Things I did not know

It wasn't strange enough to discover that today is National Cheese Lovers Day (according to the Smithsonian website,)



but according to a 2011 Time article, 4% of all the the World's cheese ends up being stolen.

Things that make you go hmmm indeed.


January 20, 1941 -
Raoul Walsh's crime-drama High Sierra, starring Humphrey Bogart and Ida Lupino premiered on this date.



In addition to Hal B. Wallis, Humphrey Bogart also sent several telegrams to studio head Jack L. Warner, begging to be cast as Roy Earle. After Paul Muni left Warner Bros. in a contract dispute and George Raft also turned down the role, Warner called Bogart and told him the part was his...on the condition that Bogart stop sending him telegrams.


January 20, 1949 -
A surprise hit for writer/ director Joseph L. Mankiewicz (which garnered for him his first two Oscars,) A Letter to Three Wives, premiered on this date.



At one point the film was called A Letter to Four Wives. Upon submitting the adapted screenplay to 20th Century-Fox chief Darryl F. Zanuck, Joseph L. Mankiewicz mentioned that he found it too long and asked how he felt the movie could be shortened. "Take out one of the wives," Zanuck replied. Originally, the movie would have featured Anne Baxter as the fourth wife. Zanuck didn't feel Baxter's segment was as strong as the other three, so that one was cut.


January 20, 1964 -
The second Beatles' album, Meet the Beatles! was released in the United States 52 years ago on this date.



It was the first US Beatles album to be issued by Capitol Records. Two days previously, the Beatles entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the first time, as 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' appeared on the Hot 100 at No. 45.


Today in History -
Jimmy Naismith was born in Ramsay township in Ontario, Canada in 1861. He grew up and eventually went to McGill University in Montreal. He became their Athletic Director and in 1891 he moved to Springfield, Massachusetts, to take a post at the YMCA Training School. It was there that he was confronted with the problem of developing a game that could be played indoors and in relatively little space.



On January 20, 1892, with only two peach baskets, a soccer ball, and a hand-written list of 13 rules, Dr. Naismith oversaw the world's first full game of a brand new sport, a sport that took its name from the peach baskets and soccer ball used to play it.



He had finally invented Peach Soccer (as opposed to Peachbasket - see January 15.)


January 20, 1920 -
Censorship is advertising paid by the government.



Federico Fellini, director, screenwriter, producer, painter and cartoonist, was born on this date.


January 20, 1936 -
King George V of England was euthanized with injections of cocaine and morphine on this date, after a painful cancer illness. His final words, a mumbled God damn you!, were addressed to his nurse when she gave him a sedative before his final lethal injection. His physician, Bertrand Dawson (later becoming Viscount Dawson of Penn,) was motivated not only to ameliorate the king's suffering, but also to break the story in the morning edition of the newspapers, rather than the less appropriate evening journals.



Remember kids - Promptness is the politeness of kings.



At the procession to George's Lying in State in Westminster Hall, as the cortege turned into New Palace Yard, the Maltese Cross fell from the Imperial Crown and landed in the gutter. The new King, Edward VIII, saw it fall and wondered whether this was a bad omen for his new reign.



He would abdicate before the year was out.


January 20, 1949 -
As a early gift for her 21st birthday, J. Edgar Hoover gives his friend Shirley Temple a tear gas fountain pen.  This is not as odd as it seems: Hoover had known Shirley for much of her professional life - the FBI have investigated several death and extortion threats against the child star for years.

I have scourged the internet but alas cannot find a picture of the pen (or Hoover in his cha-cha heels.)


January 20, 1956 -
Let's face it; God has a big ego problem. Why do we always have to worship him?



Bill Maher, actor, comedian, political analyst and professional pot smoker, was born on this date.


January 20, 1981-
The hostages being held by Iran had been held for almost 450 days (444 days), one of the longest durations of a hostage situation in modern history, were released on this date.



The way President Carter handled the situation was extremely unpopular, and the hostages were only released minutes after the presidency had passed from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan.


January 20, 1982 -
While playing in Iowa to promote the release of his second solo album 'The Diary of a Madman', a live bat was thrown onstage in front of Ozzy Osbourne and, dazed by the bright spotlights and its hard landing, (the bat) was knocked unconscious.



Ozzy, thinking that the bat was made of rubber, proceeded to put the bat head into its mouth and... well, you know where we're going with this. It was the point where the bats' severed head twitched inside Ozzy's mouth that he realized that it was no Halloween decoration. He was rushed to hospital immediately following the incident and treated for rabies.


January 20, 1993 -
Tom Waits was successful in his suit against the potato chip company Frito-Lay after they had hired a soundalike to replace Waits on a commercial following the singer-songwriters' refusal to participate.



Although the lawsuit had originally been filed in 1988, an appeal from Frito-Lay that stated they had not deliberately used a Waits soundalike ensured that it was dragged out until the following decade. Surprisingly the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Waits and forced the company to award him $2.4million.



Although Waits was notoriously against selling himself in commercials, he did let his principles slip slightly and provided voiceover work for dog food company Butchers Blend. After the commercial began to win awards and become recognized Waits regretted the decision; when asked about it years later he said "I was really down on my luck at that time and I've always really loved dogs".



And so it goes.

Oh my stars and garters!

The folks from Movie Munchies came up with a brief history of swearing in the movies (please remember to ask your mom if you are allowed to hear this profanity.)



I have edited a lot of swearing out of broadcast material but I am repulsed by the use of Barbra Streisand.


January 19, 1942 -
The first of nine films to feature Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, Woman of the Year premiered on this date.



Katharine Hepburn refused to reveal who wrote the screen play to Louis B. Mayer until after he bought the project from Hepburn. Hepburn was afraid that Mayer would low-ball the two authors (Michael Kanin and Ring Lardner Jr.) because at the time they were both relatively unknown.


January 19, 1949 -
I hardly ever get asked about music. I do, however, get asked about the 'Addicted to Love' video and my suits on a daily basis.









Robert Palmer, blue-eyed soul singer, was born on this date.


January 19, 1952 -
In the first match-up between Wile E. Coyote and Bugs Bunny, Operation: Rabbit, premiered on this date.



This was the second cartoon to feature Wile E. Coyote (following 1949’s Fast and Furry-ous), and the first in which he is identified by his full name. It is also the first in which the Coyote speaks.


January 19,1953 -
68% of all television sets in the United States were tuned in to I Love Lucy on this date to watch Lucy give birth to a baby boy - the same day Ball gave birth to her son, Desi Arnaz Junior.



All the while they couldn't say pregnant on TV or be seen sleeping in the same bed - it appears to be the second virgin birth. The audience for the program was larger than that watching the inauguration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower the following day.


January 19, 1957 -
Ernie Kovacs burst into the public consciousness with the comedy special, The Silent Show, premiering on this date.



It was filmed for broadcast first, in color, on the NBC network in 1957. A second version of the show was created on videotape and broadcast November 10, 1961, on the ABC network.



Though both were broadcast in color, only B&W kinescopes of these shows survive, although an excerpt of the color show was aired as part of the NBC 50th Anniversary Special in 1976.


Today in History:
January 19, 1809 -
Edgar Allan Poe, writer who contributed to the creation of both the detective and science fiction genre, was born in Boston on this date.



His best known stories include: Fall of the House of Usher and The Tell-Tale Heart. His most famous poems are The Raven and Annabel Lee.


January 19, 1915 -
George Claude, an engineer, chemist and inventor was the first person to create a lamp by applying an electrical discharge to a sealed tube of neon. He was issued U.S. Patent No. 1,125,476 for a “System of Illuminating by Luminescent Tubes,” on this date.



This patent was the basis for the neon sign.

.
January 19, 1937 –
Bisexual Billionaire, future germaphobe and aviator Howard Hughes designed and flew the plane Silver Bullet setting a landplane speed record and a transcontinental record of 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds,

flying from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey on this date.


January 19, 1992 -
In Florida, the 64-year-old award-winning playwright Edward Albee was arrested on a Key Biscayne beach for indecent exposure on this date. Charges were later dropped when it was determined that Albee had removed his swimming trunks only to rinse out the sand that was in them and had not done anything vulgar or immoral.

Thank goodness he didn’t try to touch his Tiny Alice.



And so it goes.


Before you go - I saw this clip of Patton Oswalt discussing Star Wars on Conan and had to share it because there is nothing funnier than Patton discussing Star Wars.



And as you have finished reading today's posting, as Conan suggested, you may return to your creepy Japanese porno.

There's an actual reason why you may have the day off

Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. I am not unmindful of the fact that violence often brings about momentary results. Nations have frequently won their independence in battle. But in spite of temporary victories, violence never brings permanent peace.



Besides being a sales day at department stores, it's Martin Luther King Day.



To celebrate the day and the man, I'd like you to once again opine these words:

... Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
Hopefully your life will be filled with many moments to make the right choice. 


January 18, 1904 -
When people tell you how young you look, they are telling you how old you are.



Archibald Leach, noted actor, acrobat and over the top orgy participant, was born on this date.


January 18, 1913 (or 1911) -
I wasn't born a fool. It took work to get this way.



David Daniel Kaminsky, UNICEF ambassador, comedian, actor, was born in Brooklyn on this date.


January 18, 1973 -
The third season finale of Monty Python, Grandstand, aired on this date



This is one of the only episode of the series that does not feature the opening credits. It is also the last episode John Cleese appeared in.


January 18, 1974 -
The sci-fi series, The Six Million Dollar Man, starring Lee Majors, premiered on the ABC-TV on this date.




Early episodes of the series had Steve Austin killing villains on occasion. As it became clear that Austin was becoming a role model for kids, the level of violence in the series decreased, with Austin rarely (if ever) actually killing anyone.


January 18, 1975 -
The Jeffersons, a spin-off of All In The Family premiered on CBS-TV on this date.



CBS never gave The Jeffersons a proper series finale. The cast, bitter that they never got a chance to say goodbye, reunited years later for a stage play based on the sitcom. Sherman Hemsley said he found out the show was canceled by reading it in the paper.


Today in History:
January 18, 1836 -

Knife aficionado Jim Bowie arrived at the Alamo to assist its Texas defenders on this date.


On January 18, 1871, while Prussian guns blasted all hell out of Paris, William I was proclaimed Emperor of a united Germany in nearby Versailles.

For this reason, the Germans have always had a soft spot for France, and have returned often.


January 18, 1882 -
You can't stay in your corner of the forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.



Alan Alexander Milne was born on this date.


January 18, 1892 -
That's another fine mess you've gotten me into.



Oliver Hardy, American comedian, actor and the other half the the world's greatest comedy duo, was born on this date.


January 18, 1903 -
President Theodore Roosevelt sent a radio message to King Edward VII: the first transatlantic radio transmission originating in the United States.

Unfortunately, once again, the ill-chosen "Prince Albert in the can" joke is used - and 'Bertie', the King had already heard the joke ad nauseum (Prince Albert was his father and penis ring wearing enthusiast) and was not amused.


January 18, 1911 -
The first landing of an aircraft onto a ship took place on this date. Pilot Eugene Ely was the first person to land a plane onto a ship,  the USS Pennsylvania (less than ten years after the airplane was invented.)

The technique would later become commonplace as aircraft carriers became major wartime assets.


January 18, 1912 -
Explorer Robert F. Scott reached the South Pole - only to discover that Roald Amundsen had beaten him there by almost a month.



The Norwegian Amundsen's expedition beat that of the British Scott's by a little more than a month, which Scott discovered upon reading a letter that Amundsen had left at the site.

As my girls would say (and I'm paraphrasing - it must have sucked to be him.)


January 18, 1990 -
Rusty Hamer, the actor who played Danny Thomas' son on Make Room For Daddy, shot himself in the head with a .357 Magnum in DeRidder, Louisiana on this date. Rusty was 42 years old.

Uncle Tonoose made him do it.


January 18, 1990 -
Washington DC mayor Marion Barry was arrested on cocaine possession charges at the Vista International Hotel, as he tokes on a glass crack pipe while being videotaped with his mistress Rasheeda on this date.



Kids remember, while being videotaped, say NO to drugs.



And so it goes

a hodgepodge of birthday wishes today

January 17, 1706 -
Benjamin Franklin was born on this date.



The inventor of spectacles and the hundred dollar bill, Franklin was one of Washington’s first celebrated womanizers to avoid conviction. One day Franklin tied a key to the string of a kite that he then flew in a thunderstorm, thus discovering Electrolysis.



Franklin also invented the Post Office and can be credited with the creation of the first fully functioning disgruntled postal worker.


On January 17, 1806, President Thomas Jefferson's grandson James Madison Randolph became the first child to be born in the White House - his mother was Martha Randolph, one of President  Jefferson's two daughters. James was her eighth child.

Sadly, no official records have been kept on the more interesting statistics of children conceived in the White House.


Also born on January 17 was Al Capone, in 1899. Chronic self-esteem problems in his early adolescence resulted in his turning to a life of crime in Chicago (where crime had by now trickled down from elected officials to the lower classes).



The United States wanted to help this poor unfortunate individual, so that gave him an early birthday present.  The day before his 21st birthday, Prohibition went into effect.



Capone was such a successful gangster that eventually Robert DeNiro had to play him.



In the end, Capone was captured by Elliot Ness and his Untouchables, who got their name from the fact that their busy schedules prevented them from changing their underwear


January 17, 1922 -
Don't try to be young. Just open your mind. Stay interested in stuff. There are so many things I won't live long enough to find out about, but I'm still curious about them. You know people who are already saying, 'I'm going to be 30 - oh, what am I going to do?' Well, use that decade! Use them all!



Betty Marion White, one of the hardest working actress in Hollywood (has been working almost continuously since 1949) was born on this date


January 17, 1962 -
I don't think human beings learn anything without desperation. Desperation is a necessary ingredient to learning anything or creating anything. Period. If you ain't desperate at some point, you ain't interesting.



James Eugene Carrey, Canadian-American actor and rubber-faced comedian, was born on this date.


January 17, 1975 -
The TV-series Baretta, starring Robert Blake and Tom Ewell, debuted on ABC-TV on this date.



The series was originally intended as a continuation of the TV series Toma, with Robert Blake replacing Tony Musante as Det. David Toma. When Blake balked at taking over an established role, a new series was created for him instead.


Today in History:
January 17, 1860 O.S. - (which means Julian calendar. We celebrate his birthday on the 29th of January N.S. - which means Gregorian calendar. So it not really his birthday today but he's dead so I don't think he really cares.) -

Anton Chekhov was born in Taganrog, Russia.

Tragically, a bureaucratic snafu at the Kremlin resulted in Chekhov’s not being told he was one of the Great Russian Writers, so he practiced medicine well into middle life. By then, of course, he was almost good enough to quit practicing, but he’d also made a name for himself as a writer. As a doctor and writer of comedies, Chekhov originated the saying "laughter is the best medicine" (some of his tubercular patients disagreed, but they subsequently died, proving his point).



Chekhov’s greatest work is The Seagull, in which a young man with an odd haircut, kills a seagull, making his girlfriend cry and a lot of people with unpronounceable Russian names argue and wave pistols about.



Chekhov should not be confused with Chekhov, who was the security officer of the USS Enterprise,



and neither of them should be confused with Charo.


January 17, 1893 -
Another proud moment in America history - a group of American businessmen stole Hawaii on this date. Queen Liliuokalani, the monarch of Hawaii, was overthrown by a group of sugar plantation owners who wanted a more pro-American government.



The coup took place with the tacit approval of the United States, though the new leader of Hawaii, Sanford Dole, refused to step down when asked to do so by President Cleveland. Hawaii and the US finally resumed full diplomatic relations in 1897, under President McKinley. Hawaii was annexed by the U.S. in 1898.


January 17, 1929 -
I yam what I yam

Popeye the Sailor Man, created by Elzie Crisler Segar, first appears in the Thimble Theatre comic strip on this date.


January 17, 1961 -
In his farewell address on this date, President Eisenhower warned against the rise of "the military-industrial complex."



And yet on the same date, Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of Congo, was murdered after 67 days in office on this date. President Eisenhower allegedly approved the assassination of the prime minister by the CIA.


January 17, 1977 -
Let's do it



Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore was executed by a firing squad in Utah, ending a ten-year moratorium on Capital punishment in the United States.



And so it goes.

Is it good? Darn tootin’!

It's National Fig Newton day, (named not after Sir Isaac Newton but the town of Newton in Massachusetts, near The Kennedy Biscuit Works, which first made the cookie back in 1891.)



Please celebrate responsibly


It's National Nothing Day, set aside each year for people to sit around for the entire day and just hang out. No celebrating, observing or honoring anything.



It was created by newspaperman, Harold Pullman Coffin in 1972 and first celebrated in 1973.

Please do continue to read today's postings.


January 16, 1932 -
Funny and definitely risque, Paramount released the Betty Boop animated short, Boop-Oop-A-Doop, on this date.



Please - don't take her boop-oop-a-doop away - Betty is supposed to be just 16.


January 16, 1959 -
People are so used to having their lives filmed, they're not even conscious of having cameras around. I still have that sort of suspicion when a camera comes out. I view it as a thing to fear.







Helen Folasade Adu, OBE, singer-songwriter, composer, and record producer, was born on this date.


January 16, 1965 -
You finally get control back of the vertical and horizontal of your television set - ABC-TV aired the final episode of The Outer Limits on this date.



When this episode originally aired, a live announcer spoke over the Control Voice's closing statement about returning "next week at this same time." The live announcer stated that The King Family Show would be seen "next week in this time period."


January 16, 1973 -
NBC-TV presented the 440th and final episode of Bonanza (which began airing on NBC on September 12, 1959) on this date.



This was the first US Western television show to have all its episodes filmed in color.


January 16, 1976 -
Peter Frampton's platinum live album, Frampton Comes Alive, was released by A & M Records on this date.



Frampton used a talkbox, a device hooked up to his guitar amp that allowed him to make distorted vocal sounds through a tube in his mouth. Other groups had success with the device around that time (Aerosmith used it on "Sweet Emotion" the year before), but Frampton became known for it because he played a talkbox solo on this. Every time he formed words, the crowd went nuts, especially when he sounded out "I want to thank you," which came out sounding like "I want to f*ck you."


Today in History:
January 16, 1547 -
Ivan IV was crowned Tsar of Russia. He is better known by his nickname: Ivan the Terrible. He was the first king of Russia to call himself a Caesar, probably in the hopes that Shakespeare would write a play about him.



He couldn’t pronounce Caesar, however, so he simply called himself "zar," and subsequent arguments over whether that should be spelled czar, tsar, zar, or tzar became so heated that they eventually resulted in Russian History.


January 16, 1865 -
General William T. Sherman issues Special Field Order No. 15, entitling the household of each freed slave "a plot of no more than forty acres of tillable ground" along the Carolina coastline between Charleston and Jacksonville.

After the Confederate surrender, the Johnson administration makes a halfhearted attempt to follow through on the acreage, but all efforts to parcel out the land in question are abandoned just a few months later.


January 16, 1908 -



Christmas carols always brought tears to my eyes. I also cry at weddings. I should have cried at a couple of my own.





Ethel Merman, actress, singer and the woman who learned love at the hands of Ernest Borgnine, was born on this date.


January 16, 1920 -
Please save some of your brain cells on this upcoming long weekend of binge drinking,



and remember that Prohibition went into effect in the U.S. on this date.


January 16, 1942 -
Raising money for the war, actress Carole Lombard, her mother, 18 passengers and three crew, were killed when their plane crashed into Mount Potosi, 32 miles southwest of Las Vegas on this date.



Lombard was much loved for her unpretentious personality and well known for her earthy sense of humor and blue language.


January 16, 1969 -
Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 perform the first docking of manned spacecraft in orbit as well as the first-ever transfer of crew from one space vehicle to another.



Yevgeny Khrunov became the first astronaut to transfer between linked capsules. It is the only time such a transfer will ever be accomplished with a space walk.


January 16, 1991 -
Operation Desert Storm commenced as Baghdad was pummeled live on CNN on this date. Targeted with smartbombs were "command and control facilities" and Saddam Hussein himself.



We seem to miss both, but did manage to kill about 100,000 Iraqi soldiers in the surreal bombardments that follow.


January 16, 2003 -
NASA launched the Space Shuttle Columbia on its 28th and final mission on this date.



The shuttle's mission ended in tragedy when, 16 days later, on February 1st, the Columbia disintegrated as it re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven of the shuttle’s crew members. The disaster shocked the nation, and set the space shuttle program back.



And so it goes.

Before you go - if you have tears, prepare to shed them now.



I heard this version of the song earlier this morning and I thought I'd share it with you.

With a little help from my friends

Orson Welles performing the “Broomstick Suspension” magic trick with Lucille Ball (1956).


January 15, 1967 -
Ed Sullivan, when he wasn't fall down drunk, swore a lot. He swore that his arch-rival, Walter Winchell was a goddamned bastard. He swore that his 'so called friend' J Edgar Hoover was a goddamned transvestite but surprising spry in his cha-cha heels. And he swore that those goddamned filthy limey boys, The Rolling Stones, would never return to his show.



Sullivan sobered up, looked at his rating when the Stones last appeared on his show and permitted that boys back on The Ed Sullivan Show, on this date.



They were forced to change the lyrics of to Let's Spend Some Time Together (the clip is a mash up of their televised performance and the actual song.)


January 15, 1971 -
George Harrison unintentionally rewrites the song He's So Fine and releases it as My Sweet Lord on this date .



Harrison had "subconsciously" copied the old Chiffon song indeed.

Silly Beatle.


January 15, 1974 -
America once again, found it's thrill, on Blueberry Hill.

The first episode of Happy Days (series) aired on this date. Potsie sets Richie up with that Mary Lou slut.



As I'm sure you all remember, the Happy Days Pilot was shown as a segment of Love American Style.


January 15, 1977 -
The Coneheads at Home, featuring Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtin, debuted on Saturday Night Live on this date. For those of you too young to remember, The Coneheads at Home, was a recurring sketch on Saturday Night Live featuring a family of extraterrestrials with cone-shaped heads, from the planet Remulak, posing in the suburban United States as immigrants from France.


(sorry, it not the first appearance of the Coneheads.)

The inspiration for the Coneheads came from a proposal by Dan Aykroyd about pin-headed lawyers. This idea was shot down by the producers, fearing it might be offensive. A later trip to the Easter Islands in the South Pacific and the haunting images of stone head monoliths inspired Aykroyd to pen the series drawings that evolved into the Coneheads.


January 15, 1981 -
Let's Be Careful Out There

Hill Street Blues premiered on NBC on this date.



NBC executives supported the series in its infancy despite a lack of viewers; in 1981 it became the lowest-rated series ever renewed for a second season.


Today in History:
January 15, 1759 -
The British Museum, one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world, opened to the public on this date.



Maybe someday they'll return the Elgin Marbles back to the kids in Greece (but that's another story.)


January 15 , 1870 -
A Thomas Nast cartoon titled, "A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion", was printed in Harper's Weekly on this date.

The cartoon symbolized the Democratic Party with a donkey, a concept still in use today.


January 15 , 1892 -
A little magazine in Springfield, Massachusetts, first published the rules for a brand new game that involved tossing a ball into a high-mounted peach basket.

This was, of course, the precursor of what is today known as "Peachbasket,"



still as popular as ever in Springfield, Massachusetts.


January 15, 1919 -
In Boston an explosion opened a tank of molasses and the cylindrical sides toppled outward knocking down 10 nearby buildings. 2 million gallons of molasses oozed onto the streets and killed 21 people. Another 50 were injured.



So yes, apparently, there are people slower than molasses in Boston.


January 15, 1929 -
We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.



Martin Luther King, Jr.,  pastor,  political activist and Nobel Prize winner was born on this date (and not the third Monday in January.)


January 15, 1943 -
Just outside of Washington, DC in Arlington , VA, The Pentagon was dedicated as the world's largest office building on this date.



It covers 34 acres of land and has 17 miles of corridors.

Once again I ask: what would happen to the DC sewer system if you could have a co-ordinated flush of all the toilets in the building?


January 15, 1947 -
A passerby spotted the nude body of Elizabeth Short, a 22 year old actress in a vacant lot near Hollywood. Her body, cut in half, was bruised and beaten. Grass had reportedly been forced into her vagina, and she had reportedly been sodomized after death. The case was dubbed The Black Dahlia murder and over the years as many as 50 men and women have confessed to this gruesome crime yet it has never been solve.

For those of you with stronger constitutions than mine, you may go on the internet to view truly horrifying actual crime scene photos (you sick puppies.)


January 15, 1953 -
An out-of- control, 16-car train, Train #173, the Federal-Express train, suffers a near-catastrophic brake failure and crashed through the railroad terminal at Union Station in Washington, DC on this date.



Thanks to the quick thinking and action of the engineers, there were only 87 injuries and zero fatalities.



Coincidentally this is the seventh anniversary of airline pilot Sully Sullenberger and his crew 's miraculous ditching into the Hudson River.


January 15, 1967 -
The Green Bay Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs in Superbowl I on this date.



It was generally agreed upon by most television historians that all known broadcast tapes which recorded the game in its entirety were subsequently destroyed in the the process of recycling videotape by re-recording over previous content. NFL films has been able to recreate a version of the game from various sources and with be airing it this evening for the first time since its original airing on NBC and CBS in 1967.


January 15, 1983 -
Meyer Lansky, retired Jewish organized crime genius, (rumored to have photographic proof that J. Edgar Hoover was a homosexual; conspiracy theorists believed this was the reason Hoover wasn't aggressive in pursuing organized crime), died of a fatal nosebleed at Mount Sinai Hospital on this date.



It is not clear where Lansky's estimated $300 million fortune went.

Once again, what a way to go!


January 15, 2001 -
Happy Birthday Wikipedia.

Wikipedia was formally launched on this date, as a single English-language edition at www.wikipedia.com (now found here.)



January 15, 2013 -
Horse DNA was found in beef burgers being sold in supermarkets in Ireland and the United Kingdom on this date.



Health officials stated there was no risk to public health and that the contaminated batches were being recalled from retailers.



And so it goes.

The baggage handlers at Newark Liberty Airport were wondering?

Did you leave this on the conveyor belt last night?



Please give them a call, they're happy to return it - no questions asked.


For those of you not following that new fangled Gregorian Calendar (and still keep stock with the Julian Calendar), it's January First. Happy New Year

Please feel free to call in sick today and explain to them that it's Orthodox New Years Day in your religion (but remember that you used this excuse when March rolls around and you try to mention that it's New Year's Day again.)


January 14, 1952 -
On a cold East Coast morning at 7 a.m., NBC-TV opened the the first Today show broadcast with a shot of Dave Garroway looking outside through the 'Window on the World' in New York City. The broadcast also featured Jack Lescoulie as co-host.



The show would be a radical departure from the TV industry's accepted programming; a news, features, special events program that would run in the early morning. In pre-production, the show's proposed title was The Rise and Shine Revue.


January 14, 1967 -
Sonny and Cher, one of the big musical duos of the mid '60s released on of their biggest hits, The Beat Goes On, on this date.



In 1968, Chrysler Corporation paid a large sum of money to use parts of the song in an ad campaign for the Plymouth line.


January 14, 1972 -
Sanford and Son, featuring comedian Redd Foxx (whose last name was really Sanford) and Demond Wilson, premiered on NBC-TV on this date.



Redd Foxx was a huge fan of the '30s vocal group The Ink Spots and sang many of their songs on the show. NBC would not pay the royalties because the cost was astronomical. So out of his love for the group, Foxx paid them out of his own pocket.


January 14, 1980 -
The Blues Brothers movie with Dan Akroyd and John Belushi opened on this date.



John Belushi was nicknamed 'The Black Hole' onset, as he went through hundreds of pairs of sunglasses during production. He would do a scene and then lose the pair before filming the next one.

January 14, 1981 -
This was the date television died.

The FCC freed stations to air as many commercials an hour as they wish, and removed any obligation to allocate time for news or public affairs programming.


January 14, 1990 -
The Simpsons episode premiered on Fox television . This episode was considered the first official episode of the Simpsons, and FOX advertised it as such. The Christmas episode was considered as a special.



Although this episode aired after 'Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire', it was written prior. This is why Santa's Little Helper does not appear in the episode.


January 14, 1993 -
Talk show host David Letterman announced he was moving his late-night show after 11 years on NBC to sign a $16 million deal with CBS.



Coincidentally, seven years later, on January 14, 2000, he had quintuple bypass surgery.


Today in History:
January 14, 1858 -
Emperor Napoleon III (having the unusual distinction of being both the first titular president and the last monarch of France) and Empress Eugenie escape unhurt after an Italian assassin threw a bomb at their carriage as they travel to the Paris Opera to see Rossini's William Tell, on this date. Felice Orsini and his accomplices threw three bombs at the imperial carriage.

The first bomb landed among the horsemen in front of the carriage. The second bomb wounded the animals and smashed the carriage glass. The third bomb landed under the carriage and seriously wounded a policeman who was hurrying to protect the occupants. Eight people were killed and 142 wounded, though the emperor and empress were unhurt. Napoleon, ever the politician, realized that he and Eugenie had to proceed to the performance and appear in their box.

They really wanted to see the opera.


January 14, 1900 -
Speaking of opera, Giacomo Puccini's opera Tosca premiered in Rome on this date.




January 14, 1954 -
Marilyn Monroe married Joe DiMaggio on this date.  Though the marriage between the iconic actress and the baseball star only lasted 274 days, they remained friends over the years.



After Monroe's death in 1962, DiMaggio sent flowers to her grave every week until his own death in 1999.


January 14, 1956 -
Little Richard released Tutti Frutti on this date, (to fully take advantage of the healing powers of Little Richard, much like Elvis - you must remove your pants and dance around the house in your underwear and socks.)



This song introduced Little Richard's famous "Whooooo," and also a big "Aaaaaaahhh" scream which he sings just before the tenor sax solo performed by Lee Allen. Richard's scream had a practical purpose: to let Allen know when to start playing. They were recording on just three tracks, so overdubbing the horns wasn't a practical option.



And yet Pat Boone's cover of the song rose higher in the charts on it's initial release. Many listeners at the time only knew the song through Boone, so Little Richard's promotional materials often labeled him "Original 'Tutti Frutti' Man."

Stupid record buying public.


January 14, 1957 -
... He got all that he asked for from life, and more. We have no reason to feel any sorrow for him -  only for ourselves, for having lost him.  - John Huston



Humphrey Bogart, the Greatest Male Star of All Time, model for the Gerber baby and founding member of the Hollywood Rat Pack (a phrase coined by Lauren Bacall) finally decided to let the world catch up with his three drink lead and succumbs to cancer of the esophagus on this date.



And so it goes

Another 2015 word of the year.

According to the American Dialect Society the WORD OF THE YEAR is: THEY used as a gender-neutral singular pronoun. They was recognized by the society for its emerging use as a pronoun to refer to a known person, often as a conscious choice by a person rejecting the traditional gender binary of he and she.



When former Olympic athlete Bruce Jenner took a female identity this year, he changed his name to Caitlyn Jenner. The new use of “they” would allow the use of “their” instead of “his,” as in, “they changed their name to Caitlyn Jenner.”


Valentine's Day is 32 days away. Mardi Gras is 27 days away. Chinese New Years is 26 days away. And today is Old New Years Eve (Old Style Calendar.)



Enjoy the day!


January 13, 1968 -
Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash, and Carl Perkins and the Statler Brothers, performed for a second time at Folsom Prison in the prison cafeteria on this date.



Cash released the concert as an album, At Folsom Prison, a few months later. The album was a hit and it transformed Cash into a nationally popular musician. At Folsom Prison stayed in country music charts for 90 weeks and in the Billboard Top 200 for 122 weeks. 


Today in History:
January 13, 1832 -
Horatio Alger, Jr., minister, American children's author (Ragged Dick, Tattered Tom and Julius, the Street Boy out West ) and noted pederast was born, on this date.

Some novels, uncompleted at Alger's death, include The Fortune Made Upon My Knees, Nelson, the Naughty Pegboy, Proud Young Dick and the Lonely Sea Men, Jerry, the Barefoot Backwoods Boy (who wore no undergarments under his britches), From Farm to Fortune (with nothing but bacon grease) and Joey, the Ruggedly Handsome Raw Meat Delivery Boy (who wore a posing strap under his britches).

(Stop snickering.)


January 13, 1854 -
Anthony Faas patents an accordion on this date. He made improvements to the keyboard and enhanced the sound



Mr Faas mysteriously disappeared the next week: all of his neighbors had to say was they "didn't know nothin'".


January 13, 1862 -
President Lincoln names Edwin M. Stanton Secretary of War on this date. He vigorously pursued the apprehension and prosecution of the conspirators involved in Lincoln's assassination. These proceedings were not handled by the civil courts, but by a military tribunal, and therefore under Stanton's supervision.

Stanton was appointed by President Grant to the Supreme Court, but he died four days after he was confirmed by the Senate, and taking the oath of office on his deathbed, set the record for shortest tenure on the Court.


January 13, 1900 -
To combat Czech nationalism, Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary decrees German the official language of the Imperial Army on this date.



This causes all of the Esperanto schools in Austria-Hungarian Empire to close.


January 13, 1910 -
Lee De Forest, the American inventor of the vacuum tube, demonstrates the first radio broadcast, a live performance of Cavalleria Rusticana with Enrico Caruso from the Metropolitan Opera, on this date.

The broadcast over a telephone transmitter could be heard only by the small number of electronics hobbyists who had radio receivers or could squeeze into telephone booths. De Forest started regular nightly concerts in 1915, increasing interest in radio receivers, which at the time depended on the vacuum tubes manufactured by De Forest's company.

How convenient.


January 13, 1919 -
California voted to ratify the prohibition amendment on this date.

Much heavy drinking ensued.


January 13, 1957 -
Back in the 1920s, Yale students invented a game of catch by tossing around metal pie tins from the Frisbee Baking Company in nearby Bridgeport, Connecticut. Building inspector Fred Morrison puttered with and refined a plastic flying disc that he sold to WHAM-O (for $1 million, which bought a lot of pies back then) in 1955. The Wham-O Company produced the first Pluto Platter on this date.

Wham-O changed the name to Frisbee in 1958, upon hearing the Yale pie-tin story. (Mattel now owns the rights to Frisbee, which has become an American icon.)


January 13, 1962 -
Ernie Kovacs was killed in an automobile accident when he lost control of his Chevrolet Corvair station wagon while turning fast. Crashing into a power pole at the corner of Beverly Glen and Santa Monica Boulevards, he was thrown halfway out the passenger side, dying almost instantly from chest and head injuries.



Kovacs may have lost control of the car while trying to light a cigar. A photographer managed to arrive moments later, and morbid images of Kovacs in death appeared in newspapers across the United States. An unlit cigar lay on the pavement, inches from his outstretched arm. (I'm not posting the photo - you Google it.)

Kids - smoking kills.



And so it goes.

In case you've never seen one before

Some wonderful people over at CNN have re-imagined the State of the Union Address as a quirky Wes Anderson film -



I think more Americans would watch the speech, regardless of their political persuasion, if it had Nico singing in the background.


January 12, 1934 -
George Cukor's star-studded extravaganza Dinner at Eight, went into general release in the US on this date.



Jean Harlow was in awe of Marie Dressler's talents and praised the veteran actress for her generosity. "Being in the same cast with Marie was a break for me," said Harlow. "She's one trouper I'd never try to steal a scene from. It'd be like trying to carry Italy against Mussolini."


January 12, 1944 -
Probably Alfred Hitchcock's most underrated film, Lifeboat, opened in NYC on this date.



The harsh conditions of the shoot took its toll: actors were soaked with water and oil, which led to two cases of pneumonia for Tallulah Bankhead, an illness for actress Mary Anderson and two cracked ribs for actor Hume Cronyn, according to his autobiography. Production was temporarily halted twice to allow for recovery of the cast.


January 12, 1955 -
Kraft Television Theatre presented the first drama written by Rod Serling,  Patterns on this date.



The drama was so popular that it became the first live drama in television history to be broadcast twice due to popularity. Both broadcasts were done live, not on kinescope, videotape, or film.


January 12, 1966 -
Holy homoeroticism!!!

ABC-TV premiered the tightly colored underwear wearing, perfectly genitally arranged comedy Batman on this date.



I'm not sure if it's still on the same bat channel though.


January 12, 1971 -
Oh Geez, stifle yourself.

The first episode of All In The Family made television history by broadcasting the sound of a toilet flushing on this date.



This is not, however, the first time a toilet tank is seen on television. That honor goes to Leave It to Beaver premiere episode, Captain Jack back in 1957.


Today in History -
If you were ever an altar boy or ever took Latin, I don't need to tell you what jacta alea est means. But if you're like most Americans, to whom Latin is about as familiar as Urdu, let me translate: it means the die is cast. At least that's how it's usually translated. Back in the early days of English, when the phrase was first translated, that's how they would have said "the dice are thrown."

This Latin snippet is important for a couple of reasons. Firstly because it demonstrates the popularity of gambling with dice in the ancient world, which is an important bit of trivia for keeping wayward adolescents interested in the classics; secondly because it's a short little Latin phrase you can drop into conversation to impress snobs; thirdly because the event of its utterance changed the course of western civilization for ever.

The line was uttered by Julius Caesar on this very date in 49 BC (There is some disagreement on this date - this is clearly one of those dates that most of historians, around at the time, were too busy at the local orgy to clearly denote when a short bald Italian soldier crossed a rivulet.) Caesar and his army had just crossed the Rubicon, a little stream in northern Italy. The Roman Senate had long ago established a rule that Roman citizens should be forbidden from crossing the the Rubicon with their armies, since they figured anyone coming south toward Rome with an entire army probably wasn't up to any good (this should be enacted immediately in the USA - no bald men in a short skirt on horse should ever cross the Potomac with their own army.)

(If the Roman Senate had really wanted to play it safe, maybe they should have designed the infrastructure of their empire so that all roads didn't lead to Rome - but that's beside the point.)

You may be wondering why Caesar would set out to break the law this way. He had, after all, been a popular and successful general and had been governor of Gaul for some time. But that's exactly why he decided to cross the Rubicon: he had become so popular and so powerful that the Roman Senate ordered him to disband his army and give up Gaul. Which has always made me wonder why the Roman Senate didn't say jacta alea est after issuing their demands. Maybe they were just too eager to get back to their dice.



Anyway, by crossing the Rubicon, Caesar had officially committed treason and launched the Roman Civil War. I've also saved you several hours of watching DVD's of the series Rome. Except for the naked parts.

The rest is history.


January 12, 1928 -
Ruth Snyder became the first woman to die in the electric chair on this date.

She was electrocuted by “state electrician” Robert G. Elliott at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York, along with Judd Gray, her lover and co-conspirator, for the murder of her husband, Albert on March 20, 1927. This was billed in the press as “The Dumb-Bell Murder.”



The case was the inspiration for the novel Double Indemnity by James M. Cain, which was later adapted for the screen by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler. Cain also mentioned that his book The Postman Always Rings Twice took inspiration from the crime.


January 12, 1967 -
Dr. James Bedford (a psychology professor at the University of California) became the first person to ever be cryogenically preserved with the intent of being resuscitated in the future.

Dr. Bedford  remains were switched to a different tank in 1991 and it would appear that everything has held up thus far. (Remember though, as much as you want it to be true - Disney is not a Popiscle inside Cinderella's castle.)


January 12, 2010 -
A powerful 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti and crushed thousands of structures, from schools and shacks to the National Palace on this date. Thousands of people were believed dead and untold numbers were trapped. An estimated three million people were in need of emergency aid.



The quake left over 200,000 people dead. Some 4,500 prison inmates escaped during the earthquake. By April they were terrorizing neighborhoods and fighting turf battles.



And so it goes.

Personallized just for you!

No expense was spared in obtaining this highly specific horoscope

You may substitute your own zodiac sign for this message.


January 11, 1940 -
The classic newspaper comedy, His Girl Friday, starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell, premiered in New York on this date.



One of the first, if not the first, films to have characters talk over the lines of other characters, for a more realistic sound. Prior to this, movie characters completed their lines before the next lines were started.


January 11, 1958 -
Lloyd Bridges starred as Mike Nelson, not the janitor trapped on a satellite, forced to watch cheesy movies (and mad scientists probed his mind) but a trouble shooting ex-Navy frogman on Sea Hunt on CBS-TV. The show ran for four years.



Lloyd Bridges decided to leave the show after four seasons because the producers wanted to emphasize cops-and-robbers plots while Bridges wanted to focus more on environmental themes.


January 11, 1966 -
The children's adventure-series Daktari, debuted on CBS-TV on this date.



Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion and Judy the chimp won PATSY Awards for the Series.


January 11, 1971 -
It hurts when you have to smile and you don't want to smile, but the best thing to do is to smile.

Mary Jane Blige, eight-time Grammy Award-winning and Golden Globe-nominated American R&B singer-songwriter rapper, record producer, and actress, was born on this date.



Billboard ranked Blige as the most successful female R&B artist of the past 25 years.


January 11, 1972 -
The TV movie, Kolchak, The Night Stalker, starring Darren McGavin premiered on ABC-TV on this date.



The original script by Richard Matheson called for Carl Kolchak to be dressed in Bermuda shorts and wearing an Aloha shirt. Actor Darren McGavin said, "That doesn't sound like anyone I know," and elected to use a different wardrobe. While reading up on the character, McGavin noted that Kolchak had been fired from a New York newspaper years before, and thought, "That's it! He hasn't bought a new suit since!" So, Kolchak appeared in a circa 1950s suit.


The stars do look very different today -



R.I.P. David Bowie


Today in History -
Harry Gordon Selfridge was born on January 11, 1864. Though American-born, he is best known as the founder of the British store Selfridge and Co., Ltd (think Macy's, for those of you unfamiliar with the store). He receives little or no attention here in the United States. His name does not appear in any textbooks, he is not honored with any holidays, his image does not appear on any currency, and his biography has never aired on A&E (although on did air on Biography). And yet Mr. Selfridge's philosophy has had more impact on western civilization than a dozen Aristotles.

His great maxim is uttered carelessly by a million voices every day, is enshrined in the halls of commerce and government alike, and has permeated our culture to the point where it has become a cliche. Like most successful ideas, we can hardly imagine that his concept was ever new or controversial; we must strain our imaginations to conceive a world unilluminated by his wisdom.

It was Mr. Selfridge's philosophy that "the customer is always right."



Mr. Selfridge's birthday should be celebrated throughout western civilization as a holiday of emancipation, no less significant than the signing of the Magna Carta, the drafting of the U.S. Constitution, or the invention of microwave popcorn.


January 11, 1878 -
Milk was first delivered in bottles by milkman Alexander Campbell, in New York on this date.

Previously, one had to keep a cow in a spare room of their apartment, making taking out the trash a mandatory daily occurrence.


January 11, 1922 -
The first insulin injection was given to Leonard Thompson, a teenager in Canada, on this date. He weighed only 65 pounds and was about to slip into a coma and die. Drs. Frederick Banting and Charles Best worked on the insulin, then called Isletin. Unfortunately, the injection was so impure that Thompson had a severe allergic reaction.

Researchers worked around-the-clock for the next 12 days to refine the process, and with the help of Dr. James Collip, the next injection went off without a hitch. The availability of insulin turned diabetes from a fatal condition into a treatable one.


January 11, 1928 -
Thomas Hardy, English novelist and all around curmudgeon, died near Dorchester, England on this date. In his will, Mr. Hardy specifically requested to be buried with his beloved first wife. His friends, however, didn’t think this was good enough for the author and lobbied to have him buried in Poet’s Corner at Westminster Abbey instead.



An ugly fight between Hardy fans and family ensued, until they reached a compromise. The author’s heart was removed and buried with his wife; his ashes were preserved in a bronze urn inside the Abbey. There’s also a long-running (but unsubstantiated) rumor that Hardy’s sister’s cat snatched the heart, somehow left on a table, and that a pig’s heart had to be substituted for the burial ceremony.


January 11, 1935 -
Amelia Earhart took off from Honolulu on this date, to become the first person to fly solo between Hawaii and California.



She landed in Oakland the next day. Three years earlier, Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.


January 11, 1943 -
President Franklin D. Roosevelt flew to Morocco for a top-secret meeting with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. He had not flown since 1932, when he traveled from Albany, New York, to Chicago to accept his nomination at the Democratic national convention.



No U.S. president had previously flown while in office because the Secret Service regarded flying as a dangerous mode of transport.



And so it goes

Pants are for suckers

Today is the 15th annual No Pants Subway Ride.  The No Pants Subway Ride is an annual event staged by Improv Everywhere every January in New York City  (It is also a global event.)



If you are so inclined, please check out the No Pants site for official rules


As you start your morning, here's a brief musical interlude



Remember folks, the truth is out there!


January 10 1927 -
The film Metropolis premiered in Berlin on this date. It was the most expensive silent film of the time, costing approximately 7 million Reichsmark to make.



Much to Fritz Lang's dismay, Adolph Hitler and Joseph Goebbels were big fans of the film. Goebbels met with Lang and told him that he could be made an honorary Aryan despite his Jewish background. Goebbels told him "Mr Lang, we decide who is Jewish and who is not". Lang left for Paris that very night.


January 10, 1949 (This date is under much debate) -
45 RPM's - the term for the record format introduced by RCA on this date. This soon became the standard format used for vinyl “singles” for several decades. (Kids, RPM stands for “revolutions per minute.”)



Just think, all that pleasure with 7".


January 10, 1952 -
Cecil B. DeMille's circus extravaganza, The Greatest Show on Earth, opened on this date.



The movie is often cited as the least deserved Best Picture winner ever. It is widely believed the film only won because many members of the Academy were reluctant to vote for the anti-Joseph McCarthy western High Noon, whose screenwriter Carl Foreman had just been blacklisted from Hollywood.


January 10, 1964 -
The American version of the British program That Was The Week That Was (TW3), a weekly show of topical political satire, premiered on NBC-TV on this date.



Singer Nancy Ames, Buck Henry, Pat Englund and Alan Alda were among the regulars. The show proved equally groundbreaking in the United States and, like the British version, was no stranger to controversy.


January 10, 1984 -
The "Where's the Beef?" commercial campaign for Wendy's with Clara Peller was first aired on this date.



Clara Peller was 81 when she came out of retirement to star in the Wendy's spot.  Peller died on August 11, 1987, one week after her 84th birthday.


Today in History:
Common Sense was a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine. It was first published anonymously (not that Tom didn't know his name - it was theoretically punishable by death to denounce the crown and Tom wasn't quick looking for death at that time) on January 10, 1776, before the American Revolution. Paine wrote it with editorial feedback from Benjamin Rush, who came up with the title.



The document denounced British rule, and through its immense popularity contributed to fomenting the American Revolution. The second edition was published soon thereafter. A third edition, with an accounting of the worth of the British navy, an expanded appendix, and a response to criticism by the Quakers, was published on February 14, 1776.


January 10, 1810 -
Napoleon, unable to to produce an heir wife his wife, the Empress Josephine, divorced her on this date.



The divorce was unpopular with the people, and also strained Napoleon's relationship with church officials; especially after he quickly remarried an Austrian duchess.


January 10, 1870 -
Victor Noir, French journalist, was killed by Prince Pierre Bonaparte. Noir had called on him with a companion to present his editor's challenge to a duel because of a journalistic dispute concerning Corsican politics. Bonaparte was so insulted to have been approached by mere "menials" (his phrase, apparently) that he slapped the hapless 22-year-old in the face, pulled out a pistol and shot him on the spot.

Over 10,000 people attended his funeral and public sentiment over Noir's death forces Napoleon III to abdicate. A statue of Noir s prostrate figure became a magnet for anorgasmic women rubbing themselves against him as a sexual charm.



Once again, the French, they are a funny race.


January 10, 1863 -
The London Underground (the Tube) opened to the public on this date. The Underground, a symbol of British culture, was the world's first underground railroad.



Passengers can still ride the original line, which ran between the London Paddington station and the Farringdon station.


January 10 1883 -
A fire at the six-story Newhall Hotel in Milwaukee killed more than 71 people on this date. For years this was considered one of the worst single structure fires in the United States.

Two famous midgets residing there, General Tom Thumb (Charles Sherwood Stratton) and his brother-in-law Commodore Nut, were rescued by firefighters.


January 10 1948 -
Donald Fagen, singer and front man of the rock band Steely Dan, was born on this date.







Hopefully, Mr Fagen and his wife can resolve their issues and put them in the past.


January 10 1982 -
You could no longer go to Paul Lynde to block on this date. Mr. Lynde was found dead of a heart attack, (it has been rumored that he was also naked and clucking a bottle of poppers in his West Hollywood home at the time.)



Mr. Lynde's bed companion, it appears, neglected to call 911 to report the emergency.

Kids, remember - don't count on that hustler to call the paramedics for you (that's always extra.)


January 10 1984 -
Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper became the first female recording artist since Bobbie Gentry (1967) to be nominated for five Grammy Awards: Album of the Year, Best New Artist, Best Pop Vocal Performance (Female), Record of the Year and Song of the Year on this date.



She may be unusual but Cyndi is still going strong more than 30 years later.



And so it goes.


Before you go - Outside it was raining cats and dogs.



I saw this Tex Avery cartoon that I wasn't familiar with - Symphony in Slang.  I thought you would enjoy it.