Kids, now that some of you are out of school and are once again allowed to freely roam in polite society, you had better take a quick check of the whole naughty/ nice thing and see how you haven been doing.
June 25, 1938 -
Another in the series of 'books come alive', Have You Got Any Castles? was released on this date.
Among the many entertainment personalities caricatured in relation to book titles are: Bill Robinson/The Thirty-Nine Steps, Greta Garbo/So Big, Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, The Mills Brothers/The Green Pastures, William Powell/The Thin Man, Clark Gable/The House of the Seven Gables, Paul Muni/The Story of Louis Pasteur, Charles Laughton/Mutiny on the Bounty, and Victor McLaglen/The Informer.
June 25, 1949 -
That's the nice fat opera singer ...
Giovanni Jones' singing voice remained uncredited and unknown for many years. It was since revealed to have been provided by opera singer Nicolai Shutorov. Mel Blanc voices Jones when, after getting stuck in a tuba in the orchestra pit, he yells for someone to let him out.
June 25, 1951 -
The first commercial color telecast took place as CBS transmitted a one-hour special, called Premiere, from New York to four other cities, (including: Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington D.C.,)on this date. Appearing on the debut show were Arthur Godfrey, Faye Emerson, Sam Levenson, Ed Sullivan, Gary Moore, Robert Alda, Isabel Bigley, Bil Baird Marionettes, Sol Hurok’s New York City Ballet arranged by George Balanchine, Patty Painter (the first “Miss Color Television”), FCC chairman Wayne Coy, CBS chairman William S. Paley, and CBS president Frank Stanton.
Unfortunately, the system was incompatible with the NTSC black-and-white standard commercially available in stores, so the broadcast was received by televisions in black and white on most sets.
June 25, 1963 -
One of Federico Fellini's greatest films, Otto e mezzo, (8½ ), opened in the US, on this date.
Federico Fellini attached a note to himself below the camera's eyepiece which read, "Remember, this is a comedy."
June 25, 1976 -
Richard Donner's supernatural horror film, The Omen, starring Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner, Martin Benson, and Leo McKern, premiered in the US on this date. The film opened to mixed reviews but went on to become one of the highest-grossing films of 1976.
Gregory Peck, apparently took this role at a huge cut in salary (at a mere $250,000) but was also guaranteed 10% of the film's box office gross. When it went on to gross more than $60 million in the U.S. alone, it became the highest-paid performance of Peck's career.
June 25, 1982 -
The greatest dystopian Sci-Fi film (at this point), Blade Runner, opened on this date.
The studio wasn't happy with the original final ending where Rick Deckard is looking at the piece of origami, and leaves his building with Rachael. The ending of the U.S. theatrical cut, with Deckard's voice-over about Rachael, used left-over helicopter footage from the opening scene of The Shining. Stanley Kubrick was contacted for this, and being a fan of Ridley Scott's previous movie, Alien, he happily gifted it on the condition that only shots were used that had not been used in The Shining. Since there was copious footage (something for which Kubrick was notorious), this wasn't a problem.
On the same day, Universal Pictures releases the sci-fi horror film John Carpenter's The Thing directed by John Carpenter and starring Kurt Russell.
This is the first of John Carpenter's films which he did not score himself. The film's original choice of composer was Jerry Goldsmith, but he passed and Ennio Morricone composed a very low-key Carpenter-like score filled with brooding, menacing bass chords. Morricone's score would be dubiously nominated for a Razzie award for worst score.
Besides the fact that both films opened on this date, the similarities don't end there: both movies met with unfavorable reactions at the premiere but became widely loved sci-fi classics in the years to come.
June 25, 1984 -
Warner Bros. Records released the sixth studio album by Prince, Purple Rain, on this date.
Purple Rain was musically denser than Prince's previous albums, emphasizing full band performances, and multiple layers of guitars, keyboards, electronic synthesizer effects, drum machines, and other instruments.
June 25, 1993 -
David Letterman's series Late Night with David Letterman aired for the last time on NBC-TV on this date. Letterman began hosting Late Show with David Letterman on CBS in August 30, 1993.
Letterman left Late Night in 1993 for Late Show with David Letterman on CBS when NBC give the Tonight Show to Jay Leno following the departure of Johnny Carson in 1992. However, NBC refused to allow Letterman to use elements that made the show famous such as "Larry 'Bud' Melman" or "The Top Ten List". NBC claimed those bits were their "intellectual property". "The Top Ten List" was renamed "Late Show Top Ten" and "Larry 'Bud' Melman" used his real name, Calvert DeForest.
June 25, 1993 -
Possibly the greatest Meg Ryan 'rom com' (which may seem redundant to some,) Sleepless in Seattle, premiered on this date.
The role of Annie was originally offered to Julia Roberts, who turned it down. Kim Basinger was also offered the role in the early script process, but turned it down because she thought the premise was ridiculous. After Michelle Pfeiffer, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jodie Foster declined as well, Meg Ryan landed the role.
Today's moment of Zen
Today in History:
June 25, 841 -
The army of Charles the Bald and Louis the German met the troops of Lothar and of his nephew Pippin of Aquitaine on this date in 841.
Some say it was one of the most traumatic experiences of the ninth century, but what the hell do you care!
June 25, 1876 -
This is a little cautionary tale about pissing off the wrong people.
This is the native way a sending a very serious message.
June 25, 1903 -
Eric Arthur Blair was born on this day in eastern India, the son of a British colonial civil servant. He burned to be a writer but had no success get people to look at his work, so he was forced him into a series of menial jobs.
Finally he became a Famous Author and even a Great Writer, but by then he was dead, whatever his name was.
June 25, 1906 -
A love triangle came to a violent end atop the original Madison Square Garden as architect Stanford White, the building's designer, was shot to death by Harry Thaw, for an alleged tryst White had with Thaw's wife, Florence Evelyn Nesbit.
Thaw, tried for murder, was acquitted by reason of insanity. At the time this was called "The Crime of the Century."
June 25, 1910 -
The Mann Act, sometimes known as the White Slave Traffic Act of 1910, makes it a federal crime to convey or assist in transporting women across state lines for prostitution, debauchery, or "any other immoral purpose." Men convicted of this heinous (if vague) statute face up to five years and a $5,000 fine for each count. Penalties are doubled if the female is underage, (but men and boys are apparently not covered.)
Unless you're into guys - then it's smooth sailings.
June 25, 1967 -
The first live, international, satellite television production, Our World, was broadcast on this date. Among the featured performers were opera singer Maria Callas, artist Pablo Picasso and a small English skiffle group called The Beatles.
When the The Beatles' appearance on the program was announced, John Lennon wrote the song especially for the occasion. He was told by the BBC: it had to be simple so that viewers would tune in.
I guess he was right.
June 25, 1978 -
The rainbow flag, created by Gilbert Blake, was flown for the first time in the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade, on this date.
Mr Blake, 65, passed away a few years ago in his sleep at his home in New York.
June 25, 2009 -
Michael Jackson, resplendent in his celestial robes, has been singing in Heaven for more than a decade now. More importantly to his earth bound relatives, Michael continues to support the various members of the Jackson factions quite nicely. Death hasn't put a crimp in his record sales.
Farrah Fawcett also died 14 years ago today. I don't believe she's singing with any heavenly children's choir.
There is no connection between these two events but it's also the birthday of Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou:
George would have been 60 this year.
It's time to start scaring the children -
there are 183 days until Christmas.
And so it goes.
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