July 11, 1969 –The Rolling Stones released Honky Tonk Women on this date. In this song, Mick Jagger sings about having a go with two different honky tonk women. The first is a “gin-soaked, bar-room queen in Memphis” – likely a prostitute. The second is a “divorcée in New York City.” Jagger would sometimes introduceContinue reading “Hard to believe”
Author Archives: dcaligari
Right Church — Wrong Pew
July 11, 1533 –The Church of England came into being on this date. The story of its origins is shrouded in sex and therefore historically important. Henry VIII ascended to the English throne in 1509, an energetic young man of seventeen. He immediately decided he needed a male heir. This became the enduring theme ofContinue reading “Right Church — Wrong Pew”
I must protest
July 10, 1958 –The first parking meter was installed in London, England, on this date in 1958—along with the second through the 625th. It took nearly two dozen years for the parking meter to make its way across the Atlantic: the first American parking meter had been installed in Oklahoma City on July 16, 1935.Continue reading “I must protest”
The local rock group down the street
July 10, 1967 –The Monkees released the single, written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, Pleasant Valley Sunday, on this date. While studio musicians were brought in to play on many songs for The Monkees, the band did play on this one – for the most part. Peter Tork played piano and Mike Nesmith playedContinue reading “The local rock group down the street”
The Oily American premiered
July 10, 1954 – The Merrie Melodies short, The Oily American, directed by Bob McKimson, was released on this date. This short is seldom shown on American television due to American Indian stereotypes. The butler is a based on, character actor, Arthur Treacher, who was known throughout his life for playing butlers in film.
The Shell Shocked Egg premiered
July 10, 1948 – The Looney Tunes short, The Shell Shocked Egg, directed by Bob McKimson, was released on this date. The unnamed rooster in this cartoon has the exact same figure and shape as Foghorn Leghorn, created two years earlier in 1946. The only difference between the two are the colors of their feathers.Continue reading “The Shell Shocked Egg premiered”
Tomorrow everything would be gone.
July 10, 1942 –Orson Welles’s butchered masterpiece, The Magnificent Ambersons, was released by RKO Pictures on this date. After a disastrous preview—which took place a week after the Pearl Harbor attack—it was clear to the executives at RKO that the film was too long, too dense, and too somber. Orson Welles, however, had decamped toContinue reading “Tomorrow everything would be gone.”
The Brave Little Toaster premiered
July 10, 1987 –The animated film, The Brave Little Toaster, directed by Jerry Rees and voiced by Deanna Oliver, Timothy E. Day, Jon Lovitz, Tim Stack, Thurl Ravenscroft, Wayne Kaatz, Phil Hartman, Joe Ranft, and Jonathan Benair, was released on this date. In a 2010 interview at Cal State, Northridge, Deanna Oliver revealed that atContinue reading “The Brave Little Toaster premiered”
Ultraman premiered
July 10, 1966 –The follow-up to the Japanese science fiction television series produced by Tsuburaya Productions, Ultra Q, Ultraman, debuted in Japan on this date. (I have seen it listed as having first aired one week later July 17, 1966. Who knows, I wasn’t there.) The sequences of Ultraman battling monsters were so expensive toContinue reading “Ultraman premiered”
The Man Who Lit the World
Today is Tesla Day – Inventor and electromechanical genius Nikola Tesla, the man who invented the 20th Century, was born to Serbian parents in what is now Croatia on July 10, 1856 . Remember, if we could only harness the free floating electricity, we could do away with the electric companies.
