I had that dream again

On the morning of September 11, 2001, 19 terrorists affiliated with al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners. Each team of hijackers included a trained pilot. The hijackers crashed two of the airliners into the World Trade Center in New York City, resulting in the collapse of both buildings soon afterward.

A third airliner was crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia. Passengers and members of the flight crew on the fourth aircraft attempted to retake control of their plane from the hijackers; that plane crashed into a field near the town of Shanksville in rural Somerset County, Pennsylvania. In addition to the 19 hijackers, 2,973 people died; another 24 are missing and presumed dead.

As always, your friends at ACME remind you to hug your friends and family, call or write an old friend you haven't spoken to in awhile, say, "hello" to your neighbors or at least, say "Good Morning" to a stranger on the street.


September 11, 1932 -
MGM released the Edmund Goulding classic Grand Hotel, starring  Greta Garbo, John Barrymore and Joan Crawford, on this date.



Joan Crawford initially objected to her role as Flaemmchen because she feared that much of her performance would be censored for being too provocative and racy. Director Edmund Goulding and producer Irving Thalberg assured her that her part would be filmed in a tasteful manner and that she would be shown in a sympathetic light. Crawford's misgivings were warranted, however, as many censor boards in conservative American states cut the majority of her scenes for indecency.


September 11, 1967 -
The Carol Burnett Show premiered on CBS-TV on this date.



After Jim Nabors appeared on the premiere episode, Carol Burnett would have him as the guest for each seasons first show because she considered him her "good luck charm".


Today in History:
September 11, 1792 -
During a week-long looting of the crown jewels in September of 1792, The French Blue Diamond, was stolen in Paris on this date. The 45.5-carat Hope diamond is thought to have been cut from the famous French Blue diamond that disappeared after this robbery.



The French Blue never resurfaced, but the Hope Diamond, which is likely one-half of the French Blue, did. It is now displayed in the Smithsonian Natural History Museum.


September 11, 1789 -
Alexander Hamilton became the first US Secretary of the Treasury on this date.



President George Washington initially appointed Robert Morris, a senator and Superintendent of Finance, but he refused the appointment.


September 11, 1903 -
The world's oldest automobile race track, The Milwaukee Mile, held its first race on this date.

The Milwaukee Mile opened in West Allis, Wisconsin in 1903; it continues to host auto races every year there since then (except during U.S. involvement in World War II.)


September 11, 1936 -
Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicates Boulder Dam (now Hoover Dam) by pressing a key in Washington to signal the startup of the dam's first hydroelectric generator in Nevada.



Hoover Dam is 726 feet tall and 660 feet thick at its base. Enough rock is excavated in its construction to build the Great Wall of China. Contrary to urban myths, no workers are buried in the dam's concrete.


September 11, 1971 -
Former Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev suffered a fatal heart attack in his provincial exile on this date.

He was the first Soviet leader to die a natural death (Lenin was possibly poisoned by Stalin. Stalin was probably poisoned by Georgy Malenkov, Nikolai Bulganin and Nikita Krushchev. Georgy Malenkov and Nikolai Bulganin were premiers before Krushchev but died after him.)


September 11, 1980 -
The famous 45-carat diamond, the Marlborough diamond, worth about $640,000, was taken from a jewelry store window display on this date. The robbers, Arthur "The Brain" Rachel and Joseph "The Monk" Scalise, mobsters from Chicago, Illinois staged a daring daytime theft of the jewelry.

They were caught just a few hours later, but the diamond, once one of the Crown jewels, has never been found. Both men were convicted and served nine year sentences.

In 2010, the duo, both in their 70s were arrested again for yet another jewel heist.


September 11, 1987 -
CBS-TV went dark for six minutes as news anchor Dan Rather walked off the set of The CBS Evening News on this date.



Rather left the set when the network continued showing a tennis tournament that had played into overtime. He walked off because he was angry that the news was cut short to report on sports news.



And so it goes

Cheap Advice Day

Today’s (completely made up internet) holiday celebrates low cost counselors everywhere, whether they are a professional in the psychiatric industry or that friend who just can’t help but offer their unsolicited advice.

This holiday originates from an episode of Charles M. Shultz’ Peanuts on September 10, 1992 where resident psychiatrist Lucy van Pelt raises her psychiatric fee from 5 cents to 47.


September 10, 1951 -
The underrated classic film (in spectacular Technicolor) by Jean Renoir, The River, was released in the US on this date.



Thomas E. Breen Who plays Capt. John, was really missing one leg like his character. Esmond Knight, who plays the one-eyed Father, did actually lose his eye in the war, during the battle to sink the Bismark. He served on the Prince of Wales, and later starred as the Captain of the Prince of Wales in the film Sink the Bismarck!


September 10, 1955 -
Gunsmoke premieres on CBS-TV on this date. The television series ran from September 10, 1955 until September 1, 1975 on CBS for 635 episodes. It had the longest run of any scripted series with continuing characters in American primetime television.



William Conrad was the first choice to play Marshall Matt Dillon on TV, having established the role on radio, but his increasing obesity led to more photogenic actors being considered. Losing the role embittered Conrad for years, though he later starred in another CBS television series, Cannon (1971-1975). Denver Pyle was also considered for the role, as was nipple rouge manufacturer, Raymond Burr who was ultimately seen as too heavy-set for the part.

Rumors that the role was offered to John Wayne have been largely debunked, although he did apparent in an opening promotional video for the program.

Ah, if only Raymond Burr.


September 10, 1966 -
The Beatles' Revolver album goes #1 and stays #1 for 6 weeks, on this date.



Revolver is the only album on which George Harrison wrote three of the songs. On all the others he only has two or less cuts. On The White Album he had four, but it was a double album so he was only allotted his usual one track per-side.


September 10, 1988 -
Home Vision Entertainment released the documentary Comic Book Confidential, directed by Ron Mann and featuring the work of  Robert Crumb, Will Eisner, William M. Gaines, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and Frank Miller, on this date.



In the introductory credits the artists portrayed in the film are presented by a comic artist who is working on a comic page, filling the frames with the name and a typical comic character of each artist.


September 10, 1993 -
The science fiction television series The X-Files premiered with the episode Pilot on the Fox network on this date



Props from Mulder's X-Files office are currently preserved and on display at the Hollywood Entertainment Museum in Los Angeles. According to the museum, the famous I Want to Believe UFO poster from the office continually had to be replaced as copies kept disappearing from the set. The poster on display at the museum is reportedly one of the last available copies of the original set-used posters.


Today in History:
On September 10, 1419, supporters of the French Dolphin murdered John the Fearless.

John's brothers, Thomas the Prudent and Henry the Wary, lived on into old age.


September 10, 1623 -
A cargo load of lumber and fur became the first exports in history from North America to England on this date. This ensured the commercial success of the new world, as Europe had long been paralyzed by a shortage of sticks and hair.


September 10, 1898 -
Empress Elizabeth of Austria was not a particularly happy royal. Known as the Princess Diana of her day, she was estranged from her husband, Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria (because of the stifling nature of court life) she lost her daughter, Sophie, in 1857, and her favorite cousin, King Ludwig II of Bavaria, in a tragic fashion. Her brother-in-law, Emperor Maximilian of Mexico was shot by revolutionaries. But most of all, she never was able to get over her most terrible tragedy, the suicide of her son, Rudolph, in 1889.

She was still known as one of the most beautiful women in Europe well into her 60s. Her decades-long hunger diets coupled with a need for movement and exercise which compelled her to undertake lengthy and strenuous hikes, caused malnutrition and depressions and led finally to suicidal fantasies.



The sixty-year old empress was stabbed with a file by a twenty-four year old anarchist, Luigi Lucheni, shortly after noon on September 10, 1898 on the promenade of Lake Geneva as she boarded a steamship for Montreux. After the incident the Empress still walked for a few minutes. Because she was so strictly corseted, she was unaware how seriously she had been wounded.

Her last words were "What happened to me?"


September 10, 1922 -
Yma Sumac (and not Amy Camus from Brooklyn), noted Peruvian soprano, one of the most famous proponents of exotica music, was born on this date.





She was said to have well over four octave range.


September 10, 1932 -
You must take the A Train to go to Sugar Hill way up in Harlem ...



It's the 82th Anniversary of the famed NYC transit line (it was the first city owned line; the other two lines at the time were privately owned.)


Believe it or not, Mike the Headless Chicken (April 1945 – March 1947) was a Wyandotte rooster (cockerel) that lived for 18 months after its head had been cut off. Thought by many to be a hoax, the bird was taken by its owner to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City to establish its authenticity.



On Monday, September 10, 1945, farmer Lloyd Olsen of Fruita, Colorado, had his mother-in-law around for supper and was sent out to the yard by his wife to bring back a chicken. Olsen failed to completely decapitate the five-and-a-half month old bird named Mike. The axe missed the jugular vein, leaving one ear and most of the brain stem intact. Lloyd wasn't trusted with the knife on the farm after that.



On the first night after the decapitation Mike slept with his severed head under his wing.


September 10, 1953 -
Brothers Gilbert and Clark Swanson contributed to an American food revolution by selling their first TV dinner, for 98 cents, on this date.



It let customers feast on turkey with corn bread stuffing, buttered peas, and sweet potatoes - right in front of their television screens. Americans eating habits and health would never be the same.


September 10, 1977 -
Convicted torture-killer Hamida Djandoubi, an immigrant from Tunisia, becomes the last person executed by France when he is guillotined in Marseilles on this date.

He did not survive his execution and there are no notes as to whether or not Djandoubi was buried with his head under his arm.



And so it goes

The moon is climbin' high

The final "Supermoon" of 2014 rose last night and ends the summer trifecta of full moons that began in July (don't worry, you can catch it over the next two nights.) The September full moon, in addition to being a Supermoon, is also known as the Harvest Moon.



A Harvest Moon is the full moon closest to the equinox, when the sun crosses the celestial equator, which takes place this year on September 23rd. For the Northern Hemisphere, the autumnal equinox marks the beginning of fall, with shorter days and longer nights.



This is the time of year, aging Canadian Rock stars will sing full out with their once achingly beautiful harmonies.


PBS digital has come out with another episode of their series, It's OK To Be Smart: Science of Beer



I would suggest though that you just don't cram too much on this topic (or you Won't Be Smart in the Morning.)


September 9, 1967-
The animated sci-fi series Birdman and the Galaxy Trio produced by Hanna-Barbera debuts on NBC on this date. (An easy bar bet to win: Birdman and the Galaxy Trio never appeared together in any of the episodes.)



In 2000, CN premiered a series Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, a parody of the Birdman series, featuring cameos by many Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters, usually appearing as parody versions of "themselves". For example, one episode featured The Flintstones mixed with elements of The Sopranos.


September 9, 1971 -
Imagine, John Lennon's second solo album and most popular of his solo works, was released on this date.



Basic tracks for the album were recorded in his home studio in Tittenhurst Park in England with strings overdubs added in New York.


September 9, 1972 -
The animated-series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, hosted by Bill Cosby, debuted on CBS-TV on this date.



The characters are based on Bill Cosby and his childhood friends when grew up in North Philadelphia. Cosby talked about his childhood experiences in his stand-up comedy albums.


September 9, 1975 -
The sitcom Welcome Back Kotter, starring Gabe Kaplan, debuted on ABC-TV on this date.



The show was originally banned in Boston. The Boston ABC affiliate did not want to air the show at first because they thought it was about busing, a very heated topic at the time. They eventually ran the show with no problems.


September 9, 1978 -
A Taste of Honey song Boogie Oogie Oogie topped the charts on this date.



Janice Marie Johnson came up with the famous bass intro when she was warming up before the recording session, unaware that she was being recorded.


September 9, 1978 -
The Rolling Stones released their hit, Beast of Burden on this date.



This song could be allegorical - it was written by Keith as a kind of homage to Mick for having to carry the band while Keith was strung out on heroin: "All your sickness I can suck it up, throw it all at me, I can shrug it off."


Today in History:
September 9, 1087 -
William the Conqueror died of internal injuries, sustained six weeks prior in a horse riding accident at Mantes-la-Jolie.

The king's funeral did not go well - according to some sources, a fire broke out during the funeral; the original owner of the land on which the church was built claimed he had not been paid yet, demanding 60 shillings, which William's son Henry had to pay on the spot. When the corpulent king was later laid to rest in the foundations of a church, his corpse would not fit in the stone sarcophagus. William's "swollen bowels burst, and an intolerable stench assailed the nostrils of the by-standers and the whole crowd."



Don't you just wish they had television back then.


September 9, 1890 -
124 years ago today a little boy named Harland was born in Kentucky.



When Harland was six, his father died and his mother was forced to go to work. Little Harland did most of the cooking for his younger siblings. By the age of seven he was a master of the local cuisine.

There was no stopping the ambitious Harland, who had his own highway service station in Corbin, Kentucky, by the time he was forty.

He began cooking for hungry travelers who stopped at his service station. He didn't own a restaurant, so he served them at his own dining table. Word of his excellent cooking spread (secret combination of eleven herbs and spices) and soon he moved across the street to a restaurant that seated 142 people.

His cooking soon became so well known that his state's governor, Ruby Laffoon, made him a colonel.



In an independent 1976 survey, Colonel Harland Sanders was ranked as the world's second most recognizable figure.


September 9, 1956 -
Elvis Presley made his first-ever appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, performing four songs for guest host Charles Laughton on this date.



Ed himself had vowed never to have Presley on his show, but Sullivan was at home this evening, recuperating from a severe head injury, from a drunken fall.


September 9, 1971 -
1,300 inmates riot inside the Attica Correctional Facility in western New York state, commandeering the prison and taking 40 guards hostage on this date.



The national guard staged an assault five days later, killing 42 people in the process (10 of them being captives).


September 9, 1976 -
A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery.

Mao Tse-tung, Chinese Communist party chairman (1949-76) died in Beijing, on this date.



In 1965, he launched the controversial Cultural Revolution, an often-brutal campaign to reform Chinese society. He was later held responsible for over 70 million deaths. Mao Tse-tung’s death triggered a two-year power struggle. The Cultural Revolution's chief architects, Mao’s widow (Jiang Qing) and three others, the so-called Gang of Four, were jailed. Deng Xiaoping returned from disgrace and eventually seized power.


September 9, 2003 -
Edward Teller, the "Father of the Hydrogen Bomb" and purported model for Dr. Strangelove (or Kissinger was, take your pick), died at the age of 95 at his home on the Stanford University campus.



His role in the destruction of colleague J. Robert Oppenheimer's career during the McCarthy era resulted in his own ostracism by many of his peers.

And no, he didn't utter, Mein Fuhrer, I can walk just before his death.



And so it goes

The more you know!

September 8, 1892 -
"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all,"  The Pledge, which was written by Baptist minister Francis Bellamy, was also published on this day in The Youth's Companion children's magazine. (Rev. Bellamy did not include the words "Under God"; they were included by Congress 62 years later.

School's began having children recite the pledge on October 12th that same year.


Please read a newspaper, a magazine, the back of an oil stained envelope with a recipe from your grandmother, today is International Literacy Day.



At the very least, you could read the crap I purport to write every day.

And here's a word from the opposition - The dumb as dirt party.


September 8, 1966 -
Star Trek debuted on NBC-TV, with the airing of an episode titled The Man Trap on this date. (The series had to over come calls from within the network to cancel the series before it even aired.)



Dr. McCoy's handheld "medical scanners" were actually modified salt and pepper shakers, purchased originally for use in "The Man Trap", in which a character was seen using a salt shaker. They were of Scandinavian design, and on screen were not recognizable as salt shakers; so a few generic salt shakers were borrowed from the studio commissary, and the "futuristic" looking shakers became McCoy's medical instruments.


September 8, 1951 -
Tony Bennett's first hit Because of You topped the charts on this date.



The song was written by Arthur Hammerstein (uncle of Oscar Hammerstein II) and Dudley Wilkinson in 1940.


September 8, 1966 -
That Girl starring Marlo Thomas premiered on ABC-TV on this date.



The final episode was originally going to have Ann and Donald getting married but Marlo Thomas (who was an executive producer of the show as well as the star) refused, claiming that it sent the message to young girls that a woman's main goal in life was to be married.


Today in History -

Constantine the Great's three sons, Constantine II, Constans and Constantius II, named themselves Caesars and divided the Roman Empire between them on this date in the year 337.



But it was nearly sixteen hundred years before Sid Caesar himself was born, on September 8, 1922.


September 8, 1504 -
Michelangelo's David, was unveiled in Florence on this date.



If you were staring too hard, you'll notice that Dave has got a turtleneck. The apparently uncircumcised form would be at odds with Judaic practice, but would be consistent with the conventions of Renaissance art.

Now put your eyes back in your head.


John Endicott arrived in Naumkeag, Massachusetts, as the leader of a group of Puritan Grumps who had purchased land patents from the Plymouth Council in England on this date in 1628.

A previous group of settlers had established themselves in Naumkeag in 1626 but had no patent and were therefore Villainous Heretics. They gladly surrendered their claim in the face of the newcomers' Superior Moral Virtue, which came in a variety of gauges.

Later Naumkeag became Salem and developed witches, ultimately resulting in a profitable cottage industry.


September 8, 1664 -
The Dutch surrendered the city of New Amsterdam to the British, who renamed it New York, on this day. The English navigator Henry Hudson claimed credit as the city's discoverer in 1609, when he sailed into its harbor and up the river that now bears his name, looking for a passage to India. Hudson was sailing for the Dutch West India Company, so it was the Dutch who moved in and settled the area in 1614, six years before the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock.



Forty years later, New Amsterdam became a city; its population, 800. In the 1660s the Dutch and English were at war, and on September 8, 1664, a fleet sent by the Duke of York seized the city and changed the name to New York.



There are many in the Congress who have been trying to give the city back to the Dutch, the English or the Indians for that matter ever since.


September 8, 1930 -
3M of St. Paul, Minnesota begins marketing Scotch brand cellulose tape, the first waterproof, transparent, pressure-sensitive tape on this date.



The arrival of Scotch tape changed present-wrapping practices worldwide.


September 8, 1934 -
The luxury liner Morro Castle, en route from Havana to NYC, caught fire and ran aground at Asbury Park, NJ on this date. 134 people were killed.

The crew of the cruise ship let a small blaze get out of control and commandeered most of the spots in the lifeboats. Only 15 passengers survived as compared to 119 crew.

Remember, tip your service staff.


September 8, 1935 -
Dr. Carl Austin Weiss confronted Senator Huey Long in a narrow corridor of the State House in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Weiss drew a .32 caliber pistol and fires one slug into Long's abdomen on this date.

 

The Senator's bodyguards immediately made Swiss cheese out of Weiss, riddling him with 61 bullets. Long was rushed to the hospital, where he died two days later.


September 8, 1974 -
President Gerald Ford pardoned Richard M. Nixon, out of respect for Nixon's family. "Theirs is an American tragedy in which we all have played a part. It could go on and on and on, or someone must write the end to it. I have concluded that only I can do that, and if I can, I must."



Later polling will indicate that this move will ultimately deny Fords being elected president in his own right. A majority of Americans will remain convinced that a dirty deal had been struck between Ford and Nixon, giving Ford the top spot and Nixon the pardon. Not to add to any sort of conspiracy theory or anything but 10 years earlier, Gerald Ford served on the Warren Commission.


September 8, 1974 -
In Idaho, daredevil Evel Knievel climbs into his (really just a rocket on wheels) and hit the ignition on this date.



The vehicle manages to clear the quarter-mile-wide canyon, but then the parachute deploys prematurely and prevailing winds push him back into the chasm.

Total ripoff.


September 8, 1974 -

Leonard Matlovich appeared in his Air Force uniform on the cover of Time magazine on this date. He challenged the ban against homosexuals in the US military and was given a "general" discharge by the Air Force after publicly declaring his homosexuality.



His suit dragged on until 1980 when a federal judge ordered Matlovich reinstated. Instead of re-entering the Air Force, Matlovich accepted a settlement of $160,000. Matlovich became a gay rights activist and died of AIDS in 1988.


September 8, 1993 -
The restless, refrigerated popicle like remains of President Ferdinand Marcos, whose corpse spent several years exiled in Hawaii, returned, like MacArthur, to the Philippines for its final resting place.

Luckily, Imelda had preserved her husband, so they are finally able to put him on display just like Lenin, Stalin and Pol Pot -- under glass in a mausoleum of his very own.



And so it goes

Enjoy every sandwich

September 7, 1963 -
The first animated cartoon series to be imported from Japan, Astro Boy was broadcast on NBC-TV on this date.



The Japanese version originally didn't have a theme song, it wasn't until the success of the American theme song that they came up with one for the Japanese version.


September 7, 1967 -
The Flying Nun, starring Sally Field as a nun who finds that she can fly, debuted on ABC-TV on this date.



In one episode, Sister Bertrille is looking at home movies of herself from when she was a teenager. The home movies were actually footage from Sally Field's previous series Gidget.


September 7, 2003 -
Well, first of all, let me say that I might have made a tactical error in not going to a physician for 20 years. It was one of those phobias that really didn't pay off.









Warren Zevon, Grammy Award-winning American rock singer-songwriter and musician, died at age 56, on this date.


Today in History:
September 7, 1533 -
Elizabeth I was born on on this date. She was crowned at 25 and remained on the throne for 44 years, which helps explain why she remained a virgin all her life.



She is best known for having ordered the destruction of the Spanish Armadillo and the invention of Shakespeare.


September 7, 1915 -
Former-cartoonist Johnny Gruelle received a patent his Raggedy Ann doll on this date.



Gruelle created Raggedy Ann for his daughter, Marcella, when she brought him an old hand-made rag doll and he drew a face on it. From his bookshelf, he pulled a book of poems by James Whitcomb Riley, and combined the names of two poems, "The Raggedy Man" and "Little Orphant Annie." He said, "Why don’t we call her Raggedy Ann?"


September 7, 1927 -



Philo T. Farnsworth (all of 21 years old) succeeded in transmitting an image through purely electronic means by using an image dissector on this date. He used an "image dissector" (the first television camera tube) to convert the image into a current, and an "image oscillite" (picture tube) to receive it.



When the simple image of a straight line was placed between the image dissector and a carbon arc lamp, it showed up clearly on the receiver in another room. His first tele-electronic image was transmitted on a glass slide at his laboratory at 202 Green Street in San Francisco.


It's the birthday of singer and songwriter Charles Hardin "Buddy" Holly, born in Lubbock, Texas, on this date in 1936. By the age of 13, Holly was playing what he called "Western Bop" at local clubs. He was 19 when an agent discovered him and signed him to a contract with Decca Records.



The following year, Holly returned to Lubbock and, with three friends, formed The Crickets, who then released That'll Be The Day, which sold over a million copies. Buddy Holly's career was short: He died in February of 1959 in a plane crash in northern Iowa. Soon after, an English band that admired The Crickets decided to call themselves The Beatles.


September 7, 1940 -
Nazi Germany began its initial blitz on London during the World War II Battle of Britain on this date. The German Luftwaffe blitzed London for the first of 57 consecutive nights on this date. Nazi Germany launched the aerial bombing of London that Adolf Hitler believed would soften Britain for an invasion.



The invasion, "Operation Sea Lion," never materialized. The Luftwaffe lost 41 bombers over England. The blitz only strengthened Britain's resistance. The defense of London was for the Royal Air Force what Churchill called "their finest hour."


September 7, 1978 -
Keith Moon, drummer for The Who, died in his London residence from an overdose of chlormethiazole edisylate, a prescription drug used to treat alcoholism.



Moon's flat, #12 Curzon Place, was the same spot where Cass Elliot died of a heart attack in 1974 (and not from choking on a ham sandwich, smarty pants.)


September 7, 1978 -
Walking to the bus stop, BBC journalist Georgi Markov suddenly feels a sharp pain in his right calf. A KGB assassin had jabbed him with an umbrella tip, rigged to inject a tiny platinum sphere. The pellet is laden with ricin, a castor-based toxin with no known antidote. Markov died in the hospital four agonizing days later.



Oh those wacky KGB agents.


September 7, 1996 -
Standing up through the open sunroof of a BMW 750 sedan, rap artist Tupac Shakur was talking to some women at a Las Vegas street intersection when a white Cadillac pulls alongside. Gunfire erupts, and Shakur was shot four times. He died in the hospital a week later.



Although quite dead, or so we are led to believe, he still has quite impression record sales.



And so it goes

If you don't read, the terrorists have won!

Today is Read a Book Day.



I just had to re-read Edith Hamilton's Mythology with my daughter.


September 6, 1925 -
The silent-film The Phantom of the Opera, starring, Lon Chaney (who considered it his crowning achievement) premiered in NYC on this date.



According to Charles Van Enger, Chief Cinematographer of the film (and one of Lon Chaney's most trusted associates), Mary Philbin's reaction to the unmasked Phantom was real - that she had no idea what he would look like until that exact moment.


September 6, 1935 -
This early Astaire and Rogers film, Top Hat, written specifically for Fred and Ginger, was released on this date.



The finale of "Top Hat, White Tie and Tails" production number with Astaire miming his cane as a weapon "attacking" his supporting dancers, 13 canes were prepared for it. During shooting, Astaire, ever the unforgiving perfectionist, was continually breaking his canes in frustration at his mistakes, which concerned the crew that he was running out of them. As it turns out, the shooting of the scene was finished with the very last cane. .


September 6, 1936 -
The classic screwball comedy, My Man Godfrey, premiered on this date.



Although stars William Powell and Carole Lombard had been divorced for three years by the time they made this, when offered the part Powell declared that the only actress right for the part of Irene was Lombard. Powwell explained that his real life romance with Lombard had been much the same as it was for the characters of Godfrey and Irene.


September 6, 1944 -
Billy Wilder's film-noir classic, Double Indemnity, starring Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson, opened in NYC on this date.



Barbara Stanwyck was the first choice to play Phyllis, but she was unnerved when seeing the role was of a ruthless killer. When she expressed her concern to Billy Wilder, he asked her, "Are you a mouse or an actress?"


September 6, 1958 -
Steve McQueen debuted in the western series, Wanted: Dead or Alive, on CBS-TV on this date.



Initially, the creators of the series had a hard time selling the show because bounty hunters were thought to be unsavory characters and have been portrayed as such in numerous western shows and movies. The creators overcame this obstacle by having Josh Randall give most, sometimes ALL, of his earnings to help people such as the families of people murdered by the men Randall brings in, thus making Randall a sympathetic and likable character.


Today in History:
September 6, 1776 -
American's first submersible, David Bushnell's egg-shaped Turtle, piloted by Erza Lee (after Ezra Bushnell, David's brother, the submarine's initial captain, died the night before) unsuccessfully attacked the British-vessel HMS Eagle in New York harbor on this date.



The bomb was released into the water and resulted in a frightening explosion. While the American Turtle failed to destroy its target, the British recognized the threat and moved the fleet. Royal Navy logged and reported from this period make no mention of this incident, and it is possible that the Turtle's attack may be more submarine legend than historical event.


September 6, 1901 -
While shaking hands at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, President William McKinley was shot twice in the abdomen at point-blank range with a .32 caliber revolver, on this date. He, unintentionally, became the first President to ride in an automobile as a motorized ambulance takes him to a hospital.



The assassin, an anarchist by the name of Leon Frank Czolgosz, concealed his gun within a handkerchief, actually was a lone gunman (for once).



McKinley died a week later and became the third American president assassinated.


September 6, 1916 -
Clarence Saunders opened the Piggly Wiggly® grocery store (the first self-service market,) at 79 Jefferson Street in Memphis, Tennessee, on this date. Piggly Wiggly's introduction of self-service grocery shopping truly revolutionized the grocery industry.

There were shopping baskets, open shelves and no clerks to shop for the customer – all unheard of at the time. There are still more than 600 Piggly Wiggly stores in the US today.


Although there can be no royalty in the United States, one young woman, is crowned each year as Miss America. The first such coronation was held for Margaret Gorman, on September 6, 1921.

Miss America reigns for one year, at which point she must retire-unless she removes her clothing, in which case she's deposed. (Or is that denuded?)


September 6, 1951 -
During a drinking party in Mexico City, author William S. Burroughs instructed his wife Joan Vollmer to balance a glass of gin on her head. He then takes careful aim with his new .38 pistol, and unintentionally blows her brains out in front of their friends. The Mexican authorities later charge Burroughs with criminal imprudence.

So kids remember, when a drunken Beat drug addict writer asks you to play "William Tell" - Just Say No!!!


September 6, 1966 -
Parliamentary messenger Demetrios Tsafendas assassinated Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd, considered to be the primary architect of Apartheid, by stabbing him in his chest on the floor of the South African legislature.



While Verwoerd died shortly thereafter, Apartheid tenaciously clung to life until 1994.


September 6, 1976 -
Years after their well-publicized break-up, Frank Sinatra privately orchestrated a surprise appearance of Dean Martin on Jerry Lewis' annual Labor Day telethon for the MDA. The two privately reconciled and maintained a private relationship throughout the rest of their lives.



If only Sinatra could have knock off broads and booze long enough to deal with the whole Ukrainian situation.



And so it goes

Leave the watch at home

September 5th is Be Late For Something Day, so forget the calendar and be late for something.



Remember that things can go on without you, and maybe it’s not all quite as important as you thought; after all, you need some ‘me time’!


Today is National Cheese Pizza Day



Please control yourselves - they will deliver the damn pizzas.


September 5, 1916 -
D. W. Griffith classic silent-film masterpiece, Intolerance: Love's Struggle Through the Ages, premiered on this date.



The Babylonian orgy sequence alone cost $200,000 when it was shot. That's nearly twice the overall budget of The Birth of a Nation (1915), another D.W. Griffith film and, at the time, the record holder for most expensive picture ever made.


September 5, 1927 -
Walt Disney's Trolley Troubles, first appearance of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons, premiered on this date.



Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks worked for Universal Pictures on this cartoon. Universal showed their appreciation for the two for making Oswald a star by threatening to cut their salaries. As a result, the two walked...and soon created Mickey Mouse and the rest is history.


September 5, 1946 -
Farrokh Bulsara, British musician, singer and songwriter, was born on this date.



Freddie Mercury has been called one of Rock's greatest performers of all time.


Today in History:
September 5, 1638 -
King Louis XIV of France was born on this date.



Like Elizabeth I in England, Louis inherited a struggling kingdom and built it into a major power. Unlike Elizabeth, Louis did not remain a virgin. On the contrary, he produced so many little bastards that he came to be known as the "Son King," which led him to conclude famously L'etat, c'est moi. ("Kid, I'm your father.")


September 5, 1698 -
Russian Tsar Peter the Great imposed the first millionaire's tax when he began taxing beards on this date.

The new taxation was an attempt to modernize his citizens from what he felt were archaic traditions. On several occasions he cut off the beards of noblemen himself.  Beards were still allowed for clergy, monks and peasants.


September 5, 1877 -
The great Sioux Chief Crazy Horse, a cousin of Kicking Bear, was fatally bayoneted at age 36 by a soldier at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, on this date.



His final resting place remains unknown.


September 5, 1921 -
Undiscovered actress Virginia Rappe somehow ruptures her bladder during actor-comedian Fatty Arbuckle's party at the Saint Francis Hotel in San Francisco, on this date.



Three days later, the feverish woman is checked into a maternity hospital, where she dies from peritonitis. Arbuckle is tried for her murder but ultimately acquitted of any wrongdoing by a jury, his brilliant film acting career is destroyed. He had been one of the most popular (and highest-paid) film comedians of the silent era, second only to Chaplin.


September 5, 1972 -
Five Palestinians armed with machine guns sneak into the Olympic Village in Munich. There they take nine Israeli athletes hostage, killing two others in the process.



Later, they demand safe passage out of the country and the release of 200 Palestinians from prison in Israel. Ultimately, none of the athletes makes it out alive.


September 5, 1975 -
Manson Family member Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme almost assassinated President Gerald Ford with a .45 automatic in Sacramento, California.



But Fromme was tackled by a Secret Service agent before she can remember to rack a round into the firing chamber.


September 5, 1990 -
In his testimony before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, LAPD chief Daryl Gates opined: "Casual drug users should be taken out and shot."

Note to self: remember not to invite Mr. Gates to any social events. What a minute, he's dead. New note to self: remember not to invite Zombie Gates to any social events.


September 5, 1991 -
Disgraced children's television star Pee-wee Herman returns to the public eye for the first time after his masturbation arrest, appearing on the MTV Video Music Awards.



He opens with the line: "Heard any good jokes lately?"


September 5, 1997 -
Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.



Nobel Peace Prize winner Mother Teresa, born Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, died at 87 after a heart attack on this date.


September 5, 2003 -
It wasn't so happy at the happiest place in the world on this date, when Marcelo Torres, 22, was killed and 10 others injured when the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad coaster, at Disneyland,  jumps the tracks in Frontierland.



Did they get their money back?



And so it goes.

Happy first Day of school (NYC kids)

September 4, 1942 -
Warner Brothers reunited most of the cast of The Maltese Falcon for John Huston's war drama, Across the Pacific, which premiered on this date.



The last-minute screenplay change from Pearl Harbor to the Panama Canal was not implausible. Until the mid 1930s US military exercises concentrated on defending the Panama Canal from air, amphibious & small craft attack and were extensively covered by the press.


September 4, 1951 –
The first national live television broadcast in the U.S. took place when President Harry Truman's speech at the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference in San Francisco, California was transmitted to broadcast stations in local markets across the country.




It has been estimated that more than 40 million people saw  the president open the Peace Treaty Conference; it was the largest single television audience to date.


September 4, 1953 -
The science fiction film Project Moonbase, based on a story by Robert A. Heinlein and directed by Richard Talmadge was released in the US on this date.



This movie and Cat-Women of the Moon were made using the some of the same sets and costumes. The two films were then released within one day of each other.


September 4, 1971 -
Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey by Paul & Linda McCartney topped the charts on this date.



McCartney combined pieces of various unfinished songs to create this; in the later years of The Beatles, they did this a lot as a way to put unfinished songs to good use. As a result, "Uncle Albert - Admiral Halsey" contains 12 different sections over the course of its 4:50 running time. This jumble of musical textures, comic character voices, sound effects and changing tempos turned off a lot of listeners, but many others thought it was brilliant. The song wasn't released as a single in the UK, but in America it became McCartney's first #1 hit as a solo artist.


Today in History:
September 4, 1781 -
Captain Rivera y Moncada (good friend of Uncle Porky) on the behest of the Mexican Provincial Governor, Felipe de Neve, led eleven Mexican Pobladores and their families, 46 settlers in all, established Our Pueblo by the River of Our Lady of the Angels of Uncle Porky near the the river they had seen 11 years earlier - (El Rio de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula.)



Los Angeles was founded on this date.


September 4, 1882 -
Thomas Edison displayed the first practical electrical lighting system on this date.

He successfully turned on the lights in a one square mile area of New York City (NY's Pearl Street Station).


September 4, 1885 -
The world's first cafeteria, The Exchange Buffet, catering to an exclusively male clientele, opens in New York at 7 New Street, on this date.

And if you hurry, there's still some of the original luncheon special available.


September 4, 1886 -
Geronimo was a prominent Native American leader of the Chiricahua Apache who warred against the encroachment of the United States on his tribal lands and people for over 25 years.  While outnumbered, Geronimo fought against both Mexican and United States troops and became famous for his daring exploits and numerous escapes from capture from 1858 to 1886.



At the end of his military career, he led a small band of 38 men, women, and children. They evaded 5,000 U.S. troops (one fourth of the army at the time) and many units of the Mexican army for a year. His band was one of the last major forces of independent Indian warriors who refused to acknowledge the United States Government in the American West. This came to an end on this date, when Geronimo surrendered to United States Army General Nelson A. Miles at Skeleton Canyon, Arizona.

Dubya's grandpappy, the anti-Indiana Jones, somehow figures into this story (you knew he would). In 1918, certain remains of Geronimo were apparently stolen in a grave robbery. Three members of the Yale secret society of Skull and Bones served as Army volunteers at Fort Sill during World War I; one of those three members was Prescott Bush; father of the forty-first President of the United States, George Bush, grandfather of the forty-third President of the United States, George W. Bush. They reportedly stole Geronimo's skull, some bones, and other items, including Geronimo's prized silver bridle, from the Apache Indian Prisoner of War Cemetery.



The stolen items were alleged to have been taken to the society's tomb-like headquarters on the Yale University campus, and are supposedly used in rituals practiced by the group, one of which is said to be kissing the skull of Geronimo as an initiation.


September 4, 1888 -
Remember, You press the button, we do the rest.



George Eastman received patent #388,850 for the first roll-film camera and registers "Kodak" on this date.


September 4, 1957 -
Governor Orval Faubus of Arkansas, in a vain attempt to take a stand against segregation, used the US reserve militia troops to stop nine black students from entering a high school in Little Rock on this date.



Faubus was in violation of a federal desegregation order and President Dwight Eisenhower, roused from his afternoon nap, sent the US military to escort the black children into the school.

You must know that you are on the wrong side of history if your first name is Orval.


September 4, 1972 -
American swimmer Mark Spitz became the first athlete to win seven Olympic gold medals on this date .



For his all of his effort, he is forced to walk around in a Speedo for years - the constant jock itch was horrible.


September 4, 1976 -
George W Bush was arrested in Kennebunkport, Maine for driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.10 percent. He pays the $150 fine and has his driving privileges suspended for a month.

Years later, during Bush's 2000 campaign for President, a WPXT-TV reporter from Portland, Maine uncovers the arrest record just one week prior to election day. It is also revealed that Bush's V.P. candidate, Dick Cheney, had arrests for drunken driving in 1962 and 1963.


September 4, 1998 -
The Internet search engine, Google, was founded by two PhD students at Stanford University in California, Sergey Brin and Larry Page on this date.



Today, more than one million servers worldwide are used to power Google, which processes more than one billion search requests per day.  And all of those requests and e-mails goes straight to the NSA - hope you didn't write about that rectal itch you had.


September 4, 2006 -
“Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin was killed by a stingray’s barb piercing his chest and heart. He was snorkeling in shallow water at the Great Barrier Reef, filming some scenes for a segment in a television show

A similar incident in Florida a month later in which a man survived a stingray barb through the heart showed that Irwin may have caused his own death by removing the barb.



And so it goes

A better way to watch the evening news

Another Sesame Street mashup (not from Sesame Street), this time John Oliver and Cookie Monster report from W-ORD Channel 7 News



And that's the way the cookie crumbles


September 3, 1983 -
One of the songs that defined MTV in the 80s, Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) by the Eurythmics, giving them their only US chart topper..



In 1978, Squeeze had a UK hit with Take Me I'm Yours, which features the line "Dreams are made of this" in the chorus.



Marilyn Manson recorded the song in 1995, giving a much darker tone to the song.



(In Manson's auto-biography, he related to this song by mentioning that he met people who wanted to be abused by him; and who wanted to use him as well.)


September 3, 1965 -
Carlos Irwin Estévez, actor, substance abuser and noted panderer is another year older today.



Say what you want about Charlie; he seems to know how to live on his own terms and makes it work.


September 3, 1973 -
The Rolling Stones released their hit, Angie, on this date.



The big rumor about this song is that it was written about David Bowie's wife, Angela, who wrote in her autobiography that she once walked in on Bowie and Mick Jagger in bed together - a story Jagger vehemently denies.


September 3, 1982 -
Cameron Crowe's coming of age teen comedy (directed by Amy Heckerling), Fast Times at Ridgemont High, opened on this date.



For his masturbation scene, Judge Reinhold brought a large dildo to work with, unbeknown to the rest of the cast. Phoebe Cates look of horror and disgust is very real.


Today in History:
On September 3, 301, during an epic game of hide-and-seek, St. Marinus the Stonemason ran up Mount Titano in Italy to hide from the Roman Emperor Diocletian.

It was a good hiding spot and he was never found.



He started his own country to pass the time and Most Serene Republic of San Marino survives to this day.


On September 3, 1189, Richard Lionheart, an enthusiastic french speaking sodomite (which was technical illegal in England,) was crowned King of England on this date.



The son of Henry II (no relation to Rocky II) and Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard spent most of his ten-year reign abroad. For two of these years he was imprisoned by the Holy Roman Emperor, who was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an emperor, but a nasty little man just the same.



When Richard finally returned to English soil he discovered there had been Intrigues, some of which involved his brothers. He therefore crossed the Channel and defeated France before dying from an arrow wound to the neck inflicted by an 11 year old boy.



He had only produced one son, and the most crushing defeat of Richard's tragic life was his discovery that the child was a little bastard.


September 3, 1838 -
Frederick Douglass escaped slavery disguised as a sailor on this date. Later he wrote about his experiences in a book called The Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass, the title of which may have diminished the effectiveness of his disguise.

(Publishers thought The Narrative Life of a Muscular and Barechested Black Guy Wearing Snug Fitting Sailor Pants with No Underwear would have limited appeal outside certain fetishist circles.)


September 3, 1939 -
Germany continued its invasion of Poland even though Britain had asked it very nicely to stop.



This upset the British sensibility. They declared war on Germany, France followed suit six hours later quickly joined by Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Canada, making this the official launch of World War II in Europe on this date.


September 3, 2004 -
A siege on a Russian school ended with more than 300 people dead, many of them children.  The school had been taken hostage by Chechen terrorists on September 1st.



To bring an end to the hostage situation, the Russian military (purportedly under direct order from President Vladimir Putin, who was able to use the crisis to consolidate more power for the Russian Presidency) stormed the school with explosives. 334 hostages died and several hundred others were injured or missing.



And so it goes

Remember to wish everybody, "Off with their heads!"

On the long list of make believe holidays that litter the internet, today is National Beheading Day. I'm still hoping to convince the board of directors of ACME to become the main corporate sponsor.



So remember to wish your friends and neighbors Happy National Beheading Day. Enjoy the odd look they give you.


September 2, 1950 -
This program is brought to you by the Eagle Hands Laundry. Does your eagle have dirty mitts?

Another classic Daffy/ Porky outing, The Ducksters, was released on this date. (I still have to watch this cartoon on the sly in my home - I laugh too much and too loudly.)



On the game show Porky Pig wins:
1. The Rocky Mountains
2. A 17- Jewel half Nelson
3. The La Brea Tar Pits
4. The Rock of Gibraltar
5. 600 gallons of genuine Niagara Falls
6. $26,000,000.03


September 2, 1965 -
The Rolling Stones appeared on the British TV show Ready Steady Go! on this date.



The boys all joined in a parody of Sonny & Cher's I Got You Babe.

Oh those scalliwags!


Today in History -
Phidippides of Athens sets out on his famous run that inspired the Marathon on this date in 490 BC

(we'll catch up with this foolhearty soul later.)


September 2, 1666 -
Thomass Farrinor forgot to put out his oven at the end of his shift, on this date.



Unfortunately, the resulting fire cost him his job as official baker to King Charles II of England and started the Great Fire of London. (Quite surprisingly, only six people 'officially' were declared dead because of the fire. To remember the fire, the city of London erected a monument. Six people have committed suicide by jumping off of it, and two have fallen accidentally to their deaths. You might hear this fun fact repeated on tours or forums: more people have died from falling off the monument than died in the fire. But it's not true - more like several hundred and quite possibly several thousand; very poor people likely died in the fire, burnt so beyond recognition (and not on the 'official radar') that their remains were not counted.



On the plus side, it burned out of control and destroyed four-fifths of London, thereby ending the Black Plague.


Lydia Kamekeha Liliuokalani was born on this date in 1838.

Upon the death of her brother in 1891, she became sovereign Queen of Hawaii. This was considered posing by the American colonials of Hawaii, who reminded her that monarchy was unconstitutional in the United States.



She reminded them that Hawaii was not part of the United States. This was more than unconstitutional: it was cheeky.



She was immediately deposed, then wrote wrote Aloha Oe and retired.

(If I were Mr Obama, I would have been hesitant to show my birth certificate.)


September 2, 1901 -
Twelve days before the assassination of President William McKinley, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt offered the advice, "Speak softly and carry a big stick," in a speech at the Minnesota State Fair on this date.



Roosevelt described his style of foreign policy as "the exercise of intelligent forethought and of decisive action sufficiently far in advance of any likely crisis."


USS Shenandoah was the first of four United States Navy rigid airships. She was built from 1922 to 1923 at Lakehurst Naval Air Station, and first flew in September, 1923. She developed the Navy's experience with rigid airships, even making the first crossing of the North American continent by airship.

On September 2, 1925, Shenandoah departed Lakehurst on a promotional flight to the Midwest which would include flyovers of 40 cities and visits to state fairs. Testing of a new mooring mast at Dearborn, Michigan was included in the schedule.



While passing through an area of thunderstorms and turbulence over Ohio early in the morning of the 3rd, the airship was torn apart and crashed in several pieces near Caldwell, Ohio. Shenandoah's commanding officer, Commander Zachary Lansdowne and 13 other officers and men were killed.


September 2, 1930 -
Capt. Dieudonne Costes and Lt. Maurice Bellonte arrived in Valley Stream, N.Y. from Paris (3,852 miles) in 37 hours and 18 minutes, aboard the Question Mark - the first non-stop westbound fixed wing aircraft flight between Europe and America.



The flight was a commemorative return visit of Lindberg's historical flight to Paris in 1927


Russ Columbo, was an American singer, violinist and actor, most famous for his signature tune, Prisoner of Love and the legend surrounding his early death.



On September 2, 1934, Columbo was shot under peculiar circumstances by his longtime friend, photographer Lansing Brown. Columbo was visiting him at the studio one day. In lighting a cigarette, Brown lit the match by striking it against the wooden stock of an antique French dueling pistol. The flame set off a long-forgotten charge in the gun, and a lead pistol ball was fired. The pistol ball ricocheted off a nearby table and hit Columbo in the left eye, killing him almost instantly.

Columbo's death was ruled an accident, and Brown exonerated from blame. His funeral mass was attended by numerous Hollywood luminaries, including Bing Crosby and Columbo's fiancée Carole Lombard.

Literally, with friends like this, who needs enemies.


September 2, 1945 -
In front of an assembled group of Allied sailors and officers, General Douglas MacArthur signed documents during the surrender ceremony aboard the USS Missouri on this date.



The unconditional surrender of the Japanese to the Allies officially ended the Second World War six years and a day since it began in Poland back in 1939. (Remember, those Hitler World Tour T-Shirts are still quite valuable.)


September 2, 1969 -
Six weeks after landing men on the moon, America's first automatic teller machine (ATM), at the time called the Docuteller, made its public debut on this date, dispensing cash to customers at Chemical Bank in Rockville Center, New York. 

It marked the first time reusable, magnetically coded cards were used to withdraw cash. Today there are well over 1 million ATMs around the world, with a new one added approximately every five minutes.



And so it goes.