Author Archives: dcaligari

August 14, 1971 –The Who released their fifth studio album Who’s Next on this date. The albun is widely viewed as one of the greatest rock albums of all time. It developed from the aborted Lifehouse project, a multi-media rock opera written by the group’s Pete Townshend as a follow-up to the band’s 1969 albumContinue reading “Out here in the fields, I fight for my meals”

August 14, 1960 – The Japanese anime Saiyuki, based on the manga by Osamu Tezuka, was released in Japan on this date. The film is of special note, as it would become one of the first anime films ever to be released in the United States under the title, Alakazam the Greaton July 26, 1961.

August 14, 1954 – The Merrie Melodies short, Stop! Look! And Hasten!, directed by Chuck Jones, and starring Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, was released on this date. This cartoon features a unique That’s all Folks ending gag, where the Road Runner spells out the text with his smoke trails and it cross-dissolvesContinue reading “Stop! Look! And Hasten! premiered”

August 14, 1948 – The Merrie Melodies short, Dough Ray Me-ow, directed by Arthur Davis, was released on this date. Heathcliff is inspired by the then-popular radio show Duffy’s Tavern. The radio program influenced other similar “dopey simpleton“-type characters such as Filligan from Hush My Mouse, Junyer Bear, and Baby Huey from Famous Studios’ Noveltoons.

August 14, 1900 –126 years ago today, the western powers quelled the Boxer Rebellion in China. In the clearing stood the Boxers, fighters by their trade, and they carried the reminders of every glove that laid them down or cut them till they cried out, in their anger and their pain, they were leaving, theyContinue reading “I am just a poor boy though my story’s seldom told”

August 14, 1975 –Time is Fleeting! The science fiction comedy horror musical, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, directed by Jim Sharman, and starring Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, and many of cast members from the original stage productions, opened in the UK, on this date. When this movie first opened, it had a traditionalContinue reading “It has the Charles Atlas Seal of Approval”

August 14, 1987 –The rom-com film, Can’t Buy Me Love, directed by Steve Rash and starring Patrick Dempsey, Amanda Peterson, and Dennis Dugan, opened in the US on this date. Michael Swerdlick said the idea for the film originated while he was a mailroom clerk at the William Morris Agency. One of the agents invitedContinue reading “Can’t Buy Me Love premiered”

August 13, 1966 –Napoleon XIV’s goofy breakup song They’re Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-haaa peaks at #3 on Billboard’s Hot 100 on this date. It quickly drops to the bottom of the Top 40, however, as several radio stations ban the tune, fearing its lyrics might be interpreted as being insensitive to the mentallyContinue reading “Life was ludicrous all the time”

August 13, 1942 – Walt Disney’s Bambi premiered at Radio City Music Hall in New York on this date. (The film proper begins about 7 minute in) Unusual for the time, Walt Disney insisted on children providing the voices for the animals when they were young, instead of using adults mimicking youngsters.

August 13, 1949 – The Looney Tunes short, Often an Orphan, directed by Chuck Jones, and starring Porky Pig and Charlie Dog, was released on this date. This is the third and final time Charlie Dog and Porky Pig are paired together; Charlie’s two final shorts have him pursue others to be his master