Author Archives: dcaligari

March 24, 1939 –… Murder, my dear Watson. Refined, cold-blooded murder…. Twentieth Century Fox’s released on this date, the first of 14 films based on Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional consulting detective Sherlock Holmes, The Hound of the Baskervilles. While not entirely passive, Watson’s original role was mostly as an observer of Holmes and the chroniclerContinue reading “The Hound of the Baskervilles premiered”

Huzzah, it’s Melba Toast Day. The toast so named for the the Australian Opera singer Nellie Melba by her great admirer (and world famous French chef Auguste Escoffier.) but folks, get a grip, it’s just toast.

March 23, 1973 –Gene Roddenberry’s TV-movie/unsold pilot Genesis II, starring Alex Cord, Ted Cassidy, Lynne Marta, Percy Rodriguez, Titos Vandis and Mariette Hartley, first aired on CBS TV on this date. The science fiction justification for Lyra-a (Mariette Hartley) and other Tyranians having two navels is that they have redundant circulatory systems. However, Gene RoddenberryContinue reading “Genesis II premiered”

March 23, 1982 –The spin-off of the very successful series Happy Days, Joanie Loves Chachi, starring Erin Moran and Scott Baio premiered on ABC-TV on this date. Nobody loved this musical disaster, and it was cancelled after 19 episodes.

March 23, 1946 – The last Merrie Melodies title Frank Tashlin directed (before switching to become a live action director,) Hare Remover, starring Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, opened on this date. This was the second of only two Bugs Bunny cartoons directed by Frank Tashlin; the other being The Unruly Hare. Frank Tashlin isContinue reading “This guy’s tryin’ to slip me a mickey!”

March 23, 1999 –Ricky Martin releases his single, Livin’ La Vida Loca, onto an unsuspecting world, on this date. (Sorry for the earworm.) Martin’s first mainstream hit, this song took off after his triumphant performance of Cup Of Life at the 1999 Grammy Awards. He got a lot of media attention and expanded his fanContinue reading “That crazy life snuck up on us all”

March 22, 1963 –The Beatles’ first album, Please Please Me, was released in the UK on this date. The album went to the top of the UK charts in two months and remained there for 30 weeks. Please Please Me has been ranked in the top 50 of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”Continue reading “Please, Please Me went on sale”

March 22, 1984 –Queen filmed the video for I Want To Break Free at Limehouse Studio in London, England, on this date. Directed by David Mallet, it was a parody of the northern British soap opera Coronation Street with the band members dressed in drag. The video for this song parodies a popular British televisionContinue reading “God knows, God knows I want to break free”

March 22, 1947 – Another glimpse into the ‘early‘ pre-celebrity life of Bugs, A Hare Grows In Manhattan, premiered on this date. The interviewer is meant to be Louella Parsons, a popular gossip columnist at the time. Bugs even calls her by her nickname “Lolly“.

March 22, 1978 –The seminal mockumentary about The Pre-Fab Four, The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash, directed by Eric Idle and Gary Weis and starring some people from Monty Python and some other people from SNL, premiered on NBC-TV on this date. Neil Innes, Ricky Fataar and John Halsey regrouped in 1996 to recordContinue reading “I’d like to own a squadron of tanks.”