Author Archives: dcaligari

July 10, 1972 –Harry Nilsson’s eighth album, Son of Schmilsson was released on this date. It featured George Harrison under the name George Harrysong and Ringo Starr, listed as Richie Snare, on some of the tracks. Peter Frampton also played guitar on most of the album.

July 10, 1942 –RKO Pictures released Orson Welles‘ butchered masterpiece, The Magnificent Ambersons, on this date. (Like El Dorado or Shangri-La, a work print of Welles’ version supposedly exists in a vault somewhere in Brazil, tantalizingly, just out of reach. I have just read the TCM is currently sponsoring an exhaustive search through a majorContinue reading “The Magnificent Ambersons premiered”

July 10, 1856 –Inventor and electromechanical genius Nikola Tesla, the man who invented the 20th Century, was born to Serbian parents in what is now Croatia on this date. Remember, if we could only harness the free floating electricity, we could do away with the electric companies. And so it goes

July 10, 1978 –World News Tonight with anchors Frank Reynolds, Peter Jennings and Max Robinson (the first black anchor on a network newscast in the US) premiered on ABC TV on this date. The program has been anchored at various times by a number of other presenters since its debut in 1948. It also hasContinue reading “World News Tonight premiered”

July 9, 1982 –Buena Vista Pictures releases the sci-fi film Tron, directed by Steven Lisberger and starring Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, David Warner, Cindy Morgan, and Barnard Hughes, in the U.S. on this date. Many Disney animators refused to work on this movie because they feared that computers would put them out of business. InContinue reading “Tron premiered”

July 9, 1966 –The Beatles song Paperback Writer, topped the charts on this date. The B-side to this single was John Lennon’s Rain. Paul and John would always compete for the A-side of The Beatles singles.

On the Fourth of July in 1850, President Zachary Taylor snacked on cherries and milk while attending a ceremony at the Washington Monument. It was a hot day, and the heat made him sick. He got sicker and sicker and died on July 9. He remains the only U.S. president to have died from indigestionContinue reading “Sometimes is sucks to be president (Part 2)”

July 8th was a Sunday in 1881, so when a hot young man entered Edward Berner’s drugstore in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, and ordered an ice-cream soda, his request was denied. Ice-cream sodas could not be served on the Sabbath owing to the ancient Mosaic injunction against them. The hot young man pleaded his case soContinue reading “The Sundae may or may not have been invented today”

July 7, 1989 –The second single from their album The Raw & the Cooked, Good Thing by the Fine Young Cannibals, topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart on this date. Fine Young Cannibals rose from the ashes of the UK band The Beat. Sometimes called “The English Beat” to distinguish them from the US PaulContinue reading “Good Thing goes to No. 1”

July 8, 1964 –Probably Jerry Lewis‘ best directorial effort, The Patsy, premiered on this date. (This was Peter Lorre’s last film; he died four days after completing his role. Lorre hated the experience and death must have seems a welcome release.) Richard Deacon plays a real person, the famous “tailor to the stars“, Sy Devore.Continue reading “The Patsy premiered”