Author Archives: dcaligari

October 11, 1944 – The romantic Noir classic, Laura, starring Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb and Vincent Price, premiered in NYC on this date. After two weeks worth of work, Twentieth Century Fox studio head Darryl F. Zanuck was unhappy with the results and fired director Rouben Mamoulian. Producer Otto Preminger took over theContinue reading “Laura is the face in the misty light …”

October 11, 1962 –We all got to follow the wacky adventures of the crew of PT-73 when McHale’s Navy set sail for the first time on this date on ABC-TV. The entire Pacific Ocean naval base of Taratupa was built on the back lot of Universal Studios. For many years after the show went offContinue reading “We got to visit Taratupa for the first time”

October 11, 1975 –The long running (some say too long running) comedy variety show started at 11:30 PM, on this date, with George Carlin as its host. It was called NBC’s Saturday Night, because ABC featured a program at the same time titled Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell. After ABC canceled the Cosell programContinue reading “It’s hard to believe it’s been on for so long”

October 11, 1961 –The oldest of the Marx Brothers, Leonard ‘Chico‘ Marx, died on this date. Chico was a compulsive womanizer and had a lifelong gambling habit. His addiction cost him millions of dollars by his own account. His brother, Gummo Marx, in an interview years after Chico’s death, said, “Chico’s favorite people were actorsContinue reading “Chico Marx”

In case you’re not keeping track Our neighbors to the north will be celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving this coming Monday while we’ll be celebrating Columbus Never Met an Indigenous Person He Didn’t Kill or Enslave Day, but more on that later. there are 20 days until Halloween. there are 24 more days until the general election.Continue reading “Start making plans”

Today is Hug a Drummer Day. Without drummers, we would soon notice how different and even weak music can be, so hail a day to celebrate such percussionists! And I’m lucky, (when allowed,) I get to hug a drummer all the time

October 10, 1964 –The Shangri-Las released their operatic hit, Leader of the Pack, on this date. This was written by Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry and producer Shadow Morton. Morton was looking for a follow-up to the first Shangri-Las‘ hit, Remember (Walking in the Sand). He had a motorcycle and was part of a motorcycle gangContinue reading “Is she really going out with him?”

October 10, 1966 – The lumbering epic, based on the eponymous 1959 novel by James A. Michener, Hawaii. directed by George Roy Hill, and starring Julie Andrews, Max von Sydow, Richard Harris, Gene Hackman, and Carroll O’Connor debuted on this date. (If you don’t blink, you can see Bette Midler, in her first screen appearanceContinue reading “Hawaii, the film, not the state (or nation) premiered”

October 10, 2000 –The short-lived comedy series The Geena Davis Show, starring Geena Davis (of course), Peter Horton, Mimi Rogers, and Kim Coles, premiered on ABC-TV, on this date. Geena Davis had tried out for archery in the 2000 Olympics but fell short of qualifying for the team, ranking 24th place, which increased her obsessionContinue reading “The Geena Davis show premiered”

October 10, 1985 – … Our works in stone, in paint, in print, are spared, some of them, for a few decades or a millennium or two, but everything must finally fall in war, or wear away into the ultimate and universal ash – the triumphs, the frauds, the treasures and the fakes. A factContinue reading “How strange the co-incidences in life are”