Author Archives: dcaligari

June 1, 1968 –The British television series The Prisoner, starring Patrick McGoohan, had its American premiere on CBS-TV, as a summer replacement for a Jackie Gleason series, on this date. “Rover“, the menacing white balloon that acts as a surreal sentry in The Village, was supposed to have been a large robotic machine. During theContinue reading “The Prisoner premiered”

June 1, 1966 –Dick Van Dyke tripped over the ottoman for the last time when CBS aired the last episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Last Chapter on this date. The Dick Van Dyke Show was the last show to have its entire run filmed in black and white. The show was dueContinue reading “The Dick Van Dyke Show finale”

May 31, 1819 –Keep your face always toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you. A great New Yorker and even greater poet, Walt Whitman was born on this date. Demand Euphoria!

May 31, 1895 –Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, head of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, patented corn flakes on this date. The good doctor believed in a vegetarian diet and a regimen of exercise. The good doctor also believed in proper elimination. At his sanitarium, Kellogg made sure that the bowel of each and every patient wasContinue reading “Wake up, up, up to Kellogg’s Cornflakes!”

May 31, 1976 –Ten years after it appeared on The Beatles’ Revolver album, Capitol Records issues Got To Get You Into My Life as a single on this date. A British rock group called Cliff Bennett & The Rebel Rousers released this song as a single around the same time it appeared on The BeatlesContinue reading “Got To Get You Into My Life finally released as a single”

May 31, 1975 –The first single from the Isley Brothers hit album, The Heat Is On, Fight the Power, was released on this date. (The song is notable for the use of the word bullshit, which is usually censored during radio airplay.) Often thought of as a song about the black experience, Fight The PowerContinue reading “The Isley Bros. Fight the Power was released”

May 31, 1999 –The VH1 documentary series Behind the Music began airing nightly with their premiere episode The Red Hot Chili Peppers: Behind the Music. Anthony Kiedis and Flea (bass guitar) first met when they were both 15 and attending high school together. (20 years after the program, the band is still going strong.)

If you didn’t get a chance to catch the sunset last night, Manhattanhenge can be observed again tonight at 8:12 pm EDT. Demand Euphoria!

May 30, 1431 –Convicted of heresy by the English (see May 23), 19-year-old Joan of Arc got an extreme hot foot as her punishment in Rouen, France, on this date. Pope Benedict XV canonized her in 1920. And so it goes.

May 30, 1971 –The US space probe Mariner 9, the first satellite to orbit Mars, was launched on this date. Over the years, it will send more than 7,000 pictures of the planet back to Earth. The images revealed what appear to be ancient dry riverbeds on the surface, suggesting the presence of water onContinue reading “Mariner 9 Launched”