Author Archives: dcaligari

December 11, 1992 – Walt Disney Pictures and Jim Henson Productions’ musical comedy adaptation of Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol, The Muppet Christmas Carol, directed by Brian Henson (in his feature directorial debut) and starring Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge, alongside Muppet performers Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Jerry Nelson, and Frank Oz, premiered on thisContinue reading “Another Christmas Carol heard from”

Today is Have a Bagel Day. as opposed to National Bagel Day which is January 15th. Whichever day you celebrate, remember the salmon and a smear.

December 11, 1980 – Magnum PI, starring Tom Selleck, premiered on CBS-TV on this date. This is one of a very small number of shows in which an actor “breaks the fourth wall” and looks right into the camera. Thomas Magnum does this on occasion when presented with a ridiculous situation.

Today is National Lager Day. Let us celebrate the third most popular beverage after water and tea. I’m hoping it co-incidental, but suspicious of the fact that it is celebrated around the same time as Santa-con. For those of you who need to know – Lager is one of the two main types of beer,Continue reading “Milk is for babies.”

December 10, 1967 –Julie Andrews! Peter Cook and Dudley Moore in their first starring comedy, Bedazzled, opened in the US on this date. Although Raquel Welch is featured in most of the promotional material for this movie, she was only on-screen for roughly seven minutes.

December 10, 1974 –Another Rankin/Bass animated holiday special The Year Without A Santa Claus premiered on ABC-TV on this date. Another Rankin/Bass animated holiday special The Year Without A Santa Claus premiered on ABC-TV on this date. The names of the reindeer are consistent with the Clement Moore poem and other sources. Vixen is theContinue reading “He’s Mister Heat Blister …”

December 10, 1955 –The Mighty Mouse Playhouse began a long-standing ‘Saturday Morning Cartoon’ tradition on CBS-TV, on this date. Terrytoons Studios produced 80 theatrical Mighty Mouse cartoons between 1942 to 1961, which were shown on this cartoon TV series on Saturday mornings. Each episode contained three Mighty Mousetheatrical cartoons and a one-shot one (especially withContinue reading “Mr. trouble never hangs around …”

December 10, 1984 –It been more than 40 years since Do They Know It’s Christmas, the charity single by the all-star group Band Aid, was released. As of the last check, The Band Aid/ Live Aid initiatives have raised over $250 million dollars. Not bad for basically a very crappy tune.

The first Christmas card was created in England on December 9, 1843. Like most of us, Henry Cole, an Englishman, was too busy to write personal greetings for all of his Christmas greetings in 1843. Cole hired artist John Calcott Horsley to design a ready-to-be-sent card. The hand-colored card Horsley designed was lithographed on stiff,Continue reading “Mine went out already”

December 9, 1966 –A very early Francis Ford Coppola, You’re a Big Boy Now, starring Elizabeth Hartman, Peter Kastner, Geraldine Page, her spouse Rip Torn, Karen Black, Tony Bill, Michael Dunn, and Julie Harris opened on this date. Francis Ford Coppola was desperate to film on location at the New York Public Library but theContinue reading “You’re a Big Boy Now premiered”