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While the Feast of Assumption of Mary, also known as the Dormition of the Mother of God, only became a Holy Day of Obligation recently – on November 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII defined the Assumption of Mary to be a dogma of faith. In fact, the Feast of the Assumption is one of theContinue reading “Today is the Feast of Assumption of Mary.”

August 15, 1979 –Neal Israel’s futuristic comedy film, Americathon, starring John Ritter, Fred Willard, Peter Riegert, Harvey Korman, and Nancy Morgan, with narration by George Carlin, premiered in the US on this date. Dorothy Stratten appears in an uncredited role wearing a Playboy Bunny style costume in the scene where Roy Budnitz donates blood.

August 15, 1979 – The very long delayed epic, Apocalypse Now, premiered in NYC on this date. (Order some Banh xeo and a couple of bottles of Tiger Beer, and watch the Redux version, in honor of the anniversary.) It took Francis Ford Coppola nearly three years to edit the footage. While working on hisContinue reading “Who’s in charge around here?”

August 15, 1918 –The Sinking of the Lusitania, written and directed by Winsor McCay, went into general release in the U.S. on this date. It is the first full-length feature cartoon documentary, featuring over twenty five thousand individual drawings which took twenty-two months to produce. The twelve minute silent film is a an educational explanationContinue reading “Ripped from the headlines”

August 15, 1981 –Diana Ross and Lionel Richie started a nine week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with Endless Love, on this date. This was released on the Motown label, which was home to both artists (the Commodores were a Motown act, and Richie stayed on the label as a solo artist).Continue reading “Endless Love topped the charts”

August 10, 1950 – Billy Wilder’s caustic, black-hearted masterpiece, Sunset Boulevard opened in New York City, on this date. The “Desmond mansion” was located not on Sunset Blvd. but at 641 S. Irving Blvd. on the corner of Crenshaw and Irving. It was built in 1924 by William Jenkins, at a cost of $250,000. ItsContinue reading “I’m ready for my close-up”

Happy National S’mores Day. S’mores – the most popular campfire treat is recognized each year on August 10th. In 1927, Girl Scouts troop leader Loretta Scott Crew wrote a recipe for “Some Mores,” and published it in Tramping and Trailing With the Girl Scouts, an official Girl Scouts publication, though the exact origin of S’moresContinue reading “Is there a better use for these ingredients”

August 8, 1969 –Three Dog Night released a cover version of the song Easy To Be Hard, on this date. The song was from the 1967 rock musical Hair. It was written by Galt MacDermot, James Rado, and Gerome Ragni, who put the musical together in the mid-1960s.

August 9, 1930 –A forerunner of the cartoon character Betty Boop made her debut in Max Fleischer’s animated short Dizzy Dishes on this date. In later films she loses the dog ears and becomes the familiar human character we know today.

August 8, 1975 –AVCO Embassy Pictures released Farewell, My Lovely, a film adaptation of the classic Raymond Chandler novel of the same name. The film starred Robert Mitchum, Charlotte Rampling, John Ireland, Sylvia Miles, Harry Dean Stanton, Joe Spinell, Sylvester Stallone, Jack O’Halloran, and even featured a cameo by hardboiled crime novelist Jim Thompson. TheContinue reading “Farewell, My Lovely premiered”