July 17, 1947 –Jackie Robinson was playing his historic first season with the Dodgers, the Yankees finally lost after 19 straight victories, Perry Como topped the Billboard charts with “Chi-Baba,Chi-Baba (My Bambino Go to Sleep),” and Jack Kerouac began his On the Road trip on this date. He left his mother’s apartment in Ozone Park,Continue reading “Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me …”
Author Archives: dcaligari
Tin Pan Alley Cats premiered
July 15, 1943 – The Merrie Melodies short, Tin Pan Alley Cats, directed by Bob Clampett, was released on this date. This cartoon has been banned from television airings since 1968, and is part of the Censored Eleven – these shorts were removed from television syndication because they contained heavy ethnic and racial stereotypes –Continue reading “Tin Pan Alley Cats premiered”
Porky Pig’s Feat premiered
July 17, 1943 –Originally released in B & W (re-release as a color version in 1968 and 1990,) the Looney Tunes short, Porky Pig’s Feat premiered on this date. This is the first time the Raymond Scott composition Powerhouse is used in a Warner Bros. cartoon. A rare appearance for Porky Pig (his last appearanceContinue reading “Porky Pig’s Feat premiered”
Egghead Rides Again premiered
July 15, 1937 – The Merrie Melodies short, Egghead Rides Again, directed by Tex Avery, and starring (in the first appearance of) Egghead, a character who would eventually evolve to become Elmer Fudd, was released on this date. The final scene would be alluded to fourteen years later in Drip-Along Daffy, in which Daffy DuckContinue reading “Egghead Rides Again premiered”
Arguably the first James Bond movie
July 17, 1959 – Alfred Hitchcock’s superlative North By Northwest, starring Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint, premiered on this date. While filming Vertigo, Alfred Hitchcock described some of the plot of this project to his star Jimmy Stewart, who naturally assumed that Hitchcock meant to cast him in the Roger Thornhill role, and wasContinue reading “Arguably the first James Bond movie”
The history of pie fights
July 17, 1913 –On this date, audiences attending the silent film A Noise from the Deep witnessed Mabel Normand striking Fatty Arbuckle in the face with a pie. It was purportedly the first use of the pie-in-the-face routine in film history. It may not seem that remarkable when you consider how much history there hadContinue reading “The history of pie fights”
Eleanora Fagan
July 17, 1959 –You’ve got to have something to eat and a little love in your life before you can hold still for any damn body’s sermon on how to behave. Billie Holiday died in a New York City hospital from cirrhosis of the liver after years of alcohol abuse, aged 43, (while under arrestContinue reading “Eleanora Fagan”
Life is a game that one plays according to the rules
July 16, 1951 – The Catcher in the Rye was published 75 years ago today. The book contained secret code words through which its author, J.D. Salinger, was able to transmit diabolical commands to his evil minions. Exactly six years after the Trinity test— and fourteen years later, the tunnel connecting France and Italy throughContinue reading “Life is a game that one plays according to the rules”
Be like Harold
A group of heirs is called an Expectation. This is technically true and sounds like something from a Victorian novel, which is probably where it comes from.
Help me! Help me!
July 16, 1958 – The classic Vincent Price Sci-Fi film, The Fly, opened in San Francisco on this date.< Although many people swear they have seen this film in black and white, they never have. This is sometimes referred to as the “Mandela Effect“, which is simply a false memory. It’s extremely common. The FlyContinue reading “Help me! Help me!”
