from the letter "H" of the HOLLYWOODLAND sign in Los Angeles. She is the first person to commit suicide at the landmark.
Her body was discovered in the brush at the base of the hill two days later, and pronounced dead. When police examined her belongings, in her purse they found a note that read:
"I am afraid, I am a coward. I am sorry for everything. If I had done this a long time ago, it would have saved a lot of pain. P.E."
Two days later, in an ironic twist, Entwistle's uncle opened a letter addressed to her from the Beverly Hills Playhouse; it was mailed the day before she jumped. In it was an offer for her to play the lead role in a stage production—in which her character would commit suicide in the final act.
September 18, 1961 -
Dag Hammarskjold, Secretary-General of the UN, was killed in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) on this date. He was flying to negotiate a cease-fire in the Congo.
Hammarskjold was the son of a former Swedish prime minister. In 1953, he was elected to the top UN post and in 1957 was reelected. During his second term, he initiated and directed the United Nation's vigorous role in the Belgian Congo.
Strangely enough, for many years, I worked in an office building that bears his name.
September 18, 1970 -
Jimi Hendrix died in his sleep, in London, from of a barbiturate overdose when chunks of his vomited tuna sandwich wound up in his lungs, causing him to choke, on this date. He was 27 years old.
At least his family could take comfort that he did not choke on someone else's vomit.
Once again I must remind you that Cass Elliot did not choke to death on a ham sandwich. It is an urban myth born out of a quickly discarded speculation by the coroner, who noted a part eaten ham sandwich and figured she may have choked to death. In fact, she died of heart failure.
So cut it out.
September 18, 1977 -
NASA's unmanned space probe Voyager 1 snapped the first photograph of the Moon and the Earth in the same frame while on its mission to study the Solar System and its boundaries. At the time, Voyager 1 was 7.25 million miles (11.66 million kilometers) from Earth.
September 18, 1981 -
The Guinness Book of World Records verified on this date, that the West Edmonton Mall parking lot, which can hold 20,000 cars, is the largest parking lot in the world.
September 18, 1992 -
Two weeks after being outed in the New York weekly QW, attorney John Schlafly admitted in an interview with the San Francisco Examiner that he enjoys the love that dare not speak it's name. This causes a certain amount of consternation for his mother, archconservative gay rights opponent Phyllis Schlafly.
September 18, 1994 -
Vitas Gerulaitis was killed in his sleep the previous night in the guest cottage of a friend's Long Island estate. His body was discovered on this date. The professional tennis player died from carbon monoxide poisoning, caused by a faulty propane swimming-pool heater.
Before you go - Congratulations Angie and Eliot -
And so it goes
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