Author Archives: dcaligari

August 1, 1973 –Universal premiered George Lucas ode to early 1960s, American Graffiti, starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Harrison Ford, Charles Martin Smith, Cindy Williams, Candy Clark and Mackenzie Phillips, premiered on this date. Due to the low budget, George Lucas was unable to pay all of the crew members. He offeredContinue reading “American Graffiti premiered”

August 1, 1971 – The Six Wives of Henry VIII an acclaimed BBC series originally airing in 1970, aired on CBS, on this date. Costume Designer John Bloomfield worked for nearly a year on the mini-series. He spent three months doing basic research at the National Portrait Gallery, Windsor Castle, and various libraries, going throughContinue reading “The Six Wives of Henry VIII premiered (in the US)”

The festival of Lammas marks the beginning of the harvest, when people go to church to give thanks for the first grain to be cut. This is the long way of saying that it’s August again. How did a single month become so important? Like almost everything else that’s difficult to understand, the history ofContinue reading “The border between summer and autumn”

July 31, 1966 –The Beatles records were burned in Birmingham, Alabama on this date — only because John Lennon innocently declared that the band happens to be “more popular than Jesus.“ The record burning of course has the opposite effect, as sales of Beatles records dramatically increase (in part to burn them.)

July 31, 1976 –Blue Oyster Cult single, from their album, Agents of Fortune, (Don’t Fear) the Reaper, was released on this date. (Don’t Fear) The Reaper was written and sung by Blue Öyster Cult’s lead guitarist, Donald Roeser, also known as Buck Dharma. It was rumored to be about suicide, but it actually deals withContinue reading “Cowbells, more cowbells”

July 31, 1928 –MGM’s Leo the lion roared for the first time on this date. He introduced MGM’s first talking picture, White Shadows on the South Seas. The film was directed by W.S. Van Dyke and starred Monte Blue. It won an Oscar in 1928-29 for Best Cinematography

July 31, 1977 –For a reason only known to CBS executives, the one hit wonder group Starland Vocal Band’s show, The Starland Vocal Band Show debuted on CBS TV on this date. The band started out as John Denver’s backup group. The comedy was provided primarily by veteran D.C.-based satirist Mark Russell and David Letterman,Continue reading “So this is what they did after they finished their afternoon delight”

It was on this day in 1954 that human feet first stood upon the summit of Pakistan’s K2 mountain, the second-tallest mountain in the world. K2 was known to the Chinese as “Great Mountain” and to Indian and Pakistani locals as “That Big Thing Over There.” It was not until 1856, when T.G. Montgomerie ofContinue reading “K2 was conquered”

July 31, 1964 –The American space probe Ranger 7 transmitted the first photo moon’s surface ever taken by a U.S. spacecraft, mapping the surface for a future lunar landing, on this date. Ranger 7 carried six slow-scan vidicon TV cameras capable of transmitting high-resolution television pictures of the lunar surface. A total of 4,308 photographsContinue reading “So that’s what the Moon looks like”

July 30, 1966 –The Beatles’ album Yesterday… and Today, went #1 and stayed #1 for five weeks, on this date. The record was released just after John’s infamous interview in which he stated that the Beatles were “bigger than Jesus“, which angered Americans and provoked many bans on their music and public incineration of memorabilia.Continue reading “Yesterday… and Today topped the charts”