Author Archives: dcaligari

June 3, 1967 –Billie Joe McAllister jumps off the Tallahatchee Bridge on this date (It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty delta day,) according to the Bobbie Gentry song Ode To Billie Joe. Gentry was familiar with the Tallahatchie Bridge since she was born and raised in Mississippi , where she grew upContinue reading “It was a quiet day in Delta”

June 3, 2015 –Godzilla, 61, nuclear accident survivor, Pacific Islander, Tokyo Bay illegal immigrant has officially been given Japanese citizenship and has been named ambassador at large of the busy Shinjuku ward of Tokyo. It’s always heartwarming to see how other countries deal with their immigrant situations.

Today is the Memorial to Broken Dolls Day (Ningyo Kuyo) in Japan. On this day each year, children bring their broken dolls to Buddhist shrines for funeral rituals. After the ceremony, the dolls are buried and enshrined. This temple should be located on the Island of Misfit Toys.

June 3, 1964 –The Rolling Stones taped their U.S. (national) television debut on the ABC series The Hollywood Palace, hosted by Dean Martin, on this date. The Stones’ first television appearance stateside was a June 2nd interview on The Les Crane Show (shown locally in New York City.)

June 3, 1969 – The last episode of the original Star Trek series (Turnabout Intruder) aired on NBC-TV, on this date. This episode was originally scheduled for broadcast on March 28, 1969. Special network coverage of the death of Dwight D.Eisenhower pre-empted it, and it didn’t air until June 3.

June 3, 1972 –The Staple Singers’ song, I’ll Take You There, hits #1 as the group makes a successful transition from gospel to secular music. This was the first of two #1 hits for the Staple Singers, the other is Let’s Do It Again. The Staple Singers were among the first groups to move fromContinue reading “I’ll Take You There took them to the top of the charts”

If you are anywhere in North America today, go outside when it is noon, face south, and yell “fudge!” You will be doing your part to make sure Cobras do not advance and take over North America. Any Cobras that have already made it to North America will turn around and go home.

June 2, 1957 –Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was interviewed on US television for the very first time when CBS’s Face the Nationaired on this date. With Cold War tensions running high, some government officials accused CBS of putting out Communist propaganda. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, love god of Carol Burnett, refused to watchContinue reading “Nikki made his first TV appearance”

June 2, 1981 –Barbara Walters famously asks Katharine Hepburn “If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?”, on this date. After the interview, Walters’ “tree” question was remembered, but the context in which it was asked was not. The so-called “If you were a tree, what kind of tree would youContinue reading “The question that still amuses”

June 2, 1896 –The first radio patent was issued to Guglielmo Marconi in England for his wireless telegraphy apparatus, described as “Improvements in Transmitting Electrical Impulses and Signals, and in Apparatus Therefor.” (UK No. 12,039) I wonder what will become of that new fangled thing?