and Furniture Polish is made from real Lemons.
October 3, 1941 -
John Huston's first directorial effort, The Maltese Falcon, premiered in NYC on this date.
A few of the principal actors became close friends during the shooting. Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre, Ward Bond, and Mary Astor would often join John Huston at the Lakeside Country Club for drinks, buffet supper, and good conversation, usually until midnight. Bogart always considered Lorre and Huston great pals, mostly because they met two principal criteria: they weren't boring and they could drink like fish.
October 3, 1953 -
The final installment of the Looney Tunes "Hunting Trilogy", Duck! Rabbit, Duck!, premiered on this date.
Bugs Bunny stuck out four signs to lead Elmer Fudd to shoot Daffy Duck. In order they are:
1st GOAT SEASON OPEN;
2nd, DIRTY SKUNK SEASON;
3rd, PIGEON SEASON;
4th and last, MONGOOSE SEASON.
October 3, 1954 -
Another in the series of alcoholic actors playing model Dads, Father Knows Best, starring Robert Young premiered on this date.
When the series debuted in 1954, it did so poorly in the ratings that CBS canceled it in March of 1955. A flood of protests came from viewers insisting that the show be reinstated. It was moved to an earlier time, and gradually became a hit.
October 3, 1955 -
Hey kids, remember Captain Kangaroo. Well, his show premiered on this date.
Despite the show's iconic nature, and enduring popularity, the series has never been officially released to home video/DVD or any streaming service. Very little film footage of the series remains, and what does exist was owned by Bob Keshan, and subsequently his estate, who have maintained a tight grip on their film holdings.
October 3, 1955 -
If today wasn't special enough, The Mickey Mouse Club also premiered on this date.
Although the show was filmed and broadcast in black and white, all of the animated segments - the opening theme, Mickey's introductions and farewells, the Jiminy Cricket shorts, etc. - were filmed in color.
In the animated inserts, Walt Disney provided the voice of Mickey Mouse for the very last time. He retired from voicing the character during the production of Fun and Fancy Free in 1947, because he simply could not do the required falsetto anymore, and let sound effects man James MacDonald take over.
October 3, 1955 -
Considered one of his five 'lost films' (held up for years from re-release), Alfred Hitchcock's The Trouble with Harry, premiered on this date. This was Shirley MacLaine's film debut.
Due to the inclement weather conditions in Vermont, boxes and boxes of autumnal leaves were shipped back to California, where they were painstakingly pinned onto trees on a studio soundstage.
October 3, 1960 -
Tony Richardson’s biting commentary of the collapsing British Empire, The Entertainer, starring Laurence Olivier, Albert Finney, Alan Bates, and Joan Plowright, opened in NYC on the date.
Laurence Olivier and Joan Plowright met during the stage production of The Entertainer. They were married in 1961 and remained married until Olivier's death in 1989.
October 3, 1960 -
Let grab down our fishin' poles and head down to the fishin' hole, The Andy Griffith Show premiered on this date.
During the opening credits, as Andy and Opie walk down the path, Opie picks up a rock and throws it off-camera right as Andy nods in a very distinct manner, before they start walking again. Years later, Andy Griffith watched this and realized he was unintentionally imitating a certain nod that his father would give him to show approval.
October 3, 1961 -
The Dick Van Dyke Show premiered on this date. The show wasn't an immediate success but became a hit.
Carl Reiner would often ask cast and crew members about funny things that had happened to them, then he would write whole episodes about these occurrences. As a result, a majority of the episodes over the course of the show's five season run were based on actual events.
October 3, 1977 -
Elvis Presley's third and final television special, Elvis in Concert, was filmed by CBS in June 1977 and aired on this date, two months after Elvis' death. (This is the heavy, sweaty St. Elvis; the Elvis who died for our sins. Once again, those with afflictions, place one hand upon the afflicted area, be it yours or your neighbors, and the other on the screen. Soon, feel the soothing balm of his burning love wash over you.)
Although initially marketed as Elvis' final performance, the performances televised for the TV special were on June 19th and 21st, 1977. His real final performance was on June 26th, at Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, to a sold out audience of 18,000. The only recording of that show is an audience-recorded bootleg. It was widely recognized as one of the better performances of Elvis' later career.
October 3, 1986 -
The seventh collaboration between Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas, Tough Guys was released on this date.
Huge cards were necessary on the set to help Burt Lancaster's fading memory, and he also had problems to read those cards.
October 3, 2001 -
The french romantic comedy film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Amélie, starring Audrey Tautou, premiered in the US at the Aspen Film Festival on this date.
Whenever this film was shot on location, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and the crew would clean the area of debris, grime, trash and graffiti, so that the real settings would match the fantastic nature of the film. This was an especially difficult task when it came time to shoot at the huge train station.
Another book from the ACME Library back shelf
Today in History:
October 3, 1283 -
Dafydd ap Gruffydd was having a bad day. Besides having an unpronounceable name, he had gotten on the wrong side of King Edward I of England, for wanting to gain Welsh independence. On September 30th, Dafydd ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales, was condemned to death, the first person known to have been tried and executed for what from this time onwards would be described as high treason against the King. Edward ensured that Dafydd's death was to be slow and agonizing, and also historic; he became the first person in recorded history to have been hanged, drawn and quartered.
Apparently, Edward was quite pissed off.
October 3, 1648 -
The greatest build out was finally completed on this day in history - the Taj Mahal.
Imagine what the contractor got to hide in his final bill with 20,000 laborers, master builders, masons, calligraphers, etc., working 22 years for the grieving Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan to complete the great mausoleum for the shah's beloved wife. Imagine what Trump would do with the bill.
October 3, 1728 -
Charles G Chevalier d'Eon de Beaumont, French duelist, diplomat, spy, soldier, Freemason and transvestite, was born on this date.
October 3, 1896 -
Queen Victoria became the first British monarch to be captured on moving film on this date.
She was shown taking a pony-and-trap ride at Balmoral Castle during a visit by Tsar Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra, her granddaughter. The invitation to film this event went to John Downey, the son of the court photographer, William Downey, who had first photographed Queen Victoria in the 1860s.
October 3, 1863 -
Sarah J. Hale, editor and founder of the Ladies' Magazine, continually annoyed President Lincoln until he declared the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day on this date.
George Washington had previously declared a Day of Thanksgiving on November 26 on this date.
But we'll talk more about Thanksgiving in November.
October 3, 1899 -
Tired parlour maids everywhere rejoiced,
October 3, 1906 -
Anticipating ABBA, SOS was adopted as warning signal by first conference on wireless telegraphy on this date.
Previously, people had to stand on the deck of their sinking ships and scream their heads off in hopes that someone would hear them.
October 3, 1922 -
Rebecca L. Felton became the first female senator in the US when she is appointed to the US Senate by Governor Thomas Hardwick of Georgia, on this date.
October 3, 1942 -
An A4-rocket (a modified V-2) developed under the direction of Werner von Braun "Good Nazi", was successfully launched from the Test Stand VII in Peenemünde, Germany. The 13-ton, 46-foot long V2 rocket flies perfectly over the course of 118 miles to an altitude of 53 miles (85km).
While it is generally seen as a milestone in space exploration as it has been acknowledged that the launch was the first man-made object to reach space, it seems rude to mention that the rocket was actually launched at England.
October 3, 1952 -
Coincidentially, The United Kingdom successfully tests their first atomic bomb, Operation Hurricane, four hundred yards off the coast of the Monte Bello Islands off the Australian coast, becoming the world’s third nuclear power on this date. In order to test the potential threat of a bomb smuggled in a ship, the bomb was detonated inside the hull of the frigate HMS Plym.
Despite the explosion beginning in a ship and nine feet below the water line, the explosion created a crater twenty feet deep and a thousand feet across.
Oops, radiation still lingers around the test site like a bad chili and broccoli dinner farts.
October 3, 1962 -
Hey, Wally, are you a turtle? (Wally correctly answers the question)
The nine-hour mission on the Sigma 7 capsule was the longest to date for a U.S. flight and set the stage for the day-long final mission of the Mercury Program that followed.
October 3, 1964 -
According to noted food historian, Calvin Trilling, the first buffalo wings were served on this date. The wings were reported to have first been made in Buffalo, New York, by the Bellissimo family at the Anchor Bar.
They were served with blue cheese dressing and given away for free. The bar now sells the wings nationwide through its website.
October 3, 1990 -
East and West Germany were officially reunited on this date. The reunification of this once great nation was recognized as a clear sign that the Cold War was coming to an end, and was therefore celebrated not only in Germany, but throughout the world
- excepting certain corridors of France, Poland, and the Czech Republic, where the exuberance was strangely muted.
October 3, 1992 -
Sinead O'Connor was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. At the end of her a capella performance of the Bob Marley song War, Sinead produced a copy of a photograph of Pope John Paul II, which she ripped into pieces, to protest the simmering child sex abuse scandal within the Catholic Church.
Time has proven Sinead dead right about her protest.
And so it goes
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