But for bad children, she slits open their bellies, takes out their organs and replaces them with pebbles and straw. Sleep well children.
December 16, 1938 -
MGM released its film version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, on this date.
Lionel Barrymore was originally set to play Scrooge, but had to back out due to illness. Barrymore instead suggested his friend Reginald Owen take over the role. Barrymore did not perform the radio version of A Christmas Carol in 1938 so that it would not interfere with the success of the picture.
December 16, 1951 -
NBC-TV debuted Dragnet in a special preview on Chesterfield Sound Off Time on this date. (The show began officially on January 3, 1952.)
The series opener ran in real time, and it contained several clock-on-the-wall shots to keep track of time. The story starts with the police frantically trying to meet a 26-minute deadline to satisfy the demands of a terrorist. The show ran for 26 minutes, excluding commercials.
December 16, 1959 -
20th Century Fox releases the Jules Verne science fiction classic, Journey to the Center of the Earth, starring Pat Boone, James Mason and Arlene Dahl, on this date.
Pat Boone didn't want to make this film, but his agent talked him into it. Years later, he said he's glad he did it because of the regular residual checks, and it's the movie he'll probably be best remembered for.
December 16, 1962 -
David Lean's epic (in ever sense of the word) bio-pix of T. E. Lawrence, Lawrence of Arabia, starring Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins and Omar Sharif premiered in NYC on this date.
This movie was banned in many Arab countries as they felt Arab historical figures and the Arab peoples were misrepresented. Omar Sharif arranged a viewing with President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt to show him that there was nothing wrong with the way they were portrayed. Nasser loved the movie and allowed it to be released in Egypt, where it went on to become a monster hit.
December 16, 1965 -
One of the classic cold war thrillers, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, starring Richard Burton, premiered in the US on this date.
John le Carré in an article for the New Yorker remembered that the presence of Elizabeth Taylor on the set was incredibly disruptive. The Checkpoint Charlie set was re-created at Dublin's Smithfield Market and because these were nighttime shoots, huge crowds would turn out to watch and inevitably delay the filming. The Taylor-Burtons occupied an entire floor of Dublin's Gresham Hotel, and visitors to the set included Franco Zeffirelli and Yul Brynner, whose son, Rock Brynner, was studying in Dublin's Trinity College at the time. On more than one occasion, filming was delayed by the arguing and drunken behavior of Burton and Taylor.
December 16, 1966 -
The first Jimi Hendrix' first single Hey Joe is released on this date.
The slow version that inspired Hendrix to record this came from a folk singer named Tim Rose, who played it in a slow arrangement on his 1967 debut album and issued it as a single late in 1966. Rose was a popular singer/songwriter for a short time in the Greenwich Village scene, but quickly faded into obscurity before a small comeback in the '90s. He died in 2002 at age 62.
December 15, 1971 -
Frank Zappa's 200 Motels film opened at London's Piccadilly Classic Cinema in the UK. The film which also featured Ringo Star, covers a loose storyline about The Mothers of Invention going crazy in the small town Centerville.
The role of Jeff was originally intended for Mothers bassist Jeff Simmons, who quit the group just before filming. As a replacement, Frank Zappa hired Wilfrid Brambell, who walked off the set in a rage a few days later. During a crew meeting, Zappa announced that he would give the part to the next person who walked into the room. Martin Lickert, Ringo Starr's chauffeur, was cast when he walked in with a pack of cigarettes for Starr.
December 16, 1971 -
Don McLean's eight-minute-plus version of American Pie was released and became one of the longest songs to ever hit the pop charts.
If you prefer the clip with Don singing in it, here you go.
Kids, use the song as the Cliff Notes (Shmoop, if you prefer) for what happened during the 60s (do they still print Cliff Notes?)
December 16, 1972 -
Soul singer Billy Paul's single, Me and Mrs. Jones hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts on this date.
This was written by Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff and Carey Gilbert. Gamble and Huff formed a famous songwriting team that helped define the Philadelphia Soul sound of the '70s. Gilbert, also known as "Hippy," is a lyricist who often teamed with Gamble and Huff, and worked on hits for The O'Jays, Lou Rawls and many others.
December 16, 1975 -
The groundbreaking sitcom (for it's time) One Day At A Time starring Bonnie Franklin, Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli premiered on this date.
The premise for this show (a family led by a single working mom) was inspired by actress, writer, and single mom, Whitney Blake. One of Blake's children, Meredith Baxter, would go on to play a sitcom mom on Family Ties.
December 16, 1977 -
Saturday Night Fever, starring John Travolta, went into general release on this date.
Oh John, what a long strange trip it's been since that polyester shirt.
When Tony's dad hits him in the back of the head during dinner, his retort of "just watch the hair!" and complained about being hit on the hair after he had worked on it was John Travolta's own reaction and not scripted, but since it was so in character for Tony Manero to say, it was left in.
The movie was originally called Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night, the title of the New York Magazine article that inspired it. The film's title was ultimately shortened to Saturday Night, as a direct reference to the fact that Tony (John Travolta) and his friends inhabited 2001 Odyssey on Saturday nights. However, when The Bee Gees submitted the soundtrack, one of the songs, Night Fever, was thought to embody the film's spirit better than the original. Director John Badham added the word "Saturday" and it replaced the original title.
Another holiday guest programmer and another moment of edifying culture
Today in History:
December 16, 1773 -
The Boston Tea Party took place 248 years ago today.
I equally deplores the ecologically disastrous precedent set by these hotheaded young good-for-nothings, and their demeaning depiction of Native Americans as savage, tea-hating polluters. Also please do not confuse the Tea Party with Tea Baggers - two very different things although men wearing short skirts figure prominently in both of them.
December 16, 1950 -
President Harry S. Truman declares a state of emergency, after Chinese troops enter the fight with communist North Korea in the Korean War.
What the hell were we thinking?
December 16, 1965 -
NASA was in a piss-proud mood. Days before, Gemini 6 (Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra, space cowboys aboard) and Gemini 7 (Frank Borman and Jim Lovell, rocket men aboard) had successfully rendezvoused in space. Just before Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra were about to re-enter Earth's atmosphere, on this date, they radioed Mission Control with their startling sighting:
Wally and Tom do something even more startling; they break out in a chorus of Jingle Bells, accompanying themselves with a small harmonica and tiny small bells. The pair become the first men to perform Christmas carols from space. NASA, of course, was not amused having to pay the ASCAP fees.
December 16, 1985 -
What were you doing 36 years ago - I left work, cut through a parking garage in the middle of the block and walked passed the limos in front of Sparks Steak House on the next block on this date.
John and Paul are long gone but while I am still here, my old office is also long gong.
And so it goes
Americans ride their horses on the left-hand side of the street indeed
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