Spring is in full bloom. Tender blossoms exude their sweet fragrance as winter's bitter frosts recede. The warming air and diaphanous mists incite the passions and thoughts turn naturally to the ardor of spring - to love, rebirth, renewal, and salad.
You may not have known it, but in the United States, May is National Salad Month. By an astonishing coincidence, the second full week of May is National Herb Week. It's a time to celebrate the verdure of the earth with verdure on a plate. Or in a bowl—salad is just that versatile!
Carnivorous readers disinclined to celebrate National Salad Month can choose from any of the following celebrations, all of which last the entire month of May:
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
National Smile Month
Digestive Diseases Awareness Month
National Barbeque Month
National Bike Month
National Egg Month
National Hamburger Month
More Than Just a Pretty Face Month
May 1, 1941 -
The once universally praised movie seems to have lost a little bit of it's glow, bizarrely slipping one notch below Pattington 2 on the Rotten Tomatoes rating scale - down from a 100% score to a mere 99%.
Orson Welles’ innovative film, Citizen Kane, a film about a man's unnatural love for his sled, opened in New York City, 80 years ago on this date.
Film making was never the same.
May 1, 1943 -
The Looney Tunes short, The Wise Quacking Duck, directed by Bob Clampett, and starring Daffy Duck, debuted on this date.
When dressed as a fortune teller, Daffy is imitating comedian Jerry Colonna. He even begins with one of Colonna's signature lines: "Greetings, Gate. Let's osculate."
May 1, 1948-
The Merrie Melodies short, Nothing but the Tooth, directed by Arthur Davis, and starring Porky Pig, debuted on this date. This short is seldom aired on TV due to racial stereotyping of Native Americans.
A billboard placed by Warren & Foster (a reference to Warren Foster) is shown in the scene where the Native gifts Porky Pig a feather headdress.
May 1, 1954 -
The Looney Tunes short, No Parking Hare, directed by Robert McKimson, and starring Bugs Bunny, debuted on this date.
The product supplier of choice, Acme, is used by the construction worker.
May 1, 1957 -
The first film Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn made in color, Desk Set, premiered on this date.
This is the eighth of the nine films they starred in together. They did not make another film together (Spencer Tracey's last,) until nearly ten years later.
May 1, 1966 -
James Brown performed on the Ed Sullivan Show for the first time on this date.
Unlike most solo acts, he brings his own band, which allows him to provide the full James Brown experience, including the cape bit where he drops to his knees but is soon revived.
The Supremes also appeared on the show that evening. Besides performing the song, More, they also sang their hit, Love Is Like An Itch In My Heart.
May 1, 1972 –
The Eagles' first single, Take It Easy, written by Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey, was released on this date.
The Eagles played this live long before they recorded it. It was one of the songs they played when they were doing four sets a night at a club in Aspen, Colorado. By the time they recorded it, the song had more of a country feel.
May 1, 1974 -
The Columbia Pctures comedy The Lords of Flatbush, directed by Martin Davidson and Stephen F. Verona, and starring Sylvester Stallone, Perry King, Paul Mace, Henry Winkler, and Susan Blakely, opened in New York City on this date.
When Sylvester Stallone was making Rocky, the producers showed the studio this film so they could see who Stallone was. The studio mistook Perry King for Stallone and was excited about him playing Rocky. When the producers pointed out that the guy playing Stanley was really Stallone, the studio's excitement faded.
May 1, 1976 -
The seventh studio album from Led Zeppelin, Presence went to No. 1 on the Billboard Charts on this date.
Robert Plant and his wife were in a car crash while on holiday in Greece which broke Plant's ankle. Instead of touring the US, Plant and Jimmy Page wrote material for Presence, then recorded it at Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany with Plant in a wheelchair. Plant got so excited while recording this that he fell and re-injured his ankle, similarly to the one of the album's song's namesake, Achilles. Achilles Last Stand was both an acknowledgment of Plant's broken ankle as well as to the mystic location in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco which inspired the lyrics.
May 1, 1978 -
The bio-pix Wilde, (about the Irish writer Oscar Wilde,) directed by Brian Gilbert, and starring Stephen Fry, Jude Law, Vanessa Redgrave, Jennifer Ehle, Gemma Jones, Judy Parfitt, Michael Sheen, Zoë Wanamaker, and Tom Wilkinson opened in the US on this date.
Stephen Fry admits he was nervous about the love scenes with his co-stars. He remarked that Jude Law, Michael Sheen, and Ioan Gruffudd were quick to put him at ease.
May 1, 1983 -
Viewers had the pleasure of watching aliens unhinge their jaws and swallow mice when V (the miniseries), starring Marc Singer, Faye Grant, Jane Badler, Michael Durrell, Peter Nelson, and David Packer, premiered on NBC TV on this date.
The series was intended as a literal retelling of the Nazi takeover of various countries, and the resistance movement against them. However, because of the popularity of the Star Wars saga and other science fiction hits, as well as the belief among network executives that U.S. citizens would not believe a fascist takeover, the network executives had the producers change it to a science fiction miniseries. Other ideas were also discussed, but discarded.
May 1, 1998 -
The under-rated adaptation of the Victor Hugo's classic novel, Les Misérables, directed by Bille August and starring Liam Neeson, Geoffrey Rush, Uma Thurman, and Claire Danes opened in the US on this date.
This version concentrates on the story of Valjean and Javert, with less emphasis on the romance between Cosette and Marius. Thénardier, a key character in the novel, appears in just one scene; his daughter, Eponine, is only seen in the background.
May 1, 1999 -
The Nickelodeon animated series, SpongeBob SquarePants, created by Stephen Hillenburg, debuts on this date.
The show's creator, Stephen Hillenburg, was a marine biologist. When he pitched the show to Nickelodeon, he brought a fish tank into the boardroom, and explained what was living inside. He then placed a cartoon drawing of SpongeBob into the tank and said "This is SpongeBob, the star of your new show."
Another unimportant moment in history
Today in History:
Please rise, (or not.) Or take a knee, (or not.)
May 1 is recognized as May Day pretty much everywhere but the United States, Canada, and South Africa. Modern May Day celebrations throughout the world typically feature huge outdoor gatherings of people, brightly colored signs and banners, and a whole lot of tear gas.
The holiday has its root in the American labor movement of the 1880s, specifically the Haymarket tragedy of 1886. Depending on whom you ask, the Haymarket tragedy was either caused by overzealous cops with way too many guns, or overzealous anarchists with way too many bombs (i.e., one).
Actually, it no longer matters whom you ask, because all eyewitnesses would give you pretty much the same answer (i.e., none—they're dead).
Either way, nervous, well-armed cops and edgy, bomb-throwing anarchists are not a combination one encounters often in the annals of the Nobel Peace Prize. As a result, Americans ignore May Day and instead celebrate Labor Day, which features plenty of beer and barbecues and very little tear gas.
Call it complacency if you like, but when it comes to steak, we know exactly what we’re doing.
May 1, 1776 -
The Illuminati, modeled on the Freemasons, and formed to promote logic, science, and reason as opposed to any kind of tradition or dogma, was founded on this date.
The group was almost immediately outlawed when people got the idea that it was trying to infiltrate governments, and has been a staple of conspiracy theorists ever since.
But don't tell anyone you heard it from me.
May 1, 1851 –
Queen Victoria opens the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace at Hyde Park in London, on this date. It was the first in a series of World's Fairs, exhibitions of culture and industry that became popular in the 19th century.
The Great Exhibition had 13,500 exhibitions and constituted at its time the largest assembly of people collected together for one purpose. Included was Britain’s first public toilets (“monkey closets”). Over 800,000 excited people spent a penny there.
May 1, 1888 -
Nikola Tesla received several patents relating to the alternating current (AC) synchronous motor, alternating current (AC) transmission, induction magnetic motor, and an electricity distribution system on this date. (US Nos. 381,968-70; 382,279-82)
May 1, 1915 -
A thoughtful German government took out advertisements warning anyone on ships flying British flags that they did so at their own risk.
They bought their tickets, they took their chances.
May 1, 1930 -
The on again/ off again planet Pluto was officially named on this date. The name was suggest by an eleven year-old girl named Venetia Burney from Oxford, England.
The name was selected from three suggestions by a unanimous vote of the members of the Lowell Observatory. The other two possible names were “Cronus” and “Minerva.”
Hang on Venetia, it still may be a planet.
May 1, 1931 -
Excavation had begun in January 1930, construction commenced in two months later, and its cornerstone was laid in September 1930. The steel framework rose at a rate of 4-1/2 stories per week. The building's construction was completed in a phenomenal one year and 45 days.
It reigned as the world's tallest skyscraper until 1954, but it still remains an icon for all things New York.
May 1, 1947 –
Unfortunately, Evelyn McHale leapt to her death from the observation deck of the Empire State Building and landed on a limousine, on this date.
May 1, 1969 -
Fred Rogers, host of the longtime children's television landmark Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, appeared in Washington before the Senate Subcommittee on Communications, on this date, to express his disagreement with a proposal by President Richard Nixon to cut federal funding for public broadcasting from $20 million to $10 million.
More than forty years later, Fred Rogers’ compelling words about the power of television to help children grow up, dealing sensibly and humanely with others even when they are feeling angry, still resonate in living rooms, school rooms, and neighborhoods nationwide.
May 1, 2003 -
President Bush announced that "major combat operations in Iraq" were over in a speech (commonly known as the "Mission Accomplished" speech) on the USS Abraham Lincoln on this day.
The speech sparked a lot of controversy in the following months as guerrilla operations continued in Iraq as the vast majority of casualties, both military and civilian, occurred after the speech..
Coincidentally, on May 1, 2011, exactly eight years after the speech, President Barack Obama announced that U.S. Navy SEALs had killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.
And so it goes.
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