Author Archives: dcaligari

March 13, 1992 –Merchant Ivory Productions release of the adaptation of E. M. Forster’s novel, Howards End, directed by James Ivory, from a screenplay written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, and starring Emma Thompson, Anthony Hopkins, Helena Bonham Carter, Vanessa Redgrave, Jemma Redgrave and Prunella Scales, opened in the US on this date. The country houseContinue reading “Howards End premiered”

March 13, 1995 –Parlophone Records released Radiohead’s second studio album, The Bends, in the UK on this date. John Leckie, the producer of The Bends, recalled to Q magazine April 2008 the recording of the album: “I love the album but by the end of the sessions I felt devastated. Without telling me, the bandContinue reading “The Bends went on sale”

March 12, 1894 –Bottled Coca-Cola was sold for the first time on this date. Since its initial creation in 1886, Coca-Cola was sold only as a fountain drink until Vicksburg, Mississippi confectioner Joseph Biedenharn thought of bottling the beverage in the same manner he had been bottling soda water and offering it for sale toContinue reading “When the pause that refreshes first came in a bottle”

Since Hitchcock was born in August, and died in April, I have no clue why we celebrate in March – its arbitrary and capricious, which makes me like it even more. (It may have to due to the fact that March 12 is the televised anniversary of his American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Awards.) Besides,Continue reading “Today is Alfred Hitchcock Day”

March 12, 1973 –After six seasons, the last episode of Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In aired on NBC TV, on this date. George Schlatter did not produce the final season, but he won the rights to those episodes in a subsequent court battle. For many years, he neither allowed those episodes to be re-aired, nor anyContinue reading “The finale of Laugh-In”

March 12, 1973 –After six seasons, the last episode of Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In aired on NBC TV, on this date. George Schlatter did not produce the final season, but he won the rights to those episodes in a subsequent court battle. For many years, he neither allowed those episodes to be re-aired, nor anyContinue reading “The finale of Laugh-In”

March 12, 2001 –The Chris Isaak Show, a television sitcom which follows a fictionalized version of the life of American rock musician Chris Isaak, premiered on Showtime on this date. The character of Mona is based on a real woman at the Bimbo’s 365 Club in San Francisco known as “Dolphina“. In the 1930s, aContinue reading “Chris got his first show”

March 12, 2007 –Amy Winehouse made her US television debut on the Late Show with David Letterman performing Rehab on this date. On August 14, 2007, Winehouse entered The Causeway Retreat, a rehab center in Essex, England, with her new husband (and fellow addict), Blake Fielder. Addiction specialists know that admitting a couple to rehabContinue reading “Amy’s first time on US TV”

March 12, 1991 –Warner Bros. Records released the seventh studio album by R.E.M., Out of Time, on this date. The opening track on Out of Time, Radio Song features the influential rapper KRS-One. R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck explained to Guitar School in 1991: “When we wrote it out, we only had acoustic guitar, bongos, bass,Continue reading “Hey, I can’t find nothing on the radio …”

March 12, 1888 –The day before started off seemingly fine – the temperature was mild as a light rain began to fall on March 11th, 1888. And then the weather changed. The rain became heavier and by the next day, the rains changed to heavy snow and buried the unprepared city in drifts of upContinue reading “Don’t complain about the weather”