Author Archives: dcaligari

November 10, 1969 –Even at 55, everything’s still A-OK (even on HBO.) Sesame Street premiered on PBS-TV on this date.

November 10, 1967 – The Star Trek episode Metamorphosis (Episode 38, Production 31) first aired on this date. In it, Kirk finds Zefram Cochrane, inventor of the warp drive, who has been missing for 150 years and his mysterious alien companion. A few scenes featuring Elinor Donahue had to be re-shot, because the original filmContinue reading “Star Trek TOS: Metamorphosis premiered”

The days are growing shorter I never understood the concept of holiday long-form commercials in England. Aldi is another European supermarket chain, that is somehow related to Lidl but not really worth going into here. In his ninth year, Kevin the Carrot is back on UK screens this Christmas with another heroic tale. – MayContinue reading “Maybe you may want to polish the silverware”

This year’s Rockefeller Center Christmas tree will arrive in New York City this morning. The 74-foot Norway Spruce from West Stockbridge, Massachusett was cut down Thursday morning and loaded on a truck. The spruce made the 130-mile trip from the Albert family home to Manhattan on the back of a flatbed truck. The official lightingContinue reading “Expect heavy traffic for the rest of the year”

Another commercial from across the pond – Matalan (an online clothing store that is big in the UK,) has released its Christmas advert honoring everyday family heroes. – It celebrates the reality of familiar family moments – the horrors that sometimes happen during the holidays. –

November 9, 1972 – The adaptation of the hit Broadway musical, 1776, starring William Daniels, Howard Da Silva, John Cullum, Ken Howard and Blythe Danner, premiered in NYC on this date Ken Howard related that he was rehearsing some of his lines from the play aloud while traveling on an airplane. The inflammatory revolutionary rhetoricContinue reading “1776 premiered”

November 9, 1964 –Another under-appreciated film that you should see, The Pumpkin Eater, opened in the US on this date. This was considered a very prestigious British film in the early 60s, when it was made. It had a large budget and took 16 weeks to film, although it is less than two hours inContinue reading “The Pumpkin Eater premiered”

November 9, 1946 – Another classic, yet surprisingly controversial Bugs Bunny outing, Rhapsody Rabbit, premiered on this date. (sorry for the lousy quality of the cartoon)Franz Liszt’s 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody music was first used in 1941’s Rhapsody in Rivets. A long-standing controversy exists between the previous cartoon and the Tom and Jerry short, The CatContinue reading “We’ll talk about the controversy later”

November 9, 1973 –Billy Joel releases his second album, Piano Man, on this date. The album and title track (based on his nights performing at a piano bar in Los Angeles called The Executive Room,) became Joel’s breakthrough album, which he released after signing with Columbia Records. His first album was released by Family RecordsContinue reading “Sing us a song …”

November 8, 1971 –Led Zeppelin released their untitled fourth album, on this date. And kids remember, according to the Consumer Protection and Toxic Materials Committee of the California State Assembly, if you play Stairway to Heaven backwards, you can hear: So, don’t play you albums backwards (many of you have no idea what albums are.)