Category Archives: Uncategorized

February 10, 1840 –Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, (whose first language was German, was taught English and French, and became virtually trilingual, though her mastery of the conjugation of the past-participles irregular verbs in English remained incomplete, which was luckily not on the English Monarchy exam), married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-GothaContinue reading “Vicky and Bert heard the bells”

February 10, 1976 –Sesame Street episode #847 featured Margaret Hamilton reprising her role as the Wicked Witch of the West from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, aired on this date. It scared children so badly that the episode has never been re-aired. So Bunkies, ask your folks before you watch the video.

February 10, 1940 – Puss Gets the Boot, the cartoon short is released by MGM on this date. It’s the first appearance of Tom and Jerry. Yeah, yeah, I know that the cat is called Jasper in this cartoon. But dammit, it’s Tom, none the less.

February 10, 1971 –Carole King releases her seminal album Tapestry on this date. The photograph on the album sleeve featuring Carole King seated on a window sill was taken at her California home. Tapestry was a groundbreaking album, which helped popularize the singer/songwriter genre. It stayed on the American album charts for over six years,Continue reading “Tapestry went on sale”

February 9, 1964 – The Beatles made their US live debut on CBS-TV’s The Ed Sullivan Show; they performed five songs including their current No.1 I Want To Hold Your Hand on this date. Never before had so many viewers tuned-in to a live television program, which with 73 million viewers, was three-fourths of theContinue reading “Small English group makes a splash on a Really, Really Big Show”

February 9, 1990 –Proving that you can throw good money after bad, CBS TV tried with an hour-long Comedy-Drama(?) version of The Brady Bunch, The Bradys, starring the usual suspect, which debuted on this date. The show lasted six episodes. Once again Robert Reed fought with Sherwood Schwartz over script quality. When Schwartz refused toContinue reading “The Bradys premiered”

February 9, 1979 –Based on the 1974 independent film of the same name, The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, starring Dan Haggerty and Ben the Bear (Bozo), premiered on NBC TV on this date. The series was shot in Northern Utah countryside locations. The production office was based in Park City, Utah. The productionContinue reading “The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams premiered”

February 9, 1895 –William G. Morgan met James Naismith, inventor of Peachball, while Morgan was studying at Springfield College in 1892. Like Naismith, Morgan pursued a career in Physical Education at the YMCA. Morgan was greatly influenced by Naismith and his new game, basketball. On this date, in Holyoke, Massachusetts, Morgan invented a less vigorousContinue reading “Mintonette was invented on this date”

February 8, 1976 –Martin Scorsese’s elegy to the swiftly disappearing squalor of 70’s New York, Taxi Driver premiered on this date. Director Martin Scorsese claims that the most important shot in the movie is when Bickle is on the phone trying to get another date with Betsy. The camera moves to the side slowly andContinue reading “Taxi Driver premiered”

February 8, 1975 –Ohio Players’ single Fire went to No. # 1 on the Billboard Charts on this date. Lead Ohio Player Leroy “Sugarfoot” Bonner, who also wrote the lyrics about getting hot for a smokin’ woman, recalled how the song came to life in the studio. “We were in the studio making tracks andContinue reading “Fire topped the charts”