Author Archives: dcaligari

December 28, 1895 –Auguste and Louis Lumiere opened the first movie theater at the Grand Cafe in Paris, on this date . Other inventors, including Thomas Edison, were working on various moving picture devices at the time. But most of those other devices could only be viewed by one person at a time. The LumieresContinue reading “The first publicly exhibited film”

It’s the Fourth day of Christmas and you’ve just received four calling bird, sometimes know as colly birds or collie birds (which are actually blackbirds). Today’s score: you currently have 22 gifts – four calling birds, six French hens, eight turtledoves and four partridges in their respective pear trees (when do these trees become aContinue reading “Did you ever mention that you liked birds?”

December 28, 1968 –Marvin Gaye’s song I Heard It Through the Grapevine hit number #1 on this date. The song was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong. Strong came up with the idea and asked Motown writers Holland-Dozier-Holland to work on it with him. They refused to credit another writer, so Strong took itContinue reading “I Heard It Through the Grapevine topped the charts”

December 28, 1960 –The MGM film, Where The Boys Are, starring Connie Francis, Dolores Hart, Paula Prentiss, George Hamilton, Yvette Mimieux, Jim Hutton, and Frank Gorshin, was released in the US on this date. Dolores Hart left Hollywood a few years after this movie was released and became a Benedictine nun, and has been aContinue reading “Where The Boys Are premiered”

December 28, 1994 –The Madness of King George, film based on the play by Alan Bennett, directed by Nicholas Hytner, starring Nigel Hawthorne and Helen Mirren opened in the US, on this date. Many historians believe that George III’s mental state was caused by porphyria, a metabolic imbalance that can cause blue urine. However, recentContinue reading “The Madness of King George premiered”

Once again, if you’re keeping score, you currently have, three French hens, four turtledoves and three partridges with their trio of pear trees (10 gifts.) The three French hens symbolize the three theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity. The hens, being french, will not associate with the common turtle doves – leave plenty ofContinue reading “Do they lay pre-made omelets”

December 27, 1967 –Future Nobel Laureate Robert Zimmerman returned to his acoustic roots with the release of his John Wesley Harding album on this date. On the cover of John Wesley Harding, on either side of Dylan (who was wearing the same jacket he’d worn on the sleeve of Blonde On Blonde) is Luxman andContinue reading “We first found ourselves All Along the Watchtower”

December 27, 1979 –Knots Landing, CBS’ spinoff of Dallas, debuted on this date. The show went on for 14 seasons, making it one of the longest running prime time drama, in television history. Although it had outlasted all of its contemporaries (even Dallas) and was still in the top forty ratings, the network and theContinue reading “We first visited Knots Landing”

December 27, 1947 –Hey kids, what time is it? A bleary eyed world, fresh from the horrors of a second World War awaken to the sight of a freaky marionette on NBC – Howdy Doody premiered on this date. This was the first nationally televised American children’s television show.

Today is St. Stephen’s Day – the day King Wenceslas and his page brave the wintry night to give alms out to the poor. The citizens of the British Commonwealth honor the saint on this day by putting on trunks and gloves to beat each other bloody silly. (In Ireland, it is known as Wren’sContinue reading “In and out of the garden he goes”