Category Archives: Uncategorized

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 4, 1982 – The David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker silliness, Police Squad, starring Leslie Nielsen as Frank Drebin, premiered on ABC-TV on this date. Each week featured a “Special Guest Star” who is killed off in the opening credits. Lorne Greene and William Conrad are knifed and tossed out of cars; GeorgContinue reading “Police Squad debuted”

March 4, 1967 –The Rolling Stones song, Ruby Tuesday, topped the charts on this date. Brian Jones played the recorder (it sounds like a flute) on this song. He was a founding member of the group and fancied himself their leader, which along with a debilitating drug habit, starting causing problems in the band aroundContinue reading “Ruby Tuesday was No. 1 on the Billboard Charts”

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, 1979 –Mary Tyler Moore’s second ill-conceived venture in a variety series, The Mary Tyler Moore Hour, co-starring Dody Goodman, Michael Keaton, Joyce Van Patten, Ron Rifkin, and Doris Roberts, premiered on CBS TV on this date. The show’s premise was to give the audience a fictionalized view into the life of the starContinue reading “The Mary Tyler Moore Hour premiered”

March 3, 1931 –An English beer drinking song became the National Anthem of the United States on this date. The lyrics to said drink song are – To Anacreon in heaven where he sat in full glee,A few sons of harmony sent a petition,That he their inspirer and patron would be,When this answer arrived fromContinue reading “Please rise during the reading of this”

March 3, 1969 –Apollo 9, the third manned mission in the United States Apollo space program, blasted off from Cape Kennedy on a mission to test the lunar module. It carried astronauts James McDivitt, Russell Schweickart and David Scott and made 151 Earth orbits over 10 days. The mission was the second manned launch ofContinue reading “The launch of Apollo 9”

March 3, 1985 –ABC-TV unleashed Bruce Willis, Cybill Shepherd and the crew from the Blue Moon Detective Agency onto an unsuspecting world, when it premiered the pilot episode of Moonlighting on this date. Bruce Willis was the very last of about 3,000 actors to audition for the role of David Addison, Jr. (Have a goodContinue reading “Moonlighting debuted”

March 3, 1972 –Elton John released the song Rocket Man, (officially titled Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going to Be a Long, Long Time), on this date. The inspiration for Bernie Taupin’s lyrics was the short story The Rocket Man, written by Ray Bradbury. The sci-fi author’s tale is told from the perspective of aContinue reading “Rocket Man went on sale”

March 2, 1933 – RKO Studios, on the brink of bankruptcy, gambled the studio on a filmed puppet show for kids, releasing the film King Kong on this date. In the original film, the character’s name is Kong — a name given to him by the inhabitants of “Skull Island” in the Indian Ocean, whereContinue reading “The eighth wonder of the world”