In 1895 , nine-year-old Joseph Meister was the first person to be inoculated against rabies. The inoculation was carried out by Dr Louis Pasteur.
Munich is smack dab in the middle of Oktoberfest season once again after the cancellation of the past few years, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Today is National Beer Drinking Day here in the US- a wonderful reminder to enjoy the world’s most popular adult beverage.
Today is also St. Wenceslaus' Day, patron saint of brew masters, named after Wenceslas I the Duke of Bohemia (commemorated in the song, Good King Wenceslas,) who was martyred on this date.
September 28, 1949 -
The first of the 12 films Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis made, My Friend Irma, premiered in New York City on this date.
According to a Hollywood Reporter news item, Jack Carson was originally slated to appear as Al, but was unavailable. Marie Wilson created the role of Irma in the original CBS radio program My Friend Irma..
September 28, 1961 -
Viewers got to spend time with the Baxter's and their wise-cracking maid when Hazel premiered on CBS-TV on this date
The house where Hazel and the Baxters lived was also used as the home of Gidget Lawrence and her father on the 1965 TV sitcom Gidget. It also served as the home of teenager Ann-Margret and her father (Paul Lynde) in the 1963 musical Bye-Bye Birdie. Two decades later, the house appeared in the movie franchise Lethal Weapon, as the home of Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover). The house is located on Blondie Street, a residential neighborhood set at Warner Ranch in Burbank. The same faux block also included the Bewitched home, the Father Knows Best, The Partridge family home, the Nelson house on I Dream of Jeannie and the Donna Reed Show home. The 1998 movie Pleasantville used the entire block for its version of an idealized TV neighborhood.
September 28, 1963 -
Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales cartoon debuts on CBS-TV on this date.
Whenever Phineas J. Whoopee goes to an overloaded closet for his 3-Dimensional Blackboard, assorted items cascade out and bury him. This running gag was probably inspired by a similar gag from the classic radio comedy Fibber McGee and Molly.
September 28, 1967 -
Gladys Knight & the Pips' single, (written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for Motown Records,) I Heard It Through the Grapevine was released on this date.
Along with Papa Was A Rollin' Stone, Barrett Strong considers this the best song he wrote with Norman Whitfield. Other hits they wrote together include Ain't Too Proud To Beg, Just My Imagination, and Money (That's What I Want).
September 28, 1968 -
The Beatles' single, Hey Jude, went to number one on the Billboard Charts and stayed there for nine weeks. (Listen how the song starts with one instrument and the record ends with with 50 instruments playing.)
In a 2018 interview with GQ, Paul McCartney talked about how he came up with the idea for this song: "John and his wife Cynthia had divorced, and I felt a bit sorry for their son, who was now a child of a divorce. I was driving out to see the son and Cynthia one day and I was thinking about the boy whose name was Julian - Julian Lennon, and I started this idea, 'Hey Jules, don't make it bad, it's gonna be OK.' It was like a reassurance song."
September 28, 1980 -
Billions and billions of brilliant moments on TV are about to be aired - Carl Sagan's 13 part Cosmos premiered on PBS.
In many episodes we see a photo of Earth showing Africa in the upper left. That is the 'Blue Marble' photo taken in 1972 by Apollo 7 astronauts on their way to the moon. It is one of the most famous of all space photos, and for 30 years was the only full sunlight shot of Earth.
September 28, 1987 -
Star Trek: The Next Generation premiered on CBS-TV with the episode Encounter at Farpoint on this date.
Wil Wheaton noted that during the filming, most of the cast didn't believe that the series would last more than a year. Patrick Stewart even admitted that he didn't bother to unpack his suitcase the first months.
September 28, 1994 -
Tim Burton's love letter to the early career of Edward D. Wood, Jr., Ed Wood premiered on this date.
Tim Burton said that he was drawn to the story because of the similarities between Edward D. Wood Jr.'s relationship with Bela Lugosi and his own friendship with Vincent Price late in the actor's life.
September 28, 2012 -
The Universal musical comedy film, Pitch Perfect (my daughters favorite film,) starring Anna Kendrick, Skylar Astin, Rebel Wilson, Brittany Snow, Adam DeVine, Ben Platt, John Michael Higgins, and Elizabeth Banks, premiered on this date in the US.
Brittany Snow said that Rebel Wilson improvised most of her lines and would go on 20-minute tangents that would have the whole cast and crew in stitches.
September 28, 2013 -
Miley Cyrus' single Wrecking Ball went to No. 1 on the Billboard Charts on this date.
This big emotional breakup ballad was released as a promotional single from Miley Cyrus' Bangerz album on August 25, 2013. It immediately rolled up to #2 on the iTunes sales chart in the aftermath of Cyrus' controversial MTV VMA performance joining We Can't Stop in the Top Five.
Another job posting from The ACME Employment Agency
Today in History:
September 28, 48 BC -
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus was not having a great day today.
Ptolemy, reading the global tea leaves as much as 11 year olds can, thought to gain favor with Caesar, by killing Pompey. Ptolemy had misjudged the Roman sense of honor completely. Caesar demanded the assassins be executed, and had Pompey's head cremated with honor. Ptolemy was later deposed in favor of his sister, Cleopatra.
British history began on September 28, 1066, with the Norman invasion of England. The Normans were a group of Franks who'd grown weary of being so Frank. Their decision to become Normans cost them their Frankness, so they joined together and invaded England under the leadership of William (or, in Norman, "Norman") the Conqueror.
Prior to this invasion, Britain had been occupied mostly by Angles, Saxons, and large stones (who had never properly appreciated cricket, fog, or Kipling and had therefore been unable to invent England.) William (Norman) the Conqueror realized that, if it was ever going to amount to anything, what England really needed was a Great King, preferably someone very much like himself.
Appropriate arrangements were made.
September 28, 1850 -
The United States Navy abolished the practice of flogging. Among the crimes for which this was the penalty are: stealing poultry from the coop (12 lashes), being lousy (six), stealing a wig (12), and being naked on the spar deck (nine).
September 28, 1891 -
“The disfranchisement of a single legal elector by fraud or intimidation is a crime too grave to be regarded lightly.”
We've brought this up before but it bears repeating - Benjamin Harrison was the first president to have electric lights in the White House, but he was terrified of turning them on himself. Afraid of electrocution, he made his servants do it. Harrison spent the rest of his time at the White House with the lights on in his bedroom at night.
September 28, 1902 -
It's the birthday of Ed Sullivan, born in New York City on this date. He was writing a gossip column for the New York Daily News called "Little Old New York," moonlighting now and then as a master of ceremonies at variety shows and benefits. He was emceeing a dance contest when somebody asked him if he'd like to try hosting a show on this new thing called television.
The Ed Sullivan Show premiered live on CBS in 1948, and within a few years about 50 million people watched it every Sunday night. It was like vaudeville. It had opera singers, ventriloquists and magicians and pandas on roller skates and big stars. Ed Sullivan said, "Open big, have a good comedy act, put in something for children, and keep the show clean."
He was a shy, awkward man, but he loved performers. He personally chose every guest for his show. He was one of the first hosts to invite black performers, including Jackie Robinson, Duke Ellington, Richard Pryor and James Brown, on his show.
Ed Sullivan: the last television host who tried to appeal to everyone in America.
September 28, 1918 -
After the Liberty Loan parade in Philadelphia on this date, thousands of people became infected with the Spanish Flu, causing the death of more than 12,000 in the city.
Soon, the city was in crisis. Hospitals overflowed and bodies piled up in morgues. Philadelphia had the highest death rate of any major American city during the pandemic. Nearly 14,000 people died in six weeks, one death every five minutes; more than 17,500 died in six months.
September 28, 1920 -
A Cook County grand jury indicts the White Sox players paid to throw the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds on this date.
Even though they are found not guilty, Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis bans them all from professional baseball for life.
September 28, 1924 -
Two U.S. Army planes landed in Seattle, Washington, completing the first round-the-world flight in 175 days, on this date. The flight had begun from Seattle on April 6th with four aircraft named "Seattle, Chicago, Boston, and New Orleans."
The Seattle experienced technical difficulties and crashed in dense fog into a mountainside near Port Moller on the Alaska Peninsula (the crew miraculously survived). The Boston came down while crossing the Atlantic (the crew was rescued.) The Chicago flown by (Lt. Lowell Smith (pilot) and 1st Lt. Leslie Arnold) and the New Orleans flown by (Lt. Erik Nelson (pilot) and Lt. Jack Harding) completed the journey.
September 28, 1963 -
Roy Lichtenstein’s pop art work Whaam!, depicting in comic-book style a US jet shooting down an enemy fighter, was exhibited for the first time on this date.
In time, it will become one of the best known examples of pop art.
September 28, 1964 -
Men are allowed to age. Men are allowed to gain weight. Men are allowed to be quirky looking..
Janeane Garofalo, comedian, actress and writer was born on this date.
September 28, 1978 -
A nun at the Vatican discovered the lifeless body of Pope John Paul I, formerly Albino Luciani, in bed. The pontiff had been on the job only 33 days before unexpectedly dying in his sleep, after having taken some sort of pills with dinner.
The church refused to grant an autopsy.
See Godfather III for further explanations.
September 28, 1989 -
Former Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos died in Waikiki, Hawaii, after three years in exile on this date. He was in ill health and awaiting US charges on looting funds from his country.
(Wow, this is the second time in about a week that I've mentioned the Popsicle ex-dictator.)
September 28, 2008 -
The world's first private spaceship went into orbit, on this date, when the Falcon 1 was launched by SpaceX, a company founded by Elon Musk, cartoon super villian.
The entire launch was broadcast live from Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
And so it goes
In Prague's Wenceslas Square a month ago, we were trying to explain to some locals that there is in fact a New Prague Minnesota. They didn't believe us until we showed them on Google Maps. Who's teaching history to these Czech youth?
ReplyDelete(It) cost them their Frankness. Indeed
ReplyDeleteThe EU commission has taken away my teaching license, for certain international incidents best left unmentioned. So it is not me.
ReplyDelete