This is the screwiest picture I was ever in.

November 10, 1942 -
The third 'Road' movie, the Road to Morocco, starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, and Anthony Quinn, premiered in NYC on this date.



The scene where the camel spits in Turkey's (Bob Hope's) face wasn't planned. The camel did it of its own accord while the cameras were rolling, and Hope's recoil and Bing Crosby's reaction were so funny that it was left in the final cut of the film.


November 10, 1953 -
Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom was an educational Adventures in Music animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions, and originally released to theaters by Buena Vista Distribution on this date.



This was a "sequel" of sorts to 1953's Adventures in Music: Melody. This was originally meant to be an ongoing series (note the "Adventures In Music" in the opening titles of this short), but no others were produced.


November 10, 1956 -
Billie Holiday returned to the stage at Carnegie Hall after a three-year absence on this date.



The concert was called, by some, a high point in jazz history.


November 10, 1967 -
The Star Trek episode Metamorphosis (Episode 38, Production 31) premiered on this date. In it, Kirk finds Zefram Cochrane, inventor of the warp drive, who has been missing for 150 years and his mysterious alien companion.



This song introduced a new sound for the band. When they formed, they were more of a Blues band, and had a hit in 1965 with a cover of Bessie Banks' Go Now. With the songs on Days of Future Passed, they distinguished themselves with original songs in a more psychedelic/orchestral sound.


November 10, 1969 -
Come and play. Even at 55, everything's still A-OK (even on HBO.)



Sesame Street premiered on PBS-TV on this date.


November 10, 1969 -
Just four months after the Apollo 11 moon landing, Columbia Pictures released the thriller Marooned, directed by John Sturges and starring Gregory Peck and Gene Hackman, in U.S. theaters on this date.



The Film Ventures International re-edit of this film (retitled Space Travelers) was featured on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. This was also the only film featured on the show to have won an Academy Award.


November 10, 1973 -
Elton John hit No.1 on the Billboard album chart for the third time with his seventh LP, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, on this date. The double disk set became his best selling studio album with worldwide sales of over 15 million copies, certified 8× platinum.



Elton and his songwriting partner Bernie Taupin went to Jamaica to record the album, but the studio wasn't up to standard, so the project was abandoned there with only a rough version of Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting) actually being recorded. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and the rest of the album were recorded in France at Strawberry Studios (The Chateau d'Hierouville).


November 10, 1974 -
Bob Fosse's devastating bio-pix about Lenny Bruce, Lenny, starring Dustin Hoffman and Valerie Perrine premiered in NYC on this date.



Cliff Gorman won the 1972 Tony Award for his portrayal of Bruce on Broadway. He was considered for the film adaptation, but wasn't considered as bankable an actor as Hoffman. Gorman played a Lenny Bruce type of character in All That Jazz, also directed by Bob Fosse.


November 10, 1975 -
Arista Records released Patti Smith's debut album, Horses, on this date.



The origin of the Horses album lies in the inception of a poem Patti Smith wrote called Oath when she was around 20. It began, "Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine." She explained to Mojo magazine: "It was my statement of independence from being fettered by any particular religious institution, not any statement against Jesus Christ. That's the start of my evolution as a young person that got me to Horses."


November 10, 1990 -
John Hughes' classic holiday film, directed by Chris Columbus, Home Alone, starring Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, and Daniel Stern, premiered in Chicago on this date.



Joe Pesci kept forgetting that he was filming a family movie during his character's on-screen outbursts, so director Chris Columbus advised him to say "fridge" instead of the "f" word.


Another book from the back shelves of The ACME Library.


Today in History:
November 10, 4004 BC -
Are you having that , "Gee, I'm feeling rather shamed about my engorged genitals today", here's the reason why:

Adam and Eve, all our forebearers, were driven from Paradise on this date, according to our good old friend Rev. Ussher.



For some reason, the first Gideon Bibles were put in hotel rooms at the Superior Hotel in Superior, Montana on this date in 1908.


November 10, 1871 -
New York Newspaperman Henry M. Stanley finally found Scottish explorer Dr. Livingstone at Ujiji near Lake Tanganyika (helpfully identified by some sources as being "near Unyanyembe"), and remarked, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?", on this date.



This was extremely witty and therefore historical.


November 10, 1903 -
U.S. patent no. 743,801 was issued to Mary Anderson, a resident of Birmingham, Alabama. She tried to sell her invention to a manufacturing firm in Canada, but the offer was rejected as having no practical value.



Others belittled her creation as well, insisting it would distract drivers and result in accidents. In the end, her patent expired before she was able to profit from her invention.


November 10, 1911 -
The following entry was made by George Levick, a surgeon and the medical officer on Scott's famous 1910-1913 expedition to the South Pole: This afternoon I saw a most extraordinary site - A Penguin was actually engaged in sodomy upon the body of a dead white throated bird of its own species.

How I know this and why I though it important to note it in this blog speaks volumes to my education and general mental state.


(Bunkies, there is a theme for the rest of today's posting. Your task is to figure it out - submit your guess:)

November 10, 1925 -
Richard Burton was born on this date.



No, not the Victorian international man of mystery, self-circumcisor and male brothel frequenter but Welsh actor with the greatest voice of the 20th Century.


November 10, 1928 -
Playing against Army at Yankee Stadium, Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne gave what is considered the greatest locker room speeches of all time by saying "Win one for the Gipper."



There is a clear through line to the theme in all of this.


November 10, 1928 -
Michinomiya Hirohito was crowned the 124th Emperor of Japan, Emperor Showa on this date.

Somehow the theme shows up here, as well.



November 10, 1938 -
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, one of the most extraordinary men of the 20th Century, statesman and first President of Modern Turkey, died of cirrhosis of the liver on this date.



Will Durant had said, "men devoted to war, politics, and public life wear out fast, and all three had been the passion of Atatürk."


November 10, 1940 -
Walt Disney begins serving as a secret informer for the Los Angeles office of the FBI, to report back information on Hollywood subversives. He was made a "Full Special Agent in Charge Contact" in 1954.

We should note that Disney was also atheist, Neo-Nazi, racist and possible child pornography collector, thus subversive in his own little way. Also remember that he reported in directly to a cross-dressing, homosexual who would never make left turns in his car.

The theme shows up clearly here as well.


November 10, 1954 -
The Iwo Jima Memorial, also known as the US Marine Corps (USMC) War Memorial, was dedicated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in Arlington National Cemetery on this date.



The Marine Corps War Memorial is dedicated to all Marines who have served and given their lives in the defense of the United States since a resolution of the Second Continental Congress, on this date in 1775, ordered their formation.


November 10, 1958 -
Jeweler Harry Winston donated the Hope Diamond, the "most famous diamond in the world", to the Smithsonian Institution on this date. The jewel is believed to have originated in India, where the original (larger) stone was purchased in 1666 by French gem merchant Jean-Baptiste Tavernier as the Tavernier Blue.



The diamond was sent to the Smithsonian through U.S. Mail in a box wrapped in brown paper as simple registered mail with $2.44 postage.


November 10, 1975 -
The 729-foot-long freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank during a storm on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew on board



and unfortunately is the subject of Gordon Lightfoot's annoying hit song, The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald.



On July 4, 1995, the ship's bell will be recovered from the wreck, and a replica, engraved with the names of the crew members who perished in this tragedy, will be left in its place. The original bell is on display at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point in Michigan.


Before you go - I never understood the concept of holiday long-form commercials in England. Aldi is another European supermarket chain, that is somehow related to Lidl but not really worth going into here. In his ninth year, Kevin the Carrot is back on UK screens this Christmas with another heroic tale. -



May I politely as why Santa has to turn to vegetable matter to save the Christmas spirit. The world may never know. But rather than hurt your head, allow me to show you another food related commercial - Lidl -



Again, couldn't Emma have wished for everyone to have a nice Christmas, including her own family and what does that have to do with a supermarket?

Maybe you may want to polish the silverware.



And so it goes