Author Archives: dcaligari

May 18, 1896 –Bram Stoker’s novel, retitled just before its release on this date, as Dracula, tells the story of the Count’s attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and his subsequent battle with a group of men and women led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing. Over 200 films have featured Dracula in a majorContinue reading “Dracula went on sale”

May 18, 1976 –Warren Zevon released his self-titled album, produced by Jackson Browne, on this date. Warren Zevon’s eponymous second album came out six years after his first. In the years between, he took musical odd jobs like writing jingles, but he also performed and caught the attention of Jackson Browne, who helped him landContinue reading “Warren Zevon’s eponymous album went on sale”

May 18, 1998 – The final episode (or so we thought) of Murphy Brown, Never Can Say Goodbye, aired on CBS-TV on this date. (The re-boot of the series ran for about a year.) One of the running series jokes was Murphy Brown’s inability to get a good secretary or one that could work withContinue reading “The finale of the original Murphy Brown series”

May 18, 1990 –For a reason few people really understand, CBS TV aired the TV film, Return to Green Acres, on this date. It was reported that Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor were extremely close friends during the run of the show and the chemistry between them often showed in scenes where they were inContinue reading “Return to Green Acres premiered”

May 17, 1980 –Blondie’s single Call Me by reached No. #1 on the Billboard charts on this date. Call Me was the most successful of all Blondie singles in the USA, where it was the best-selling single of 1980.

May 17, 1950 –Nicholas Ray’s excellent film noir, In a Lonely Place, starring Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame premiered on this date. Lauren Bacall and Ginger Rogers were considered for the role of Laurel Gray. Bogart naturally wanted his wife to play opposite him, but Warner Brothers refused to release her from her contract. RogersContinue reading “In a Lonely Place premiered”

May 17, 1969 –The fourth studio album by The Who, Tommy, a double album, was released in the US on this date. The song, Pinball Wizard, was the last one written for the album. Pete Townshend wrote it, in part, to impress a rock critic named Nik Cohn who was a pinball fanatic. The ployContinue reading “Tommy went on sale”

Today is Rubber Band Day. The day honors Inventor Stephen Perry’s receiving a patent for the rubber band on this date in 1845 (We’ve also seen it listed as March 17th but we can be sure, no one from ACME was there at the time.) (The ACME Corporation is in no way endorsing the sortContinue reading “Remember – Misplay with them, you could put an eye out”

May 16, 1966 –The Beach Boys released their 11th studio album, Pet Sounds on this date. It has since been recognized as one of the most influential albums in the history of popular music and is widely regarded as one of the best albums of the 1960s. All that beautiful music and barking dogs, too.

It’s National Sea Monkey Day, So go out and enjoy the day thinking about these krill-like wonders. But don’t think about their creator, Harold von Braunhut and the allegations that he financially supported white-supremacist groups. And so it goes