Tuesday, November 19, 2024

Toilets - A Place For Peace

Today is World Toilet Day. The day is all about celebrating toilets for everything they do for us – from taking away our waste to protecting our health, safety and dignity.



Billions of people still don’t have a safe toilet. If you’re lucky enough have one, say thanks and give it some love!


November 19, 1942 -
The second (and last) Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth outing, You Were Never Lovelier, co-starring Adolphe Menjou and Xavier Cugat, premiered in NYC on this date.



Because all the sets on the Columbia lot were occupied, Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth rehearsed most of their routines in the nearby Hollywood Cemetery funeral parlor. They had to stop rehearsing to the upbeat music whenever a funeral procession arrived.


November 19, 1946 -
Edmund Goulding's adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's novel, The Razor's Edge, starring Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, John Payne, Anne Baxter, Clifton Webb, and Herbert Marshall, premiered in NYC on this date.



Christopher Isherwood and Henry Channon are considered by many Maugham biographers to be the inspiration for the characters of Larry Darrell and Elliott Templeton, respectively.


November 19, 1959 -
The first episode of Rocky and His Friends aired on this date.



The first episode, Part One of the Jet Fuel Formula story arc, was recorded in February 1958. However, subsequent episodes were not recorded until February 1959, using a different soundtrack stock. This led to some notable changes in the performances of the voice cast - in Part One of Jet Fuel Formula the clarity of the voice cast is noticeably better than in subsequent episodes, particularly the voice performances of June Foray and Paul Frees; a close listen finds that the studio echo of the session bleeds into the soundtrack.


November 18, 1973 -
Emerson, Lake, & Palmer release their fourth studio album, Brain Salad Surgery on this date.



Karn Evil 9 became ELP's most popular song from their most popular album. The song is most commonly interpreted as ELP's take on a shortened history of the world into a futuristic tale.


November 19, 1975 -
One of Jack Nicholson's greatest performances, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, opened in the US on this date.



Jack Nicholson took a percentage of the profits in lieu of a small salary for a modestly budgeted film. The move paid off when the picture went on to gross well over $120 million.


November 19, 1980 -
File this under: the past is a different country - In 1980, Brooke Shields was just 15 when she filmed a series of controversial Calvin Klein television commercials.



ABC and CBS banned several of her Calvin Klein jean advertisement because of the highly suggestive question, “Do you know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing,” on this date.


November 19, 1980 -
It fails so completely that you might suspect Mr. Cimino sold his soul to obtain the success of The Deer Hunter and the Devil has just come around to collect. - Vincent Canby, The New York Times.

Michael Cimino's 'tainted masterpiece', Heaven's Gate premiered on this date.



33 years later - By all means see it on the big screen if only to appreciate the enormity of Mr. Cimino's efforts. A fascinating artifact and a monument to Mr. Cimino's towering ambitions, as much for himself as for his art. He sought to recreate the Old West in the film, but the greater marvel is how he tried to replicate Old Hollywood and a dream world that once was - a world that these days is often made in computers. – Manohla Dargis, The New York Times


November 19, 1992 -
... is he fully bonded and licensed by the city?



Linda Ronstadt appeared on the famous Mr. Plow episode of The Simpsons, where she appears in a commercial for Homer's rival, Plow King (Barney Gumble).


November 19, 1994 -
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers played You Don't Know How It Feels and Honeybee on Saturday Night Live with Dave Grohl on drums (on this date,) who considers joining the band full time.



The Heartbreakers lost their drummer on October 2 when Stan Lynch was fired after a gig. The SNL appearance had already been booked, so Petty cold called Grohl, who was up to the task. "It was the first time I looked forward to playing the drums since Nirvana," he says.


November 19, 1995 -
The Beatles Anthology documentary series premieres in US on ABC-TV on this date. The entire series was shown over three nights that week.

>
The series was released simultaneously with an accompanying album and book. The three surviving Beatles had heard that original drummer Pete Best had fallen on hard times and in order for Best to get some royalties from the Anthology sales, they included early original recordings that were made with Best on drums, most noticeably the January 1st 1962 Decca demos. The amount of Royalties Best received haven't officially been made known, but based on sales figures, they are believed to be between £1million to £4 million.


Another moment of Zen


Today in History:
November 19, 1581 -
Russian Czar Ivan The Terrible killed his son, Ivan The Merely Petulant on this date, or so history alleges. The younger Ivan interrupted the elder Ivan, who was beating Ivan Jr's pregnant wife because of her inappropriate garb. Still in a fit of rage, dad smote his son with a staff, killing him dead.



This is what passed for family life amongst the Royals in the Middle Ages in Russia.


November 19, 1620 -
A group of maniacal religious fanatics crossed the ocean after being kicked out of Europe and sighted North America, just off shore Plymouth Rock on this date. Because America did not yet have a Puritan Government, they developed the Mayflower Compact about week earlier, while still at sea. (William Bradford had argued for a Sporty Coupe, but the more practical John Alden had carried the day.)



Eventually the descendants of these frugal and passionately religious people would invent apps that enable the downloading of pornography to your smart phones around the world at light speed.


November 19, 1703 -
The Man in the Iron Mask died in the Bastille on this date.



He was a prisoner of Louis XIV, forced to wear a black velvet mask, and his identity has never been revealed.


November 19, 1863 (Eight score and a year ago today) -
President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on this date, four and a half months after the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg. He gave it at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.



The speech remains an important part of American history on account of its having been written on the back of an envelope despite stringent postal requirements that addresses be printed clearly on the front. Lincoln at the time thought it was a failure.


November 19, 1954 -
Driving to Los Angeles, Sammy Davis, Jr. was in a serious automobile accident in San Bernardino on this date.



He lost his left eye, but the resultant publicity greatly accelerated his career.


November 19, 1961 -
Michael Rockefeller, 23 year old son of New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller (later Vice President), was last seen while searching for Asmat wood carvings in the jungles near Atsj, Papua New Guinea on this date.



He was probably eaten by the Asmat. Hence their motto, "Eat the Rich".


November 19, 1969 -
Please feel free to use this piece of information at your Thanksgiving dinner should you run out of conversation:



Apollo 12 astronauts, Mission commander Charles "Pete" Conrad and Lunar Module Pilot Alan L. Bean, landed at the Oceanus Procellarum (“Ocean of Storms”) and become the third and fourth humans to walk on the Moon on this date.


November 19, 1978
Philadelphia Eagles’ Herman Edwards returned a fumble for a touchdown with 31 seconds left to give Philadelphia a 19-17 victory over the New York Giants.



The play became know as the Miracle at the Meadowlands and the play vaulted the Eagles into the postseason for the first time in 18 years, while the Giants finished last in the division.


Before you go - I guess even a multinational corporation wants to tug at your heart strings during the holidays - Disney released their annual holiday advert for their British audience.



This was quite touching, in the way that Disney has mastered, but why wasn't child services called when someone noticed that a cephalopod had attached itself to a child's head.





And so it goes

No comments:

Post a Comment