but that has nothing to do with the fact that today we celebrate National Pumpkin Day and Howl at the Moon Day today.
So don't make us wait - howl at the moon, preferably while eating pumpkin pie.
October 26, 1959 -
A gentle and yet still relevant Cold War comedy, The Mouse that Roared, opened in the US on this date.
The director, Jack Arnold did not ask the studio's permission to make fun of the Columbia logo, convinced they would say no. At the film's opening, "Miss Columbia" discovers a mouse under her skirts and runs off screaming. At the end she returns to her pedestal. Studio executives first heard of the joke when they attended the New York previews, where it got a huge laugh. After that, there was no thought of cutting it, though it is absent from some television prints.
October 26, 1962 -
The Crawford - Davis horror camp classic, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? opened in NYC on this date.
In her book This N' That, Bette Davis said she had a lot of control over how her makeup should be done for the film. She imagined the older Jane as someone who would never wash her face, just put on another layer of makeup. When her daughter, Barbara Merrill, first saw her in full "Jane" makeup, she said, "Oh, mother, this time you've gone too far."
October 26, 1967 -
An excellent (though almost forgotten) thriller from the 60s, Wait Until Dark, premiered on this date.
In his non-fiction book Danse Macabre, Stephen King declared this to be the scariest movie of all time and that Alan Arkin's performance "may be the greatest evocation of screen villainy ever."
October 26, 1970 -
Elton John released his first hit single Your Song, on this date.
This was one of the first songs John wrote with Bernie Taupin. They met after a record company gave John some of Taupin's lyrics to work with. Eventually, they both moved into John's parents' house, where they started working together.
October 26, 1972 -
Ringo Starr and singer Lulu appear in non-speaking cameos on the Monty Python's Flying Circus episode Mr And Mrs Brian Norris' Ford Popular on this date.
The tramp (Michael Palin) enters and sits between them and begins his introduction, in David Frost style: “Hello, good evening, welcome … It’s …” a cue for the closing titles of the program to run. While Lulu gets up and storms off stage in a huff, Ringo (still not uttering a single word) becomes involved in a fight with the tramp.
October 26, 1982 -
TV's longest dream sequence, St. Elsewhere, premiered on NBC-TV on this date.
The show never won high ratings but it lasted six seasons on NBC because it appealed to the desirable (for advertisers) educated 18-49 year old demographic.
October 26, 1984 -
James Cameron's sci-fi classic, The Terminator starring the occasionally nude Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton premiered in the US on this date.
While shooting this film, James Cameron often resorted to what he called "guerilla filmmaking" as a way of getting around acquiring permits needed to film certain scenes. This involved the production crew and actors quickly arriving at a specified location, shooting the scene and leaving before the police arrived. As a result, some of the people seen in a few shots are actual everyday citizens completely unaware they're in a movie.
October 26, 2001 -
Richard Kelly's cult classic film, Donnie Darko, starring Jake Gyllenhaal went into limited release in US theaters on this date.
At the wrap party for the film, Seth Rogen and Jake Gyllenhaal agreed that they had no idea what the movie was about.
Today in History:
October 26, 899 -
Alfred the Great, King of the Anglo-Saxons, who suffered throughout his life with a painful and unpleasant illness, died on this date,
It is thought that he had either Crohn’s disease or haemorrhoids. His grandson King Eadred seems to have suffered from a similar illness. But as always what the hell do you care, we're all freaking out about the upcoming election.
October 26, 1440 -
Gilles de Rais, French marshal and (alleged) depraved killer of 140 children, was strangled then thrown onto slow fire on this date.
A brilliant young French knight, he was believed to either have cracked over the torture and death of his true love, Jeanne d'Arc, the Maid of Orleans or some theorists consider Gilles the victim of a plot to acquire his lands.
On this date, in 1825, New York City becomes a World Port with the opening of the Erie Canal; a river waterway between Hudson River and Lake Erie opened.
It cut through 363 miles of wilderness and measured 40 feet wide and 4 feet deep. It had 18 aqueducts and 83 locks and rose 568 feet from the Hudson River to Lake Erie.
Toll receipts paid back the $7.5 million construction cost within ten years. (This will all be on the test.)
October 26, 1881 -
Wyatt Earp, his two brothers and Doc Holliday showed up at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, to disarm the Clanton and McLaury boys, who were in violation of a ban on carrying guns in the city limits.
This became the famous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Billy Clanton and Tom and Frank McLowery were killed; Earp's brothers were wounded. “OK” probably referred to two families, Ormsby & Kimberly, who owned the nearby corral.
October 26, 1944 -
Freemason and Vice President Harry S Truman publicly denies (yet again) ever having been a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
I can't even imagine the feeding frenzy that would have go on today.
October 26, 1965 -
Queen Elizabeth decorated The Beatles with the Order of the British Empire, at Buckingham Palace, on this date.
The Beatles, ever polite, allowed Her Majesty to add chintz curtains and tufted sofas in their living rooms.
October 26, 1970 -
Doonesbury, the comic strip by Gary Trudeau, premiered in 28 newspapers across the U.S. on this date.
Who knew? (Who reads newspapers anymore?)
October 26, 1979 -
Kim Jae Kyu, director of South Korea's central intelligence agency, "accidentally" shot President Park Chung Hee to death, also killing Park's bodyguard. Park had been president (dictator, effectively) since 1961. Kim was executed the following May for his attempted coup d'etat. (I hate when someone in my cabinet tries to assassinate me.)
In 2005 at the New York Film Festival, the film, The President's Last Bang, recounted the events.
October 26, 1984 -
19-year-old John McCollum shot and killed himself while listening to Ozzy Osbourne records on this date. One year later, McCollum's parents file suit against Ozzy and CBS Records, alleging that the song Suicide Solution from the album Blizzard of Ozz contributed to their son's death.
Except that the song's subject was quite plainly alcohol addiction. The trial court dismissed the McCollum's complaint. (Please, only watch the video once, with adult supervision. And for heaven's sake, don't try to play it backwards!)
October 26, 1991 -
A sudden wind uprooted a 485-pound umbrella, part of an outdoor 'art project' installed by Christo, in the Tejon Pass north of Los Angeles and struck Lori Keevil-Matthews, 33 years old, of Camarillo, California, crushing her to death against a boulder.
That must really suck being killed by an old Hollies song.
And so it goes
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