Here’s to being irrational!

Today is Pi Day!

Pi Day was founded by Physicist Larry Shaw in 1988.



Pi Day is celebrated by math enthusiasts ( read - lonely shut-ins) around the world on March 14th.



? was first used as a mathematical symbol in 1706 by William Jones.



Albert Einstein's parents conveniently arranged for him to be born on Pi Day in 1879.


March 14, 1940 -
The first of the seven Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour "Road" films, The Road to Singapore, premiered in NYC on this date.



During a lunch break, Bob Hope threw a handful of the soap suds at Dorothy Lamour and soon Bing Crosby became involved. The fight ended when Lamour cornered Hope and Crosby and threw all she had at them. The director was not particularly pleased because it would take hours to repair their hair, makeup, and clothing.


March 14, 1957 -

A television adaption for Playhouse 90 of F. Scott Fitzgerald's unfinished last novel The Last Tycoon, (one of the 152 live TV dramas John Frankenheimer directed between 1952 and 1960) starring Jack Palance, Keenan Wynn, Viveca Lindfors, and Peter Lorre premiered on this date.



Fitzgerald’s unfinished Hollywood novel The Last Tycoon was scripted by Don M. Mankiewicz, who had grown up in the novel’s Hollywood setting; he was the son of Citizen Kane screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz.


March 14, 1958 -
The first ever Gold Record is awarded for sales of a million copies, went to Mr. Excitement himself, Perry Como, for his recording of Catch A Falling Star, on this date.





Perry Como, with his relaxed style, was one of the highest-paid performers of his era and his Perry Como Show was the most successful television variety show of the time in both Britain and America. Como sang this song on his show in January 1958 and its exposure contributed to the tune's success.


March 14, 1965 –
Petula Clark makes her American TV debut on CBS-TV’s Ed Sullivan Show, on this date.





Sullivan later recalled that her plane landed and 45 minutes later she performed live without any rehearsal. That night she sang her number one hit Downtown and her follow up hit I Know a Place, which went to number three.


March 14, 1968 -
The final episode of Batman, Minerva, Mayhem and Millionaires, starring Adam West and Burt Ward aired on the ABC TV on this date.



This was the season finale of the Batman series. However it was not the last time we would see the caped crusaders. Adam West appeared in full costume and part costume on various tv shows throughout the late 60s and 1970s. Adam West and Burt Ward would reprise the roles again in 1977 for The New Adventures of Batman.


March 14, 1969 -
The Star Trek episode All Our Yesterdays first aired on this date. This is the penultimate episode of the original Star Trek series.

In it, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are trapped on a planet which will soon be destroyed in a supernova.



When first arriving on the planet Sarpeidon and meeting Mr Atoz, Kirk, Spock and McCoy all failed to mention that they are not natives of this planet and are only there to investigate the disappearance of the inhabitants. A simple explanation would have saved Mr. Atoz much confusion and consternation as he hurried to find them time periods into which they could escape destruction.


March 14, 1969 -
The Walt Disney studio put the film, The Love Bug, starring 'Herbie,' a loveable Volkswagen bug with a personality, into general release on this date.



Dean Jones personally requested to play the hippy at the drive-in. The director originally turned him down, but after Jones proved that he could convincingly take on the persona, he was immediately given the part.


March 14, 1975 -
Melvin Frank's film adaptation of Neil Simon's comedy The Prisoner of Second Avenue, starring Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft, opened in NYC, on this date.



According to the Jack Lemmon's biography Lemmon by Don Widener, actress Anne Bancroft recounted this episode from the film's shooting: "[Jack was] nice to a point where he's crazy...We had a scene in 'Prisoner [of Second Avenue'] where he had to carry a shovel in - a very close two-shot favoring me. I played the scene with tears in my eyes because Jack had accidentally hit me in the shin with that shovel. The director saw something was wrong so he stopped everything. I had a big bump on my leg, but it was Friday and over the weekend I fixed it up. When we came back on Monday the first scene was a retake of the shovel thing. Well, Jack brought the shovel in and I anticipated getting hit again. He's so full of energy, you're sure he's not noticing; but he never touched me. The take was fine, but Jack limped away. To avoid hurting me, he had cut himself. He was bleeding and we had to bandage his leg; his wound was much worse than mine. He is so kind he hurt himself rather than injure someone else. That's a little crazy! It's the nicest crazy I know, and I know a lot of crazy people."


March 14, 1979 -
United Artists version of the Broadway anti-war musical Hair, directed by Miloš Forman, and starring Treat Williams, John Savage, Beverly D'Angelo, Nell Carter, Cheryl Barnes, Richard Bright, Ellen Foley and Charlotte Rae, premiered in Century City on this date.



Milos Forman's only casting regret was Nicholas Ray as The General. "Though he performed well, Ray had to endure clouds of heavy smoke for his big scene, and it was only weeks later that Forman learned he was dying of lung cancer".


March 14, 1981 -
Roxy Music had their only U.K. No. 1 single with their version of John Lennon's Jealous Guy, on this date.



Roxy Music recorded this as a tribute to Lennon, who was murdered on December 8, 1980. Bryan Ferry performs the whistling solo on the Roxy Music version. The Roxy frontman's whistling prowess harks back to his paper round days as a youngster when he used to do plenty of whistling.


March 14, 1989 -
De La Soul released their debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising, on this date.



The album was one of the most innovative records of the late 1980s, its merging of traditional hip-hop with humorous lyrics, abundant samples and jazz elements went on to inspire numerous artists.


March 14, 2007 -
The comedy-action film, Hot Fuzz, directed by Edgar Wright, and starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Timothy Dalton and Jim Broadbent, was shown at ShoWest on this date.



The first draft of the script included a love interest for Nicholas named Victoria. She was cut from subsequent drafts, but a good amount of her dialogue was given to Danny, often without any changes.


Another ACME Safety Film


Today in History:
March 14, 1794 -
Eli Whitney was granted a patent for the Cotton Gin on this date



While it is potable, gin flavored with juniper berries is still a better choice for a very dry martini.


March 14, 1883 -
The production of too many useful things results in too many useless people.

Karl Marx died of pleurisy in London on this date. While his original grave had only a nondescript stone, the Communist Party of Great Britain erected a large tombstone, including a bust of Marx, in 1954.

His premature death prevented him from seeing the global impact of his progeny: Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Gummo and Zeppo. Karl Marx was born in Trier, Prussia May 5, 1818. He went to school at a time of severe repression. Pianos had to have skirts on for fear young men would become aroused by the sight of their bare legs. The Prussian government kept the teachers under police surveillance to make sure they wouldn't teach anything too radical like 2 + 2= 4 and so the students, including Marx, became extremely radical.

(There are no know photos of Karl and Gummo together: they never got along)

As a result of his beliefs, Marx was not able to get a job as a chicken inspector after he got his doctorate in philosophy. And without a job, he spent his time analyzing history and stealing tips left for waiters at the coffeehouses he frequented and came to the conclusion that all historical events were caused by economic forces.

He got involved in Communism - the belief that all private property should be abolished, men and women should not bathe or shave and pickled herring should be used as a cologne. Marx moved around Europe, writing for newspapers and pornographic pamphlet, studying, wanting to write a book about his economic ideas. But Marx was an obsessive researcher, and never knew when to stop reading and start writing. He only became productive after he met Friedrich Engels, a socialist who was also wealthy—the heir to a textile business and primitive whoopee cushion novelty item.

Their main theory was that the economic system was a perpetual conflict between those who controlled the capital and those who provided the labor, that the conflict would never be resolved peacefully, that in a free market, workers would continue periodically to lose their jobs, their standard of living would fall, and this would inevitably lead to violent revolution. He believed that giant corporations would dominate the world's industries, that globalism in trade would make markets even more unstable. He also believed that you could hard boil an egg by holding it under one's armpit for a week thus saving money by not paying the gas bill.



Marx and Engels published their Communist Manifesto and What the Butler Saw Whilst Polishing the Knob in 1848, and revolution did break out afterward in France, Italy, and Austria. Marx's newspaper was shut down. He had to flee the country. He moved to London, worked for years on his last book, Das Kapital. His family in poverty, Marx said, "I don't suppose anyone has ever written about 'money' when so short of the stuff." A spy from Prussia was keeping tabs on him and wrote, "Washing, grooming and changing his clothes are things he does rarely. He does not shave at all. But he does have an unnatural obsession watching Amenian women clip their toenails!"



He fed his family on bread and potatoes, and when one of his children died, his wife had to borrow money from a neighbor to buy a coffin.

When Marx died in 1883, only 11 persons came to his funeral. And they were all charged a mourners tax!


March 14, 1885 -
Gilbert & Sullivan's two-act operetta The Mikado opened on this date, in London, where it ran at the Savoy Theatre for 672 performances, which was the second longest run for any work of musical theater and one of the longest runs of any theater piece up to that time.



Before the end of 1885, it was estimated that, in Europe and America, at least 150 companies were producing the opera.


March 14, 1889 -
German Ferdinand von Zeppelin was issued a US Patent (#621,195) for his Navigable Balloon on this date.



He did not speak with Paul von Hindenburg about it at the time.


March 14, 1912 -
A young anarchist, Antonio Dalba, shot at King Victor Emmanuel III and queen Elena (of Montenegro) of Italy on this date, but missed, hitting a bodyguard and his horse instead. Their majesties were attending the annual memorial service for the previous king, Umberto I, who was assassinated by an anarchist in 1900 (whose assassination inspired Leon Czolgosz to shoot President McKinley).

Since Dalba was a legal minor (20) at the time, he could not be executed. He was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment, but, perhaps because of his increasing mental instability, was pardoned in 1921, only to be committed two months later to a mental hospital, where he died in 1953.


Today on March 14 1932, one of the greatest notes was written:



George Eastman, the founder of Kodak Corporation, killed himself after a long illness on this date.

His suicide note states "To my friends: My work is done. Why wait?"

All in all, terse but to the point.


March 14, 1933 -
It's amazing how much trouble you can get in when you don't have anything else to do..



Quincy Delight Jones Jr. record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer was born on this date.


March 14, 1942 -
Mrs. Anne Miller was near death at New Haven Hospital, suffering from a streptococcal infection, before doctors Orvan Hess and John Bumsfield decided to use an experimental treatment - Penicillin, on this date. This was the first time penicillin was successfully used to treat a patient in the US.



Although Dr. Alexander Fleming had proven that penicillin was an effective antibacterial in 1928, few doctors seemed interested in using the common mold as a medicinal tool. Supplies were limited at the time, nearly half of the total supply produced were used on Mrs. Miller. She survived, living to be 90 years old and penicillin became widely used.

As I am deathly allergic to the drug, this medical advancement is almost meaningless to me.



And so it goes.