Toast, the ultimate comfort food that never disappoints.

Oh, frabjous joy, it's Melba Toast Day.



The toast so named for the the Australian Opera singer Nellie Melba by her great admirer (and world famous French chef Auguste Escoffier.)



but folks, get a grip, it's just toast.


Today is Earth Hour, a global event (organized by World Wildlife Fund) held usually on the last Saturday of March (this year it's the fourth Saturday in March.) Earth Hour is celebrated annually by asking households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights and other electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change.



Earth Hour 2023 will be held from 8:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. EDT. WWF is sponsoring in-person events, (Check out the linked website.)


March 23, 1910 -
Akira Kurosawa, Japanese film director (Rashomon, The Seven Samurai, Ran), was born in Tokyo, Japan on this date.



Kurosawa worshiped legendary American director John Ford, his primary influence as a filmmaker. When the two met, Ford was uncommonly pleasant to the younger Japanese filmmaker and afterwards Kurosawa dressed in a similar fashion to Ford when on film sets.


March 23, 1946 -
The last Merrie Melodies title Frank Tashlin directed (before switching to become a live action director,) Hare Remover, starring Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, opened on this date.



This was the second of only two Bugs Bunny cartoons directed by Frank Tashlin; the other being The Unruly Hare. Frank Tashlin is uncredited because he had left the studio before the short debuted, and Warner Bros. had a rule at the time that former employees couldn't be credited.


March 23, 1950 -
The nearly-forgotten B noir Anthony Mann film, Side Street, re-uniting actors Farley Granger and Cathy O'Donnell (who had appeared together in the 1948 film, They Live By Night,) premiered on this date.



Farley Granger and Cathy O'Donnell first appeared together in They Live by Night, filmed at RKO Pictures in 1947 but put on the shelf by new studio boss Howard Hughes. Former RKO Production Chief Dore Schary feared the picture would never be released, so he paired the actors again in Side Street at his new studio, M-G-M. Hughes learned of this and, wanting to beat Schary to the punch, finally released They Live by Night in the USA in November 1949, just a few months before Side Street opened nationwide.


March 23, 1963 –
Everyone get ready for a slow dance (remember to leave room for the Holy Spirit): Ruby and the Romantics' song Our Day Will Come hit No. #1 on the Billboard Charts on this date.



Dionne Warwick recorded the original demo of the song for songwriter Bob Hilliard and she told him how much she liked it. Dionne recalls, "It was written during that period of time when I met Bacharach and David. Bob Hilliard wrote the song also and he said: 'I've got a good little song here and there's a new group called 'Ruby and the Romantics' and will you do the demonstration record?' I said: 'Of course. I'd love to. And I did. And I told him then that it was a really pretty song." In 1982 Dionne Warwick included it as her only cover on her 1982 album Heartbreaker.


March 23, 1967 -
The Star Trek episode The Alternative Factor first airs on CBS TV on this date. Unfortunately, many fans consider this one of the worst episode of the Star Trek franchise.

In it, the Enterprise encounters a scientist with the ability to shift between universes who claims to be pursued by a monster. 



John Drew Barrymore was originally cast as Lazarus, but failed to show up for the shoot. The director Gerd Oswald decided to shoot scenes which didn't involve his character. On the second day, it was decided to either shut down production and scrap the episode overall or find a replacement. Rob Brown was dragged in to the set, right after he agreed to play the role.


March 23, 1973 -
Gene Roddenberry's TV-movie/unsold pilot Genesis II, starring Alex Cord, Ted Cassidy, Lynne Marta, Percy Rodriguez, Titos Vandis and Mariette Hartley, premiered on CBS TV on this date.



The science fiction justification for Lyra-a (Mariette Hartley) and other Tyranians having two navels is that they have redundant circulatory systems. However, Gene Roddenberry joked that the behind-the-scenes reason was to make up for the covered navels mandated by network and studio censors during the production of Star Trek.


March 23, 1974 -
You had one last time to Get Happy, when The Partridge Family aired the last episode of the series, ...---...(SOS), on this date



Shirley Jones presented George Chakiris, who guest stars in the episode, his Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for West Side Story.


March 23, 1982 -
The spin-off of the very successful series Happy Days, Joanie Loves Chachi, starring Erin Moran and Scott Baio premiered on ABC-TV on this date.



Nobody loved this musical disaster, and it was cancelled after 19 episodes.


March 23, 1990 –
Garry Marshall surprise comedy hit Pretty Woman (which at one time was called $3,000,) starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere premiered in US theatres on this date.



Richard Gere improvised the scene where Edward snaps the necklace case down on Vivian's (Julia Roberts) fingers, and Roberts's reaction (laughter) was totally natural. The filmmakers liked it so much, they decided to leave it in.


March 23, 1999 -
Ricky Martin releases his single, Livin' La Vida Loca, onto an unsuspecting world, on this date. (Sorry for the earworm.)



Martin's first mainstream hit, this song took off after his triumphant performance of Cup Of Life at the 1999 Grammy Awards. He got a lot of media attention and expanded his fan base to an English speaking audience eager for songs they would Zumba to 10 years later. A notable supporter was Madonna, who did a duet with Martin called Be Careful (Cuidado Con Mi Corazón).

Don't forget to tune in to The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour today


Today in History:
March 23, 1369 -
Pedro the Cruel, King and tyrant of Castile and Leon, was murdered on this date. Enrique, the illegitimate son of Alfonso XI of Castile, killed his half brother Pedro I in the Castilian civil war and became King Enrique I the Bastard of Castile.

Once again, I must ask, what the hell were people thinking when they named their children.


March 23, 1534 -
Pope Clement VII declared that the marriage between Henry VIII of England and Catherine of Aragon was still valid, even though they'd been divorced the previous year and Henry had already married Anne Boleyn.

Henry decided to trump Clement with his extra I and invents his own religion and appointed himself as a more agreeable pope.


March 23, 1840 -
Englishman John William Draper becomes the first person to successfully photograph the Moon.

The image, a full moon, is a daguerreotype, precursor of the later photograph.


March 23, 1908 -
I never go outside unless I look like Joan Crawford the movie star. If you want to see the girl next door, go next door.



Joan Crawford, actress (both legitimate films and porn), executive and child beater was born on this date.


March 23, 1912 -
Wernher von Braun, German - born rocket pioneer who led the development of the V-2 rocket during World War II was born on this date.





Von Braun was said to be the preeminent rocket engineer of the 20th Century.


March 23, 1919 -
Benito Mussolini founded his own party in Italy on this date. He had tried all the other parties, but he was an awkward young man and had a hard time getting to know people. His Fasci di Combattimento ("Evil Fascist Bastards Party") was extremely popular, however, and even the cool kids came.



It got so crowded that the neighbors started complaining, which ended up starting a big fight, and the rest is history.


March 23, 1925 -
Tennessee Governor Austin Peay signs the Butler Act into law, making illegal the teaching in public school "any theory that denies the story of divine creation of man as taught in the Bible", on this date.



Teacher John Scopes couldn't think of anywhere else to teach evolution, so he ignored the ban and was later prosecuted in what became known as the Scopes Monkey Trial, which resulted in an Oscar for Spencer Tracy.


March 23, 1956 -
The Islamic Republic of Pakistan became an independent republic within the British Commonwealth (from 1947 until 1956, it was referred to as the Dominion of Pakistan,) on this date. Following the fighting in Pakistan and India in 1947, Muslims moved to Pakistan, creating a country where 96% of the population are Muslim.



Pakistan was the first modern nation to call itself an Islamic republic in conjunction with a largely secular constitution. Currently Pakistan has the world's sixth largest population.


March 23, 1961 -
Valentin Bondarenko was a young cosmonaut who had been doing routine medical tests in a pressure chamber as part of an isolation exercise, on this date. He removed some biosensors from his body and used a cotton ball moistened with alcohol to wash the sticky stuff off his skin.

He tossed the cotton ball aside and it landed on an electric hot plate, where it caught fire. Because the chamber's atmosphere was pure oxygen, the fire spread quickly. Bondarenko was removed from the chamber alive, but he died soon after of shock. Bondarenko's death was kept secret for 25 years. The fatal Apollo 1 disaster could have been averted if NASA had been aware of the accident


March 23, 1965 -
NASA launched Gemini III, nicknamed the “Molly Brown,” from Cape Canaveral on this date. It was the United State’s first maneuverable two-man mission. The mission was crewed by astronauts Virgil Ivan “Gus” Grissom and John W. Young.



The flight was the first for Young, who breaks quarantine regulations by smuggling a sandwich into orbit to share with Grissom. Before the end of the mission, Young would become the first man to eat a corned beef sandwich in space. Crumbs from the "weightless" sandwich scattered throughout the Gemini 3 spacecraft, posing a potential, if unintentional, flight safety risk. This rules violation caused NASA to clamp down on what astronauts could and could not carry into space.


March 23, 1989 -
A 1000-foot diameter asteroid misses the Earth by only 500,000 miles on this date.

Astronomers did not see it until it passed. To commemorate the event, today has become known as Near Miss Day.

Oops


March 23, 1997 -
Five dead bodies were found arranged in a cross formation at the burned Quebec home of Didier Queze. They were members of the Solar Temple cult who in 1994 to 1996 had totaled 69 suicides in Europe and North America.

Interestingly, in San Diego, The Heaven's Gate suicides (completely different set of nuts) leave 39 dead, all wearing NIKE shoes and many of the male members of the pact had previously voluntarily removed their members.



I believe this is the corollary to Thoreau's 'beware of all enterprises that require new clothes' - NEVER join a cult that requires you to remove your genitals.


Before I forgot - here are the answers to yesterday's quiz


Before you go - Purim starts tonight -



The festival of Purim is celebrated every year on the 14th of the Hebrew month of Adar (late winter/early spring). It commemorates the salvation of the Jewish people in ancient Persia from Haman’s plot “to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews, young and old, infants and women, in a single day.”



It's sometimes referred to as the Jewish Mardi Gras or Halloween.

(I still like the Poppy seed Hamantashen more than the fruit filled ones - really, who but old people would put prunes in a dessert.)



Happy Purim to all, and to all a good...wait, wrong holiday.



And so it goes.