Author Archives: dcaligari

September 20, 1984 –Tony Micelli first started taking care of Angela Bower’s household when Who’s the Boss premiered on ABC-TV on this date. This was Judith Light’s only foray into comedy; every other project has been a drama. She has said in interviews that while she tutored Tony Danza in dramatic acting he helping getContinue reading “Tony and Angela first met”

September 20, 1941 –The Looney Tunes cartoon Notes To You, directed by Friz Freleng and featuring Porky Pig and a proto-type of Sylvester the Cat debuted on this date. Porky’s home has the very latest cabinet radio. In the days before television, radio was the at home entertainment for Americans, and most of the songsContinue reading “Notes To You premiered”

September 20, 1973 –tennis star Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, at the Houston Astrodome. In recent years, a persistent urban legend has arisen (again,) that Bobby Riggs had thrown the tennis match against Billie Jean King, to pay off a purported $100,000 gambling debt he owed to theContinue reading “The famous so-called ‘Battle of the Sexes’”

September 20, 1975 –David Bowie’s Fame single hits #1 for two weeks on this date. This was Bowie’s first big hit in America, and also his first to do better in the US than the UK. He had a few UK hits before this, including Rebel Rebel, Life On Mars, and Diamond Dogs. In oneContinue reading “Fame topped the charts”

September 19, 1881 –The 20th President of the United States, James A. Garfield, (shot by assassin Charles J. Guiteau,) died from his wounds on this date. Psst – Guiteau didn’t kill the President, his doctors did. Several inserted their unsterilized fingers into the wound to probe for the bullet, and one doctor punctured Garfield’s liverContinue reading “Oopsies – First do no harm”

September 19, 1981 –Despite the fact that Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel had barely spoken to each other in ten year, they reunited on this date to raise funds to renovate Central Park and performed in front of 500,000 people in New York City. The concert was so successful, the duo decided to embark onContinue reading “Everyone was feelin’ groovy in Central Park”

September 19, 1970 –We got to meet the staff of WJM when The Mary Tyler Moore Show, starring Mary Tyler Moore, Ed Asner, Gavin MacLeod, Ted Knight, Cloris Leachman, and Valerie Harper premiered on CBS TV on this date. Producers almost didn’t hire Valerie Harper because while her performance was spot on, they felt sheContinue reading “The greatest sitcom every produced”

September 19, 1952 (there is some controversy surrounding this date) – Emperor Hirohito’s favorite television program, The Adventures of Superman, premiered, in syndication, on this date. In the early episodes, George Reeves wore glasses without lenses in them when he played Clark Kent. As he got older Reeves eventually needed a real prescription for eyeglasses,Continue reading “Look, Up in the Sky!”

September 19, 1931 – Paramount released the Marx Brother’s third film, Monkey Business on this date. Early in the movie, The Marx Brothers – playing stowaways concealed in barrels – harmonize unseen while performing the popular song Sweet Adeline‘ which is traditionally performed with four singers. It is debated whether Harpo Marx’ singing voice wasContinue reading “Is it true you used to dance in a flea circus?”

Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. The holiday is a parody holiday invented in 1995 by John Baur (Ol’ Chumbucket) and Mark Summers (Cap’n Slappy), of Corvallis, Oregon, who proclaimed September 19 each year as the day when everyone in the world should talk like a pirate. Nothing says Piracy (or the BritishContinue reading “I should have gotten that degree”