John Huston's first directorial effort, The Maltese Falcon, premiered in NYC on this date.
Three "Maltese Falcons" props were created for the film. Two were used because Humphrey Bogart accidentally dropped the original during shooting. It is on display in the movie museum at Warner Bros. studios; its tail feathers are visibly dented from when Bogart dropped it. The three statuettes still exist and are conservatively valued at over $1 million each. This makes them some of the most valuable film props ever made; indeed, each is now worth more than three times what the film cost to make.
October 3, 1950 -
The Beulah Show, jumped from CBS Radio to premiere on ABC-TV starring Ethel Waters, and Butterfly McQueen. The series was the first sitcom to star a black woman, albeit as a maid.
(This is not the first episode; the first episode is lost.)
The series recast the lead twice during it's two year run. Hattie McDaniel, who replaced Ethel Waters in season two, had to leave the show after starring in 6 episodes because she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Louise Beavers replaced her for the remainder of the series.
October 3, 1953 -
The final installment of the Looney Tunes "Hunting Trilogy", Duck! Rabbit, Duck!, premiered on this date.
Bugs Bunny stuck out four signs to lead Elmer Fudd to shoot Daffy Duck. In order they are:
1st GOAT SEASON OPEN;
2nd, DIRTY SKUNK SEASON;
3rd, PIGEON SEASON;
4th and last, MONGOOSE SEASON.
October 3, 1954 -
Another in the series of alcoholic actors playing model Dads, Father Knows Best, starring Robert Young premiered on this date.
The setting is very possibly Springfield, Illinois, since there is mention of a wedding in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a new girl from Chicago, and in one episode, Bud's homing pigeon is released in Rockford, all relatively near Springfield, Illinois.
October 3, 1955 -
Hey kids, remember Captain Kangaroo. Well, his show premiered on this date.
Despite the show's iconic nature, and enduring popularity, the series has never been officially released to home video/DVD or any streaming service. Very little film footage of the series remains, and what does exist was owned by Bob Keshan, and subsequently his estate, who have maintained a tight grip on their film holdings.
October 3, 1955 -
If today wasn't special enough, The Mickey Mouse Club also premiered on this date.
Although the show was filmed and broadcast in black and white, all of the animated segments - the opening theme, Mickey's introductions and farewells, the Jiminy Cricket shorts, etc. - were filmed in color.
After the animated Mickey Mouse Club theme song was performed, Donald Duck approached a large musical gong with a mallet to start the show. He never hit the gong without something going wrong.
October 3, 1955 -
Considered one of his five 'lost films' (held up for years from re-release), Alfred Hitchcock's The Trouble with Harry, premiered on this date. This was Shirley MacLaine's film debut.
This movie was Alfred Hitchcock's experiment to see how audiences would react to a non-star-driven movie. He was of the opinion that oftentimes having a big star attached actually hindered the narrative flow and style of the story. He also developed the movie to test how American audiences would react to a more subtle brand of humor than they were used to.
October 3, 1960 -
Tony Richardson’s biting commentary of the collapsing British Empire, The Entertainer, starring Laurence Olivier, Albert Finney, Alan Bates, and Joan Plowright, opened in NYC on the date.
When Phoebe (Brenda de Banzie) is listening to the radio, a request is read out for "Flight Sergeant Ossie Morris", of the Royal Air Force. This is a reference to Cinematographer Oswald "Ossie" Morris, who was a highly regarded and decorated pilot during World War II.
October 3, 1960 -
Let grab down our fishin' poles and head down to the fishin' hole, The Andy Griffith Show premiered on this date.
They never mention what happened to Opie's mother. Opie was said to be just "a speck of a boy" when she died. Her first name is never given, her picture is never shown in Andy's house, nor anywhere else, and her grave is never shown.
October 3, 1961 -
The Dick Van Dyke Show premiered on this date. The show wasn't an immediate success but became a hit.
Carl Reiner asked network censors for permission to show Laura and Rob sleeping in one large bed together, reasoning (quite sensibly) that he and his wife did so in real life. The permission was denied, and the Petries are always depicted sleeping in nearby twin beds (as was the custom of TV series of the era; Bewitched and The Munsters being the exceptions to the rule).
October 3, 1977 -
Elvis Presley's third and final television special, Elvis in Concert, was filmed by CBS in June 1977 and aired on this date, two months after Elvis' death. (This is the heavy, sweaty St. Elvis; the Elvis who died for our sins. Once again, those with afflictions, place one hand upon the afflicted area, be it yours or your neighbors, and the other on the screen. Soon, feel the soothing balm of his burning love wash over you.)
The telecast was mostly an edited version of two concert performances from Elvis' final tour. My Way was performed on a 3rd concert date on this tour. It became a best selling single following his death and was added as the last number before Can't Help Falling In Love.
October 3, 1986 -
The seventh collaboration between Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas, Tough Guys was released on this date.
After the police fire at the train, Sgt. Deke Yablonski (Charles Durning) says, "What is this, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral?". Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas both starred in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral; Lancaster played Wyatt Earp, and Douglas played Doc Holliday in the classic western.
October 3, 2001 -
The french romantic comedy film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Amélie, starring Audrey Tautou, premiered in the US at the Aspen Film Festival on this date.
The traveling gnome was inspired by a rash of similar pranks played in England and France in the 1990s. In 1997, a French court convicted the leader of Front de Libération des Nains de Jardins (Garden Gnome Liberation Front) of stealing over 150 gnomes. The idea was later used in an advertising campaign for an Internet travel agency.
October 3, 2003 -
Richard Linklater very funny comedy, School of Rock, starring Jack Black Joan Cusack, Mike White, and Sarah Silverman, went into general release in the U.S. and Canada, on this date.
The idea for the movie came when writer Mike White moved into an apartment next to Jack Black. White would often find Jack Black running naked through the halls or blasting much of the music featured in the movie at full volume.
Today's moment of Zen
Today in History:
October 3, 1283 -
Dafydd ap Gruffydd was having a bad day. Besides having an unpronounceable name, he had gotten on the wrong side of King Edward I of England, for wanting to gain Welsh independence. On September 30th, Dafydd ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales, was condemned to death, the first person known to have been tried and executed for what from this time onwards would be described as high treason against the King. Edward ensured that Dafydd's death was to be slow and agonizing, and also historic; he became the first person in recorded history to have been hanged, drawn and quartered.
Dafydd was dragged through the streets of Shrewsbury at a horse's tail then hanged alive, revived, then disemboweled and his entrails burned before him for 'his sacrilege in committing his crimes in the week of Christ's passion,' and then his body cut into four quarters 'for plotting the king's death'.
Apparently, Edward was quite pissed off.
October 3, 1648 -
The greatest build out was finally completed on this day in history - the Taj Mahal.
Imagine what the contractor got to hide in his final bill with 20,000 laborers, master builders, masons, calligraphers, etc., working 22 years for the grieving Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan to complete the great mausoleum for the shah's beloved wife. Imagine what Trump would do with the bill.
October 3, 1728 -
Charles G Chevalier d'Eon de Beaumont, French duelist, diplomat, spy, soldier, Freemason and transvestite, was born on this date.
His/ her story is far to complicated to synopsize here, read about the Chevalier for yourself.
October 3, 1896 -
Queen Victoria became the first British monarch to be captured on moving film on this date.
She was shown taking a pony-and-trap ride at Balmoral Castle during a visit by Tsar Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra, her granddaughter. The invitation to film this event went to John Downey, the son of the court photographer, William Downey, who had first photographed Queen Victoria in the 1860s.
October 3, 1863 -
Sarah J. Hale, editor and founder of the Ladies' Magazine, continually annoyed President Lincoln until he declared the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day on this date.
George Washington had previously declared a Day of Thanksgiving on November 26 on this date.
But we'll talk more about Thanksgiving in November.
October 3, 1899 -
Tired parlour maids everywhere rejoiced,
J S Thurman patented the motor-driven vacuum cleaner (US patent #634,042) on this date.
October 3, 1906 -
Anticipating ABBA, SOS was adopted as warning signal by first conference on wireless telegraphy on this date.
Previously, people had to stand on the deck of their sinking ships and scream their heads off in hopes that someone would hear them.
October 3, 1922 -
Rebecca L. Felton became the first female senator in the US when she is appointed to the US Senate by Governor Thomas Hardwick of Georgia, on this date.
The appointment takes place when Congress had already adjourned, so Felton has no opportunity to serve. When the new session starts, Senator-elect Walter George, who was to replace her, will gallantly agree to claim his seat a day late, to allow the eighty-seven years old Felton to actually serve one day. Her tenure was the shortest for any Senator in history. She was also the last former slaveowner to serve in the U.S. Senate.
October 3, 1942 -
An A4-rocket (a modified V-2) developed under the direction of Werner von Braun "Good Nazi", was successfully launched from the Test Stand VII in Peenemünde, Germany. The 13-ton, 46-foot long V2 rocket flies perfectly over the course of 118 miles to an altitude of 53 miles (85km).
While it is generally seen as a milestone in space exploration as it has been acknowledged that the launch was the first man-made object to reach space, it seems rude to mention that the rocket was actually launched at England.
October 3, 1952 -
Coincidentally, The United Kingdom successfully tests their first atomic bomb, Operation Hurricane, four hundred yards off the coast of the Monte Bello Islands off the Australian coast, becoming the world’s third nuclear power on this date. In order to test the potential threat of a bomb smuggled in a ship, the bomb was detonated inside the hull of the frigate HMS Plym.
Despite the explosion beginning in a ship and nine feet below the water line, the explosion created a crater twenty feet deep and a thousand feet across.
Oops, radiation still lingers around the test site like a bad chili and broccoli dinner farts.
October 3, 1962 -
Hey, Wally, are you a turtle? (Wally correctly answers the question)
Walter M. "Wally" Schirra, Jr. rode his one-man Mercury spacecraft atop an Atlas rocket into orbit on this date. Schirra completed six earth orbits lasting nine hours and 13 minutes.
The nine-hour mission on the Sigma 7 capsule was the longest to date for a U.S. flight and set the stage for the day-long final mission of the Mercury Program that followed.
October 3, 1964 -
According to noted food historian, Calvin Trilling, the first buffalo wings were served on this date. The wings were reported to have first been made in Buffalo, New York, by the Bellissimo family at the Anchor Bar.
They were served with blue cheese dressing and given away for free. The bar now sells the wings nationwide through its website.
October 3, 1990 -
East and West Germany were officially reunited on this date. The reunification of this once great nation was recognized as a clear sign that the Cold War was coming to an end, and was therefore celebrated not only in Germany, but throughout the world
- excepting certain corridors of France, Poland, and the Czech Republic, where the exuberance was strangely muted.
October 3, 1992 -
Barack Obama first met Michelle Robinson when he was employed as a summer associate at the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin. Assigned for three months as Obama's adviser at the firm, Robinson joined him at several group social functions.
The couple's first date was to the Spike Lee movie Do the Right Thing, They married on this date at Trinity United Church in Chicago. Happy Anniversary your crazy kids!
October 3, 1992 -
Sinead O'Connor was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. At the end of her a capella performance of the Bob Marley song War, Sinead produced a copy of a photograph of Pope John Paul II, which she ripped into pieces, to protest the simmering child sex abuse scandal within the Catholic Church.
Time has proven Sinead dead right about her protest.
October 3, 2021 –
Ruth Hamilton was asleep in her home in British Columbia when she awoke to the sound of her dog barking, followed by “an explosion.” 1 1/2 pound meteor had landed on her bed.
"I've never been so scared in my life," Hamilton, 66, told the Canadian Press about the incident that occurred about 11:35 p.m. "I wasn't sure what to do so I called 911 and, when I was speaking with the operator, I flipped over my pillow and saw that a rock had slipped between two pillows."
It turns out that the 2.8-pound space rock, about the size of a small cabbage, was part of a meteor shower identified by Alan Hildebrand, a planetary scientist in the Department of Geoscience at the University of Calgary, and his colleagues.
And so it goes
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