Monday, October 7, 2024

Here we go again

October 7 -
Since it is the first Monday in October, it's the start of the 2024-2025 Term -



Once again I'm sure nothing much will be going on.


October 7, 1950 -
The character of Granny appeared for the first time in a Looney Tunes Cartoon when Canary Row, directed by Friz Freleng and starring Sylvester and Tweety, premiered on this date.



Mel Blanc's voice for Tweety, except when singing, was edited to an extra higher pitch than usual for this cartoon, but would go back to its regular edited pitch in Tweety's next short, Putty Tat Trouble.


October 7, 1952 -
A little TV show called American Bandstand premiered on this date, 70 years ago.



It premiered locally as a live show, Bandstand, on Philadelphia television station WFIL-TV (Channel 6, now WPVI-TV) on this date in Studio 'B', which was located in their just-completed addition to the original 1947 building (4548 Market Street) and was hosted by Bob Horn, with Lee Stewart as co-host. Dick Clark did not become associated with the show until 1956.


October 7, 1957
The first movie to be adapted to become a TV series, How to Marry a Millionaire, starring Lori Nelson, Merry Anders, and Barbara Eden premiered on this date. It was syndicated and not on a regular network.



A moderate success during its initial run, the show was renewed to return for an abbreviated second season but did so without Lori Nelson, who quit in a huff. Greta was said to have married a gas station owner and moved to California, and Lisa Gaye joined the cast as Gwen Kirby.


October 7, 1959 -
The 50s most glamorous and wholesome stars - Rock Hudson and Doris Day, starred in their first pairing, Pillow Talk, which went into general release on this date.



Despite being contractually bound by Universal to do the film, Rock Hudson consistently declined it, fearing it was too dirty and would harm his masculine image. Doris Day finally talked him into starring in it, and it subsequently became one of his biggest hits.


October 7, 1960 -
Route 66 starring Martin Milner and George Maharis premiered on CBS TV, on this date.



The Corvette was replaced every three thousand miles. Chevrolet was the show's sponsor. It was never explained how Tod was able to get a new Corvette so often. The Corvette was never red, as often believed. It was light blue in the first season, beige in the second season, and tan in the third season. The colors were chosen because they photographed well in black and white.


October 7, 1964 -
The Beatles appear on episode of ABC-TV's Shindig, (filmed on October 3rd in London, in front of the adoring Beatles Fan Club,) on this date.



The Beatles were at the top of the bill on the show; the other acts were Sandie Shaw, PJ Proby, The Karl Denver Trio, Tommy Quickly, Sounds Incorporated, and Lyn Cornell. The Beatles performed three songs live: Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!, I’m A Loser and Boys. In addition to their performance, The Beatles also appeared in the show’s finale with the Karl Denver Trio.


October 7, 1971 -
William Friedkin's taut policier, The French Connection, opened in NYC on this date.



Roy Scheider and Gene Hackman patrolled with Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso for a month to get the feel of the characters. Hackman became disgusted at the sights he saw during this patrol. In one incident he had to help restrain a suspect in the squad car and later worried that he would be sued for impersonating a policeman.


October 7, 1979 -
Factory Records released Transmission, the debut single (the 7" disc version) by seminal post-punk band Joy Division, on this date.



In May 2007, NME magazine placed Transmission at No.20 in its list of the 50 "Greatest Indie Anthems Ever", one place below their third single Love Will Tear Us Apart .


October 7, 1989
Janet Jackson's single, Miss You Much, one of seven Top 5 singles from the album Rhythm Nation 1814, topped the charts on this date.



This song was written by the production duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. They had a lot of success on Jackson's previous album, Control, in 1986 - the breakthrough album that helped Jackson break the pop mold and become a sex icon with a funky edge.


October 7, 1995 -
Alanis Morissette's third album, Jagged Little Pill reaches the top of the Billboard albums chart on this date. It became one of the best-selling albums of all time and made Morissette the first Canadian to achieve double diamond sales.



Morissette is the fourth female artist to have a debut album reach #1 in the 1990s, following Paula Abdul, Mariah Carey and Toni Braxton.


Word of the Day


Today in History:
October 7, 1492 -
Because of a flock of seagulls (I kid you not,) Columbus changed course to the southwest, on this date.



As a result he missed discovering Florida, leaving it for Fountain of Wayne (I mean Youth) groupie, Ponce de León, to discover.

Imagine the mess we'd be in if he didn't change course.


October 7, 1849 -
On this date, Edgar Allan Poe was found in a delirious state (Maryland) outside a Baltimore voting place (saloon).



Mr. Poe was often found delirious, especially outside voting places,



but this time his delirium was serious and he died.


October 7, 1952 -
It's Vladimir Putin's 72nd birthday.



All I'm going to say is he should live and enjoy his upcoming retirement.


October 7, 1955 -
It was on this day in San Francisco at the Six Gallery, the poet Allen Ginsberg read his poem Howl for the first time.



The poem begins, "I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness." His friend Jack Kerouac sat on the edge of the stage and when Ginsberg was done, the audience exploded in applause.



When Lawrence Ferlinghetti published the poem Howl out of his City Lights bookstore in San Francisco, he was arrested and tried for obscenity, but he was found not guilty.


October 7, 1959 -

... There is no dark side of the moon really. Matter of fact it's all dark.



The dark far side of the Moon was photographed for the first time and pictures relayed back to Earth by Russia's Luna 3 spacecraft. After passing the Moon, the Luna 3 looked back from a distance of 63,500 km to take 29 photos of the sunlit far side of the Moon.



The photos, taken over a period of 40 minutes, were developed onboard and radioed back to Earth on October 18, 1959. They covered 70% of the far side. While the resolution of the photographs was very low resolution, many of the features of the Moon could be recognized.


October 7, 1964 -
Walter W. Jenkins, chief White House aide and longtime friend of President Lyndon B. Johnson, was arrested for disorderly conduct two blocks from the White House on this date. Jenkins was discovered in a YMCA pay toilet with another man.

Ultimately, Jenkins is forced to resign, so as not to jeopardize Johnson's re-election campaign. Jenkins stated that during his arrest, his mind had been "befuddled by fatigue, alcohol, physical illness, and lack of food."

Yeah, that's it, befuddled by fatigue... yeah, that and a wide stance will get you in trouble in a men's public restroom all the time.


October 7, 1968 -
The Motion Picture Association of America announced a new voluntary Hollywood rating system, on this date, giving advance warnings to parents so they can make decisions about which films might be appropriate for their children.

The four MPAA ratings included ‘G’ for general audiences of all ages, ‘M’ for mature audiences, ‘R’ for restricted under the age of 16, unless accompanied by an adult, and ‘X’, which the National Association of Theater Owners lobbied for in order to protect itself against lawsuits.


October 7, 1968 -
Jose Feliciano caused an uproar when he does a slow, jazzy version of the song before Game 5 of the World Series between the Tigers and Cardinals, on this date. Afterwards, a Tigers official told him the club's phones were lighting up with angry calls from around the country: "Some veterans were taking off their shoes and throwing them at their television screens," he was told.



Among those joining the outrage were Tigers starting pitcher Mickey Lolich, who complains that the overly long rendition screwed up his pregame routine. As a result of his cover of the national anthem, many radio stations refused to play his songs, and his career suffered.


October 7, 2001 -
The US launched Operation Enduring Freedom, hunting for the terrorist in Afghanistan, that brought down the World Trade Center Towers. On December 31, 2014, Operation Enduring Freedom - Afghanistan concluded, and was succeeded by Operation Freedom's Sentinel on January 1, 2015. The Dept. of Defense was expected to formally end Operation Enduring Freedom on August 31, 2021, but concluded with the final withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan on August 30.



Please take a moment out of your day today to consider the sacrifices, warranted or not, that the men and woman of the US military (and their families) have made.


October 7, 2011 -
The world’s largest chocolate bar was made by Thorntons Limited in Alfreton, Derbyshire, England on this date. The giant bar was smashed up, using axes, and samples were given to Thornton employees at the event. The rest was sold in stores to raise money for charity. (Sorry you weren't there to sample it.)



It measured 4.0 m (13 ft 1.48 in) by 4.0 m (13 ft 1.48 in) by 0.35 m (1 ft 1.78 in) and weighed 5,792 kilograms (nearly six tons). The ingredients were sugar, dried whole milk powder, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, butter oil, emulsifier. (This will be on the test.)


October 27, 2023 -
Hamas and several other Palestinian nationalist militant groups launched coordinated armed incursions from the Gaza Strip into the Gaza Envelope of southern Israel, the first invasion of Israeli territory since the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The attack coincided with the Jewish religious holiday Simchat Torah.



The attacks initiated the ongoing Israel–Hamas war. Please take another moment out of your day to remember all of the victims of this conflict and hope that a ceasefire plan can be found and the remaining hostages can be freed.


And so it goes

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