A blushing crow.

July 22nd is Spooner's Day, honoring Reverend William Archibald Spooner, a 19th Century British clergyman, who was born on this date in 1844. Spoonerisms are usually a two-word phrase in which the first letters (and occasionally the initial vowels) of the words are reversed.



Reverend Spooner was adept at the art of the oopsy linguae, or misspeak. As a result, certain verbal miscues have been tagged Spoonerisms.


July 22, 1959 -
Either considered the worst or greatest film ever made, Ed Wood Jr's sci-fi classic, Plan 9 from Outer Space, starring Bela Lugosi, Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Tor Johnson, Vampira and narrated by Criswell, opened in the US on this date.



Bela Lugosi appears in footage shot just before his death, but with no script in mind. Edward D. Wood Jr. wrote the script to accommodate all the footage shot in a cemetery and outside Tor Johnson's house in the new production. Lugosi was doubled by Tom Mason, Wood's wife's chiropractor, who was significantly taller than Lugosi, and played the part with a cape covering his face.


July 22, 1964 -
One of Hitchcock's most underrated (and sexually twisted) films, Marnie premiered on this date.



To film real horses riding without having to work outdoors, Alfred Hitchcock came up with the idea of running the horses on a gigantic treadmill. Crew members objected to the idea, because it was considered highly unsafe, and because they simply didn't think it would work. Still, Hitchcock wanted to at least try it, and when they did, it worked without a problem. Originally, a harness was attached to Tippi Hedren during these shots for safety reasons, but it was removed when it was found to impede shooting.


July 22, 1967 -
The Toho Studio released King Kong Escapes (Kingu Kongu no gyakushû,) directed by Ishiro Honda in Japan on this date. (Despite the master villain being named Dr. Who, this film has no connection to Doctor Who.)



Two costumes of King Kong were made. The arms of the first costume were very long, so Haruo Nakajima's hands did not reach those of the costume. He had to grasp onto sticks that were attached to the hands of the costume. He wore a second costume with shorter arms whenever they were shooting footage of King Kong battling other monsters. Like with Toho's previous Kong costume, Nakajima was sewn shut inside the suit.


July 22, 1983 –
20th Century Fox jumped on the strange new bandwagon of Dad's taking care of their kids when the film, Mr. Mom, starring Michael Keaton, Teri Garr, Martin Mull, Ann Jillian, and Christopher Lloyd went into a limited release on this date.



The premise came about when John Hughes told Lauren Shuler Donner about a disastrous experience he had looking after his two children while his wife was away. Donner found it hilarious. Hughes asked if that could make a good movie, and Donner replied that "it sure sounds funny to me". Hughes wrote the film, and flew to Los Angeles to re-write the script with Donner.


Another unimportant moment in history


(I have to take care of some personal business, so today will have to be an abbreviated posting. If I had the time, I'd remind you that it's Selena Gomez's birthday today - my daughters love her.)
Today in History:
July 22, 1587 -
Roanoke, the colony founded by Sir Walter Raleigh, might have gone missing on this date.



Recent development point to the fact that the inhabitants of Roanoke didn't go missing, they appear to have originated the joke that after certain people left, everyone else moved and didn't leave a forwarding address.


July 22, 1933 -
Wiley Post (who possessed his flying license signed by Orville Wright) took off from Floyd Bennett Field in New York City and traveled 15,596 miles over a period of 7 days, 18 hours and 45 minutes and became the first person to fly solo around the world on this date.



Post landed back at Floyd Bennett Field in New York, completing the first round-the-world solo flight. His return was greeted by some 50,000 people.


July 22, 1934 -
John Dillinger was shot dead outside Chicago's Biograph Theatre, on this date in history. And one of the most bizarre urban legends was born.



According to the rumor, J Edgar Hoover, pug ugly head of the FBI and notorious transvestite, rushes to Chicago to see the corpse, Dillinger, Public Enemy No. 1, himself. Dillinger was a ladies man and was reported to be very specially endowed.

Hoover, after viewing the nude lifeless body of Dillinger in the morgue, orders Dillinger's member to be removed and preserved as a 'specimen' for his private files.

Rumors of Hoover's trophy dogged him for the rest of his life. He even went to the extraordinary step of stating sometime in the late 60s that he "did not now nor even have Dillinger's privates in a jar". His comments were not taken seriously as he was wearing a size 28 Dior outfit with matching handbag (and Raymond Burr Nipple Rouge) at the time.

The Smithsonian museum is still flooded with requests annually to view this 'special exhibition'.


July 22, 1951 -
It's the first episode of Dogs In Space -

Two Russian dogs, Dezik and Tsygan, were the first canines to make a sub-orbital flight in history on this date.



The Russian space program used dogs quite often to determine whether a particular space mission would be safe for humans. Little know fact: the real reason Nikita Khrushchev slammed his shoe on the desk in the UN - Khrushchev had just been passed a note about a ten year investigation of Tsygan's over-familiarity with his shoe.


July 22, 1975 -
Stanley Forman took the Pulitzer Prize-winning photo Fire Escape Collapse on this date.

The photograph, which is part of a series, shows 19-year-old Diana Bryant and her 2-year-old goddaughter Tiare Jones falling from the collapsed fire escape of a burning apartment building on Marlborough Street in Boston. It spurred action to improve the safety of fire escapes across the United States.


At the time of his death on this date in 1982, King Sobhuza II was the longest-reigning monarch in the world. His death also established him as the most recently-deceased monarch in the world. Today he is on a long list of continuously dead rulers.

Sobhuza began his career as Paramount Chief of the Swazi in 1921, but was not recognized as king by Great Britain, which ran the nation as a protectorate, until 1967. (The forgetful Brits have a long history of failing to recognize kings, perhaps owing to the difficulty of seeing clearly in the London fog.)



The Brits wrote a Constitution before they left, but Sobhuza did not discover it until 1973, at which point he discarded it on the grounds of its being British. Five years later he implemented a better Constitution that, surprisingly enough, left all political power in his own hands.

He died in 1982. The Constitution declared that he should be succeeded by one of his children, which seemed simple at first but was complicated by the revelation of his having had over 600 children.

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(Apparently he had time on his hands for more than political power.) It took four years to find the right son, and King Mswati III has reigned ever since.


July 22, 1982 -
It's a happy 40th anniversary for over 2000 couples who were married by Rev. Moon in Madison Square Garden on this date in NYC.

As far as I can find out, nearly 75% of the couples are still married (although, perhaps not to each other.)



And so it goes.