Author Archives: dcaligari

September 2, 1950 –If your eagle’s hands are dirty, we’ll wash them clean…. Daffy/ Porky outing, The Ducksters, was released on this date. On the game show Porky Pig wins: 1. The Rocky Mountains2. A 17 – Jewel half Nelson3. The La Brea Tar Pits4. The Rock of Gibraltar5. 600 gallons of genuine Niagara Falls6.Continue reading “One of the funniest non Bugs Bunny cartoons”

September 2, 1994 –Hootie & the Blowfish made their first television appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, on this date. This song got a lot of airplay and helped make the Cracked Rear View album (named for a line in the 1987 John Hiatt song Learning How To Love You) the best sellerContinue reading “Darius and the gang sang for Dave”

September is the ninth month of the year, which is why its name is derived from the Latin Septem, meaning seven. (We have previously addressed this problem last month; see August, the Sixth Month.) On the French Revolutionary calendar, September is known as Vendémiaire (vintage,) and in Dutch, September is “the begining of autumn“, Hertmaand.Continue reading “Autumn is the antidote to stifling summer.”

September 1, 1902 –Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon), written and directed by Georges Méliès, assisted by his brother Gaston, considered to be the first science fiction movie, was released on this date. After finishing work on the film, Georges Méliès intended to release it in America and thereby make lotsContinue reading “Damn that Edison!”

September 1, 1938 –Frank Capra bounced back from the disastrous reviews of Lost Horizon, released the previous year, with You Can’t Take It with You, which opened in NYC on this date. Shortly before filming began, Lionel Barrymore lost the use of his legs to crippling arthritis and a hip injury. To accommodate him, theContinue reading “You Can’t Take It with You premiered”

September 1, 1983 –Island Records released the eighth studio album by singer and songwriter Tom Waits, Swordfishtrombones, on this date. Swordfishtrombones moves away from conventional piano-based songwriting towards unusual instrumentation and a somewhat more abstract and experimental rock approach.

August 31, 1976 –George Harrison was found guilty of unintentionally plagiarizing My Sweet Lord from the Chiffons song He’s So Fine. Those damn Beatles could never come up with an original tune.

August 31, 1985 –Dire Straits’ album, Brothers In Arms, started a nine-week run at No.1 on the US album charts on this date. The album also topped the charts in 25 other countries and went on to sell over 20 million worldwide. The title of the album was inspired by the Falklands War, which wasContinue reading “Here I am again in this mean old town …”

August 31, 1946 – Warner Bros. introduced Foghorn Leghorn and the Barnyard Dawg, when the Merrie Melodies cartoon Walky Talky Hawky, (directed by Robert McKimson,) premiered on this date. Foghorn Leghorn was closely based on Sen. Claghorn, a blustery, windbag Southern politician on radio’s The Fred Allen Show -played by Allen’s announcer Kenny Delmar –Continue reading “Every day it’s the same thing!”

August 31, 1966 –A forgotten Blake Edward’s comedy, What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?, written by William Peter Blatty and starring James Coburn and Dick Shawn, opened on this date. Harry Morgan played Major Potts who becomes comically nonsensical in this movie. In the third season of the TV series MASH, he playedContinue reading “What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? premiered”