Generous old St. Nick dropped a bag of gold down their chimney one night and into the freshly washed stockings the girls had hung by the fire to dry. After that, the tradition stuck!
December 18, 1956 -
To Tell the Truth, originally known as Nothing But The Truth debuted on CBS-TV, on this date.
(This is the pilot episode. The actual first epsiode, hosted by Bud Collyer, appeared to be lost.) The show was produced each week by a crew of 94 people.
December 18, 1961 –
Based on an African song called Mbube (Solomon Linda and the Evening Birds)– The Tokens' single, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, was No. 1 song on the Billboard Charts, on this date.
Solomon Linda recorded the song in Johannesburg, South Africa after being discovered by a talent scout. The chanting was mostly improvised, but worked extraordinarily well. Released on the Gallo label, it became a huge hit across South Africa. Around 1948, Gallo sent a copy to Decca Records in the US, hoping to get it distributed there. Folk singer Pete Seeger got a hold of it and started working on an English version. This version is probably the most well-known doo-wop song of all time.
December 18, 1962 -
Mr. Magoo starred as Ebenezer Scrooge in a musical version of Charles Dickens' Christmas tale, Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol, music by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill and voiced by Jim Backus, Jack Cassidy, Paul Frees, Joan Gardner, Morey Amsterdam, and Royal Dano, which aired on NBC TV, on this date.
There is a popular rumor that the song People was written for - and rejected by - this TV special. This is not true. The special's composer Jule Styne and lyricist Bob Merrill were working on the song for the Broadway musical Funny Girl at the same time that they were writing this score. The producers of this project heard them playing it and were thrilled, until they learned that it was not for them. Obviously, it went on to become a hit for the star of Funny Girl, Barbra Streisand.
December 18, 1966 -
The Pink Panther cartoon series premiered with the episode titled The Pink Blueprint on this date
The Pink Panther character, created for the animated opening credits of The Pink Panther movie, was so popular that this short was produced as a starring vehicle for the character. The short marks the only time a studio has won an Oscar with its first cartoon release.
December 18, 1966 -
Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas aired for the first time on CBS on this date.
Though all of the production and character designs were based upon original artwork from the book, Dr. Seuss thought that the Grinch more closely resembled Chuck Jones rather than the original Grinch drawings.
December 18, 1968 -
Musical-fantasy film, based on the novel by Ian Fleming with the same title, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, directed by Ken Hughes, co-written by Roald Dahl, and starring Dick Van Dyke, Sally Ann Howes, and Benny Hill (yes, that Benny Hill,) opened in NYC, on this date.
In his book Keep Moving, Dick Van Dyke mentioned during the Toot Sweets segment, at 40 years old, he never bothered to warm up before a dance number. During filming, he felt something pop in his leg. He thought he had merely pulled a muscle, but soon after he couldn't walk without limping. He went to a doctor, who told him his whole body was full of arthritis, and within five years he wouldn't be able to get around at all without a cane or a wheelchair. Van Dyke responded to this prognosis by jumping up and dancing, which astounded the doctor. Almost 50 years later, in his brief role as Mr. Dawes Jr. in Mary Poppins Returns, 92-year-old Van Dyke danced without any assistance.
December 18, 1969 -
The sixth film in the James Bond film series, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, starring George Lazenby, Telly Savalis, and Diana Riggs, premiered in the US on this date.
According to George Lazenby, he and a crew member played a prank on Angela Scoular (Ruby), the Bond Girl who writes her room number on the inside of James Bond's bare thigh. The crew member warmed a sausage, and they put it under Bond's kilt. When Scoular puts her hand under the kilt, she is ever the professional and hardly reacts.
December 18, 1970 -
The cult classic western, El Topo (The Mole), directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky and starring Alejandro Jodorowsky, Brontis Jodorowsky, and Mara Lorenzio premiered in the US on this date.
The title of the movie and the main character's name are a metaphor of the underground cinema in the sixties. The mole digs holes so as to emerge from the underground to the surface. This was happening with some low-budget movies that quickly gained mainstream popularity.
December 18, 1982 -
Daryl Hall and John Oates' single Maneater was #1 on the Billboard charts, on this date.
This is one of several Hall & Oates songs that Daryl Hall's longtime girlfriend Sara Allen had a hand in writing - she's credited on the track along with the duo. According to Hall, his original lyric had some additional words in the chorus after "she's a maneater." Allen convinced him to end the line there, which Hall says made the song come together. (I hope these guys can resolve their differences.)
December 18, 1987 -
The sleeper hit romantic comedy, Moonstruck, directed by Norman Jewison, written by John Patrick Shanley, and starring Danny Aiello, Nicolas Cage, Vincent Gardenia, Olympia Dukakis and, oh yea, Cher, premiered in the US on this date. (This is a big favorite in our house.)
Norman Jewison has stated that the climactic kitchen sequence was the most difficult scene that he ever shot in his career. The crew were dismissed and Jewison rehearsed with the cast for some time, using a stage production approach. Only after the actors perfected their timing did he decide where to put the camera.
December 18, 1989 -
An I Love Lucy Christmas episode, nicknamed "The Lost Episode" because it was not included in the syndication package, was shown for first time in over 30 years on this date.
The Christmas episode was not included in the usual syndication package because of its holiday theme and because it mostly consists of flashbacks to previous episodes.
December 18, 1998 -
Warner Brothers releases the romantic film You've Got Mail (A remake of the 1940 film The Shop Around the Corner,) directed by Nora Ephron and starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, on this date.
The scene where Joe accidentally closes the door of Kathleen's shop on the balloons was unscripted. Tom Hanks actually did that, and ad libbed the line, "Good thing it wasn't the fish." Nora Ephron thought it was so funny that she kept it in.
December 18, 2002 -
Paramount Pictures adaptation of the Michael Cunningham novel, The Hours, starring Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Nicole Kidman (and her outrageous prosthetic nose,) Ed Harris, John C. Reilly, Jeff Daniels, Miranda Richardson, Allison Janney, Toni Collette, Claire Danes, and Eileen Atkins, premiered in the US on this date.
Nicole Kidman loved wearing the prosthetic nose and wore it in private too, mainly as she was undergoing a divorce from Tom Cruise at the time and was attracting a lot of paparazzi interest. Much to her delight, by wearing her fake nose out and about, she found she could easily evade the paparazzi as they didn't recognize her.
December 18, 2009 -
Twentieth Century Fox began printing money when James Cameron's Avatar, starring Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana, was released on this date.
James Cameron originally planned to have the film completed for release in 1999. At the time, the special effects he wanted increased the budget to $400 million. No studio would fund the film, and it was shelved for eight years.
Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more!
Today in History:
December 18, 1626 -
Christina (Kristina), Queen of Sweden, later known as Maria Christina Alexandra, Minerva of the North, Protectress of the Jews at Rome and sometimes Count Dohna, was born on this date. Like most royalty and some presidents, Christina did not have to carry money, a passport or consistently spell her name the same way.
Queen Kristina, or the Girl King as she liked to be known, (as opposed to King Ludwig of Bavaria the Boy Queen, but that's another story) chose the rather shockingly ungodly motto (probably sarcastically) that "Wisdom is the Prop of the Realm." She abdicated in 1654 converted to Catholicism and dashed around Europe on a white horse, wearing men's clothing and studying philosophy and sleeping with men and women. She is one of the only few women buried within St. Peter's Basilica.
In the 1930s, she was portrayed by Greta Garbo in the film Queen Christina. Garbo basically modeled her later life on this character except for the converting thing.
Liberty and Prosperity
The state bug is the honey bee (apis mellifera).
The state tree is the red oak (Quercus borealis maxima). The state flower is the common meadow violet (Viola sororia). The state shell is the knobbed whelk, also known as the conch shell (Busycon carica gmelin). The state fish is the brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), the state animal is the horse (Equus caballus),
And we didn't have to mention Springsteen.
December 18, 1839 -
In New York City, John Draper makes a daguerreotype of the Moon,
December 18, 1892 -
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker Suite publicly premiered in Saint Petersburg, Russia, at the Maryinsky Theater on this date.
The first performance of The Nutcracker was not deemed a success. The reaction to the dancers themselves was ambivalent. Reception was better for Tchaikovsky's score.
December 18, 1940 -
Hitler issued formal orders to the German armed forces to begin the detailed planning for the invasion of Russia, known as Operation Barbarossa. The invasion was launched June 22, 1941.
On the same day Hitler gave a speech to officer cadets which outlined his philosophy, central to which was his belief that the German people needed more ‘living space’ or ‘Lebensraum’:
(I'm not clear if this will be on the test.)
December 18, 1965 -
Gemini VII splashes down in the western Atlantic Ocean with command pilot Frank Borman and pilot Jim Lovell Jr. on board.
The mission was launched on December 4 for the purpose of physiological testing and spacecraft performance evaluations.
Before you go - it's the anniversary of the passing of the the singer Kirsty MacColl and Shane MacGowan just passed a few weeks ago. I can think of no better remembrance of them than watching a discussion of this holiday classic.
After their second album Rum, Sodomy & The Lash, The Pogues wanted to release a Christmas single. Instead of a cover song, lead singer Shane MacGowan and banjo player Jem Finer decided to write one themselves. The first attempts to record this were as a duet with MacGowan and Pogues bass player Cait O'Riordan. They didn't have the song ready for a Christmas single, so they recorded it for their third album, If I Should Fall From Grace With God, which was produced by Steve Lillywhite. Lillywhite took tapes home and had his wife, Kirsty MacColl record a scratch vocal, but her voice was so good that they decided to keep it.
And just one more thing - Here's a rather rude song from a rather elderly British gentleman:
Oh Mr. Idle, what are we going to do with you?
And so it goes
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