Author Archives: dcaligari

October 31, 1945 –René Clair’s adaptation of Agatha Christie’s classic murder mystery And Then There Were None was released in the US on this date. In recent years it has come to light that much of Agatha Christie’s plot appears to have been inspired by a little-known 1930 play by Owen Davis titled The NinthContinue reading “And Then There Were None premiered”

Happy Halloween But remember, Halloween: it’s a large secret East Coast syndicate backed primarily by Big Sugar and Dental Schools. This year I will suggest you go as – the speakers at the MSG rally last Sunday – some of them appear to be far scarier that brain eating zombies. I’d have written more butContinue reading “Today is an opportunity to be really creative.”

Your friends at ACME would like to bring you a brief history of All Hallow’s Eve: Ancient Romans celebrated a holiday called Feralia on February 21. At first it was a simple day off to recover from the holiday of February 20 (Salvia Divinorum), and to take care of last minute shopping before the holidayContinue reading “If people had genuine courage, they’d wear their costumes every day of the year”

Surprise, surprise, it’s National Candy Corn Day today. The famous candy is said to have been invented in the United States by George Renninger a candymaker at the Wunderlee Candy Company in Philadelphia, in the 1880s and it was originally made by hand. Nowadays, it’s mass produced by Jelly Belly® using a recipe unchanged sinceContinue reading “I believe big sugar is behind this –”

October 30, 1971 –Pink Floyd released their sixth studio album Meddle in the US, on this date. The album features One Of These Days and the 23-minute track Echoes which took up all of side 2 on the vinyl record. The cover image was photographed by Bob Dowling. The image represents an ear, underwater, collectingContinue reading “Meddle went on sale”

October 30, 1943 – A very funny war-time Bugs Bunny Cartoon, Falling Hare, was premiered on this date. In the early 1940s, Walt Disney was developing a feature film based on Roald Dahl’s book Gremlin Lore, and asked the other studios to refrain from producing gremlin films. While most of the studios complied, Warner Bros.Continue reading “Falling Hare was released”

October 30, 1937 – A good early Looney Tunes Halloween treat, The Case of the Stuttering Pig, premiered on this date. When the picture of Uncle Solomon is shown, it’s a drawing of Oliver Hardy as a pig.

Kids, “…enjoy every sandwich.” October 30, 2002 –Warren Zevon was featured on the Late Show with David Letterman as the only guest for the entire hour, on this date. Zevon performing several songs and spoke about being diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer.

October 30, 1938 – The War of the Worlds was the Halloween episode of the American radio drama anthology series Mercury Theatre on the Air. Directed by the wunderkind Orson Welles, the episode was an adaptation of H. G. Wells’ classic novel The War of the Worlds (1898). Welles’s adaptation is arguably the most well-knownContinue reading “Is there anybody there?”

October 29, 1973 – John Lennon’s fourth solo album, Mind Games, was released by Apple, on this date The single Mind Games was the only single released from the album, which was a modest success but nowhere near as popular as his Beatles output. This song has held up well, getting significant airplay on aContinue reading “Mind Games went on sale”