Author Archives: dcaligari

August 16, 1940 –The first of Alfred Hitchcock’s war-time thrillers, Foreign Correspondent, starring Joel McCrea, Laraine Day and Herbert Marshall, opened on this date. Shooting was completed on May 29, 1940, after which director Alfred Hitchcock made a visit to England. He returned on July 3 with the word that the Germans were expected toContinue reading “Foreign Correspondent premiered”

August 16, 1985 – CBS-TV’s adaptation of the Arthur Miller classic Death of A Salesman, directed by Volker Schlöndorff and starring Dustin Hoffman and John Malkovich premiered on this date. Author Arthur Miller always pictured Willy Loman as a short, weak man with a booming voice. After nearly forty years, Miller finally got his wishContinue reading “Attention must be paid”

August 16, 2018 – Hey Nineteen, that’s Retha Franklin! Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, died after a long battle with pancreatic cancer on this date. In 1987, she became the first woman inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. In 2008, she was voted Greatest Singer Of All Time by the musiciansContinue reading “Aretha Louise Franklin”

Each year on August 16th, many people at amusement parks and theme parks across the country participating in National Roller Coaster Day which is celebrated on this date. J.G. Taylor received one of the earliest patents (US patent #128,674) for an inclined railway in 1872. In 1878, Richard Knudsen received a patent (US #198,888) forContinue reading “There are hills; there are valleys, peaks, and so on.”

August 15, 1965 – The Beatles played to nearly 60,000 fans at Shea Stadium in New York City, on this date, marking the birth of stadium rock. People tend to forget that this was one of the first major stadium concerts by a rock group.

August 15, 1964 –Dean Martin’s song Everybody Loves Somebody knocks The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night from the #1 spot on the Hot 100 on this date. Dean Martin hadn’t had a substantial pop hit since his version of Volare went to #12 in 1958. In 1962, he signed with the Reprise record label, whichContinue reading “Everybody Loves Somebody topped the charts”

The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you’ve got to have a what-the-hell attitude.. It’s the 112th birthday of Julia Child – Chef, Spy, Philosopher and in my opinion, one of the greatest Americans of the last century.

August 15, 1979 –The very long delayed epic, Apocalypse Now, premiered in NYC on this date. (Order some Banh xeo and a couple of bottles of Tiger Beer, and watch the Redux version, in honor of the anniversary.) It took Francis Ford Coppola nearly three years to edit the footage. While working on his finalContinue reading “I love the smell of napalm in the morning …”

August 15, 1948 –CBS-TV inaugurated the first nightly news broadcast with anchorman Douglas Edwards. Mr. Edwards held the job for 14 years and was succeeded by Walter Cronkite. And so it goes

Today is the Feast of Assumption of Mary. While the Feast of Assumption of Mary, also known as the Dormition of the Mother of God, only became a Holy Day of Obligation recently – on November 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII defined the Assumption of Mary to be a dogma of faith. In fact, theContinue reading “You can check today’s posting out after mass”