Our hearts were ringin'

In the key that our souls were singin' ...



Although many people hear the first words in the chorus as "Party On," it's really "Bada-Ya." Allee Willis, co-writer of the song, explained in an interview: "I absolutely could not deal with lyrics that were nonsensical, or lines that weren't complete sentences. And I'm exceedingly happy that I lost that attitude. I went, 'You cannot leave bada-ya in the chorus, that has to mean something.' Maurice said, 'No, that feels great. That's what people are going to remember. We're leaving it.' We did try other stuff, and it always sounded clunky - thank God."


Each year the International Day of Peace is observed around the world on September 21st. The General Assembly has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples. This year's theme is Cultivating a Culture of Peace



Given all that is going on in the world today, it's a nice idea to have a day dedicated to celebrating peace.


September 21, 1940 -
The Looney Tunes short, Calling Dr. Porky, directed by Friz Freleng and starring Porky Pig, was released on this date.



Although Porky is supposed to be a physician, the chair in his office is actually a dentist's chair..


September 21, 1957 -
Our favorite nipple rouge wearing actor, Raymond Burr, had another go at episodic TV when Perry Mason premiered on CBS-TV on this date.



Raymond Burr originally auditioned for the role of Hamilton Burger, but was chosen for the title role instead.


September 21, 1968 -
Jimi Hendrix Experience released their version of the Bob Dylan song All Along the Watchtower, on this date. Dave Mason from Traffic and Rolling Stone Brian Jones both played on the recording.



This was Hendrix' only Top 40 hit in the US, where his influence far outpaced his popularity. He charted a few times in the UK, where he rose to fame before making a name for himself in America.


September 21, 1968 -
Based on the 1947 film of the same name, The Ghost & Mrs. Muir,  starring Hope Lange, Edward Mulhare, Charles Nelson Reilly, and Reta Shaw, premiered on this date.



The series premiered on NBC on Saturday night at 8:30 PM EST. NBC canceled it after the first season, and it was picked up by ABC for its second and final season.


September 21, 1968 -
The police drama ADAM 12, premiered on NBC-TV on this date.



In keeping with the reputation of Jack Webb's series being scrupulously accurate about police procedures, selected episodes of this series were used in police academies as instructional films.


January 21, 1970 -
We all came to know that Phoebe Figalilly was a silly name when, Nanny and the Professor, starring Juliet Mills, Richard Long, David Doremus, Trent Lehman, and Kim Richards, first aired on ABC TV, on this date.



This is one of the situation comedies to go into syndication with a total of less than five seasons. The original run consisted of only two half seasons and one full season.


September 21, 1974 -
Barry White's single Can't Get Enough Of Your Love Baby hot the top of the Billboard Charts on this date.



Similar to Isaac Hayes' songs appearing in South Park, Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe was used in a few episodes of rival TV cartoon The Simpsons.


September 21, 1975 -
Sidney Lumet's amazing film, Dog Day Afternoon, starring Al Pacino and John Cazale, premiered on this date.




During production, Al Pacino reportedly only slept a couple hours a night, ate sparingly, and would sometimes take cold showers; this was in order to emphasize Sonny's disheveled, exhausted and yet wired appearance.


September 21 1985 -
The Dire Straits single, Money for Nothing, from the album Brothers in Arms, hits No. 1 on the Billboard Charts on this date.



The innovative video was one of the first to feature computer generated animation, which was done using an early program called Paintbox. The characters were supposed to have more detail, like buttons on their shirts, but they used up the budget and had to leave it as is. It won Best Video at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards.


September 21, 1992 –
Parlophone Records released Radiohead’s debut single, Creep, on this date.



Thom Yorke based this on a song called The Air That I Breathe, which was written by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood in 1972. After Creep was released, Radiohead agreed to share the songwriting royalties, so this is credited to Yorke, Hammond and Hazlewood.


September 21, 1993 -
The police drama NYPD Blue, premiered on ABC-TV on this date.



Dennis Franz (Detective Andy Sipowicz) and Gordon Clapp (Detective Greg Medavoy) are the only actors to appear in all twelve seasons.


September 21, 1993 –
Nirvana released In Utero, their third and final studio album while Kurt Cobain was still alive, on this date.



Initially, the album was going to be called I Hate Myself and I Want to Die - Kurt Cobain's typical response to "How are you?" The final title was taken from a poem written by Courtney Love.


September 21 1996
The Fugees scored their second No.1 single in the UK with Ready Or Not, on this date.



The chorus in the song is based on Ready or Not Here I Come (Can't Hide from Love) by The Delfonics. The underlying groove is a sample of the 1987 Enya song Song of Boadicea. The Fugees did this without her permission, and Enya came after them hard, earning substantial royalties from the song.


September 21, 1998 -
The landmark TV sitcom, Will & Grace, starring Eric McCormack, Debra Messing, Megan Mullally, and Sean Hayes, premiered on NBC TV on this date.



John Barrowman was up for the role of Will Truman, but didn't get it because he was "too straight", and the role went to Eric McCormack. Barrowman is gay in real life, while McCormack is straight.


September 21, 2001 -
A benefit concert organized by the four major U.S. television networks in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, America: A Tribute to Heroes, aired on this date. The program was shown on 35 separate broadcast and cable networks simultaneously.



Done in the style of a telethon, it featured a number of national and international entertainers performing to raise money for the victims and their families, particularly but not limited to the New York City firefighters. The telethon raised $150 million in pledges.


Word of the Day


Today in History:
September 21, 1327 -
Former King Edward II came to a particularly painful end on this date.

Edward had been overthrown by his wife, Isabella and her lover, Roger Mortimer. Edward had pissed off Isabella royally for among other things, sleeping with men. Isabella and Mortimer had Edward II imprisoned, after his abdication in favor of his son, Edward III.



It was rumored that Edward had been killed by the insertion of a piece of copper into his rectum (later a red-hot iron rod, as in the supposed murder of Edmund Ironside - King Edmund II was murdered in a lavatory; stabbed in the bowels when he sat down to relieve himself). Murder in this manner would have appeared a natural death, as a metal tube would have been inserted into the anus first, thus allowing the iron rod to penetrate the entrails without leaving a burn on the buttocks.

As I have said in the past, sometimes it is NOT good to be the king.


September 21, 1897 -
The New York Sun ran its famous editorial that answered a question from 8-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon: "Is there a Santa Claus?"on this date.



Obviously, times were different back then given that The New York Sun was printing an editorial about Christmas in September. (Christmas is in 95 days.)


Two giants of animation sharing the same birthday date:
September 21, 1912 -

Chuck Jones, animator and director of Warner Brothers cartoon characters Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, was born on this date.



He has directed three films have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Duck Amuck, One Froggy Evening, and What's Opera, Doc?.

September 20, 1920 -

Jay Ward, cartoonist (Rocky and his Friends, Bullwinkle), was born on this date.



Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Bullwinkle Moose, and Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties were in fact conceived, designed, and created by Jay Ward's boyhood friend and sometimes business partner, advertising artist Alex Anderson.


September 21, 1915 -
With a winning bid of £6,600, Mr. Cecil Chubb purchased Stonehenge and 30 acres of land at auction. He donates the monument to the British state three years later.



He donated the monument because he could not figure out how to reset Stonehenge correctly.


September 21, 1937 -
George Allen and Unwin, Ltd. of London published the first edition of J. R. R. Tolkien's novel The Hobbit on this date. It was illustrated with many black-and-white drawings by Tolkien himself.



The original printing was only a 1,500 run and sold out by December due to enthusiastic reviews.


September 21, 1950 -
I live a little bit on the seat of my pants, I try to be alert and available. I try to be available for life to happen to me. We're in this life, and if you're not available, the sort of ordinary time goes past and you didn't live it. But if you're available, life gets huge. You're really living it.





William James Murray, one of the funniest sentient human beings was born on this date.


September 21, 1981 -
On August 19 1981, President Reagan, who had pledged during the 1980 presidential campaign to appoint the first woman to the Supreme Court, nominated Sandra Day O'Connor as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, replacing the retiring Potter Stewart. Ms. O'Connor was confirmed by the Senate 99-0 on this date and took her seat September 25.



In her first year on the Court, O'Connor received over sixty thousand letters from the public, more than any other justice in history.


September 21, 1983 -
In a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on this date, Interior Secretary James G. Watt jokingly described a special advisory panel as consisting of 'a black ... a woman, two Jews and a cripple.'

Although Watt apologized, he later resigned .

Oops!



And so it goes

Drinking rum before noon makes you a pirate

Right on the heels of yesterday’s Talk Like a Pirate Day, September 20th is National Rum Punch Day.

While not a huge fan of the cocktail - I say, get a big bottle of ACME light rum - why not celebrate!


September 20, 1941 -
The Looney Tunes cartoon Notes To You, directed by Friz Freleng and featuring Porky Pig and a proto-type of Sylvester the Cat premiered on this date.



Porky's home has the very latest cabinet radio. In the days before television, radio was the at home entertainment for Americans, and most of the songs in this film would have been familiar to the audience---thanks to radio. 


September 20, 1946 -

The first Cannes film festival, the first great international cultural event of the post-war period, begins on this date.



Among the selections that year were:

Brief Encounter directed by David Lean




Wet Paint directed by Jack King, produced by Walt Disney




The Bandit (Il bandito) directed by Alberto Lattuada




The Magic Bow directed by Bernard Knowles




The Lost Weekend directed by Billy Wilder




The Seventh Veil  directed by Compton Bennett



The festival was France's response to the world's first international film festival in Venice, Italy, in 1932. By 1938, the Venice festival had become a Nazi propaganda tool, and France decided to hold a rival event focused strictly on film. Its planned 1939 debut was delayed when World War II broke out.


September 20, 1952 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Rabbit Seasoning, (the second in the "hunting trilogy",) directed by Chuck Jones, and starring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd, was released on this date.



Elmer Fudd fires his rifle 19 times. He hits Daffy Duck six times. Bugs escapes completely unscathed, never being struck by a bullet.


September 20, 1955 -
The Phil Silvers Show (originally broadcast as You'll Never Be Rich) premiered on CBS-TV on this date



Phil Silvers (Bilko) and Maurice Gosfield (Doberman) did not get along. In real-life, Gosfield was very much the slob that he portrayed as Doberman. He also had constant trouble remembering his lines, which frustrated the cast and crew. Despite this, Gosfield became the most popular cast member, and received more fan mail than Silvers, which Silvers resented.


September 20, 1969 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Injun Trouble, directed by Bob McKimson, was released on this date.



This was the last Warner Brothers theatrical cartoon, as the studio had closed their animation division, ending a run that dated back to 1930.


September 20, 1975 -
David Bowie's Fame single hits #1 for two weeks on this date.



John Lennon helped write this song - he came up with the title and also sang the background "Fame" parts in the high voice. They started working on the song when Bowie invited Lennon to the studio, and Lennon played rhythm guitar on a jam session that resulted in this track. Bowie met Lennon less than a year earlier at a party thrown by Elizabeth Taylor. Lennon was one of Bowie's idols, and they became good friends.


September 20, 1976 -
The Australian band AC/DC released their iconic single Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap on this date.



AC/DC lead guitarist Angus Young got the song title from the 1962 animated cartoon series Beany and Cecil. The show first aired on ABC TV and only ran for one season until the 26 episodes shown were cast as repeats for the next five years until it was recreated in 1968. The specific inspiration for the song name was the cartoon's main villain, Dishonest John, who would carry around a business card that said, "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. Holidays, Sundays, and Special Rates."


September 20, 1976 -
The short-lived the variety show, The Captain and Tennille Show, starring husband and wife team, Toni Tennille and Daryl Dragon, premiered on ABC-TV, on this date.



Despite decent ratings, it ranked #19 among the network's shows and was canceled by ABC. Other, lower ranking shows on the network were renewed. The cancellation likely was the result of the duo's desire to get out of their contract to focus on their music career.


September 20, 1978 -
The failed Norman Lear sitcom, In The Beginning, starring McLean Stevenson, and Priscilla Lopez premiered on CBS-TV on this date. It was something of a modern-day adaptation of the classic 1944 Bing Crosby film, Going My Way.



While the show's pilot reportedly received praise from a Catholic audience at both Notre Dame and Loyola Universities, others stated that it was so bad, they nearly walked out of the press screenings. Upon its debut, viewers of the show also showed dissent for the series, as they saw it as offensive to their religious beliefs


September 20, 1979 -
The Sci Fi adventure series, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, starring Gil Gerard, and Erin Gray first aired on NBC TV on this date.



Gil Gerard's waistline flexed weekly, and even daily. Gerard was warned by producer Bruce Lansbury about feasting on the company's "open all day" craft service buffet. Buck's white skintight jumpsuit plagued Al Lehman (costumer) when Lansbury asked if wardrobe could make Gerard "slimmer". Lehman gave Gerard the nickname "the white polish sausage".


September 20, 1984 -
Tony Micelli first started taking care of Angela Bower's household when Who's the Boss premiered on ABC-TV on this date.



This was Judith Light's only foray into comedy; every other project has been a drama. She has said in interviews that while she tutored Tony Danza in dramatic acting he helping get her comedy chops up to speed.


September 20, 2005 -
The TV comedy series, created by Greg Garcia, My Name is Earl, starring Jason Lee, Ethan Suplee, Jaime Pressly, Nadine Velazquez, and Eddie Steeples, premiered on NBC-TV, on this date.



The items in Earl's list shown during the opening sequence read as follows:

56: Stole liquor from liquor store.
57: Told Joy Dan Dodd messed himself on the (rest cut out of frame).
58: Fixed a high school football game.
59: Everything I did to Dad.
60: Pulled fire alarm
61: Stole Mom's car (but I gave it back).
62: Faked death to break up with a girl.
63: Wasted electricity.
64: Spray-painted the bridge.
65: Cost Dad the election.
66: Let mice out at school play.
67: Stole beer from a golfer.
68: Blew up mailboxes.
69: Cheated on school tests a lot.


September 20, 2011 -
The comedy series, New Girl, starring Zooey Deschanel, Jake Johnson, Max Greenfield, Lamorne Morris, Hannah Simone, Damon Wayans Jr., and Megan Fox debuted on Fox TV on this date.



Damon Wayans Jr. was originally a cast member playing the character of Coach. Wayans was expecting his series, Happy Endings, to be canceled. But when that series was renewed, Wayans was unable to continue with this series after the pilot. He was replaced with Lamorne Morris as Winston. After Happy Endings was canceled, Wayans was able to return to this series in the third season.


Another album from the discount bin at The ACME Record Shoppe


Today in History :
September 20, 1881 -
Chester Alan Arthur was sworn in as the 21st President of the United States following the death of James Garfield the previous day.



This is the first time the oath of office has been taken in the Vice President's Room of the Capitol. Two ex-presidents (Grant and Hayes) are present at the ceremony. (Also a great bar bet winner - it's the second time there were three Presidents within the same year; Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield then Chester A. Arthur. And even more amazing bar bet winner - Robert Todd Lincoln was at the bedside of three assassinated American Presidents; his father, Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield and William McKinley.)


September 20, 1958 -
Rev. Martin Luther King was stabbed by Izola Curry, a deranged woman, during a book signing on 125th St. in Harlem on this date.



Dr. Aubre De Lambert Maynard successfully performed surgery on King who had a knife embedded in his sternum. Ms. Curry was found mentally incompetent to stand trial; ultimately, she was diagnosed a paranoid schizophrenic.


September 20, 1970 -
The unmanned Russian space probe Luna 16 landed on the Moon on to collect samples from its surface on this date.



It was the first unmanned probe to bring objects back from space, returning home with 100g of soil and rock.


September 20, 1970 -
A jury in Miami, Florida found vocalist Jim Morrison guilty of profanity and indecent exposure for whipping out his mojo at a Doors concert in Coconut Grove the previous year.



Oh you naughty Mr. Mojo Rising ...


September 20, 1973 -
A Beechcraft D-18 charter plane crashes into a tree near Natchitoches, Louisiana, killing singer/songwriter Jim Croce, his lead guitarist, and the entire flight crew.



I guess if he could have put time in a bottle, the first real thing he would have done would be chartering a different plane.


September 20, 1973 -
On the same day, in their so-called 'Battle of the Sexes,' tennis star Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, at the Houston Astrodome.



In recent years, a persistent urban legend has arisen (again,) that Bobby Riggs had thrown the tennis match against Billie Jean King, to pay off a purported $100,000 gambling debt he owed to the Mafia.

This is false: this scurrilous rumor should have been put to bed a number of times, not the least of which, when Mr Riggs passed a lie detector test denying that he threw the Battle of the Sexes.


September 20, 1988 -
Greg Louganis won the gold medal in springboard diving at the Summer Olympics in Seoul, one day after he struck and injured his head on the board in the preliminary round.



His comeback earned him the title of ABC's Wide World of Sports "Athlete of the Year" for 1988.


And on a personal note:

Happy Birthday Angela


One more thing - Gmar chatima tova

Yom Kippur starts this evening. If you're celebrating (strange choice of words,) you better hurry up and finish reading this before sundown. May your fast pass easily - Don't hesitate to contact me if you can't remember the things you should be atoning for by now.



May your fast pass easily. Hopefully your sins are not so numerous that you need to bring several loaves of bread to your local body of water.




And so it goes

Yo, Ho, Blow the man down

Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. The holiday is a parody holiday invented in 1995 by John Baur (Ol' Chumbucket) and Mark Summers (Cap'n Slappy), of Corvallis, Oregon, who proclaimed September 19 each year as the day when everyone in the world should talk like a pirate.





Nothing says Piracy (or the British Navy) more than Rum, The Lash and Sodomy. So remember: keep plenty of rum, leather belts and ACME's Bung Balm handy today.



And don't forget kids, you can now spend thousand of dollars to become an actual pirate.


September 19, 1931 -
Paramount released the Marx Brother's third film, Monkey Business , co-starring Thelma Todd, on this date.



Early in the movie, The Marx Brothers - playing stowaways concealed in barrels - harmonize unseen while performing the popular song Sweet Adeline' which is traditionally performed with four singers. It is debated whether Harpo Marx' singing voice was used in the soundtrack. There is also an unconfirmed rumor that he provided the puppet master's voice in the Punch and Judy show.


September 19, 1936 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Toytown Hall, directed by Friz Freleng, was released on this date.



This is the first Merrie Melodies cartoon in which Carl Stalling gets musical credit onscreen.


September 19, 1952 (there is some controversy surrounding this date) –
Emperor Hirohito's favorite television program, The Adventures of Superman, premiered, in syndication, on this date.



John Hamilton, who played Perry White, had trouble remembering his lines. The solution was to film him sitting at his desk, with the desk littered with papers--including the script--so he could glance down to be prompted for his next line.


September 19, 1953 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Zipping Along, directed by Chuck Jones, and starring Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, was released on this date.



This is the first Roadrunner cartoon in which the coyote speaks. He shouts "Yeow!" when caught in the mousetraps and mimics the Roadrunner's "Beep beep!" at the end.


September 19, 1955 -
The Producer's Showcase presentation of Thornton Wilder's Our Town, starring Eva Marie Saint, Frank Sinatra and Paul Newman premiered on NBC-TV, on this date.



In 2002, Paul Newman once again appeared in a production of Our Town - this time in the role of the Stage Manager - at the Westport County Playhouse, where his wife, Joanne Woodward, was the artistic director. In 2003, this production transferred to Broadway's Booth Theatre, marking the first time Newman had performed on a Broadway stage in almost 40 years.


September 19, 1970 -
We got to meet the staff of WJM when The Mary Tyler Moore Show, (the greatest sitcom every produced,) starring Mary Tyler Moore, Ed Asner, Gavin MacLeod, Ted Knight, Cloris Leachman, and Valerie Harper premiered on CBS TV on this date.



The lyrics to the theme song were rewritten after the first season. The first season's theme song emphasized Mary's challenge of being independent, such as with the line, "You might just make it after all." However, with the series showing that Mary has become obviously successful in her own life, the lyrics reflected that change of tone such as with the line, "You're going to make it after all."


September 19, 1970 -
Reprise Records released Neil Young's third studio album, After the Gold Rush, on this date.



The album produced no major hits when it first came out and received a very negative review from Rolling Stone. Now, the album was seen as kicking off Young’s solo career, and was re-considered a few years later as one of the finest albums of the 1970s by Rolling Stone.


September 19, 1975 -
The British sitcom Fawlty Towers, created by John Cleese, and starring John Cleese, Connie Booth, Prunella Scales, and Andrew Sachs, premiered on BBC2 on this date.



John Cleese (Basil Fawlty) and Connie Booth (Polly Sherman) were really husband and wife when they created and wrote the scripts for the first series. By the beginning of filming for the second season their marriage had fallen apart and they had divorced.


September 19, 1981 -
Despite the fact that Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel had barely spoken to each other in ten year, they reunited on this date to raise funds to renovate Central Park and performed in front of 500,000 people in New York City.



The concert was so successful, the duo decided to embark on a year-long world tour. During the tour, tensions mounted between the pair and they split again after it was completed.


September 19, 1986 -
David Lynch's profoundly unsettling neo-noir classic, Blue Velvet, premiered on this date, (after I saw the movie, I had to go out and have a drink. I know that doesn't seem like a shock.)



Isabella Rossellini actually was naked under her velvet robe when she did the "ritualistic rape scene", a fact that Dennis Hopper was not aware of until the cameras started rolling and his co-star opened her legs for him to kneel between. This scene was the very first time the two of them ever worked together.


September 19, 1990 -
Martin Scorsese's crime drama bio-pix, Goodfellas, (based on Nicholas Pileggi's book, Wise Guy,) starring Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco and Paul Sorvino, premiered in the US on this date.



Martin Scorsese first got wind of Nicholas Pileggi's book Wiseguy when he was handed the galley proofs. Although Scorsese had sworn off making another gangster movie, he immediately cold-called the writer and told him; "I've been waiting for this book my entire life." Pileggi replied; "I've been waiting for this phone call my entire life."


September 19, 1994 -
We got to meet the staff of the emergency room of Cook County General Hospital when, ER, starring Anthony Edwards, George Clooney, Sherry Stringfield, Noah Wyle, and Eriq La Salle, premiered on NBC TV on this date



Although mostly shot at Warner Brother's Burbank soundstages, the cast and crew usually would make at least two trips to Chicago each season, to shoot realistic exterior scenes for several episodes, which include many familiar Chicago landmarks. These scenes are normally shot on early Sunday mornings to avoid disrupting traffic.


September 19, 1997,
Curtis Hanson's crime drama, L.A. Confidential, starring Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, James Cromwell, David Strathairn, Kim Basinger, and Danny DeVito, premiered in the US on this date.



The novelist, James Ellroy describes the character of Bud White as the biggest cop on the Los Angeles force. Noting that he wasn't even six foot, Russell Crowe decided to move into an apartment so small that he had to duck to get into the doorways, and could barely stand up. Crowe said this worked in making him feel like a "giant" by the time he came to the set to shoot.


September 19, 2005 -
The comedy series, How I Met Your Mother, starring, Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Cobie Smulders, Neil Patrick Harris, Alyson Hannigan, and Cristin Milioti premiered on CBS TV, on this date.



The husbands of three of the main actors have appeared on the show, each time as the significant other of another main actor. Alyson Hannigan's husband Alexis Denisof plays Robin's co-anchor Sandy Rivers; Cobie Smulders' husband Taran Killam plays Blauman, who might have a crush on Ted; and Neil Patrick Harris' husband David Burtka plays Lily's ex Scooter.

Don't forget to tune in to The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio hour today


Today in History:
September 19, 1692 -
Giles Corey was accused of witchcraft in 1692. This put him in a difficult spot. If he pleaded guilty, he'd be burned alive at the stake. If he pleaded not guilty, he'd have to take a lie-detector test.

The state-of-the-art lie detector of 1692 wasn't any less accurate than today's models, but it was significantly rougher on its subjects. It was called "dunking." The tightly bound subject would be dunked repeatedly into a pond or lake until the truth emerged.



One of the primary symptoms of demonic possession was immunity to water, so those who survived the process were rewarded with a warm, dry burning at the stake. Those who drowned, on the other hand, were clearly innocent and received a favorable ruling.



Giles Corey wasn't eager to be burned at the stake, but he wasn't keen on posthumous vindication, either. A plea of guilty meant the stake; a plea of not-guilty meant drowning (or the stake, depending on the results of the lie-detector test). Mr. Corey therefore did what any reasonable person might have done: he claimed his Fifth Amendment rights under the Constitution and said nothing.

This was a foolish and costly blunder, as the Constitution had not yet been written.



Baffled by the accused refusal to enter a plea, the court pressed him for an answer. Literally. Giles Corey became the first, last, and only American ever to have been pressed to death by his own government, on this date in history.


September 19, 1876 -
Melville Bissell received the patent (No. 182,346) for his invention, a carpet sweeper with revolving brushes which picked up the dust and dirt and deposited it inside the sweeper housing.

It depended on the rotation of the wheels to drive the sweeping mechanism and only removed debris from the uppermost regions of the carpet nap


September 19, 1881 -
The 20th President of the United States, James A. Garfield, (shot by assassin Charles J. Guiteau,) died from his wounds on this date.



Psst - Guiteau didn't kill the President, his doctors did. Several inserted their unsterilized fingers into the wound to probe for the bullet, and one doctor punctured Garfield's liver in doing so. Garfield's doctors had turned a three-inch-deep, harmless wound into a twenty-inch-long contaminated gash stretching from his ribs to his groin and oozing more pus each day. He lingered for eighty days, wasting away from his robust 210 pounds to a mere 130 pounds.



Alexander Graham Bell had made several unsuccessful attempts to remove the assassin’s bullet with a new metal detection device.


September 19, 1931 -
Adolf Hitler's 23-year-old half niece, Geli Raubal, was found dead in her uncle's Munich apartment from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest on this date.

Some allege that she and Adolf had a sexual relationship, which involved Geli urinating on him. Hitler conveniently happens to be out of town at the time of the shooting.

Oh that Hitler, what a wacky Fuhrer.


September 19, 1934 -
Bruno Hauptmann was arrested for the kidnap-murder of the Lindbergh baby on this date.



We aren't sure if he did it, but he did have $11,000 of the ransom money.

So they fried him two years later.


September 19, 1957 -
The U.S. conducted its first underground nuclear test, code-named Rainier, in the Nevada desert on this date. This caused a major disturbance in the natural order of the fragile desert eco-system,



ultimately resulting in Las Vegas,



and enormous spiders



and oversized seafood.


September 19, 1959 -
In a Cold War setback, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev was annoyed to learn that he would not be permitted to visit Disneyland, due to concerns for his personal safety.



This mean, most of the cold war could have been prevented, if we let that fat bald premier ride Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.


September 19, 1961 -
Betty (Estelle Parsons) and Barney (James Earl Jones) Hill were picked up near Indian Head, New Hampshire and anally probed by five beings in a flying saucer. The couple later describes the craft as being "banana-like, with pointed tips and windows."



Anyway, that's what Barney told Betty what happened.


September 19, 1991 -
A body was found frozen in a glacier in the Alps between Austria and Italy. A German tourist found the body and called the Austrian police. They tried to free the body from the ice with a jackhammer. It was only when an anthropologist showed up to examine the body that they realized it was a very, very old corpse - 5,300 years old, in fact - of a man between 25 and 35 years old. He was five feet, two inches tall, with hair about three inches long. He had tattoos. He wore an unlined fur robe, a woven grass cape, and size six shoes stuffed with grass for warmth.



He came to be called Ötzi the Iceman, and what made him such a remarkable discovery for anthropologists was the fact that he died while he was out walking on an ordinary day wearing ordinary clothing. He carried a copper axe and a fur quiver for his arrows, the only quiver from the Neolithic period that has ever been found. His arrows had sharp flint points and feathers that were affixed at an angle that would cause the arrows to spin. And he carried mushrooms in his bag that scientists speculate were used for medicine.

It was not until ten years later that a forensics expert noticed in an x-ray that the Iceman had an arrowhead lodged in his back. He had been murdered.



Who murdered the Iceman? Stay tuned to CSI Austria on your local CBS networks.


September 19, 1995 -
The New York Times and the Washington Post published the Unabomber's rambling, 35,000-word anti-technology screed, Industrial Society And Its Future, on this date.

In exchange, he promises to halt his bombing campaign.



And so it goes

Tried to amend my carnivorous habit

Today is National Cheeseburger Day. As with most things, many people and restaurants are claiming the cheeseburgers' origin, going as far back as 1926, when a sloppy 16 year old Lionel Sternberger, while working at his father’s Pasadena, California sandwich shop, dropped a slice of cheese on a burger he was cooking. Although I should not scoff, the sloppy Alexander Fleming, accidentially discovered Penicillin when he didn't wash up his lab before going on vacation.





But remember, according to a 2022 study from Tulane University, if Americans swapped one serving of beef per day for chicken, their diets' greenhouse gas emissions would fall by an average of 48 percent and water-use impact by 30 percent. (I'm just saying.)


September 18, 1933 -
The Looney Tunes short, Bosko's Picture Show, directed by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, starring Bosko, was released on this date.



This is the last Looney Tunes short produced by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising for Leon Schlesinger Productions and Warner Bros. The duo moved on to produce cartoons for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the first of which were released in the following year.


September 18, 1937 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Dog Daze, directed by Friz Freleng, was released on this date.



The dogs first shown in the exhibition booths are labeled Bulldog, Wolf Hound, Scottie, and Ralph Wolfe. The latter name (without the "e") reappeared as a character name 16 years later in the Warner Brothers cartoon Don't Give Up the Sheep, the first Ralph Wolf/Sam Sheepdog pairing.


September 18, 1943 -
The Merrie Melodies short, A Corny Concerto, directed by Bob Clamplett, and starring Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd and Daffy Duck(?),was released on this date.



The identity of the black duckling in this short has prompted much debate among cartoon fans as to whether or not it is, in fact, Daffy Duck. Supporters of the idea claim it is Daffy due to the character's similar color design (such as the white band around the neck), while naysayers say that if it was supposed to be Daffy then it would have been made more clear in his appearance or by having him speak.


September 18, 1951 -
The film version of Tennessee Williams' Pulitzer Prize winning play, A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Elia Kazan and starring Marion Brando, Vivien Leigh, and Kim Hunter, premiered in Los Angeles on this date.



Although Vivien Leigh initially thought Marlon Brando to be affected, and he thought her to be impossibly stuffy and prim, both soon became friends and the cast worked together smoothly.


September 18, 1951 -
20th Century Fox premiered the science fiction classic, The Day the Earth Stood Still, directed by Robert Wise and starring Michael Rennie and Patricia Neal, in New York, on this date.



One of the reasons Michael Rennie was cast as Klaatu was that he was generally unknown to American audiences, and would be more readily accepted as an "alien" than a more recognizable actor. Studio head Darryl F. Zanuck had shown the script to Spencer Tracy, who was eager to play the role. Producer Julian Blaustein objected, saying that the audience would have numerous expectations about the character upon seeing an actor of such repute emerging from the flying saucer. Blaustein knew that Zanuck had the ultimate control, and if he insisted, Blaustein would either have to resign, or make the movie in an unsatisfactory way. Fortunately, Zanuck agreed, and Rennie was cast instead.


September 18, 1957 -
The western series, Wagon Train, starring Ward Bond Robert Horton, John McIntire, Robert Fuller, Michael Burns, Frank McGrath, Terry Wilson, and Scott Miller originally premiered on NBC TV on this date, then moved to ABC TV in it's sixth season.



Ward Bond (Major Seth Adams) and Robert Horton (Flint McCullough) did not get along on the set. According to Horton, Bond spread rumors about his sexuality. The two men settled their differences two days before Bond died. Although it was not publicly disclosed at the time, Ward Bond was already in terrible health when the series began. He was ill with high blood pressure, and had been ordered to reduce his workload. However, he continued to drink heavily while working on the series.


September 18, 1960 -
Teen heart-throb Tab Hunter was at the peak of his career when his comedy series, The Tab Hunter Show, premiered on NBC-TV on this date.



The Tab Hunter Show seemed like an update of The Bob Cummings Show, aimed at a younger audience. Both featured an artist (Bob a photographer, Tab a cartoonist) whose work had them constantly surrounded by beautiful young women. The biggest difference was Hunter was much younger.


September 18, 1963 -
The show that taught elderly men, twin cousins might be lured into immoral acts with the purchase of grilled sausages - The Patty Duke Show, premiered on ABC-TV on this date.



For most of the scenes featuring Patty and Cathy, Rita Walter played "the back of either Patty's or Cathy's head", as appropriate. She can also be seen in several episodes as a background character.


September 18, 1964 -
The most normal family's ever presented on US television, The Addams Family premiered on ABC-TV on this date.



Carolyn Jones and John Astin decided to give Gomez and Morticia "a grand romance" as an antidote to the virtually asexual parents then common in television shows.


September 18, 1965 -
Kleenex stock rose precipitously as I Dream of Jeannie premiered on this date.



While filming the first 12 episodes of season 1, Barbara Eden was pregnant with her son, Matthew Ansara. Her pregnancy was disguised by filming her in close-up or with a copious veil covering her front. Barbara Eden has said that wearing all the extra veils made her feel like a walking tent.


September 18, 1965 -
Mel Brooks and Buck Henry started their fight to keep the world safe from KAOS when Get Smart premiered on NBC-TV on this date.



When Don Adams was negotiating his salary, he had his choice between more money per week and no ownership stake in the show, or less money per week and part ownership. Adams chose the ownership deal and never regretted it considering the series' durable popularity in syndication gave him a regular income even as he struggled with being typecast by it.


September 18, 1968 -
The film musical Funny Girl with Barbra Streisand premiered in NYC.



Barbra Streisand and Omar Sharif had an affair that lasted for the duration of the production. Director William Wyler, who knew about the affair, tried to channel their real-life chemistry into their performances. Streisand had also enjoyed a liaison with Sydney Chaplin, who portrayed Nick on stage. Both affairs would contribute to the end of her marriage to Elliott Gould.


September 18, 1971 -
The fifth studio album by the Who, Who's Next, reached No. 1 of the Billboard Charts in the U.K. on this date.



In an interview with Billboard magazine in February 2010, Pete Townshend discussed how he feels now that 40 years on this and other Who songs take on a deeper meaning. He explained that when he wrote the band's classic tunes, "The music there was about living in the present and losing yourself in the moment. Now that has changed. Boomers kind of hang on to that as a memory. When I go back and listen to those songs, the Who songs in particular of the late '60s and early 70s, there was an aspiration in my writing to attune to the fact that what I could feel in he audience was - I won't say religious - but there was certainly a spiritual component to what people wanted their music to contain. There's definitely a higher call for the music now which is almost religious. U2, for example, are hugely successful with songs about inner longing for freedom, ideas."


September 18, 1976 –
Wild Cherry's single Play That Funky Music went to No. 1 on the Billboard Charts on this date.



This was going to be the B-side of Wild Cherry's cover of the Commodores' I Feel Sanctified. When they heard it, the owners of their record label suggested that the B-side become the A-side. The song sold over two million copies, but was Wild Cherry's only hit.


September 18, 1978 -
We first started living on the air in Cincinnati when WKRP in Cincinnati, premiered on CBS-TV on this date.



The show was videotaped instead of filmed because the rights to rock songs were cheaper for a taped show than for a filmed show.


September 18, 1987 -
Pet bunnies felt a cold breeze on their neck when Fatal Attraction, starring Michael Douglas and Glenn Close, opened on this date.



Glenn Close still has the knife she used in the movie hanging in her kitchen, stating: "It's beautiful, made of wood and paper. It's a work of art! And it's nice for our guests to see it. It lets them know they can't stay forever."


September 18, 1989 -
The science fiction series Alien Nation, starring Gary Graham, and Eric Pierpoint, premiered on the FOX network on this date.



The fledgling Fox Network first year on the air resulted in a cash crunch that forced the cancellation of this series after its first season, despite a season-ending cliffhanger. The never-produced second season opener was adapted as a novel and a comic book, and the series itself was later revived as a series of TV movies beginning with Alien Nation: Dark Horizon in 1994.


September 18, 1994 -
Ken Burn's series about America's favorite past time Baseball, premiered on PBS on this date.



When working on the original series of films the producer wondered if they should keep in the statement that the Red Sox would never again win the world series, they decided to keep it in, despite this being the favorite team of filmmaker Ken Burns. Then in 2004, the team won the world series. As a result, Burns decided to add a "tenth inning", updating things in a number of ways, including the strike and permanent resolution, the steroids scandal and other aspects of recent baseball history.


Another unimportant moment in history


Today in History:
ACME would like to issue a Trigger Warning - all children and those with delicate natures should turn away from their computer screens as we discuss the bizarre deviant sexual behavior on the part of our founding fathers:

On September 18, 1793, President George Washington laid the foundation stone for the U.S. Capitol. According to numerous sources, President Washington "laid the stone in a Masonic ceremony... preceded by a parade and followed by celebration and feasting."

The 1792 competition for the design of the Capitol had been won by an amateur architect, and the building was therefore burned by the British before it could be completed. Congress had moved into the building on November 22, 1800, but managed to escape the fire.


September 18, 1851 -
The New York Times published its first edition on this date. The newspaper, initially called the New-York Daily Times, was founded by Henry Jarvis Raymond, a politician and journalist.

It cost one penny per copy and was published six days per week, changing to seven days in 1861. Its name was changed to the New York Times in 1857.


September 18, 1932 -
24-year-old starlet Peg Entwistle dove head first from the letter "H" of the HOLLYWOODLAND sign in Los Angeles. She is the first person to commit suicide at the landmark.



Her body was discovered in the brush at the base of the hill two days later, and pronounced dead. When police examined her belongings, in her purse they found a note that read:

"I am afraid, I am a coward. I am sorry for everything. If I had done this a long time ago, it would have saved a lot of pain. P.E."



Two days later, in an ironic twist, Entwistle's uncle opened a letter addressed to her from the Beverly Hills Playhouse; it was mailed the day before she jumped. In it was an offer for her to play the lead role in a stage production—in which her character would commit suicide in the final act.


September 18, 1958 -
Bank of America sent out 60,000 “BankAmericards” to their customers in Fresno, California, on this date.



These cards, later renamed 'VISA' were the first nationally licensed credit card program.


September 18, 1961 -
Dag Hammarskjold, Secretary-General of the UN, was killed in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) on this date. He was flying to negotiate a cease-fire in the Congo.



Hammarskjold was the son of a former Swedish prime minister. In 1953, he was elected to the top UN post and in 1957 was reelected. During his second term, he initiated and directed the United Nation's vigorous role in the Belgian Congo.

Strangely enough, for many years, I worked in an office building that bears his name.


September 18, 1970 -
Jimi Hendrix died in his sleep, in London, from of a barbiturate overdose when chunks of his vomited tuna sandwich wound up in his lungs, causing him to choke, on this date. He was 27 years old.



At least his family could take comfort that he did not choke on someone else's vomit.

Once again I must remind you that Cass Elliot did not choke to death on a ham sandwich. It is an urban myth born out of a quickly discarded speculation by the coroner, who noted a part eaten ham sandwich and figured she may have choked to death. In fact, she died of heart failure.

So cut it out.


September 18, 1975 -
The burst of the Thompson gun stopped ringing in her ears on this date.



Fugitive kipnapped newspaper heiress, then zealot compatriot, Patricia Hearst and three other comrades, Wendy Yoshimura, William and Emily Harris were arrested and arraigned, ending one of the longest manhunts in American history.


September 18, 1977 -
NASA's unmanned space probe Voyager 1 snapped the first photograph of the Moon and the Earth in the same frame while on its mission to study the Solar System and its boundaries. At the time, Voyager 1 was 7.25 million miles (11.66 million kilometers) from Earth.

Voyager 1 continues its mission today and still is in communication with NASA scientists.


September 18, 1981 -
The Guinness Book of World Records verified on this date, that the West Edmonton Mall parking lot, which can hold 20,000 cars, is the largest parking lot in the world.

Interestingly enough, the mall has held other records, too: At one time or another it’s been the World’s Largest Shopping Mall (48 city blocks), the World’s Largest Indoor Amusement Park and the World’s Largest Indoor Water Park (which includes the World’s Largest Indoor Lake and the World’s Largest Indoor Wave Pool).


September 18, 1992 -
Two weeks after being outed in the New York weekly QW, attorney John Schlafly admitted in an interview with the San Francisco Examiner that he enjoys the love that dare not speak it's name. This causes a certain amount of consternation for his mother, archconservative gay rights opponent Phyllis Schlafly.

The Schlafly family never fulfilled their obligation as good Christians to present their rebellious son to the town elders and have him stoned to death as instructed in Deut. 21:18. Now that Schlafly has met her maker, she'll find out what's in store for her.


September 18, 1994 -
Vitas Gerulaitis was killed in his sleep the previous night in the guest cottage of a friend's Long Island estate. His body was discovered on this date. The professional tennis player died from carbon monoxide poisoning, caused by a faulty propane swimming-pool heater.

How many more people must die from killer swimming pools?


September 18, 2025 - Jimmy Kimmel became the latest martyr in the fight for First Admendment rights, on this date.



You know that we're in serious trouble.


Before you go - Happy Anniversary Angie and Eliot -

Hope you're having a lovely day


One more thing - If you find yourself in Westport CT. next Saturday, look for me meandering the streets one more time at the Slice of Saugatuck event - (it benefits the Homes with Hope’s Gillespie Food Pantry.)

The Chamber of Commerce has donated almost $65,000 to the food pantry over the years.



And so it goes