June 4, 1938 -
Another extremely funny Warner Bros. Cartoon, Porky the Fireman, was released on this date.
The director, Frank Tashlin, is one of the few directors to successfully make the transition from animation to live-action, noted especially for his work with Jerry Lewis. Tashlin never made a picture that couldn’t be slotted firmly into the genre of comedy.
June 4, 1942 -
William Wyler' adaptation of Jan Struther wartime novel, Mrs Miniver, starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon (the second of their eighth movies pairings,) premiered in New York City on this date.
After first-choice Norma Shearer rejected the title role (as she refused to play a mother), Greer Garson was cast. Although she didn't want the part either, she was contractually bound to take it and won the Academy Award for her performance.
June 4, 1953 -
Joseph L. Mankiewicz's adaptation of William Shakespeare's classic tragedy, Julius Caesar, starring Marlon Brando and just about every middle aged British actor opened in general release on this date.
This movie was shot in just 35 days, using some of the sets from Quo Vadis, which were dismantled, flown from Rome to Hollywood, and then reassembled for this film. Producer John Houseman confirmed that it was never intended that the movie be shot in color, as he and director Joseph L. Mankiewicz wanted it to have the urgency of a newsreel, not to look like a costume epic.
June 4, 1963 -
The Nutty Professor, arguably Jerry Lewis' best directorial effort, was released on this date.
According to one of the trailers for this film, "We don't care if you blab about the beginning of this picture; nor do we care if you give away the ending; but we do care if you reveal the middle. In fact, Jerry Lewis urges you to see this picture from the beginning, on penalty of losing your popcorn privileges." This spoofs Alfred Hitchcock's dictum that Psycho had to be seen from the beginning and his insistence that no latecomers be seated ("not even the [theatre] manager's brother").
June 4, 1965 -
The Rolling Stones release Satisfaction on this date.
Keith Richards ran his guitar through a Gibson Fuzz Box to create the distortion effect. He had no intention of using the sound on the record, but Gibson had just sent him the device, and he thought the Fuzz Box would create sustained notes to help sketch out the horn section. The band thought it sounded great and wanted to use the sound because it would be very unusual for a rock record. Richards thought it sounded gimmicky and did not like the result, but the rest of the band convinced him to ditch the horn section and use the distorted guitar sound.
June 4, 1982 -
Paramount released the epic Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (which should have been titled, Battle of the Outrageous Toups) opened on this date.
It is a Star Trek running gag that there is a Federation embargo against Romulan ale, but this still doesn't prevent resourceful people like Dr. McCoy (using "medicinal" privileges as a loophole) from procuring some for Admiral Kirk as a birthday present, and many Star Trek captains and flag officers have, over the years in Star Trek canon, viewed it as something of a status symbol, much like Cuban cigars in the United States.
On the same day, Paramount also released the horror classic, Poltergeist.
Drew Barrymore was considered for the role of Carol Anne, but director Steven Spielberg wanted someone more angelic. It was Barrymore's audition for this role, however, that landed her the part of Gertie in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
June 4, 1983 -
The Police started a four week run at No.1 in the UK with a cut from their album Synchronicity, Every Breath You Take, (the group's fifth and final No.1 single,) on this date.
Sting wrote this at the same desk in Jamaica where Ian Fleming wrote his James Bond novels. By this time, the band was at the peak of their popularity and often traveled to exotic locales so they could work more effectively. Sting was also exerting more control, taking less input from his bandmates when it came time to record his songs. Synchronicity ended up being the fifth and final Police studio album, as it was clear they could no longer work together. Every Breath You Take was the first single from the album.
June 4, 1984 -
Bruce Springsteen released his seventh studio album, Born in the USA on this date.
The original title was Vietnam. The director Paul Schrader sent Springsteen a script for a movie called Born In The U.S.A., about a rock band struggling with life and religion. This gave Bruce the idea for the new title. Unfortunately for Schrader, when he was finally ready to make the movie in 1985, the title Born In The U.S.A. was too associated with the song. Springsteen helped him out however, providing the song Light Of Day, which became the new title for Schrader's movie and the feature song in the film.
Another book from the back shelves of The ACME Library
Today in History:
June 4, 1070 -
Roquefort cheese was accidentally discovered in a cave near Roquefort, France, when a shepherd found a lunch he had forgotten several days before, chasing after a pretty girl.
Remember, this is an estimated date - history doesn't normally record the spoiled luncheon choices hungry shepherds have. This was a very brave (or very hungry) shepherd.
Also, how do they know he was chasing a pretty girl. Maybe he was chasing another virile and strapping youth. Maybe it was a fetching sheep with a come-hither look. What business is it of yours anyway? (Apparently it concerned King Charles VI of France enough. He granted a monopoly for the ripening of Roquefort cheese to the people of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon as they had been doing for centuries, on this date in 1411.)
The Freemasons were officially founded in London on June 4, 1717.
Freemasons first appeared in England and Scotland in the 1300s, not long after the first appearance of the Loch Ness monster but well before the advent of crop circles. Most laborers of the era were villains and therefore prohibited from travel; since most stone masonry projects (such as cathedrals, churches, and big piles of rocks) required specialized training and large numbers of workers, however, stone masons were permitted to travel freely. They became known as Freemasons; their curious lunchboxes came to be known as mason jars.
Whenever the Freemasons arrived in town to start work on a new project, they set up a common area where they could meet one another, receive their pay, get food, train apprentices, rest, and get roaring drunk. These came to be known as lodges.
As the centuries passed, the Freemasons did less and less work with rocks and more and more drinking at lodges. Today, the Freemasons are a friendly social organization with a secret handshake, and are therefore believed to be responsible for selling out the governments of the world to an invading extraterrestrial army.
June 4, 1783 -
The Montgolfier brothers publicly demonstrate their unmanned Montgolfière (hot air balloon) on this date.
The first untethered flight was recorded by the brothers later that year on November 21, 1783 in Paris, France.
June 4, 1798 -
Giacomo Girolamo Casanova de Seingalt, Venetian adventurer, syphilis sufferer and author, died in relative obscurity as the librarian of Count Waldstein of Bohemia on this date. The Count often ignored him at meals and failed to introduce him to important visiting guests. More over, Casanova, the testy outsider, was thoroughly disliked by most of the other inhabitants of the Castle of Dux. Casanova’s only friends seemed to be his fox terriers.
In despair, Casanova considered suicide, but instead decided that he must live on to record his memoirs, which he did until his death.
His main book Histoire de ma vie (History of My Life), part autobiography and part memoir, is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of the customs and norms of European social life during the 18th century. His last words are said to have been “I have lived as a philosopher and I die as a Christian.”
June 4, 1937 -
Sylvan Goldman ran a successful chain of grocery stores, where customers could carry hand baskets while they shopped. By 1937, when he was a major owner of the Humpty-Dumpty supermarket chain, he invented the shopping cart. He got the idea from a wooden folding chair. He designed the cart by putting a basket on the seat, another below and wheels on the legs. He and a mechanic, Fred Young put one together with a metal frame, and wire baskets.
On this date, Goldman placed an advertisement in the Oklahoma City papers, showing a woman exhausted by the weight of her shopping basket. “It’s new – It’s sensational. No more baskets to carry,” the ad said, referring to the new shopping cart.
Unfortunately, the customers didn’t want to use the carts. Young men thought they would appear weak; young women felt the carts were unfashionable; and older people didn’t want to appear helpless. So, Goldman hired models of all ages and both sexes to push the things around the store, pretending they were shopping.
June 4, 1946 -
President Truman signed into law, the America’s National School Lunch Program of 1946 on this date. The bill was enacted in no small part to WWII.
Your tax dollars at work.
June 4, 1974 -
Ten Cent Beer Night was an ill-fated promotion held by the Cleveland Indians during a game against the Texas Rangers at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, on this date. Cleveland sold an estimated 60,000 cups of beer to the 25,134 in attendance.
Most sober fans departed early, leaving an increasingly drunk and unruly mob behind. Continued degradation of the game culminated in a riot in the ninth inning when fans rushed the field. The Indians’ security force of 50 was grossly outnumbered by more than 25,000 drunken fans. Players were forced to protect themselves with bats while retreating from the field. Twelve fans were arrested as nearly two dozen additional police cars responded to the stadium.
June 4, 1989 -
Today is the 34th anniversary of what became known as the "June Fourth Incident" in China. Tiananmen Square protests were ended in the typical manner of a totalitarian regime - with the People's Liberation Army soldiers and tanks, massacring the people they are supposed to serve.
Amnesty International estimated anywhere from 1,000 to 3,000 Chinese democracy advocates were killed on this day. The Chinese government puts the death toll at 241. Public commemoration of the incident is officially banned. However, the residents of Hong Kong have held an annual vigil on the anniversary of the crackdown, even after Hong Kong reverted to Chinese administration.
Once again, I'm not making any friends with the Chinese government.
And so it goes.
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