temporary, frustrating inability to retrieve a specific word or name from memory - commonly known as the "tip-of-the-tongue" phenomenon.
November 6, 1814 -
It's National Saxophone Day. Adolphe Sax, instrument maker and inventor of the saxophone, was born in Belgium.
Hey, you come up with something new every day. You may go on with your day.
November 6, 1937 -
The Merrie Melodies short, Little Red Walking Hood, directed by Tex Avery was released on this date.
This is the first appearance of two earlier characters that later evolved into Elmer Fudd and Granny.
November 6, 1947 -
Meet the Press, the longest-running show on network TV, premiered on NBC-TV on this date.
Meet the Press made its initial debut two years earlier – as a radio program American Mercury Presents: Meet the Press with Martha Rountree and Lawrence Spivak as producers.
November 6, 1948 -
Sylvester in his prime - Kit for Cat, directed by Friz Freleng and co-starring Elmer Fudd and Sylvester the Cat, premiered on this date.
The actors in the radio drama, Mel Blanc and Bea Benaderet, call each other by their real first names, Melvin and Beatrice.
November 6, 1965 -
A very sill spy spoof, Dr Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, directed by Norman Taurog, and starring Vincent Price, Frankie Avalon, Dwayne Hickman, Susan Hart and Jack Mullaney, was released on this date.
In the midst of the extensive, wacky vehicle chase about halfway through the movie, the various characters pass a movie marquee reading The Girl in the Glass Bikini. That title also appears in the end credits, being promoted as a sequel to star Annette Funicello, Deborah Walley, Harvey Lembeck, and Aron Kincaid. A sequel was made, but none of the promised actors appeared in it and the title was changed to Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs.
November 6, 1965 –
The Rolling Stones song Get Off of My Cloud became their second song to hit #1 on the Billboard charts on this date.
There was a bit of controversy over this song, as it sounded like it could be about drugs. Some radio stations shied away from the song.
November 6, 1968 -
The Columbia Pictures cult classic film (although it's not what they wanted,) Head, directed by Bob Rafelson, starring The Monkees, Victor Mature and with cameos by Jack Nicholson, Teri Garr, Carol Doda, Annette Funicello, Frank Zappa, Sonny Liston, Dennis Hopper and Toni Basil, premiered to an unsuspecting public on this date.
The Coca-Cola Company reportedly wasn't amused at The Monkees' take on then-current Coke commercials (desert wanderer Micky Dolenz faces off against an uncooperative soda machine, as a jingle plays), and tried to get an injunction against the movie. When the movie reappeared on cable and home video in 1986, Columbia Pictures was owned by Coca-Cola, and the issue apparently forgotten.
November 6, 1975 -
The Neil Simon comedy, The Sunshine Boys, directed by Herb Ross, and starring Walter Matthau, George Burns, Richard Benjamin, Lee Meredith, F. Murray Abraham, Carol Arthur, Jennifer Lee, Rosetta LeNoire, Howard Hesseman, Ron Rifkin and Fritz Feld, was released on this date.
Jack Benny was signed for the role of Al Lewis. Ill health forced Benny to back out of the project, due to being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Benny recommended his friend George Burns to replace him. This was the first feature film for George Burns for 36 years. Burns had not appeared in a movie since Honolulu released in 1939.
November 6, 1981 -
One of Terry Gilliam's critically acclaimed features, Time Bandits, premiered on this date.
Ruth Gordon was cast as Mrs. Ogre but was injured before production. Katherine Helmond was originally slated to play the role in heavy make-up to look like her husband, but then decided it would be funnier if Mrs. Ogre was an ordinary person. Terry Gilliam agreed.
November 6, 1987 -
Richard Attenborough's biopix about South African civil rights leader Steven Biko, Cry Freedom, starring Denzel Washington, and Kevin Kline, premiered in the US on this date.
The film was shot in Zimbabwe, rather than South Africa, due to the political unrest and sensitivities that were present there at the time.
November 6, 1987 -
Twentieth Century Fox released the film version of Bret Easton Ellis' iconic 80s novel, Less Than Zero, starring Andrew McCarthy, Jami Gertz, Robert Downey Jr., and James Spader, on this date.
Bret Easton Ellis hated the film initially. He admits that the film bears no resemblance to his novel but that it captured "a certain youth culture during that decade that no other movie caught", and felt that it was miscast with the exceptions of Robert Downey Jr. and James Spader.
November 6, 1990 -
Madonna released her her ninth #1 hit, Justify My Love, on this date. MTV immediately banned the video which immediately piqued interest in the song.
Lenny Kravitz helped Madonna write and produce this sultry song, where Madonna whispers most of the lyrics. It was the first single from her highly anticipated Immaculate Collection compilation album, and created plenty of sales-generating controversy for the singer, who was known for pushing the limits of sexual content.
November 6, 1996 -
Anthony Minghella's adaptation of the novel by Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient, starring Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche and Kristen Scott Thomas premieres in Los Angeles on this date.
Ralph Fiennes' burn make-up took five hours to apply every day. Fiennes insisted that the full body make-up be applied even for the scenes where only his head would be filmed.
November 6, 1998 -
Todd Haynes take on the early days of 70s glam rock in Britain, Velvet Goldmine, starring Ewan McGregor, Christian Bale, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Toni Collette, Eddie Izzard, and Alastair Cumming, went into limited release in the US on this date.
The film was originally supposed to feature some of David Bowie's music, hence the title, which was a Bowie song from the 1970s; however, when Bowie learned that the script for the film was partially based on the unauthorized biographies Stardust: The David Bowie Story written by Henry Edwards and Tony Zanetta and Backstage Passes written by Bowie's ex-wife Angie Bowie, he threatened the producers with a lawsuit. Bowie's songs were, therefore, not used, and the script was partially re-written to avoid unnecessary resemblance between Bowie and the Bowie-style character Brian Slade.
November 6, 2003 -
Richard Curtis' romantic comedy, Love Actually, starring Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Laura Linney, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Keira Knightley, Martine McCutcheon, Bill Nighy, and Rowan Atkinson premiered in the US on this date.
When casting the part of Sarah, writer and director Richard Curtis auditioned a great many British women, but kept saying, "I want someone like Laura Linney." The casting director eventually snapped and said, "Oh, for fuck's sake, get Laura Linney then." Linney then auditioned and got the part.
Another unimportant moment in history
Today in History (There will be a quiz at the end) -
November 6, 1860 -
US President Abraham Lincoln became the first Republican to be elected President on this date. He beat out three other candidates and won 40 percent of the popular vote.
By the time he was inaugurated in March of 1861, however, seven states had seceded from the Union and had elected Jefferson Davis as their president. The American Civil War began about a month later.
November 6, 1893 -
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, the greatest Russian composer of all time, was having the worst month in his life. Rumors of his homosexuality had become so well known that a coterie of his former classmates got together and forced him to drink cholera tainted (arsenic) water. Shortly after meeting with his 'old friends', Tchaikovsky suffered from acute diarrhea and stomach pains.
Tchaikovsky refused to call a doctor, and tried to carry on with his day, taking cod liver oil in an attempt to ease his stomach. Within days he was much worse, and a doctor diagnosed him with cholera. The mortality rate for cholera at that time was more than 40%, but he seemed to get better, then he would get worse again with more pains and cramps. Eventually his kidneys failed, a priest was called, and he died on this date.
The take away lesson from this is: avoid reunions with 'old friends'.
On November 6, 1911, Maine became a dry state on this date.
November 6, 1917 -
For some reason, Lenin and Trotsky take control of Petrograd to direct the October Revolution (even though it's November in most of the world.)
On November 6, 1923, the price of a loaf of bread in Berlin was reported to be about 140 billion German marks.
November 6, 1989 -
Today is the Feast of St. Katharine, the patron saint of the victims of long draw out campaign battles (see Pat Nixon, the Methodist saint.)
Place your pie orders.
And so it goes
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