It's also known as the Dormition of the Mother of God

Today is the Feast of Assumption of Mary. Kids it's a Holy Day of Obligation. (While the day only became a Holy Day of Obligation recently - on November 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII defined the Assumption of Mary to be a dogma of faith - in fact, the Feast of the Assumption is one of the oldest holy days in the Church, with accounts of celebrations going back to the sixth century.)

If you have problems understanding this or the Immaculate Conception, remember the old lady in church, saying her rosaries that I've made mention of in the past, please go bother her, I'm not even going to try explaining this one to you. Not that I can't - I just want to see her smack you upside the head.


August 15, 1918 -
The Sinking of the Lusitania, written and directed by Winsor McCay, went into general release in the U.S. on this date.



It is the first full-length feature cartoon documentary, featuring over twenty five thousand individual drawings which took twenty-two months to produce. The twelve minute silent film is a an educational explanation of the sinking of the RMS Lusitania.


August 15, 1948 -
CBS-TV inaugurated the first nightly news broadcast with anchorman Douglas Edwards.



Mr. Edwards held the job for 14 years and was succeeded by Walter Cronkite.


August 15, 1964 -
Dean Martin's song Everybody Loves Somebody knocks The Beatles' A Hard Day's Night from the #1 spot on the Hot 100 on this date.



Dean Martin hadn't had a substantial pop hit since his version of Volare went to #12 in 1958. In 1962, he signed with the Reprise record label, which was founded by Frank Sinatra. Reprise was able to put some promotional might behind Martin and give him a more contemporary sound. He kept his distance from rock and roll, but there was still an audience for his sound. Everybody Loves Somebody became the first chart-topper on Reprise; Martin was a reliable seller on the label throughout the '60s, with most of his singles landing on the Hot 100.


August 15, 1979 -
Neal Israel's futuristic comedy film, Americathon, starring John Ritter, Fred Willard, Peter Riegert, Harvey Korman, and Nancy Morgan, with narration by George Carlin, premiered in the US on this date.



Dorothy Stratten appears in an uncredited role wearing a Playboy Bunny style costume in the scene where Roy Budnitz donates blood.


August 15, 1979 -
The very long delayed epic, Apocalypse Now, premiered in NYC on this date. (Order some Banh xeo and a couple of bottles of Tiger Beer, and watch the Redux version, in honor of the anniversary.)



It took Francis Ford Coppola nearly three years to edit the footage. While working on his final edit, it became apparent to him that Martin Sheen would be needed to tape several additional narrative voice-overs. Coppola soon discovered that Sheen was busy, and unable to perform these voice-overs. He then called in Sheen's brother, Joe Estevez, whose voice sounded nearly identical, to perform the new narrative tracks. Estevez was also used as a stand-in when Sheen suffered a heart attack during the shoot in 1976. Estevez was not credited for his work as a stand-in, nor for his voice-over work.


August 15, 1981 -
Diana Ross and Lionel Richie started a nine week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with Endless Love, on this date.



This was released on the Motown label, which was home to both artists (the Commodores were a Motown act, and Richie stayed on the label as a solo artist). Ross, though, left Motown two months before it was released, signing a $20 million deal with RCA. Motown made the most of what they had recorded from Ross, and included Endless Love on a Diana Ross compilation album called All the Great Hits, which was also released in 1981.


Word of the Day


Today in History:
August 15, 1057 -
Macbeth was killed at the Battle of Lumphanan in Aberdeenshire on this date, by Malcolm Canmore, the eldest son of King Duncan I, who was deposed by Macbeth years earlier



He had been king of Scotland for 17 years. For those of you who do not know, you're not suppose to say the name of the Scottish king 'aloud'.


August 15, 1534 -
St. Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish ecclesiastic, founded the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) in Paris with the aim of defending Catholicism against heresy and undertaking missionary work, on this date. Ignatius converted to Christianity while convalescing after a battle and wrote his Spiritual Exercises meant as a guide for conversion.

In Paris, Ignatius and a small group of men took vows of poverty, chastity and papal obedience. Ignatius formally organized the order in 1539 that was approved by the pope in 1540. The society‘s rapid growth and emphasis on scholarship aided in the resurgence of Catholicism during the Counter-Reformation.

You may now impress your friends with that bit of knowledge.


August 15, 1843 -
Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, Denmark, the world's second oldest amusement park still in operation, offers rides such as roller coasters and carousels as well as exotic flower gardens, opened on this date. Today, it is the most visited amusement park in Scandinavia.



The world's oldest amusement park still in operation is the Dyrehavsbakken park, also in Denmark.


August 15, 1877 -
Thomas Edison wrote to the president of the Telegraph Company in Pittsburgh, PA on this date (stay with me.)



The letter stated that the word, "hello" would be a more appropriate greeting than "ahoy" when answering the telephone.

So now you know


August 15, 1911 -
Procter and Gamble unveiled Crisco shortening on this date.

The new motto should be, "When you open our can, the party's started!"


August 15, 1914 -
The SS Ancon cargo ship was the first to pass through the newly-built Panama Canal on this date.



Today, more than 14,000 ships pass through each year.


August 15,1914 -
108 years ago today, Julian Carlton, a servant of architect Frank Lloyd Wright burned down Wright's Wisconsin home, Taliesin and murdered seven people, including Wright's lover, Mamah Borthwick Cheney, and her two children. Wright was in Chicago at the time, working on a project.



Carlton was almost immediately captured and jailed, but died six weeks later (a result of having swallowed acid), without uttering a meaningful word about the motive behind his rampage.


August 15, 1935 -
Will Rogers, the most famous man in America, died near Barrow, Alaska when his sea plane plunges into a lagoon. At the time, he and one-eyed aviator Wiley Post were surveying possible flight paths between Seattle and the Soviet Union.



Remember bunkies, let this be a lesson to you - don't take a flight with a drunken, one eyed pilot.


August 15, 1945 -
Harry Truman hadn't sobered up yet. He could not quite believe that he was President and got to drop not one but two atomic bombs.



Truman had announced the Japanese surrender the day before. But it was on this day in 1945 that the Allies officially declared V-J Day.


Aug 15, 1947 -
At the stroke of midnight on the 14th of August, Britain withdrew its control on the jewel in its crown and India and Pakistan became two separate, independent, democratic nations,after some 200 years of British rule.



The division of Pakistan from India prompted mass emigration: Muslims moving west to Pakistan and Hindus moving east toward India. The event also unleashed a period of religious turmoil in India and Pakistan that would result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands, including Gandhi.


August 15, 1965 -
The Beatles played to nearly 60,000 fans at Shea Stadium in New York City, on this date, marking the birth of stadium rock.



People tend to forget that this was one of the first major stadium concerts by a rock group.


August 15, 1969 -
The Woodstock Music and Arts Fair began on this date, on Max Yasger's farm in upstate New York.



The greatest gathering of marketing and advertising professionals in American history, the festival featured the musical artists behind some of today's hottest commercial jingles.


August 15, 1977 -
The Big Ear radio telescope, operated at Ohio State University by the SETI project, receives a strong seventy-two second narrowband radio signal from deep space (6EQUJ5.) The event is named the “Wow! signal” for the notation made by Jerry Ehman, a volunteer on the project.



The signal appears to have come to the northwest of the globular cluster of M55 in the constellation Sagittarius, near the Chi Sagittarii star group. It has never been detected again.


Always remember: If you're alone in the kitchen and you drop the lamb, you can always just pick it up..




It's the 110th birthday of Julia Child - Chef, Spy, Philosopher and in my opinion, one of the greatest Americans of the last century.


Besides Julia's, today is the birthday of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769),




Rose Marie (1925),




Oscar Peterson (1925),




Linda Ellerbee (1944), (possibly the second greatest living American)




Jimmy Webb (1946),




Oh, and my friend Liz

(but she knows how old she is.)



And so it goes.