Dally, dawdle, delay, fiddle about, fritter away time

Today is Thesaurus Day. It celebrates the birthday of Peter Mark Roget and his famous work, volume, tome, manual, opus.



You could spend all day perusing, studying, scanning, looking through, scuritying for fun.

Well some people could.


January 18, 1973 -
The third season finale of Monty Python, The British Showbiz Awards (aka Grandstand,), aired on the BBC on this date



Eric Idle portrays "Dickie Attenborough," a clear reference to Richard Attenborough, who also sometimes went by Dickie. His brother, David Attenborough, worked at the BBC and actually gave this series the green light.


January 18, 1974 -
The sci-fi series, The Six Million Dollar Man, starring Lee Majors, premiered on the ABC-TV on this date.



The characters of Oscar Goldman (Richard Anderson) and Rudy Wells (Martin E. Brooks) appeared on this series and its spin-off, The Bionic Woman. When the spin-off moved to another network, this practice continued. This was the first time the same continuing characters appeared on two different television series broadcast on two different networks at the same time.


January 18, 1975 -
We all moved on up to the Eastside when The Jeffersons, a spin-off of All In The Family premiered on CBS-TV on this date.



Isabel Sanford did not want to do a spin-off. She told producers that she was happy with her recurring role on All in the Family. When they told her that they were writing Louise Jefferson off of All in the Family, and moving the character to this show with or without her, she decided to stay in the role.


January 18, 1977 -
The last wet dream of the Nietzchian Uberman came to fruition when Arnold Schwarzenegger was introduced to America, when George Butler’s bodybuilding documentary Pumping Iron hit the theaters on this date.



To put some Hollywood asset into the film, actor Bud Cort was offered to appear being trained by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Pieces of footage were actually filmed but removed from the final cut on demand of Cort who judged them too distracting from the main subject. He also asked for his salary to be injected into the rest of the production. Some of this footage eventually appeared in Raw Iron: The Making of 'Pumping Iron'.


January 18, 1978 -
Warren Zevon third studio album, Excitable Boy, was released on this date. The album brought Zevon to commercial attention and remains the best-selling album of his career.



Co-produced by Jackson Browne, the album is laced with such horror-tinged songs like Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner, Werewolves Of London and the title track, Excitable Boy.


January 18, 1980 -
Pink Floyd’s album, The Wall hit #1 on the Billboard Charts, on this day. It remained there for an astounding 15 weeks straight.



Despite Roger Waters' clear ambivalence towards his audience, new and old fans alike found the album appealing: The Wall sold 11 million copies stateside and 20 million copies worldwide.


January 18, 1984 -
The Coen Brothers made their directorial debut (as well as the first major cinematography work by Barry Sonnenfeld) with the release of Blood Simple, starring John Getz, Frances McDormand, Dan Hedaya, and M. Emmet Walsh, on this date.



On the advice of Sam Raimi, the Coens went door-to-door showing potential investors a two minute 'trailer' of the film they planned to make. They ultimately raised $750,000 in a little over a year, enough to begin production of the movie.


Another ACME Safety Film


Today in History:
January 18, 1836 -



Knife aficionado Jim Bowie arrived at the Alamo to assist its Texas defenders on this date.


On January 18, 1871, while Prussian guns blasted all hell out of Paris, William I was proclaimed Emperor of a united Germany in nearby Versailles.

For this reason, the Germans have always had a soft spot for France, and have returned often.


January 18, 1882 -
The Old Testament is responsible for more atheism, agnosticism, disbelief - call it what you will - than any book ever written. It has emptied more churches than all the counter-attractions of cinema, motor-bicycle and golf course.



Alan Alexander Milne was born on this date.


January 18, 1892 -
That's another fine mess you've gotten me into.



Oliver Hardy, American comedian, actor and the other half the the world's greatest comedy duo, was born on this date.


January 18, 1903 -
President Theodore Roosevelt sent a radio message to King Edward VII: the first transatlantic radio transmission originating in the United States.

Unfortunately, once again, the ill-chosen "Prince Albert in the can" joke is used - and 'Bertie', the King had already heard the joke ad nauseum (Prince Albert, penis ring wearing enthusiast, was his father ) and was not amused.


January 18, 1904 -
When people tell you how young you look, they are telling you how old you are.



Archibald Leach, noted actor, acrobat and over the top orgy participant, was born on this date.


January 18, 1911 -
The first landing of an aircraft onto a ship took place on this date. Pilot Eugene Ely was the first person to land a plane onto a ship, the USS Pennsylvania, in San Francisco Bay (less than ten years after the airplane was invented.)



Two months previously Ely had made the first successful take off from a warship. The technique would later become commonplace as aircraft carriers became major wartime assets.


January 18, 1912 -
Explorer Robert F. Scott reached the South Pole - only to discover that Roald Amundsen had beaten him there by almost a month.



The Norwegian Amundsen's expedition beat that of the British Scott's by a little more than a month, which Scott discovered upon reading a letter that Amundsen had left at the site.

As my girls would say (and I'm paraphrasing - it must have sucked to be him.)


January 18, 1913 (or 1911) -
I wasn't born a fool. It took work to get this way..



David Daniel Kaminsky, UNICEF ambassador, comedian, actor, was born in Brooklyn on this date.


January 16, 1955 -
Kevin Costner was born in Lynwood, California on this date. He is the youngest of three boys (the middle of whom died at birth) of Bill and Sharon Costner.



Before hitting it big in the acting business Kevin Costner worked as a skipper on the ride, the Jungle Cruise, at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. His first film role was in the 1981 low-budget softcore film Sizzle Beach.


January 18, 1958 -
Afro-Canadian Willie O'Ree was the very first black player in the NHL Signed by Boston Bruins he made his NHL debut with the Bruins on this date, against the Montreal Canadiens.



O'Ree appeared in two games that year playing as a winger, and came back in 1961 to play 43 games, scoring 4 goals and 10 assists. O'Ree is referred to as the "Jackie Robinson of ice hockey" due to breaking the black color barrier in the sport.


January 18, 1968 -
At a White House luncheon to discuss the rise in urban crime, Eartha Kitt gets into a notorious spat with First Lady Claudia Taylor "Lady Bird" Johnson, declaring, "Vietnam is the main reason we are having trouble with the youth of America. It is a war without explanation or reason."



Although accounts of the entire argument differ, Kitt is subsequently blacklisted in America.


January 18, 1990 -
Rusty Hamer, the actor who played Danny Thomas' son on Make Room For Daddy, shot himself in the head with a .357 Magnum in DeRidder, Louisiana on this date. Rusty was 42 years old.

Uncle Tonoose made him do it.


January 18, 1990 -
Washington DC mayor Marion Barry was arrested on cocaine possession charges at the Vista International Hotel, as he tokes on a glass crack pipe while being videotaped with his mistress Rasheeda on this date.



Kids remember, say NO to drugs, especially while being videotaped.


Before you go: It always comes as a surprise to me when David Elrich posts his film mash-up compilation, (I should just make a note to myself.) His 2023 version posted about a week ago



I always enjoy his videos and look forward to them each year.



And so it goes