Blow, blow, thou winter wind ...

In the northern hemisphere, today (actually it occurs at 12:30 AM Thursday in NYC) is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year and the longest night.

It's officially the first day of winter and one of the oldest known holidays in human history.



Anthropologists believe that solstice celebrations go back at least 30,000 years, before humans even began farming on a large scale. The stone circles of Stonehenge were arranged to receive the first rays of midwinter sun.

It is therefore a good time to do things you wouldn't want the sun to hear about. The Pagans, for example, wisely celebrate their Yule holiday on the Winter Solstice.

Ancient peoples believed that because daylight was waning, it might go away forever, so they lit huge bonfires to tempt the sun to come back. The tradition of decorating our houses and our trees with lights at this time of year is passed down from those ancient bonfires.

In Ancient Rome, the winter solstice was celebrated with the festival of Saturnalia,

during which all business transactions and even war were suspended, and slaves were waited upon by their masters.

Hey, Get Naked, Paint Yourself Blue and Dance around the Fir Tree. It's party time!!!


December 21, 1932 -
The movie musical Flying Down to Rio premiered on this date.



Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, although minor players in the film, danced in their first joint movie together


December 21, 1937 -
The first feature-length color & sound cartoon Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, premiered on this date.



The animation took over two years and a then astronomical $1.5 million to create. Disney had to mortgage his house to pay for the film's production.


December 21, 1940 -
Hot?! Who's afraid of hot?



Another classic Porky Pig cartoon, The Timid Toreador, premiered on this date.


December 21, 1959 -
The Orpheus legend set in Rio de Janeiro (with the fabulous music by Luiz Bonfa and Antonio Carlos Jobim,) Black Orpheus, premiered in the US on this date.



Although this won the Palme d'Or at Cannes and the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, ironically it is not terribly well regarded in its native Brazil where some object to the depiction of their country as being a non-stop party.


Tonight is the second night of Hanukkah -

Hopefully you're all not too bloated.


Today in History -
The pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock on December 21, 1620 (Their stepping ashore onto a large rock that later became known as the Plymouth Rock probably is a myth .) Their boat was the Mayflower.

They wore black and white clothes with big shiny buckles.



The crew of the ship did not have enough beer to get to Virginia and back to England so they dropped the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock to preserve their beer stock.


December 21, 1914 -
The first feature-length silent film comedy, Tillie's Punctured Romance, starring Marie Dressler, Charlie Chaplin and Mabel Normand, was released on this date.



This film marked the last time that Charles Chaplin would be directed by someone other than himself.


December 21, 1945 -
World War II General George Patton died in a car accident at Heidelberg, Germany on this date.

Patton was investigating the theft of Nazi gold by US Army men at the time. My grandfather was convinced that it was a conspiracy and he was killed by the men he was investigating. My gratherfather was a small time numbers runner but that's another story


December 21, 1970 -
Paranoid, alcoholic President Nixon meets with prescription drug addict Elvis Presley at the White House to discuss The King's becoming a special drug enforcement agent.



He presents Nixon with a pistol, and receives a special DEA badge in return.


December 21, 2012 -
The Mayan "long count" calendar is based on great cycles of 5125 years, the current cycle ending on this day in 2012.

Endings of cycles are punctuated by cataclysmic singularities on a deluge scale, so be prepared. This is the end of time! Or the end of massive sales at Amazon!



Remember to mark the date in your calendar and remember to ask for a discount on all the calendars you'll be buying this year.


Josif Djugashvili was born in the Gori District of Tiflis Province in Georgia, Imperial Russia, on December 21, 1879 (or December 18th or the 22nd. When you're an evil bastard dictator, you get to choose your own birthday).

His father was a drunken and often unemployed cobbler, illiterate, and like Josif’s mother, Ekaterina, had only been emancipated from serfdom in 1864. Mr. Djugashvili was a violent man, and often beat little Josif, whose left arm was permanently injured in a childhood "accident." Josif was also afflicted by small pox at the age of five, and this left his face a crosshatching of pockmarks.

To say that the cobbler's son had no shoes would be the grossest of understatements.

At the Gori Elementary School, little Joey Djugashvili was unexceptional in terms of grade point average, aptitude, and physical education. His self-esteem was in tatters. He was a moody, sullen boy, but even in the benighted educational environment of nineteenth century Imperial Russia, his teachers knew that beneath his brooding exterior there beat the heart of a wounded frightened child.

"Joey only needed a little encouragement," one teacher recalled in an interview published shortly before her disappearance. "He’d never speak up in class, but if you took the time to talk to him one-on-one he’d blossom like a flower."

Another teacher recalled Djugashvili’s difficult home life. "His parents never came to our Meet the Faculty suppers," the pedagogue reflected from his cell not long before his execution. "So I visited his home on several occasions. His mother was not very affectionate, but his father was a brute and a tyrant and would only address him as 'dumb-ass.' You knew even then that the cards were stacked against the poor kid."

His peers taunted him mercilessly at school, and his high school class voted him "most likely to die alone and unloved." But one cannot help but be startled by the Djugashvili staring out from the photograph in his high school yearbook. The overall look is haunted, but even then there could be seen the galvanization of will, the hardening of determination, that in a few short years the world would learn to know and fear as Josif Stalin.

One can only feel pity for this troubled soul, this poor, sweet child who never wanted anything more than a little love and attention. Even as one watches the same old familiar footage of a laughing Stalin quaffing a martini while marching over a path paved with human skulls, even then if one looks closely one can see the eyes of the child he once was: frightened, sad, and alone.

Was Little Joe truly a wellspring of bloody malevolence, or was he perhaps a victim himself, a frightened and insecure little boy who wanted nothing more than a little approval and a few kind words? It’s easy to hold him responsible for the thirty to forty-five million deaths that occurred on his watch, but was it really all his fault? Can we not properly lay some, if not all, of the responsibility for the sins of the son on the deeds of the father?



I hope that parents everywhere will give their children a little extra love and attention this holiday season, because the world needs another little Joe like I need a samovar up my ass.




6 more days of Hanukkah, 4 more shopping days until Christmas. (1 more shopping days until Festivus. Get your list of family grievences together.)

And so it goes

Check for Zuzu's petals in your pocket

December 20, 1946 -
The Frank Capra film It's A Wonderful Life had a preview showing for charity at New York City's Globe Theatre, a day before its official premiere.



The film is regarded as a classic and is a staple of Christmas television around the world, although, due to its high production costs and stiff competition at the box office, financially, it was considered a flop.



Next time you get a chance to watch the film, notice what a truly strange little film it really is.


December 20, 1967 -
Mike Nichols' seminal '60s film, The Graduate, starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft, premiered on this date.



Dustin Hoffman was already set to play a role in Mel Brooks The Producers when the opportunity to audition for The Graduate came up. Deferentially, Hoffman asked Brooks' permission to audition for the part in the other film. Through his wife, Anne Bancroft, (already cast) Brooks was familiar with the story of The Graduate. He allowed Hoffman to audition, blithely confident he'd be found unsuitable for role of Mrs. Robinson's lover.


Today in History
December 20, 1802 -
The United States buys the Louisiana Territory from France.

The wisdom of this purchase was not fully appreciated at first but after Mardi Gras it was warmly embraced.



(It was not for nothing that Thomas Jefferson collected beads.)


December 20, 1879 -
Thomas Edison privately demonstrated light bulb to a rapt audience on this date at Menlo Park, N.J.



Unfortunately, it takes 27 of his assistants to lift the entire shed and turn it around to screw in the bulb and many believe the light will never take off.


December 20, 1892 -
According to Jules Verne, On October 2nd Phileas Fogg steps out of the Explorers Club in London, England and decides to take a little trip.



Due to the incompetence and laziness of transit workers, completes his trip on this date.


Adolf Hitler was released from prison on December 20, 1924, after serving less than a year against a five-year treason sentence. Hitler became a prolific author while in prison, where he penned the infamous political autobiography Mein Kampf. (How I Intend to Enslave or Kill Millions of People Immediately Upon My Release.)

He also outlined a series of children’s books which have sadly been lost to history as a result of his having chosen upon his release to pursue a path of demonic world conquest instead of pedagogical literature. One can only wonder what sort of success Hitler would have experienced with titles such as The Little Engine That Was Betrayed by Jewish Usurers, Where the Wild Things Are and How to Eliminate Them and Every Little Aryan Child’s Bedtime Book of Insidious Evil and Global Domination.


December 20, 1957 -
Elvis receives orders from the draft board to serve in the United States Army, which to his credit he does without complaint.



I should have warned you that you would have seen the bare chest of Evis.


December 20, 1997 -
Sotheby's auctions off the loincloth worn by Kirk Douglas in the 1960 film Spartacus for $2,990 on this date.

You can't get those at Robert Hall, aisle five.



7 more days of Hanukkah, 5 more shopping days until Christmas. (2 more shopping days until Festivus. Make sure you get your an unadorned aluminum pole before they run out.)

And so it goes

Here's a story for the kids

Last year, during the holidays, Werner Herzog read us a tale, giving us the illusionary opiate of comfort for these troubled times, Clement Clarke Moore’s A Visit from St. Nicholas. This year, Mr Herzog reads Madeline - a tale of the sexual maturation of a young Parisian girl in pre World War II Europe and the Fisher King like wound she receives:



... The tiger dreams only of death.....


According to several news sources, Kim Jong-il, who has led the communist nation since the death of his father in 1994, died on a train while visiting an area outside the capital.



Let's hope this isn't the beginning of a very bad political thriller. I've read the very fine print in the contract I signed in my abortive bid to get the world signed over to me when Frank Sinatra died. Apparently, I have to be prepared to possibly be named the new Supreme Leader of North Korea.. I might play the spoons for the talent portion of the competition but I have a huge amount of waxing to do for the swimsuit part.


As you can imagine, it's more than a little hectic in our house, so here's an abbreviated Today in History:
December 19, 1941 -
Twelve days after Pearl Harbor, Franklin D. Roosevelt under authority of Congress, created the Office of Censorship. The bureau had discretion over communications with foreign countries. Participation by domestic publishers was "voluntary."

Ah, presidential power...


December 19, 1971 -
A Clockwork Orange premiered on this date, originally with an X rating. Censors objected more to the sex scenes than the violence.



One of only two movies rated X on its original release (the other being Midnight Cowboy) to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.


December 19, 1974 -
Nelson A. Rockefeller was sworn in as the 41st vice president of the United States after a House vote. Rockefeller was the second person appointed Vice President under the 25th Amendment – the first being Gerald Ford (the man for whom he was serving as Vice President.)

After the proceedings, Rockefeller celebrates by vigorously copulating with three of his assistants in the Warren G. Harding memorial cloakroom.


December 19, 1997 -
The movie, Titanic was released in theaters on this date. This movie would become the most financially successful movie in U.S. history, grossing approximately $1.8 billion worldwide (until the release of Avatar in 2009, which grossed an astounding $2.075 billion. Avatar was conveniently directed by Mr. Cameron as well.)



James Cameron went on the dives to the real Titanic himself, and found it an overwhelming emotional experience to actually see it. He ended up spending more time with the ship than its living passengers did.



1 more shopping days until Hanukkah (get your potato graters ready,) 6 more shopping days until Christmas. (3 more shopping days until Festivus). Remember, stores will be packed with late Festivus shoppers.

And so it goes

Here's A Jimmy Stewart Holiday Movie (But not that one)

Why not finish writing out your Christmas cards (or start helping Santa wrap those presents and play this wonderful Lubitsch film - The Shop Around the Corner in the background -



To make sure his film was stripped of the glamor usually associated with him, Lubitsch went to such lengths as ordering that a dress Margaret Sullavan had purchased off the rack for $1.98 be left in the sun to bleach and altered to fit poorly.


December 18, 1957 -
David Lean's epic glimpse into the insanity of war, The Bridge on the River Kwai, premiered in the US on this date.



Howard Hawks was asked to direct, but declined. After the box-office failure of Land of the Pharaohs, he didn't want a second one in a row, and he thought the critics would love this movie but the public would stay away. One particular concern was the all-male lead roles.


December 18, 1966 -
Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas aired for the first time on CBS on this date.



Boris Karloff's voice changes when he speaks for the Grinch. Originally he spoke in his "Narrator" voice throughout. After recording was complete, the highs in his voice were mechanically removed for the Grinch, giving him the gravelly voice heard in the finished version.


Today in History:
December 18, 1626 -
Christina (Kristina), Queen of Sweden , later known as Maria Christina Alexandra, Minerva of the North, Protectress of the Jews at Rome and sometimes Count Dohna, was born on this date. Like most royalty and some presidents, Christina did not have to carry money, a passport or consistently spell her name the same way.

Kristina father, King Gustav II Adolf, wanted a boy and decreed she be given the best education possible. Christina's mother, Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg, an early proponent of Jewish guilt as a tool for childhood rearing, repeatedly told Kristina about the 'horrors' of sex and childbirth. These factors may have prejudiced Kristina against the prospect of having to produce an heir to the throne and convinced her to adopt the dress and manner of a man.

True story: in the winter of 1650 the magnificent Queen Kristina of Sweden summoned Rene Descartes to Stockholm to tutor her in philosophy. With his trademark optimism ("I think warm, therefore I am not cold"), he accepted the invitation and hurried up from Paris. Not long after his arrival, he died of pneumonia. But I digress ...



Queen Kristina, or the Girl King as she liked to be known, (as opposed to King Ludwig of Bavaria the Boy Queen, but that's another story) chose the rather shockingly ungodly motto (probably sarcastically) that "Wisdom is the Prop of the Realm." She abdicated in 1654 converted to Catholicism and dashed around Europe on a white horse, wearing men's clothing and studying philosophy and sleeping with men and women. She is one of the only few women buried within St. Peter's Basilica.



In the 1930's, she was portrayed by Greta Garbo in the film Queen Christina. Garbo basically modeled her later life on this character except for the converting thing.


December 18, 1892 -
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker Suite publicly premiered in Saint Petersburg, Russia, at the Maryinsky Theater on this date.



The first performance of The Nutcracker was not deemed a success. The reaction to the dancers themselves was ambivalent. Reception was better for Tchaikovsky's score.


New Jersey was the third state admitted to the Union, on this date in 1787. It derives its name from the isle of Jersey, just off England's shore (and also near Britain).

The official state bird of New Jersey is the Eastern Goldfinch.

The state bug is the honey bee (apis mellifera).

The state tree is the red oak (Quercus borealis maxima). The state flower is the common meadow violet (Viola sororia). The state shell is the knobbed whelk, also known as the conch shell (Busycon carica gmelin). The state fish is the brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), the state animal is the horse (Equus caballus),

and the state dinosaur is the Hadrosaurus (Hadrosaurus foulkii).

The eggplant is not the official vegetable of New Jersey because it's not a vegetable. It's a fruit

—a berry, actually—and New Jersey claims to produce two-thirds of all the eggplant in the world. (It's a bogus claim, and one that leaves me wondering not so much about the world eggplant situation, but the mindset of whoever thought it would enhance New Jersey's reputation if people thought it was the world's leading producer of eggplant. I mean, eggplant?)

There is no official berry of New Jersey, but if there were it would almost certainly be the eggplant, which would cause great confusion among persons accustomed to putting berries in their cereal.

New Jersey has a population of 8.48 million on 7,417 square miles of land. It's the fifth smallest state in the country. With 1,134 people per square mile, it's the densest state in the nation. The relative density of New Jersey should come as no surprise to anyone who's ever driven behind a car with Jersey plates.

And I didn't have to mention anything about Gov. Christie.


Quick pop quiz -
On December 18, 1940, Adolf Hitler issued his plans for…
a. The Volkswagen
b. An extremely white Christmas
c. The bombing of Britain
d. The invasion of Russia
e. The conquest of Cyprus
f. Recovery of the lost Ark of the Covenant


December 18, 1966 -
The Pink Panther cartoon series premiered with the episode titled The Pink Phink on this date



The Pink Panther character, created for the animated opening credits of The Pink Panther movie, was so popular that this short was produced as a starring vehicle for the character. This short marks the only time a studio has won an Oscar with its first cartoon release.



2 more shopping days until Hanukkah (get to the supermarket before they run out of potatoes,) 7 more shopping days until Christmas. (4 more shopping days until Festivus). If you haven't started shopping yet - think cash (the gift that shows you care.)



And so it goes

Try not to get carried away at the orgies

Saturnalia is an Ancient Roman festival that was held in honor of the god Saturn.

It was an occasion for celebration, visits to friends, and the presentation of gifts, particularly wax candles. The Saturnalia was originally celebrated in Ancient Rome for only a day, but it was so popular it soon it lasted a week, despite Augustus' efforts to reduce it to three days and Caligula's, to five.



Imagine, there's a holiday that the rulers of the known world couldn't control. More about Saturnalia later (it figures in our Christmas story.)


December 17, 1989 -
Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire, also known as The Simpsons Christmas Special, the first full-length episode of The Simpsons, premiered on this date.



There is no Blackboard or Couch gag in this episode's opening titles, owing to the holiday theme of the episode making the title sequence different.


December 17, 1959 -
Stanley Kramer film-version of Nevil Shute's drama, On The Beach, premiered worldwide on this date.



It is rumored that guards at each end of the Golden Gate Bridge were paid $500 each to stop cars for a minute to get footage of an empty bridge.


December 17, 1969 -
Tiny Tim married Miss Vicki on the Tonight Show on this date.



The event attracted between 40 and 50 million viewers.

Today in History:
December 17, 1903 -

Orville Wright made the first recorded flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in a plane he built with his brother, Wilber. The flight lasted a mere twelve seconds and covered only 120 feet, but a short flight had been expected: after all, two Wrights don't make it long.



The TSA was waiting to go through their luggage.


December 17, 1927 -
U.S. Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg suggested a worldwide pact renouncing war as an instrument of national policy on this date. Virtually all of the major powers of the world signed the Kellogg-Briand pact in Paris on August 27, 1928.

The pact went into force on July 24, 1929. War was finally outlawed and the people of the earth were filled with joy.

The peace achieved by the Kellogg-Briand Pact was an idyll like none other. It is still referred to as the happiest seven minutes in human history.

Ah, 1929, that sweet summer of human happiness!

But perhaps we do not give sufficient credit to the authors and signers of that ill-fated pact for their ironic sense.

It was thought up on the 231th birthday of Humphrey Davy, the inventor of laughing gas.


December 17, 1969 -
The United States Air Force closed its Project 'Blue Book' by concluding there was no evidence of extraterrestrial spaceships behind thousands of UFO sightings.



Our Alien Overlords were briefly satified and decide not to detroy the Earth - for now.


December 17, 1977 -
Elvis Costello and The Attractions made a rare United States television debut on Saturday Night Live when Sid Vicious and the Sex Pistols failed to show up for the gig.



Producer Lorne Michaels refused to allow Costello to perform Radio, Radio because of the song's criticism of the broadcasting industry, but a few measures into Less than Zero, Costello halted his group and played the forbidden song .



Naughty, naughty Elvis


If your tuckered out from all of that Saturnalia partying today, make yourself comfortable and watch another holiday treat - The Man Who Came to Dinner



Bette Davis saw The Man Who Came to Dinner on Broadway and immediately wanted to play the role of Maggie, the antithesis of her usual roles. She wanted the role desperately because she wanted to act opposite John Barrymore who was to play Sheridan Whiteside. At her insistence, Warner Bros. tested Barrymore for the role but his failing health and inability to remember his lines cost him the job.


3 more shopping days until Hanukkah, 8 more shopping days until Christmas.



And so it goes.

Are there no workhouses? Are there no prisons?

December 16, 1938 -
MGM released its film version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, on this date.



Lionel Barrymore was originally set to play Scrooge, but had to back out due to illness. Barrymore instead suggested his friend Reginald Owen take over the role.


December 16, 1965 -
One of the classic cold war thrillers, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, starring Richard Burton, premiered in the US on this date.



When Richard Burton became attached to this film, he had already become an international star. He was able to insist that some of his old friends from his days working in the theatre were also cast in the film. This is how Claire Bloom, who was 34 at the time, was cast as the teenage, Nan Perry.


December 16, 1971 -
Don McLean's eight-minute-plus version of American Pie was released and became one of the longest songs to ever hit the pop charts.



If you prefer the clip with Don singing in it, here you go.

Kids, use the song as the Cliff notes for what happened during the 60's (do they still print cliff notes?)


Another early Christmas treat - That film that TBS plays all day long on Christmas



For anyone keeping count, Ralphie says he wants the Red Ryder BB Gun 28 times throughout the course of the movie. Mythbusters tested whether it was possible to get your tongue truly stuck on a piece of cold metal. Guess what? It is. So don’t triple dog dare your best friend to try it.


Today in History:
December 16, 1773 -
The Boston Tea Party took place 238 years ago today.

A group of young colonists, dressed as Native Americans, stormed a few British ships in Boston Harbor and tossed their tea cargo overboard in protest of the British insistence that Americans ride their horses on the left-hand side of the street. While this is often remembered as a defining historical moment in the development of our proud nation, it should not be forgotten that Boston Harbor was for a long time one of our most polluted waterways.



I equally deplores the ecologically disastrous precedent set by these hotheaded young good-for-nothings, and their demeaning depiction of native Americans as savage, tea-hating polluters. Also please do not confuse the Tea Party with Tea Bagging - two very different things although men wearing short skirts figure prominently in both of them.


December 16, 1950 -
President Harry S. Truman declares a state of emergency, after Chinese troops enter the fight with communist North Korea in the Korean War.

With all the business going on in the world in the intervening 60 years, the order is still in effect, one of four current states of national emergency granting extraordinary powers to the President.

What the hell were we thinking?


December 16, 1977 -
Saturday Night Fever, starring John Travolta, went into general release on this date.



Oh John, it’s been a long strange trip since that polyester shirt.



When Tony's dad hit him in the back of the head the third time during dinner, his retort of "Just watch the hair!" and then his complaint about being hit on the hair after he had worked on it for so long was John Travolta's own reaction and not scripted, but since it was so in character for Tony Manero to say, it was left in.



Norman Wexler's screenplay was adapted from the "non-fiction" magazine article written by Nik Cohn. Years later, Cohn admitted that the story, supposedly a fact-based account detailing the lives of Brooklyn teenagers in the early days of the disco craze, was a complete fabrication.


December 16, 1985 -
What were you doing 26 years ago - I left work, cut through a parking garage in the middle of the block and walked passed the limos in front of the steak house on the next block.



John Gotti was looking to improve his position with IBM (the Gambino crime syndicate.) He had his boss Paul Castellano ventilated outside Spark's Steak House in Manhattan.



John and Paul are long gone but I still have an office in the same location.



4 more shopping days until Hanukkah, 9 more shopping days until Christmas.



And so it goes.


One last thing -
What if Calvin's Snowmen scenes came to life -

Just in case you haven't seen it yet.

Here's a Christmas card from Chuck Testa the Mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The message on the card says in english, "May this Christmas light your dream." Nothing says Feliz Navidad dreams like a leopard ripping out the throat of a impala.


December 15, 1939 -
The motion picture Gone With The Wind, starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh, had its world premiere in Atlanta on this date.



It was the first movie premiere ceremony to be televised. The governor of Georgia proclaimed the day a state holiday in commemoration of the event and the holiday celebrations continued for three days .

The only four actors David O. Selznick ever seriously considered for the role Rhett Butler were Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, Errol Flynn and Ronald Colman. The chief impediment to Gable's casting was his MGM contract. Gable was not drawn to the material; he didn't see himself in a period production, and didn't believe that he could live up to the public's anticipation of the character. Eventually, he was persuaded by a $50,000 bonus which would enable him to divorce his second wife Maria ("Ria") and marry Carole Lombard.


December 15, 1961 -
An underrated Billy Wilder film, One, Two, Three, opened in the US on this date



In James Cagney's autobiography, he says that Horst Buchholz was the only actor he really hated working with because he was uncooperative and tried all kinds of scene-stealing moves, which Cagney depended on Billy Wilder to correct. Had Wilder not firmly directed Bucholz, Cagney said that he "was going to knock Buchholz on his ass, which at several points I would have been very happy to do".


December 15, 1974 -
Mel Brooks' send up of the Universal horror films, Young Frankenstein, opened on this date.



When Mel Brooks was preparing Young Frankenstein, he found that Ken Strickfaden, who had made the elaborate electrical machinery for the lab sequences in the Universal Frankenstein films, was still alive in the Los Angeles area. He visited Strickfaden and found that Strickfaden had saved all the equipment and had it stored in his garage. Brooks made a deal to rent the equipment for his film and gave Strickfaden the screen credit he'd deserved, but hadn't gotten, for the original films.


Today in History:
December 15, 1944 -
En route to Paris, "swing" big band leader and whore monger Glenn Miller vanishes over the English Channel. Miller, listed as Missing In Action, was serving as a Major in the Army Air Force Band when his plane went down.

Miller's disappearance has led to many conspiracy theories over the years. Some allege that Miller was killed by friendly fire. Another theory holds that he landed safely, but died of a heart attack in a bordello in Paris. A third theory has also gained some recent credibility based on observations from his younger brother Herb Miller.



Glenn had been a chain-smoker for much of his life and by late 1944 was suffering from severe weight loss and shortness of breath, leading to speculation that he was terminally ill, probably with lung cancer. This theory also holds that he landed safely, but died of his illnesses on December 16th. Both of these latter theories overlook the fact that Miller wasn't alone on the flight; there were two other officers aboard the aircraft when it disappeared. They also have never been found.

To paraphrase my favorite quote once again, perhaps they too got carried away at that orgy in Paris.


December 15, 1961 -
Nazi Adolf Eichmann, former Reichssicherheitshauptamt (that's a real word) bureaucrat, was sentenced to death by a Jerusalem court on this date.

Eichmann had been arrested in Argentina and smuggled to Israel the previous year.


December 15, 1966 -
Walt Disney, neo-nazi, commie hater, child pornography lover died on this day.

And he's not a giant frozen popicle in Cinderella's Castle!

Let us compare of two of the modern era's finest and most influential artists: Georges Seurat (December 2, 1859) and Walt Disney (December 5, 1901), both born in December.

Young Seurat studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and was strongly influenced by the work of Rembrandt and Goya. He studied optical science and aesthetic theory, and painted with a unique technique that he called "divisionism," but which others came to call "pointillism."

Young Disney arrived in Hollywood in 1923 with $40 in his pocket, a suitcase, and a sketchbook. He had not studied at any fancy French schools. He drew cute little pictures of funny little animals, called "cartoons."

Seurat served a year of military service at Brest, then returned to Paris and had his drawing Aman-Jean at the official Salon in 1883. The following year, the Salon rejected the panels from his painting Bathing at Asnieres, so he stormed off with some friends and formed the "Societe des Artistes Independentes" (Guys Who Got Rejected by the Salon.)

Disney and his brother, Roy, sold a cartoon series called the "Alice Comedies," and landed a distribution deal. Over the next four years, they continued to produce "Alice Comedies" and more than two dozen episodes of "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit."

In 1886, after two years of labor, Seurat's Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the Grande Jatte was the centerpiece of the Societe's exhibition. It was hailed by critics, and he was recognized as the successor to the Impressionists.

In 1928, Disney conceived of a funny little mouse while on a train ride, and "Steamboat Willie" became the first Mickey Mouse cartoon on November 28, 1928, at the Colony Theater in New York. Mickey was an instant hit, and by 1930 he was already earning Disney significant merchandise deals.

Seurat and his followers were dubbed the "neo-impressionists." Only at the time of his premature death in 1891 did his friends and family learn that he had been living with and had even fathered a child with his mistress.

Disney built an entertainment and recreation empire from Mickey Mouse, but was not frozen in liquid nitrogen after his death in 1966. His followers are called the "imagineers."



(Seurat was not frozen, either, although I believe he may have briefly dated Bernadette Peters.)


5 more shopping days until Hanukkah, 10 more shopping days until Christmas.



And so it goes.

The brooding and blissful halcyon days!

Halcyon days, which begin today, a week before the winter solstice and end a week after.

According to legend, this two-week period is associated with unusually calm seas; hence the common meanings of halcyon as “quiet” or “peaceful” and by extension, “prosperous.”


December 14, 1970 -
Another holiday special from Rankin & Bass, Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town premiered on this date.



The film tells the story of how Santa Claus and several Claus-related Christmas traditions came to be. It is based on the Christmas hit of the same name, which was introduced on radio by Eddie Cantor in 1934.


Today in History:
December 14, 1503 -

Nostradamus, famous french huckster (forerunner of Miss Cleo, for those of you who remember Miss Cleo) was born on this date. He predicted correctly French king Henri II's manner of death. Nostradamus was the author of a book of prophecies that many still believe foretold the future. He wrote in rhyming quatrains, accurately predicting the Great London Fire in 1666, Spain's Civil War and that Hitler would lead Germany into war. He even correctly predicted his own death on July 2, 1566.



If you write vague enough prophecies, they will fool almost anyone.


December 14, 1900 -
Max Planck published his theory of quantum mechanics, which is often considered one of the most radical scientific discoveries of the 20th century, on this date. It's even more radical than the belief in the collection of Turkish union dues or Iraqi clerics

Max Planck was working in a laboratory in 1900, heating up various substances and examining the color of light they emitted when they reached certain temperatures. He also accidentally invented crack cocaine but that's another story. He wanted to describe his results in mathematical terms, but no matter how hard he tried, his mathematical calculations didn't make sense. The only way he could fix the problem was to assume that light travels in little packets, like bullets or balloon condoms filled with cocaine, lodged in the colon of drug mules, even though this seemed impossible.



But five years later, Albert Einstein took Planck's theory of light seriously, and wrote his first major paper exploring the idea of light traveling in packets, which he called photons. Even though he became better known for his theory of relativity, it was Einstein's work expanding on Planck's original ideas about light that won him a Nobel Prize. Einstein later said, "I use up more brain grease on quantum theory than on relativity."

With the discovery of quantum mechanics, physicists found that subatomic particles were by nature unpredictable. If you shot one across the room, you could guess where it might end up, but you could never be sure. This idea made Einstein miserable. He famously said, "I am at all events convinced God does not play dice."



Today quantum mechanics remains one of the most mysterious and difficult scientific theories ever. The Danish physicist Niels Bohr once said that a person who was not shocked by quantum theory did not understand it, and the physicist Richard Feynman once said that while only a modest number of people truly understand the theory of relativity, no one understands quantum mechanics.

Max Planck himself died in 1947 and he never came to fully accept the theory he discovered. But even if few people really understand it, quantum mechanics led to the development of modern electronics, including the transistor, the laser, and the computer.


December 14, 1944 -
Lupe Velez, Hollywood's Mexican Spitfire of the 1940's, committed suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills on this date.

Contrary to her plans of being found laid out on the bed in a silk nightgown, she is instead discovered in the bathroom with her head in the toilet. (This is just an urban legend but let it get in back of the list of others, like the death of Cass Elliot or Judy Garland. Don't even get me started about the death of Albert Dekker.)



What a way to go!!!


December 14, 1963 -
Dinah Washington, the "Queen of the Blues", juggled numerous prescription medications, primarily for dieting and insomnia, most of her life.



An unintentional but lethal combination of alcohol and pills forever stilled her magnificent voice on this date. She was only 39 and was thankfully found in bed.


Christmas Trivia
In Victorian England, turkeys were popular for Christmas dinners. Some of the birds were raised in Norfolk, and taken to market in London. To get them to London, the turkeys were supplied with boots made of sacking or leather.

The turkeys were walked to market. The boots protected their feet from the frozen mud of the road. Boots were not used for geese: instead, their feet were protected with a covering of tar.

Now that was a career to hope for - bootmaker for the finest turkeys in England.


6 more shopping days until Hanukkah, 11 more shopping days until Christmas.



And so it goes.

Did you mailed yours yet?

More than three billion Christmas cards are sent annually in the United States

The more cards you send, the more solvent the USPS remains.


December 13, 303 -
The feast of St. Lucy (Santa Lucia.)

Because her extreme beauty attracted too many admirers, Lucy gouged her own eyes out (she had body issues). Miraculously they grew back. After refusing to marry, the Romans forced her to become a whore. She wasn't particularly thrilled with that choice, so she went for door number two and her Roman guards stabbed her to death but not before gouging out her eyes, again.

Early depictions show Lucy offering her eyes on a platter; she is now the patron saint of Sicily and of opticians.



Oh those wacky early Christians.


Today in History:
December 13, 1577 -
Sir Francis Drake set out on a three year (and not three hour) long journey around the world, on this date. He had started his career as a sailor in the slave trading business, but after some run-ins with the Spanish, he decided to devote his life to taking vengeance on the Spanish by disrupting their trade routes.



He became a semi-official pirate for Queen Elizabeth I, plundering Spanish ships, gathering intelligence about their naval activities and creating delicious little dessert cakes.


December 13, 1928 -
The Clip-on tie is invented on this date. Productivity soars as time lost in tying knots is made up and accidental strangulation rates drop as fewer workers ties are caught in the gears.

Little know fact - the term, dork, was also coined on this date.


December 13, 1973 -
Claude Vorilhon, former French race car driver, began the Rael movement in France on this date.



While commuting to his job as a sportswriter, he decided to drive past the office and stop at a nearby volcano in Auvergne. During his stop, Vorilhon saw the flashing red light of a space ship, which opened its hatch to reveal a green alien with longish dark hair. Once aboard the spaceship, he said he was entertained by voluptuous female robots and learned that the first human beings were created by aliens called Elohim, who cloned themselves.



Vorilhon said that he was instructed to take the name Rael and spread the news that humans were placed on Earth by extraterrestrials who had engineered our DNA. In 1997 Rael founded Clonaid, a company dedicated to cloning people. In 2001 the Raelian movement numbered about 55,000 members world-wide.

The French, they are a funny race.


Christmas Trivia -
It's all the damn man in the can's fault.

Christmas trees are known to have been popular in Germany as far back as the sixteenth century. In England, they became popular after Queen Victoria's husband Albert, who came from Germany, made a tree part of the celebrations at Windsor Castle.



In the United States, the earliest known mention of a Christmas tree is in the diary of a German who settled in Pennsylvania.

Don't even ask about the legacy of Prince Albert and tight trousers.


7 more shopping days until Hanukkah, 12 more shopping days until Christmas.



And so it goes.