June 26, 1974 -
At 8:01 am in the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio, cashier Sharon Buchanan scanned a package of Wrigley’s chewing gum with a bar code printed on it.
This was the first product ever logged under the new Universal Product Code (UPC) computerized product recognition system. It's been all downhill ever since.
June 26, 1919 -
105 years ago today, The New York Daily News started publishing the print edition.
The paper was originally known as the Illustrated Daily News. And its first subscriber wasn't a New Yorker — it was a Boston shoe manufacturer named Louis Coolidge.
The Cyclone roller coaster opened on this date in 1927. The roller coaster opened in Coney Island and is still available to induce vomiting today, (it's great to know that the ride is still open).
It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991 and was made an historic New York City landmark in 1988.
June 26, 1925 -
Charlie Chaplin's classic comedy, The Gold Rush, premiered at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, on this date.
Location filming proved problematic, so Charles Chaplin shot the entire film on the backlot and stages of his Hollywood studio, including an elaborate reconstruction of the Klondike. His leisurely approach to film-making - and multiple takes - did not suit the demands of location filming. One of the problems was that the crew could not make the cabin look like it was being moved by the wind convincingly on location. Eventually, Chaplin's cinematographer, Roland Totheroh, convinced him that it would be more practical to shoot the sequence with miniature models with his firm assurances that it could be shot convincingly.
June 26, 1964 -
The Beatles third studio album, A Hard Day's Night was first released in the United States by United Artists Records on this date and on July 10, 1964 in the UK by Parlophone.
In contrast to the band's first two albums, all thirteen tracks were written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, showcasing the development of the duo's songwriting talents.
June 26, 1965 -
The Byrds went to No.1 on the US singles chart with their version of Bob Dylan's Mr Tambourine Man. (Only Roger McGuinn from the band played on the song, the drummer Hal Blaine who played on the track also played on Bridge Over Troubled Water.)
This song changed the face of rock music. It launched The Byrds, convinced Dylan to "go electric," and started the folk-rock movement. David Crosby of The Byrds recalled the day Dylan heard them working on the song: "He came to hear us in the studio when we were building The Byrds. After the word got out that we gonna do 'Mr. Tambourine Man' and we were probably gonna be good, he came there and he heard us playing his song electric, and you could see the gears grinding in his head. It was plain as day. It was like watching a slow-motion lightning bolt."
June 26, 1981 -
The Columbia Pictures' comedy, Stripes, directed by Ivan Reitman and starring Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Warren Oates, P. J. Soles, Sean Young, and John Candy opened in the US on this date.
According to Ivan Reitman, during the scene where the recruits receive their basic training haircuts he did not tell the actors that real Army barbers would be shaving their heads until the scene was shot. He lined all of the actors up and shot the scene as scripted to get their genuine reactions to their heads being shaved. John Candy became depressed after the scene was shot. This is why you see him picking up his hair and looking sad when he walks out of the barber shop. Since Bill Murray and Harold Ramis were bigger names at that point than the rest of the cast, they were required to cut their hair shorter, but not to shave their entire heads.
June 26, 1987 -
The truly silly yet likeable Mel Brooks film, Spaceballs, starring Mel Brooks, John Candy, Rick Moranis, Bill Pullman, Daphne Zuniga, Dick Van Patten, and Joan Rivers went into general release on this date.
The Millennium Falcon from the Star Wars saga makes a cameo appearance in this movie. Take a close look at the exterior shot of the Space Diner, and it can be spotted parked there among the other space vehicles. George Lucas got a chance to read the screenplay before production began, and loved it so much that he decided to have his special effects company, Industrial Light & Magic, help make this movie.
June 26, 1999 -
Pearl Jam score their biggest Hot 100 hit when Last Kiss, a cover of a song from the '60s originally recorded by J. Frank Wilson & The Cavaliers, reaches #2, held off the top spot by Jennifer Lopez' first single, If You Had My Love.
This was originally a hit for J. Frank Wilson & The Cavaliers in 1964. Eddie Vedder came across this song when he found the record in an antiques store in Seattle before a show. He bought it and stayed up all night listening to it. He took it to the band and they played it throughout the summer of their 1998 tour.
Today in History:
June 26, 1284 -
The town of Hamelin had a large rat infestation. A weirdly dressed minstrel promised to help them get rid of their rats. The townsmen in turn promised to pay him for the removal of the rats. The man accepted and thus played a musical pipe to lure the rats with a song into the Weser River, where all of them drowned. Despite his success, the people reneged on their promise and refused to pay the rat-catcher. Pied Piper extracting his revenge, luring 130 children of Hamelin away on this date.
People, let this be a lesson to us all - please pay your exterminator bill promptly.
Richard III made himself King of England on this date in 1483 by killing everyone else who wanted to be king.
It seemed a clever stratagem at the time, especially for a hunchback, but his reign came to a bloody end just two years later as a result of his making a fiscally irresponsible bid on a horse. (To all of you Richard rehabilitators, this is a joke. Please, no e-mails.)
June 26, 1498 -
The toothbrush (as we know it) was patented in China during the Hongzhi Emperor's reign. The toothbrush used hog bristles (or horse hair - again, please, no e-mails), at that time.
Hog bristle brushes remained the best until the invention of nylon. I completely understand the slight gagging feeling you're experiencing this morning. We were able to ascertain this date through the diligent work of ancient Chinese chronologists, who were not plagued by the distraction of the massive amount of sodomy that was rampant throughout Western Europe, where they were going through a touch of Renaissance at the time.
Francisco Pizarro conquered the entire Peruvian Empire of the Incas with a handful of soldiers only to have those soldiers turn on and kill him on June 26, 1541. He was stabbed in the throat, then fell to the floor where he was stabbed repeatedly. Pizarro (who now was maybe as old as 70 years, and at least 62, remember, the problem with calendars: sodomy), collapsed on the floor, alone, painted a cross in his own blood and cried for Jesus Christ. He then cried out: Come to me my faithful sword, companion of all my deeds.
Abner Doubleday was born on this date in 1819. A forgotten footnote in his life is the fact that he aimed the cannon that fired the first return shot in answer to the Confederate bombardment of Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, starting the Civil War.
Mr. Doubleday is incorrectly credited with the invention of baseball, without which Americans would have nothing to watch between waits in line for more beer.
June 26, 1819 -
W.K. Clarkson of New York received a patent for what was then called a velocipede (even though Denis Johnson of London had patented his velocipede in December 1818.)
Unfortunately, the patent record was destroyed by fire, so the actual design is not known.
June 26, 1870 -
The day after Leon Day, Congress declared Christmas a federal holiday,
June 26, 1926 -
Ernest Hemingway hung around Europe with several of his friends after WWI. He used to drive an ambulance. It had a horn. The horn went beep - beep. It was a good sound. Hemingway and his friend wrote some novels in between, drinking, whore mongering and general lollygagging. Typewriters made a sound - clackity -clack. It was a good sound. Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises was published on this date. It is a good date to publish.
All in all it was a damn good novel. Isn’t it pretty to think so?
June 26, 1956 -
Chris Isaak, actor and singer was born on this date.
With 13 studio albums, he’s been called the Roy Orbison of the 90s and is often also compared to Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, and Duane Eddy.
June 26, 1959 -
In a ceremony presided over by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Queen Elizabeth II, the St. Lawrence Seaway was officially opened, creating a navigational channel from the Atlantic Ocean to all the Great Lakes.
The seaway, made up of a system of canals, locks, and dredged waterways, extends a distance of nearly 2,500 miles, from the Atlantic Ocean through the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Duluth, Minnesota, on Lake Superior.
(Great bar bet winner for tonight: Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, was probably conceived in Canada on this royal visit.)
June 26, 1963 -
President John F. Kennedy stood before the Berlin Wall and announced to a quarter of a million Germans that he was a jelly donut, in his famous "I am a jelly donut" ("ich bin ein jelly donut") speech.
Although embarrassing, this was considered an improvement over Eisenhower's infamous "I am a well-endowed fruit bat" speech on a golf course in Costa Rica.
June 26, 1968 -
Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones ....
Oh well ... another mystery of the church best left unexplained.
June 26, 1976 -
The CN Tower in Toronto, Canada, was the world's tallest free-standing structure at the time, at 1,815 feet (553 meters,) opened for tourists on this date.
It now is third, behind the Tokyo Skytree in Japan and an observation tower in China. Burj Khalifa skyscraper in the United Arab Emirates is currently the world's tallest building (with floors from the ground up.)
June 26th 1977 -
St. Elvis played his last ever concert at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis, Indiana on this date. Elvis was not long for this world; he was very over-weight and seemed ill, but he wanted to silence the press and make his loyal fans happy.
He played in front of an excess of 18,000 fans as they watched his last and most historic performance. Elvis would be gone in less that two months.
Remember - one hand on the screen - the other upon your afflicted area
June 26, 1990 -
The Irish Republican Army bombed the Carlton Club on this date, an exclusive conservative gentleman's cabal in London.
(It is a well known fact that Margaret Thatcher was denoted an "honorary man" in order to become a member. It is not clear what surgical modifications, if any, were necessary.)
And so it goes.
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