Author Archives: dcaligari

March 6, 1950 – Silly Putty was introduced as a toy by Peter Hodgson, a marketing consultant, who packaged one-ounce portions of the rubber-like material in plastic eggs, on this date. It could be stretched, rolled into a bouncing ball, or used to transfer colored ink from newsprint. The original discovery was made in 1943Continue reading “Silly Putty”

March 6, 1869 – Dmitri Mendeleev presented the first periodic table to the Russian Chemical Society on this date in a presentation entitled “The Dependence between the Properties of the Atomic Weights of the Elements.” He left gaps in his charts and predicted the addition of three more elements in the near future. Mendeleev’s predictionsContinue reading “The Periodic Table”

March 6, 1965 –I’m not a stooge, I’m a straight lady – the best in Hollywood. There is an art to playing the straight role. You must build up your man but never top him, never steal the laughs. Daisy Juliette Baker, Groucho’s favorite comic foil, died on this date. Groucho Marx continued to alternatelyContinue reading “Margaret Dumont”

March 6, 1970 –The Beatles released Let it Be in the UK on this date. Paul McCartney wrote this song supposedly after he had a dream about his mother who died when he was 14. Since Let It Be was The Beatles last album, it made an appropriate statement about leaving problems behind and movingContinue reading “Let It Be”

March 5, 1982 –John Belushi was found dead at the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood from a cocaine and heroin overdose on this date. A sketchy woman, Cathy Smith, was later charged with administering the fatal injections. Sorry but there was really nothing funny about that – it was just a waste. And so it goes

On March 1, 1953, after an all-night dinner with interior minister Lavrenty Beria and future premiers Georgi Malenkov, Nikolai Bulganin and Nikita Khrushchev, Josif Stalin, truly Evil Bastard, did not emerge from his room the next day, having probably suffered a stroke that paralyzed the right side of his body. Although his guards thought itContinue reading “Bizarre ironies of History –”

March 5, 1965 –The Mannish Boys released their second single I Pity The Fool, featuring a young David Bowie, produced by Shel Talmy, (who was also producing the early singles and albums by The Who and The Kinks). Jimmy Page was Talmy’s regular session musician and played the guitar solo on I Pity the Fool.

March 4, 1950 – One of the classic Chuck Jones Looney Tunes cartoons, The Scarlet Pumpernickel, was released on this date. This was another show I was not allowed to watch with my family because I laughed too loudly. By all means, please, stop eating or drinking while watching this cartoon, you may injury yourself.Continue reading “The Scarlet Pumpernickel premiered”

March 4, 1963 –The Beach Boys released Surfin’ U.S.A. a song with lyrics by Brian Wilson set to the music of Sweet Little Sixteen, written by Chuck Berry. Billboard ranked Surfin’ U.S.A. the No. 1 song of 1963. Many of the early Beach Boys’ songs were about surfing. Dennis Wilson was the only Beach BoyContinue reading “Surfin’ U.S.A. premiered”

March 4, 1849 – This is a US secret you probably don’t know – this is the day America had no President. James K. Polk (whose cause of death was officially listed as “diarrhea“) officially stepped down as the 11th US president and President Zachary Taylor (who would die in office after eating cherries andContinue reading “Another thing your teachers didn’t tell you”