Author Archives: dcaligari

May 5, 1952 –One of the most famous episodes of the I Love Lucy series, Lucy Does a TV Commercial, (also known as Vitameatavegamin,) aired on this date. In 1997, TV Guide ranked it #2 on their list of the 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time. Ross Elliott, who played the director, said of thisContinue reading “It’s so tasty too … just like candy”

May 5, 1934 –Columbia Pictures released their first Three Stooges short, Woman Haters, starring Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard, on this date. Out of the 190+ shorts The Three Stooges made, this is one of the few in which their characters aren’t called by the Stooges’ real names (or variations of their realContinue reading “Woman Haters premiered”

Please take a brief pause from getting ready for the massive margarita you all have to make to celebrate this day. For those of you who don’t know – it’s not Mexican Independence Day (that’s September 16th) – it’s the celebration of Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza victory over the French General Charles Latrille de Lorencez.Continue reading “Feasts are a metaphor for human connection.”

May 5, 1943 –I am not a great cook, I am not a great artist, but I love art, and I love food, so I am the perfect traveller.. Michael Palin, actor, screenwriter and (thankfully for humanity) a very silly person was born on this date.

May 4, 1959 –Originally called the Gramophone awards, the first Grammys were handed out on this date, to honor the musical accomplishments by performers for the year 1958. The ceremony was hosted by comedian Mort Sahl and held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. At the same time, Recording Academy members convenedContinue reading “The first Grammys were presented”

May 4, 1959 –François Truffaut’s seminal New Wave film, The 400 Blows, starring Jean-Pierre Léaud, opened at the Cannes Film Festival on this date. The title of the film comes from the French idiom “faire les quatre cents coups“, meaning “to raise hell“.

May 4, 1984 –Universal Pictures released John Hughes’ directorial debut, Sixteen Candles, starring Molly Ringwald (her first film), Paul Dooley, Justin Henry, and Anthony Michael Hall, premiered on this date. Anthony Michael Hall and Molly Ringwald initially disliked each other, so John Hughes took them to a record store and they bonded after they foundContinue reading “John Hughes’ obsession with teenagers first came into view”

May 4th is known as Star Wars Day. You get it – May the Fourth be with you. Oh, never mind.

May 3, 1958 –David Seville’s (Ross Bagdasarian Sr.) novelty single, Witch Doctor, unexpected went to No. 1 on the Billboard Charts, on this date. Bagdasarian was first cousin to the novelist and playwright William Saroyan. Seville got the vocal effect by recording his voice into a tape recorder that was slowed to half speed andContinue reading “Witch Doctor topped the charts”

May 3, 1947 – Sylvester tried to have Tweety Bird for lunch for the first time in the Looney Tunes cartoon, Tweetie Pie, which premiered on this date (Yeah, yeah, I know Sylvester is called Thomas but it’s Sylvester just the same. In 1948, with the cartoon Scaredy Cat, his name was changed to Sylvester,Continue reading “The first pairing of Sylvester and Tweety”