(The Interrobang is a combination of both the exclamation point and a question mark, used thusly: “What are you doing[insert interrobang. Unfortunately, the interrobang isn’t standard in font sets and can’t easily be used in typing.] By just thinking about it, I've declassified documents. ” )
September 24, 1046 -
You might know that today is the feast day of St. Gerard Sagredo of Hungary and he was not having a great day today.
September 24, 1938 -
One of the craziest cartoons Looney Tunes ever produced, Porky in Wackyland was released on this date. You need to watch it a few times to really get everything that's going on in this one.
At one point in the pan of the various denizens of Wackyland, a character with large glasses comes out of a pot and says, "Hello, Bobo." This refers to animator Robert Cannon, whose nickname was Bobo and who did wear big glasses. On the pot are the words "Treg's a Foo", referring to sound effects man Treg Brown.
September 24, 1945 -
Michael Curtiz' tense film noir, Mildred Pierce, starring Joan Crawford and her enormous shoulder pads, was released on this date.
There were conflicts between Michael Curtiz and Joan Crawford. He wanted her canned, claiming she was altering the look and interpretation of the character to make her more glamorous. There were the inevitable arguments over shoulders, with Crawford tearfully (and not altogether truthfully) claiming her dowdy off-the-rack Sears dresses were unpadded. Curtiz started referring to her as "Phony Joanie" and "the rotten bitch," laying into her mercilessly in front of cast and crew. Crawford wanted the director fired and replaced "with a human being."
September 24, 1958 -
Ladies (and some men), don't you always wears heels, pearls and chic frocks to do the housework? The Donna Reed Show premiered on ABC-TV on this date.
The first season opening credits of The Munsters were an outrageous parody of the opening credits of The Donna Reed Show, which always began with Donna Reed lovingly passing out lunches to her departing family members as they left the house one by one. Yvonne De Carlo, as Lily Munster, did the same thing.
September 24, 1961 -
Students of Great Comedy lined up around the block to enroll in Whatsamatta U when The Bullwinkle Show moved to primetime on NBC TV on this date.
The Bullwinkle Show incurred the wrath of no less a Hollywood heavyweight than Walt Disney. Each prime time episode was "introduced" by Bullwinkle himself (as a hand puppet, voiced by Bill Scott ), and social commentary was often sprinkled in with the gags. Disney had recently changed his own weekly show's name from Disneyland to Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color and was appearing on screen to relentlessly promote the sale of color TV sets, still a relatively newfangled phenomenon. Bullwinkle, taking note, told his audience there was no need to buy an expensive new set, telling them instead to think of all the nasty things Walt Disney had said about their old black and white TVs. "Now then," he said, "don't you see red?"
September 24, 1964 -
Beverley Owen played the part of Marilyn for the first 13 episodes. She was in love with her fiancée in New York and agreed to do the show thinking it would be a flop from the outlandish premise. When it became a hit, she was constantly crying from having to be in LA while her boyfriend Jon Stone was in New York. The other cast members asked the producers to release her from her contract so she could get married and they did. She was replaced by Pat Priest, who looked so much like Beverly Owen, viewers never knew the difference. Beverley Owen would get divorced from Jon Stone eight years later, and would never appear on screen again after those initial 13 episodes.
September 24, 1968 -
The TV show Mod Squad premiered on ABC-TV on this date.
Clarence Williams III, Michael Cole and Tige Andrews appear in all 123 episodes. Peggy Lipton appeared in every episode with the exception of two.
September 24, 1977 -
Everyone got to order their first drink from Isaac when The Love Boat set sail for the first time on ABC-TV on this date.
Gavin MacLeod (Captain Stubing), Bernie Kopell (Dr. Bricker) and Ted Lange (Isaac Washington) are the only actors to appear in every episode of the series.
September 24, 1991 -
Nirvana's album Nevermind was released 31 years today on this date.
Within a year of the album's release, much of the hair metal and hard rock that had commanded the airwaves was being phased out in favor of the “grunge” style often attached to Nirvana.
Don't forget to tune in to The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour today
Today in History:
September 24, 1896 -
... It is sadder to find the past again and find it inadequate to the present than it is to have it elude you and remain forever a harmonious conception of memory.
The war ended before Fitzgerald could be sent overseas and shot, however, so he went to New York to become rich and famous. He became neither, so Zelda broke off their engagement.
Fitzgerald then moved back to Minnesota. A year later he became a famous writer. He moved to Connecticut, Zelda married him, and they became drunken celebrity wrecks.
They spent a lot of time in Europe. This lasted until Zelda went mad and died and Fitzgerald became an alcoholic and died.
Fitzgerald is best remembered for having said the rich were different, even though Hemingway kept telling him to act like a man and strip down, grease himself up and get into a boxing ring.
Oh yeah, he also wrote several books.
September 24, 1947 -
Majestic 12, a secret committee of scientists, military leaders, and government officials, was allegedly established by a secret executive order issued by President Harry Truman (who may or may not have been sober at the time) to investigate UFO activity in the aftermath of the Roswell incident.
Conspiracy theorists consider the Majestic 12 major evidence supporting the government-cover-up theories. The FBI has since attempted to debunk any documents associated with the committee. Debate continues to this day about whether or not the committee existed.
(And remember, you didn't read any of this here.)
September 24, 1964 -
The Warren Commission report on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, (which had occurred on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas,) was presented to President Lyndon B. Johnson on this date.
The report did little to quiet conspiracy theories, but it documented that Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone and that the Secret Service had made poor preparations for JFK’s visit to Dallas, had failed to sufficiently protect him, and was not part of a larger-scale plot.
But, I've said too much already.
September 24, 1969 -
The trial of the "Chicago Eight" (later seven) began on this date. Demonstrations began outside the court house, with the Weatherman group proclaiming the "Days of Rage" in protest of the trial. The Chicago Eight staged demonstrations at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago to protest the Vietnam War and its support by the top Democratic presidential candidate, Vice President Hubert Humphrey. These anti-Vietnam War protests were some of the most violent in American history as the police and national guardsmen beat antiwar protesters, innocent bystanders and members of the press.
Five defendants (Tom Hayden, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger and Rennie Davis) were convicted of crossing state lines to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention; the convictions were ultimately overturned.
September 24, 1970 -
Luna 16 was the first robotic probe to land on the Moon and return a sample to Earth. An automatic drilling rig was deployed and 101 grams of lunar soil was collected.
The samples were returned to Earth on this date and marked the first time lunar sampled were recovered by an unmanned spacecraft.
September 24, 1991 -
Theodor Seuss Geisel, an American writer and cartoonist best known for his classic children's books under the pen name Dr. Seuss, including The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, died on this date.
No greater tribute was given to the Doctor than when the Reverend Jesse Jackson appeared on SNL following his death.
And so it goes
Don't you always wears heels, pearls and chic frocks to do the housework? Indeed we do.
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