The first televised White House address was given by President Harry S. Truman on this date.
He spoke about food conservation to aid post-war Europe, which was still recovering from World War II and suffering from famine. In particular, he recommended that Americans cut back on their use of grain in order to help starving Europeans.
October 5, 1950 -
You Bet Your Life, hosted by Groucho Marx with his announcer George Fenneman, premiered on NBC-TV on this date. Its' run lasted 11 years.
George Fenneman, Groucho Marx's announcer on the show, was once asked if Groucho ever embarrassed him on the air. "Each and every show," Fenneman replied.
October 5, 1956 -
The huge, hulking, biblical spectacular, The Ten Commandments (the last film directed by the master showman, Cecil B Demille) opened on this date.
Producer and director Cecil B. DeMille suffered a heart attack during the production, after climbing 130 feet to check a faulty camera perched on one of the giant gates used during the exodus sequence. He took two days off, then returned to work, against his doctor's orders, to complete this movie.
October 5, 1961 -
Blake Edwards' adaptation of Truman Capote's novel, Breakfast at Tiffany's, premiered at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on this date.
Holly Golightly wears the same dresses all the way through the movie, simply changing the accessories to give each outfit a different look. Her black shift dress features through the movie at least four times.
October 5, 1962 -
Parlophone Records released the Beatles first single, Love Me Do, in England on this date. (The B side was, P.S., I Love You.)
John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote this in 1958, when John was 17 and Paul was 16. They made time for songwriting by skipping school. They had written songs before, but Love Me Do was the first one they liked enough to record.
October 5, 1969 -
The phrase "And now for something completely different" was taken from a real phrase often used by the BBC during their television and radio broadcasts.
October 5, 1973 -
The seventh studio album by Elton John, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, (a double LP,) was release on this date.
Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics to this and most of Elton's other songs. He often seems to write about Elton, but this one appears to be about himself. The lyrics are about giving up a life of opulence for one of simplicity in a rural setting. Elton has enjoyed a very extravagant lifestyle, while Taupin prefers to keep it low key.
October 5, 1990 -
Henry and June, the first NC-17-rated film was released in the US on this date.
Fred Ward replaced Alec Baldwin as Henry Miller. Baldwin had been originally cast but pulled out about two weeks prior to filming.
October 5, 1991 –
Marky Mark & the Funky Bunch's (featuring Loleatta Holloway) single, Good Vibrations, went to No. 1 on the Billboard Charts on this date.
Rumor has it that Wahlberg gets very upset if you even mention to him his days as a rap singer or the nickname "Marky Mark."
October 5, 2000 -
America was introduced to the inhabitants of Stars Hollow, Connecticut, when the WB premiered the Gilmore Girls on this date.
Liza Weil originally tested for the role of Rory and did not get the part, but the producers liked her so much that they wrote her the role of Paris Geller.
Today's moment of Zen
Today in History:
October 5, 1877 -
... I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed; Looking-glass is dead. Too-hul-hul-suit is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men, now, who say ’yes’ or ’no’[that is, vote in council]. He who led on the young men [Joseph’s brother, Ollicut] is dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people--some of them--have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are---perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find;maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever! ....
Chief Joseph, exhausted and disheartened, surrendered in the Bears Paw Mountains of Montana, forty miles south of Canada ending the Nez Percé war. Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain was born in 1840 in the Wallowa Valley of what is now northeastern Oregon. He took the name of his father, (Old) Chief Joseph or Joseph the Elder. When his father died in 1871, Joseph or Joseph the Younger, was elected his father's successor. He continued his father's efforts to secure the Nez Percé claim to their land while remaining peaceful towards the whites.
October 5, 1880 -
Alonzo T. Cross was issued was issued U.S. Patent No. 232804 for the first ball-point pen, the Stylographic Pen.
October 5, 1902 -
Ray Kroc (Michael Keaton) was born on this date.
Mr Kroc invented McDonalds, which caused the collapse of the Soviet Union and made us all fat, allowing us to buy sub prime mortgage properties, which ultimate will bring down the United States as a dominant world power.
October 5, 1930 -
The largest British dirigible, R101 crashed on a hill in Beauvais, France on this date. The ensuing fire killed all 48 of the passengers and crew.
The wreck of the R101 lay where it had fallen until well into 1931, becoming a sightseeing spot for air accident investigators and day trippers who wanted to see the near perfect skeleton of the largest airship in the world.
October 5, 1970 -
PBS became a network on this date.
Unlike the model of America's commercial television networks, in which affiliates give up portions of their local advertising airtime in exchange for network programming, PBS member stations pay substantial fees for the shows acquired and distributed by the national organization.
October 5, 1974 -
David Kunst left Waseca, Minnesota on June 20, 1970 and completed the first journey around the world on foot, returning to Waseca, Minnesota, on this date, four years, three months and sixteen days later.
He crossed four continents, walked 14,450 miles and went through 21 pairs of shoes. On October 21, 1972, he and his brother were shot during their portion of the trek through Afghanistan (his brother, John, was unfortunately killed in the incident.) After four months of recuperation, Dave continued on his walk with his other brother Pete.
October 5, 1989 -
Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the 14th Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso), was named the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for nonviolent efforts to free his homeland from China.
Oh great, I keep blowing my chance of being read in China.
And so it goes
And now for something completely different, indeed
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