Author Archives: dcaligari

June 29, 1963 – The Merrie Melodies short, Banty Raids, directed by Bob McKimson, and starring Foghorn Leghorn and the Barnyard Dawg, was released on this date. This cartoon marked the last “classic-era” cartoon starring Foghorn Leghorn and Barnyard Dawg.

June 29, 1995Ringo Starr appeared in his first-ever TV commercial (in the US), for Pizza Hut, (featuring the newly reformed Monkees, on this date. It seems like a strange product for Ringo to hawk; the rocker has been a vegetarian since 1965, and has allergies to onions, garlic, and several spices, which have prevented himContinue reading “Did he lose a bet?”

June 29, 1984 –After a failed attempt shooting a studio video for Dancing In The Dark, Bruce Springsteen performs the song live at his concert in St. Paul, Minnesota, on this date. Directed by Brian DePalma, the video was filmed during Springsteen’s concert at the St. Paul Civic Center in Minnesota on June 29, 1984.Continue reading “I get up in the evenin’”

June 27, 1964 – The Merrie Melodies short, Hawaiian Aye Aye, directed by Gerry Chiniquy, and starring Sylvester and Tweety Bird, was released on this date. It is the only Tweety cartoon to be directed by Gerry Chiniquy, a longtime animator of Friz Freleng’s unit. Freleng had left the studio in 1962 for Hanna-Barbera.

June 27, 1959 – The Merrie Melodies short, Really Scent, directed by Abe Levitow, and starring Pepe LePew, was released on this date. This is the only Pepé Le Pew cartoon not directed by Chuck Jones.

June 27, 1953 –The Merrie Melodies short, Tom Tom Tomcat, directed by Friz Freleng, and starring Sylvester and Tweety Bird, was released on this date. This cartoon has not aired on American television since 2005 due to its’ out-dated Native American stereotyping.

June 27, 1942 – The Merrie Melodies short, Double Chaser, directed by Friz Freleng, was released on this date. A mashup of the songs Three Blind Mice, Me-ow and Where, Oh Where, Has My Little Dog Gone? played over the original titles.

June 27, 1942The Looney Tunes short, Gopher Goofy, directed by Norman McCabe, was released on this date. This cartoon’s plot was planned to be reworked by Bob Clampett, but finished by Arthur Davis five years later as The Goofy Gophers.

It may not seem possible, But for about 1.1 million students (and their exhausted families) the 2025/ 2026 school year is finally over. (Enjoy what you can of summer – the 2026/ 2027 school year is scheduled to begin 76 days from today, on September 10, 2026.)

June 26, 1964 –The Beatles third studio album, A Hard Day’s Night was first released in the United States by United Artists Records on this date and on July 10, 1964 in the UK by Parlophone. In contrast to the band’s first two albums, all thirteen tracks were written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney,Continue reading “I’ve been working like a dog”