Author Archives: dcaligari

Let me cut to the chase – I don’t think these are appropriate gifts for Mother’s Day – But what do I know, I don’t know your relationship with your mom

May 10, 1969 –While President Nixon was conveniently out of the country, the group The Turtles were invited to play at the White House at a party for Tricia Nixon, making them the first rock band to play the White House. Rumor has it that Mark Volman, fell off the small stage five times duringContinue reading “The Turtles were rather naughty in DC”

May 10, 1964 –Dusty Springfield made her U.S. television debut on the Ed Sullivan Show on this date. Besides singing, I Only Want To Be With You, Dusty sang Stay Awhile.

May 10, 1962 – The Toho studios classic monster movie Mothra (the original Japanese title was Mosura) was released on a double bill with The Three Stooges in Orbit in the U.S. on this date. The movie was edited also removing about 10 minutes from the original Japanese version for its release in America atContinue reading “Mothra premiered in the US”

May 10, 1977 –Joan Crawford succumbed to stomach cancer at the age of 73 on this date. It is rumored that in the early days of her career, Crawford had performed in several stag films, and later spent a considerable sum buying back the prints to destroy them. Her final words were purportedly, “Damn it…Don’tContinue reading “You can bet, as with beer, there are no wire coat hangers in Heaven.”

Today is World Lupus Day, created to help us understand that this seemingly random grab bag of symptoms is actually a debilitating, chronic autoimmune disease suffered by approximately 5 million people worldwide, with 1.5 million of them living in the United States alone. Awareness events for World Lupus Day are held in most of theContinue reading “The fears we don’t face become our limits”

May 9, 1964 –The Beatles’ I Wanna Hold Your Hand had been the number one album for over three and a half months straight. Louis Armstrong’s show tune Hello Dolly finally ended the record-breaking run on this day, knocking the Beatles out of first place in the music charts.

May 9, 1958 –Richard Burton made his network television debut on this date, in the presentation of The DuPont Show of the Month – Wuthering Heights, on CBS-TV. In 1999 actress Rosemary Harris met TV historian Jane Klain and asked if she could find a copy of the film. Harris was a last minute replacementContinue reading “Wuthering Heights on TV”

May 9, 1955 –Harpo Marx had only recently suffered a heart attack and was warned by doctors not to continue performing. But, luckily for us, Harpo refused, and went on to appear in an episode of I Love Lucy, Lucy and Harpo Marx, which aired on this date. The Lucy-Harpo “mirror routine” became a rareContinue reading “Lucy and Harpo”

May 9, 1949 –William Martin Joel, Grammy Award-winning rock vocalist/singer was born on this date. I can still remember when one used to eagerly await a new Billy Joel album as much as a Bruce Springsteen album.