Author Archives: dcaligari

June 10, 1935 –God, grant me the serenity … It’s the anniversary of the establishment of A(lcoholics) A(nonymous), in Akron, Ohio. It was founded by a stockbroker named Bill Wilson and a surgeon, Bob Smith, who found that the best way to keep from drinking was to spend time with other people who were tryingContinue reading “The start of AA”

June 10, 1966 –The Beatles song Paperback Writer was released in UK, on this date. This claimed the top spot in the US for two non-consecutive weeks; it was interrupted for one week by Frank Sinatra’s Strangers in the Night.

June 10, 2007 –The final episode of (what could arguably have been the greatest television series ever broadcast) The Sopranos aired on this date. I’m not even going to comment upon what actual happened in the last few moments of the broadcast. Coincidence or not, Italian Businessman John Gotti died on this date in 2002.

June 10, 1991 – The last episode of the second season of Twin Peaks: Beyond Life and Death aired on ABC TV on this date In the 2014 book Reflections: An Oral History of Twin Peaks by Brad Dukes, Jules Haimovitz (who was the president and COO of Spelling Entertainment while Twin Peaks was on)Continue reading “The (first) finale of Twin Peaks”

June 9, 1945 – The last appearance of a ‘nude‘ Tweety and before his famous pairing with Sylvester, A Gruesome Twosome, premiered in the US on this date. The Ren and Stimpy Show creator John Kricfalusi combined the two cats in this short to create Stimpy with the Jimmy Durante cat’s coloring and nose, andContinue reading “A Gruesome Twosome premiered”

June 9, 1902 –Joe Horn and Frank Hardart opened the Horn and Hardart Automat Restaurant, the first restaurant with vending machine service, at 818 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on this date. If you are of a certain age, you used to call them Horny and Hardon.

June 9, 1934 – 89 years ago today, an American legend made his first appearance on the silver screen. The Silly Symphony short The Wise Little Hen premiered; it star, resplendent in his trademark sailor jacket and cap. Since then, he has appeared in over 450 films in more than 200 languages, held lead rolesContinue reading “The Wise Little Hen premiered”

June 9, 1947 –Another of Orson Welles‘ (The patron saint of Independent film makers) mangled studio films The Lady from Shanghai was released on this date. Orson Welles’ original rough cut of this picture ran 155 minutes (the released version ran 92 minutes). Numerous cuts made by Columbia Pictures executives included a shortening of theContinue reading “The Lady from Shanghai premiered”

June 9, 1946 –The first car commercial on television for Chevrolet aired on this date. The live ad was the start of the car company’s sponsorship of a series of variety shows that aired in four cities on the DuMont network. (this is obvious not the actual commercial) The ad marked Chevrolet’s first regular sponsorshipContinue reading “The first commercial for a car company”

June 9, 1978 –The Rolling Stones‘ 14th British and 16th American studio album, Some Girls, was released on this date. The album cover was a parody of a newspaper ad for wigs, but the women wearing the wigs were celebrities like Raquel Welch, Lucille Ball, and Farrah Fawcett. They had to remove the famous womenContinue reading “Some Girls went on sale”