Author Archives: dcaligari

It’s the birthday of Declan Patrick MacManus, one of the most prolific musicians of the late 20th Century. In addition to recordings as “Elvis Costello” (often backed by The Attractions), he has recorded music as “Declan MacManus“, “Napoleon Dynamite and The Royal Guard“, “The Coward Brothers” (with T-Bone Burnett), “Nick Lowe and His Sound“, “TheContinue reading “Elvis Costello”

August 25, 1972 –American International Pictures released another film in the blaxploitation vein, Blacula, starring William Marshall, on this date. The film was popular in the U.S., debuting at #24 on Variety’s list of top films. It eventually grossed over $1 million, making it one of the highest grossing films of 1972.

August 25, 1994 – ABC TV introduced everyone to Angela Chase and the students at Liberty High School when My So-Called Life starring, Claire Danes, Jared Leto and Wilson Cruz, debuted on this date. Although he wound up being a series regular, Jordan Catalano was only supposed to appear in the pilot episode. Jared LetoContinue reading “My So-Called Life premiered”

Today is National Banana Split Day, observed annually on this date A 23-year-old apprentice pharmacist at Tassel’s Pharmacy in Latrobe, Pennsylvania created the first banana split in 1904. David Evans Strickler enjoyed inventing sundaes at the store’s soda fountain. His first “banana-based triple ice cream sundae” sold for 10 cents, double the cost of allContinue reading “Ice cream is happiness condensed.”

August 24, 1968 –The Rascals’ song People Got to Be Free went to No. 1 on the Billboard Charts on this date. Eddie Brigati and Felix Cavaliere of The Rascals wrote this song in reaction to the deaths of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, condensing King and Kennedy’s message into a simple missiveContinue reading “People Got To Be Free topped the charts”

August 24, 1966 –One of the quintessential films of the 60s, Alfie, opened in the US on this date. As Alfie enters the Busy Bee Transport Café, the camera cuts away, and on return, a fresh advertisement has been placed on the background windows. This is advertising the Rolling Stones, a relatively new group onContinue reading “What it all about, Alfie?”

August 24, 1979 – NBC-TV introduced the girls of Eastland School, an all-girls boarding school in Peekskill, New York, to audiences when The Facts of Life premiered on this date. The pilot Rough Housing may have been the very first children’s program on network television to discuss gender confusion and sexual identity crises among youth;Continue reading “You take the good. You take the bad”

August 24, 1853 –It is believed that the original potato chip recipe was created by chef George Crum, at Moon’s Lake House near Saratoga Springs, New York, on this date. He was fed up with a customer (the popular myth wrongly identifies him as Cornelius Vanderbilt) who continued to send his fried potatoes back, claimingContinue reading “Bet you can’t just eat one”

August 24, 2006 –The planet Pluto was reclassified as a “dwarf planet” by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) on this date. Pluto’s status was changed due to the IAU’s new rules for an object qualifying as a planet. The other planets have been picking on Pluto ever since. (Damn you, Neil deGrasse Tyson!)

August 24, 1814 –The White House and other public buildings in the District of Columbia were torched by the invading British army on this date. The President’s wife, Dolley Madison and Paul Jennings, her husband’s enslaved manservant, are torn away from Mrs. Madison’s ice cream and candy making duties to save a couple of chairs,Continue reading “It was a hot time in D.C.”