Given the amount of drinking many of you probably did yesterday, a little extra fiber in your diet today wouldn't be the worst idea in the world. Word to the wise - if one of the raisins stats to crawl away, don't eat the cookie.
March 18, 1924 -
The Douglas Fairbanks swashbuckler adventure film, The Thief of Bagdad, which tells the story of a thief who falls in love with the daughter of the Caliph, was released on this date.
For the scenes in the underwater mermaid kingdom, Douglas Fairbanks had the cameras shoot through a curtain of thin gauze, to give the illusion that the Thief was swimming underwater. The mermaid kingdom scenes were then tinted blue in post-production.
March 18, 1938 -
The under appreciated Ernst Lubitsch film, Bluebeard's Eighth Wife starring Gary Cooper and Claudette Coulbert (written by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder) premiered on this date.
At their first production meeting, Ernst Lubitsch posed this question: How do the boy and girl get together? Billy Wilder promptly suggested that the opening scene should be in the men's shop of a department store. "The boy is trying to buy a pajama," he extemporized glibly, "but he sleeps only in the tops. He is thrifty so he insists on buying ONLY the tops. The clerk says he must buy the pants too. It looks like a catastrophe. Then the girl comes into the shop and buys the pants because she sleeps only in the pants." Ernst Lubitsch and Charles Brackett were enchanted with this idea. Months later, they discovered that Billy Wilder himself was a pajama tops-only sleeper and had been contemplating this idea for months, waiting for a chance to use it in a comedy.
March 18, 1964 -
In his first outing as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau, Peter Sellers starred in The Pink Panther, which premiered in New York City on this date.
With just two weeks to go before shooting begun, the producers decided that Ava Gardner's erratic lifestyle could affect filming and decided not to offer her the part of Madame Clouseau. Capucine was hired in a hurry, but Peter Ustinov's wife felt this would affect the calibre of the production and told him to withdraw . From this chaos, Peter Sellers became an international superstar.
March 18, 1967 -
The Beatles' Penny Lane single goes #1 on this date.
The first time The Beatles appeared with facial hair was in the promotional film for this song. The clip shows the band on horseback, trotting around Angel Lane in London (not Penny Lane). By this time, the group had stopped touring, so the only way many fans could see them perform was on music videos like this one.
March 18, 1968 -
Mel Brook's screamingly funny first film, a send-up of Broadway, The Producers, premiered in New York City on this date.
Roger Ebert recounted how he was in an elevator with Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft in New York City after the film premiered. A woman got onto the elevator, recognized him and said, "I have to tell you, Mr. Brooks, that your movie is vulgar." Brooks replied, "Lady", he said, "it rose below vulgarity."
March 18, 1972 -
Neil Young's Heart Of Gold, with backing vocals by James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt, hit No. #1 on the Billboard Charts in the US, on this date.
Neil Young was in Nashville to record a performance for The Johnny Cash Show along with Tony Joe White, James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt. Elliot Mazer, a producer who owned nearby Quadrafonic Studios, set up a dinner party on February 5, inviting the show's guests and about 50 other people. Mazer was friends with Young's manager Elliot Roberts, who introduced the two at the gathering. Young and Mazer quickly hit it off when Neil learned that Elliot has produced a band called Area Code 615. Young asked if he could set up a session the next day, and Mazer complied.
March 18, 1975 –
McLean Stevenson’s character (Lt. Colonel Henry Blake) died in the M*A*S*H episode Abyssinia, Henry, its third season finale on this date.
According to producer Larry Gelbart, when Larry Linville read the (previously concealed) final page of the script, he said, "Fucking brilliant!" When Gary Burghoff read it, he looked at McLean Stevenson and said, "You'll probably win the Emmy for this, you son of a bitch!"
March 18, 1976 -
Nicholas Roeg's adaptation of the Walter Tevis' novel, The Man Who Fell To Earth, starring David Bowie (in his first major role), Candy Clark, Buck Henry, and Rip Torn, premieres in London, on this date.
According to costume designer May Routh, David Bowie was so thin that some of his outfits were boys' clothes.
March 18, 1981 -
Stephen J. Cannell's take on superheroes, The Greatest American Hero, starring William Katt, Robert Culp, and Connie Sellecca, premiered on ABC-TV, on this date.
William Katt said that at the start of the series, he and Robert Culp had difficulties getting along, and working with each other. Katt added they were able to use that to their advantage, as their relationship reflected the one portrayed between their respective characters. Katt and Culp were able to resolve their differences, and actually became good friends over the course of the series.
Don't forget to tune in to The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour today
Today in History:
March 18, 1314 -
Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the Knights Templar, was burned at the stake during the final purge of the Templars in France on this date.
Among the things de Molay admitted to the Inquisitor panel (though possibly coerced) were the obligation of Templars to deny Christ when they joined, and a sacrament that involved spitting on a crucifix.
Oh that wacky life during the Middle Ages.
March 18, 1584 -
Ivan IV of Russia died on this date. He is better known by his nickname: Ivan the Terrible. He was the first king of Russia to call himself a Caesar, probably in the hopes that Shakespeare would write a play about him. He also replaced the sale of beer and mead with vodka at state-run taverns.
He couldn't pronounce Caesar, however, so he simply called himself "zar," and subsequent arguments over whether that should be spelled czar, tsar, zar or tzar became so heated that they eventually resulted in Russian History.
March 18, 1913 -
(Once again kids follow along, it's complex.) Itinerant sailor and general layabout Philip Mountbatten's (nee Philip Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg) grandfather, Christian Wilhelm Ferdinand Adolf Georg of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (sibling to a king and two queens) was out on an afternoon stroll. This, in and of itself, is not remarkable, except for the fact that this minor Danish/ German prince had changed his name to George and became the King of Greece. Wilhelm/ George, like most royalty, went out for an afternoon stroll without any pocket change (royalty and presidents don't carry money.)
So kids let this be a lesson to you, if you find yourself the ruler of a European nation - the change you carry, may save your life.
March 18, 1915 -
Wenseslao Moguel, suspected of taking part in the Mexican Revolution, was captured by the Mexican Constitutionalists, on this date.
He was sentenced to summary execution, and was shot 8–9 times by a firing squad in the body, and received one final shot to the head point-blank range to ensure death. He survived his execution and lived to the age of 85.
March 18, 1922 -
Mohandas K. Gandhi a British educated lawyer, was arrested and sentenced to prison in India for civil disobedience after calling for mass civil disobedience which included boycotting British educational institutions and law courts, not working for the British controlled government and the boycott of foreign-made goods, especially British goods, on this date.
March 18, 1937 -
A massive gas explosion at the New London Junior-Senior High School in New London, Texas, killed more than 400 people, most of them children, on this date.
As a result of the explosion, legislation was passed requiring an odor to be added to natural gas so that leaks may be detected.
March 18, 1954 -
In 1948, Howard Hughes gained majority control of RKO Pictures stock; at that time RKO had becomes a struggling Hollywood studio. A steady stream of lawsuits from RKO's minority shareholders became an increasing nuisance, especially as Hughes looked to focus on his aircraft-manufacturing and TWA holdings during the Korean War years. And so our favorite bisexual billionaire, ever increasing germaphobe and aviator Howard Hughes bought RKO Pictures for $23,489,478 (and not a penny more,) on this date.
March 18, 1965 -
Cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov performed the first spacewalk on this day. He stayed outside his ship for 12 minutes, held to the ship by a tether.
By the time his walk was over, his spacesuit had inflated so much in the vacuum of space that he could barely get back inside the ship. With a bit of quick thinking, he opened a value to allow some of the suit’s air to bleed off without venting all of it, only barely getting back into the capsule in time.
March 12, 1965 -
Gene Sesky of Scranton lost control of the truck he was driving, hauling 30,000 pounds of bananas, barreling down Moosic Street toward central Scranton, unable to stop and crashes into cars, telephone poles, and houses on its way down the hill, injuring many people and killing Mr. Sesky.
Harry Chapin sang about of the tragic event in his song 30,000 Pounds Of Bananas.
March 18, 1970 -
Country Joe McDonald (of Country Joe and the Fish) was convicted on obscenity charges after he asks for an F, a U, a C and one other letter at a concert in Massachusetts.
The song was meant as a satire of US government attitudes toward the Vietnam War. Country Joe MacDonald released it at the height of the war after he had been discharged from the US Navy for several years. He wrote it in about 30 minutes after it popped into his head.
March 18, 1980 -
50 people were killed at the Plesetsk Space Center, Mirny, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia, when a Vostok rocket exploded on the launch pad on this date.
At the time, this represented a significant percentage of the Soviet space program's scientists.
And so it goes.
So there's a movie co-starring actors named Candy, Buck, and Rip and it's not a porn flick?
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