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May 5, 1821 –Napoleon died on the island of St. Helena on this date. After confession, Extreme Unction and Viaticum in the presence of Father Ange Vignali, Napoleon’s last words were, “France, l’armée, tête d’armée, Joséphine” (“France, army, head of the army, Joséphine“). Some suspect Napoleon died from arsenic poisoning. More likely, he died fromContinue reading “The death of Napoleon”

May 5, 1934 – Columbia Pictures released their first Three Stooges short, Woman Haters, starring Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard, on this date. Out of the 190+ shorts The Three Stooges made, this is one of the few in which their characters aren’t called by the Stooges‘ real names (or variations of theirContinue reading “The First Three Stooges short”

May 5, 1961 –Alan B. Shepard was the first American in space, with a fifteen minute suborbital flight. He was forced to piss himself in his suit prior to launch, as it lacked an evacuation system. He and his soiled space suit were launched in the 2,000-lb. capsule Freedom 7 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, byContinue reading “This will be on the test.”

May 5th, 1955 –On this bright and sunny spring day, the United States decided to blow an American city into oblivion in order to test a new cooking method. At 5:10 am on this date, a nuclear bomb assigned to Operation Cue (a.k.a. ‘Apple-2’ or Operation Teapot) was detonated at Area 1 of the NevadaContinue reading “Food experiment gone horribly wrong”

Please take a brief pause from getting ready for the massive margarita you all have to make to celebrate this day. For those of you who don’t know – it’s not Mexican Independence Day (that’s September 16th) – it’s the celebration of Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza victory over the French General Charles Latrille de Lorencez.Continue reading “Do not embarrass yourself”

May 5, 2000 –Steely Dan kicked off the fifth year of The Today Show’s Summer Concert series with a rare live performance on this date. The band found it very nerve-racking to appear on a totally live broadcast for fear of any technical glitches out of their control.

May 5, 1952 –One of the most famous episodes of the I Love Lucy series, Lucy Does a TV Commercial, (also known as Vitameatavegamin,) aired on this date. In 1997, TV Guide ranked it #2 on their list of the 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time. Ross Elliott, who played the director, said of thisContinue reading “It’s so tasty too, just like candy”

May 4, 1959 –Originally called the Gramophone awards, the first Grammys were handed out on this date, to honor the musical accomplishments by performers for the year 1958. The ceremony was hosted by comedian Mort Sahl and held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. At the same time, Recording Academy members convenedContinue reading “The first Grammys”

May 4, 1973 – Bruce Jay Friedman’s Off-Broadway play, Steambath debuted on PBS, on this date. Valerie Perrine became the first woman to display (on purpose) her nipples on American network television. Valerie Perrine was seen taking a shower from the side and her butt was in full view. Only 24 PBS stations were adventurousContinue reading “Steambath premiered”

May 4, 1959 –François Truffaut’s seminal New Wave film, The 400 Blows, starring Jean-Pierre Léaud, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on this date. Jean-Pierre Léaud’s answers to the questions given to him by the psychologist at the camp near the end of the film were not scripted. Francois Truffaut told Leaud in advance aboutContinue reading “The 400 Blows debuted”