Author Archives: dcaligari

November 11, 1978 –Donna Summer started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with her version of Jimmy Webb’s MacArthur Park, which was also a hit for actor Richard Harris in 1968, (made No.5 in the UK). (Sorry for the earworm.) Donna Summer recorded her disco version in 1978 with herContinue reading “Why didn’t spring wait?”

At 5:00 a.m. on November 11, 1918 French Army clerk Henri Deledicq finished typing the peace treaty that would end World War I. He had put the carbon paper in backwards. Ten minutes later, in a railroad car in France, military leaders signed copies of an armistice that were completely unreadable. World War I endedContinue reading “We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,”

November 11, 1958 –The (relatively unknown yet hysterical) British-comedy The Horse’s Mouth, starring Alec Guinness, opened in the US on this date. Alec Guinness felt that an educated accent for Gulley Jimson would be suited to an artist, but was not right for an eccentric. “So I tried to find a voice in which noContinue reading “You have the time today – watch this one.”

November 11, 1985 –One of the first major films dealing with AIDS, An Early Frost, starring Aidan Quinn, Gena Rowlands, Ben Gazzara, and Sylvia Sidney, first aired on NBC-TV on this date. Aidan Quinn (Michael) remembers that NBC’s Standards and Practices department were a constant (in Quinn’s words, “hovering“) presence on the set. They regulatedContinue reading “An Early Frost premiered”

November 11, 397 –St. Martin of Tours, another in the series of anorexic visionaries, patron saint of France, soldiers (he is known as the he man’s saint), reformed alcoholics and winemakers, died on this date. When the armistice fell on the Saint Martin’s Day, November 11, 1918, the French people saw it was a signContinue reading “Saint Martin’s Day”

November 10, 1969 –Come and play. Even at 56, everything’s still A-OK (even on HBO.) Sesame Street premiered on PBS-TV on this date.

November 10, 1974 –Bob Fosse’s devastating bio-pix about Lenny Bruce, Lenny, starring Dustin Hoffman and Valerie Perrine opened in NYC on this date. The scene in which Lenny does his act in a raincoat, near the end of the film, came from a real-life show that a student tape-recorded and sent to Dustin Hoffman. Lenny’sContinue reading “Lenny premiered”

November 10, 1953 –Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom was an educational Adventures in Music animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions, and originally released to theaters by Buena Vista Distribution on this date. This was a “sequel” of sorts to 1953’s Adventures in Music: Melody. This was originally meant to be an ongoing seriesContinue reading “Disney in CinemaScope”

November 10, 1975 –Arista Records released Patti Smith’s debut album, Horses, on this date. The origin of the Horses album lies in the inception of a poem Patti Smith wrote called Oath when she was around 20. It began, “Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not mine.” She explained to Mojo magazine: “It was myContinue reading “Jesus died for somebody’s sins … but not mine”

November 10, 1967 –The Moody Blues released their hit, Nights in White Satin, on this date. This was written by Justin Hayward, who joined the band the previous year. He got the idea for the song after someone gave him a set of white satin sheets – yes, sometimes, it’s just that inane. The MoodyContinue reading “Letters I’ve written never meaning to send”