This year, my first Hanukkah gift to you is to remind you that there is no pressure to buy Hanukkah Seals.
The Canadian postal service has been giving Jolly Old St. Nicholas a helping hand. For 40 years, Canada Post has been helping Santa with his huge holiday volume of mail. Thanks to Canada Post's Santa Letter-writing Program, children can write to the jolly old fellow in virtually any language, including Braille, and receive a response in the same language. (Bunkies, today is the day you needed to have your letters postmarked, to receive a reply before the holidays. The nice folks at the Canadian postal service cannot guarantee delivery dates, but Santa does respond to all letters he receives.)
Santa's correct address happens to be:
Santa Claus
North Pole H0H 0H0
Canada
(Please note the zip code)
You better hurry though, Christmas is just around the corner (and if you are a kid - what the heck are you doing reading this blog, it's not appropriate for you. Although you could go into your parents room while they are sleeping and fill an envelope with those green pieces of paper in their wallets and send it to me at ...)
December 7, 1945 -
Universal Pictures released the horror film House of Dracula, directed by Erle C. Kenton and starring Lon Chaney Jr., John Carradine, Martha O’Driscoll, Glenn Strange, and Lionel Atwill, on this date.
Actor Glenn Strange suffered greatly during the shooting of the scene in which the Frankenstein Monster is discovered in quicksand. After sitting for three hours in the makeup chair each morning, having his makeup applied by Jack P. Pierce, Strange would spend the rest of the day buried in cold liquid mud (which doubled for the quicksand). "Then everybody else went out for lunch," Strange recalled. "By the time they came back, I was so cold, I could barely feel my legs." Strange's co-star, Lon Chaney Jr., suggested that Strange use alcohol to keep himself warm. Throughout the day, Chaney passed a bottle of whiskey to Strange in between takes. By the end of the day, Strange recalled, he was so drunk he could barely dress himself after removing his monster makeup and costume.
December 7, 1960 -
MGM released the science fiction film Village of the Damned, directed by Wolf Rilla and starring George Sanders on this date.
The eerie effect of the children's glowing eyes was created by matting a negative (reversed) image of their eyes over the pupils when they used their powers. The British print of the film contained no optical effects as the British Board of Film Classification considered them too frighting for an 'A' classification.
December 7, 1963 -
Instant replay was used for the first time in a live sports telecast during Army vs Navy Football Game at Municipal Stadium, Philadelphia on this date.
When CBS re-played a one-yard touchdown run by Army quarterback Rollie Stichweh, the station's switchboard was inundated with calls from confused viewers asking if the player had scored a second time.
December 7, 1968 -
The Rolling Stones released their album Beggar’s Banquet in the US (one day after it was released in the UK,) on this date.
They soon filmed a television extravaganza entitled The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus. After reviewing the program, the Stones felt that they were upstaged by the Who’s performance and the film was shelved until 1996, when it was finally released officially.
December 7, 1969 -
Another Rankin/Bass production, Frosty the Snowman, premiered on CBS-TV on this date.
June Foray was the original voice of Karen during the special's first few airings in the early 1970s. However, an unknown actress replaced Foray's voice for subsequent broadcasts. Foray was also the voice of Cindy Lou Who on How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
December 7, 1976 -
The Eagles released New Kid in Town on this date, which became the group's third US No.1 in February the following year.
Don Felder, who was the Eagles guitarist at the time, has commented that once the concept of the album Hotel California was established, some other songs fell into place, including this one. Said Felder: "Once you arrive in LA and you have your first couple of hits, you become the New Kid in Town, and then with greater success, you live Life In The Fast Lane, and you start wondering if all that time you've spent in the bars was just Wasted Time. So all of these other song ideas kind of came out of that concept once the foundation was laid for Hotel California."
December 7, 1979 -
Paramount Pictures released the science fiction film Star Trek: The Motion Picture, directed by Robert Wise and starring a bunch of TV actors on this date.
William Shatner, who saw the completed film for the first time at the world premiere, was struck by the overall sluggishness of this film, and was convinced that the Star Trek franchise died there and then. He opined, "Well, that's it. We gave it our best shot, it wasn't good, and it will never happen again." Recalling his initial reaction 15 years later, he added "Shows you what I know."
December 7, 1979 -
Kurtis Blow's Christmas Rappin' by becomes the first rap song released on this date, by a major label - Mercury Records.
It sells about 400,000 copies and provides the template for his next single, The Breaks, which becomes the first rap Gold record.
December 7, 2001 –
Steven Soderbergh's remake of Frank Sinatra's 1960 summer vacation movie, Ocean’s Eleven, starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Andy García, and Julia Roberts opened in US theaters on this date.
The cast did gamble during off hours. While there's disagreement between who won the most (George Clooney says Matt Damon, Damon says Brad Pitt), Clooney managed to lose 25 hands of blackjack in a row.
December 7, 2016 -
In a new adaptation of the 2002 Broadway musical Hairspray, (based on the 1988 John Waters' Film, Hairspray) NBC TV aired Hairspray Live!, hosted by Darren Criss, on this date.
This was Maddie Baillio's acting debut. She follows the long tradition of the role of Tracy Turnblad onstage and on film being played by a newcomer. Harvey Fierstein, who plays Edna Turnblad, originated the same role on Broadway.
Where are the snows of our yesteryear?
Today in History:
December 7, 43 BC -
Nothing is more unreliable than the populace, nothing more obscure than human intentions, nothing more deceptive than the whole electoral system
Now there's a holiday display you don't see that often.
December 7, 185 -
Emperor Lo-Yang of China took a stroll on in his imperial garden on this evening and saw a Supernova.
Who knew he was such a Liz Phair fan?
December 7, 1907 -
Christmas Seals first went on sale in the United States went to raise funds to treat tuberculosis, after Emily Bissell, a social worker and activist, read about the program in an article by Jacob Riis.
In 1903, Einar Holbøll, a Danish postal clerk developed the idea of adding an extra charitable stamp on mailed holiday greetings during Christmas. The money raised could be used to help children sick with tuberculosis.
December 7, 1910 -
... I eat antipasta twice just because she is so nice
We'll let him serenade Joan, the birthday girl. (It would be very rude to ask how old she is?)
It was on this day in 1941 that Japanese bombers attacked Pearl Harbor. The attack came after the United States had frozen Japanese assets and declared an embargo on shipments of petroleum to Japan.
On the morning of December 7, soldiers at Pearl Harbor were learning how to use a new device called radar, and they detected a large number of planes heading toward them. They telephoned an officer to ask him what to do. The officer said they must be American B-17s on their way to the base, and he told the soldiers not to worry about it.
A sailor named James Jones, who would go on to write the novel From Here to Eternity, was in the mess hall that morning.
There were ultimately 2,390 Americans killed at Pearl Harbor and 1,178 wounded. Two days after the attack, the Navy passed out postcards to the survivors and told them to write to their families, but not to describe what had happened. Some families did not get their postcards until a few years ago.
December 7, 1949 -
It's Tom Waits' birthday today.
Downtown Train -
Temptation -
Telephone Call From Istanbul -
And the Acme Corp. is always happy to sponsor that Christmas Classic, Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis (One of our loyal bunkies pointed out that there is no Euclid Ave in Minneapolis, but we won't hold it against Mr. Waits.) -
As always, let's stay up all night, get the piano drunk and sing really sad songs in a raspy voice in his honor.
December 7, 1972 -
Apollo 17, the sixth and last Apollo moon mission, was launched from Cape Canaveral on this date.
It will land on the Moon December 11 and Flight Commander Eugene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt, will be the last men to step on the Moon for decades to come.
And so it goes
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