This year, my first Hanukkah gift to you is to remind you that there is no pressure to buy Hanukkah Seals. (Don't forget to tune in to the start of our 14th Annual Holiday Spectacular.)
Today is the first Advent Sunday of this season. Advent means 'Coming' in Latin.
(I didn't just joke around at St. John's; once in a blue moon I paid attention.)
It's National French Toast Day
Eating your French Toast (Pan Perdu) as you are served it, is always the best bet.
Enjoy
November 28, 1944 -
Vincente Minnelli's gift to his future wife, Judy Garland, the musical film Meet Me In St. Louis, opened in NYC on this date.
Following Margaret O'Brien's rapid ascent to stardom, her mother believed they were entitled to a significant raise, and she used this film as leverage, realizing how integral the role of Tootie was to the story. MGM raised the ante by announcing the casting of Sharon McManus in O'Brien's place. McManus was the daughter of a studio electrician and the brass went so far as to fit her with costumes, assuming this would pressure O'Brien's mother into accepting their terms. But she held fast, and MGM was ultimately forced to concede to her demands for the salary increase. Once production was underway, O'Brien was filming a scene when McManus' father, who was employed on the film, intentionally dropped a heavy lighting instrument from the catwalk to the sound stage floor, narrowly missing the pint-sized star. He was taken away and briefly admitted to a mental institution for his deed.
November 28, 1951 -
The British film Scrooge (aka A Christmas Carol,) starring Alastair Sim, Kathleen Harrison, George Cole, Hermione Baddeley, Mervyn Johns, Jack Warner, and Patrick Macnee, premiered in NYC on this date.
Changes to the screenplay from the Charles Dickens book were made, mostly in the Christmas Past sequence. Among these changes are: reversing the birth order of Scrooge and his sister, so as to add that Scrooge's mother died giving birth to him; creating a character named "Mr. Jorkin" and flashbacks of several incidents in Scrooge's past (his sister's death, meeting Jacob Marley, taking over Fezziwig's warehouse, and Marley's death) which do not appear in the book.
November 28, 1969 -
The Rolling Stones released their eighth British album Let It Bleed on this date.
It is the follow-up to 1968's Beggars Banquet and the last album by the band to feature Brian Jones as well as the first to feature Mick Taylor.
November 28, 1974 -
John Lennon makes his last-ever concert appearance when he joins Elton John on stage at Madison Square Garden, reciprocating for Elton's appearance on Whatever Gets You Thru The Night and making good on a bet he lost: Elton wagered that Whatever Gets You Thru The Night would hit #1 in the US, and when it did, Lennon owed the appearance.
The pair perform that song and also do The Beatles' I Saw Her Standing There and Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds that evening.
November 28, 1984 -
Prince releases the song, I Would Die 4 U, on this date
On the Purple Rain tour, this was a showcase song for Sheila E., who served as Prince's opening act and also joined him on stage. Her live percussion on I Would Die 4 U compensated for the beats that couldn't be generated outside of the studio, due to Prince's use of a drum machine to create the rhythm on this track.
November 28, 1987 -
Coming out of the surprise hit film Dirty Dancing, the Jennifer Warnes' duet with Bill Medley (I've Had) The Time Of My Life, went to No.1 on the US singles chart on this date.
Most pop songs don't start with the chorus, but this song had to fit some specific criteria for the movie: it had to start slow, finish fast, and have a mambo beat.
November 28, 2012 -
Peter Jackson's first of the Hobbit film series, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, starring Martin Freeman and Ian McKellen, premiered in Wellington, New Zealand on this date.
In The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the scale illusion was accomplished by placing Hobbit or Dwarf actors and actresses further away from the camera than Ian McKellen, but still live on the same set. This time, however, the illusion had to be accomplished by having the other actors and actresses on a completely different set, while McKellen performed his part, all alone, on a greenscreen set, with only an earpiece connecting him to the performance being provided by the rest of the cast. McKellen ended up feeling lonely and frustrated. To cheer him up, the cast and crew snuck into the tent in which he stayed during breaks and decorated it with mementos from the Lord of the Rings films (mainly old props and tapestries from Rivendell and Lothlórien), as well as fresh fruit and flowers.
Another book from the back shelves of the ACME Library
Sorry boys and girls but it's not all a pleasant day in History Today -
November 28, 1942 -
A fire at the overcrowded and sleazy Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston, killed 491 people on this date. Flammable artificial palm trees aided the spread of the fire.
The numerous dead were crushed, burnt, and asphyxiated, all within minutes.
There's a lesson here boys and girl - sleazy nightclubs kill!!!
November 28, 1943 -
Randall Stuart Newman, singer/songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist was born on this date.
Newman has been nominated for twenty Academy Awards, winning twice. He has also won three Emmys, five Grammy Awards, and the Governor's Award from the Recording Academy.
November 28, 1953 -
Frank Olson, government scientist, has a particularly bad dream and jumped to his death from the Statler Hotel in New York City on this date.
It was later revealed in 1975 that Olson had been administered LSD by Dr. Sidney Gottlieb in a CIA experiment.
That really must have been one bad trip.
November 28, 1962 -
If you don't stick to your values when they're being tested, they're not values: they're hobbies.
Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz, comedian, television host, political satirist and formerly, America's most trusted newscaster, was born on this date.
November 28, 1966 -
One of most famous parties of the 20th century, Truman Capote’s Black & White Ball was held at the Plaza Hotel in New York City on this date.
The masquerade ball was held in honor of The Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham and cost Capote a total of $16,000. The Black and White Ball was credited with starting an immediate upsurge in masquerade and costume parties.
November 28, 1981 -
A drunken Natalie Wood toppled off her yacht near Catalina Island and drowned. Her husband Robert Wagner and melodramatic friend Christopher Walken, were on board and unaware of her predicament, apparently having some sort of argument in the cabin -
possibly about whether or not a drunken Natalie Wood could float (you know that's still an awful joke.)
November 28, 1994 -
Jeffrey Dahmer was beaten to death with a broomstick by inmate Christopher Scarver while cleaning the prison bathroom.
Dahmer's brain was to be preserved in formaldehyde at the request of Mom, but a court ordered its destruction in late 1995.
There's yet another lesson here boys and girls, dirty prison bathrooms kill!!!
And so it goes
1 comment:
that's still an awful joke indeed
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