July 22, 1963 –The Beach Boys released the single Surfer Girl, (the b-side is Little Deuce Coupe,) 0n this date. The single was the first Beach Boys record to have Brian Wilson officially credited as the producer. Brian Wilson’s girlfriend when he wrote this song was Judy Bowles, who was with him before he formedContinue reading “Surfer Girl went on sale”
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Dead and on view
July 22, 1934 –John Dillinger was shot dead outside Chicago’s Biograph Theatre on this date in history. And one of the most bizarre urban legends was born. According to the rumor, J. Edgar Hoover — pug-ugly head of the FBI and notorious transvestite — rushed to Chicago to see the corpse of Dillinger, Public EnemyContinue reading “Dead and on view”
You Freud, me Jane?
July 22, 1964 – One of Hitchcock’s most underrated (and sexually twisted) films, Marnie premiered on this date. To film real horses riding without having to work outdoors, Alfred Hitchcock came up with the idea of running the horses on a gigantic treadmill. Crew members objected to the idea, because it was considered highly unsafe,Continue reading “You Freud, me Jane?”
Can your heart stand the shocking facts
July 22, 1959 –Either considered the worst or greatest film ever made, Ed Wood Jr’s sci-fi classic, Plan 9 from Outer Space, starring Bela Lugosi, Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Tor Johnson, Vampira and narrated by Criswell, opened in the US on this date. The film played for years in relative obscurity (to some) on late-nightContinue reading “Can your heart stand the shocking facts”
Fighting a liar
Today is Spooner’s Day, honoring Reverend William Archibald Spooner, a 19th Century British clergyman, who was born on this date in 1844. Spoonerisms are usually a two-word phrase in which the first letters (and occasionally the initial vowels) of the words are reversed. Reverend Spooner was adept at the art of the oopsy linguae, orContinue reading “Fighting a liar”
The Wall in Berlin aired
July 21, 1990 –Roger Waters staged an over-sized version of Pink Floyd’s The Wall near the Berlin Wall, on this date, to celebrate the actual wall’s fall several months earlier. During the live TV transmission the second and third songs, The Thin Ice and Another Brick in the Wall part I, were disrupted when aContinue reading “The Wall in Berlin aired”
On the way home
July 21, 1969 –Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin blasted off from the Moon after twenty-one and a half hours on the surface and returned to the command module piloted by Michael Collins on this date. The lunar module’s lower section, left behind, has a plaque mounted upon it, reading, “Here menContinue reading “On the way home”
UHF premiered
July 21, 1989 –Orion Pictures‘ comedy UHF, (written by and) starring Weird Al Yankovic, David Bowe, Fran Drescher, Victoria Jackson, Kevin McCarthy, Michael Richards, Gedde Watanabe, Kevin McCarthy, Anthony Geary, Emo Philips and Trinidad Silva opened in US theatres on this date. The soundtrack features many of Yankovic’s signature song parodies, as well as aContinue reading “UHF premiered”
Stormy Weather premiered
July 21, 1943 –Twentieth Century Fox’s musical spectacular, Stormy Weather, starring Lena Horne, Bill Robinson, Cab Calloway, Katherine Dunham, Fats Waller, Fayard Nicholas, Harold Nicholas, Ada Brown, and Dooley Wilson, opened in the US on this date. Two musical numbers were deleted from the release print: Good-for-Nothin’ Joe (music by Rube Bloom, lyrics by TedContinue reading “Stormy Weather premiered”
Ernest Hemingway
July 21, 1899 –Ernest Hemingway was born on this date. He was young at the time of his birth. It was fine to be young. He drove an ambulance in World War I. It wasn’t called World War I then. It was just called the war. It was one of those times when people shotContinue reading “Ernest Hemingway”
