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June 17, 1950 – The Disassociated Press sent a reporter to get Bug Bunny’s life story in What’s Up Doc?. This Looney Tunes short was directed by Bob McKimson and released on this date. Bugs and Elmer perform the What’s Up Doc? title song. This is the first cartoon in which its lyrics are heard.

It’s Eat Your Vegetables Day Another voice heard from So eat them up, or not. (My kids are too old for me to worry about this anymore.)

June 17, 1964 –The British war drama, Zulu, directed by Cy Endfield and starring Michael Caine (in his first major role), Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Nigel Green, Paul Daneman, Glynn Edwards, Ivor Emmanuel, Patrick Magee, and Zulu chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi (playing his great-grandfather, Zulu King Cetshwayo kaMpande,) opened on this date. Cy Endfield wantedContinue reading “Zulu premiered”

June 17, 1970 – The cult classic, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (co-written by Roger Ebert – yes that Roger Ebert,) directed by Russ Meyers and starring Dolly Read, Cynthia Myers, Marcia McBroom, John LaZar, Michael Blodgett, David Gurian, and Edy Williams, opened on this date. Budgeted at a modest $900,000 (approximately $4.5 millionContinue reading “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls premiered”

June 16, 1944 – The Merrie Melodies short, Slightly Daffy, directed by Friz Freleng, starring Porky Pig and Daffy Duck debuted on this date. Similarly to the short Scalp Trouble, this cartoon is seldom shown on television nowadays due to its stereotypical portrayal of Native Americans.

June 16, 1939 – The Merrie Melodies short, Hobo Gadget Band, directed by Ben Hardaway and Cal Dalton, debuted on this date. When the lead hobo partakes in his “Soda Fizz” (or as he calls it, “Sodium Acetylsalicylate“), he states “Listen to it fizz“; which was an early catch-phrase for the Alka-Seltzer brand in theContinue reading “Hobo Gadget Band premiered”

June 17, 1971 –Carole King’s album Tapestry goes to No. 1 on US album charts and stays there for 15 weeks Tapestry was a groundbreaking album, which helped popularize the singer/songwriter genre. It stayed on the American album charts for over six years, selling over 24 million copies worldwide. Until 1976, it was the largest-sellingContinue reading “You’re so far away”

June 16, 1958 – The classic Hammer horror film, Dracula (AKA House of Dracula,) directed by Terence Fisher and starring Peter Cushing, Michael Gough, Melissa Stribling, and Christopher Lee, opened in the UK, on this date. Christopher Lee has only sixteen lines, as Dracula, in the entire film, all spoken by the 10 minute mark.

June 16, 1950 – The romantic comedy, Father of the Bride, directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, Elizabeth Taylor, Don Taylor, Billie Burke, and Leo G. Carroll, opened in the US on this date. The surrealist artist Salvador Dali created the sequence where Stanley (Spencer Tracy) has a very weird nightmareContinue reading “Father of the Bride premiered”

June 16, 1956 – The Merrie Melodies short, Napoleon Bunny-Part, directed by Friz Freleng, starring Bugs Bunny, debuted on this date. The large guard sounds like an early version of Barney Rubble. This is not surprising, as Mel Blanc voiced that character a few years later.