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July 8th was a Sunday in 1881, so when a hot young man entered Edward Berner’s drugstore in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, and ordered an ice-cream soda, his request was denied. Ice-cream sodas could not be served on the Sabbath owing to the ancient Mosaic injunction against them. The hot young man pleaded his case soContinue reading “The Sundae may or may not have been invented today”

July 7, 1989 –The second single from their album The Raw & the Cooked, Good Thing by the Fine Young Cannibals, topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart on this date. Fine Young Cannibals rose from the ashes of the UK band The Beat. Sometimes called “The English Beat” to distinguish them from the US PaulContinue reading “Good Thing goes to No. 1”

July 8, 1964 –Probably Jerry Lewis‘ best directorial effort, The Patsy, premiered on this date. (This was Peter Lorre’s last film; he died four days after completing his role. Lorre hated the experience and death must have seems a welcome release.) Richard Deacon plays a real person, the famous “tailor to the stars“, Sy Devore.Continue reading “The Patsy premiered”

July 7, 1984 –Prince’s song from his upcoming movie Purple Rain, When Doves Cry goes to #1 onBillboard’s Hot 100, giving his first #1 hit, on this date. Besides writing and composing the track, Prince played all the instruments on the song.

It’s Father-Daughter take a walk together day, (Once again, two teams of high priced (non-ACME) lawyers have confirmed that this is the picture I can use. I have been legally barred from saying if I am related to the people in this photograph and was not allowed to be in the photograph (I was notContinue reading “Kick off your high heel sneakers, it’s party time”

July 7, 1936 – John P. Thompson applied for the patent rights on a “Screw” (U.S. Patent 1,908,080) with an innovative “cruciform groove” and a matching “Screw driver” (U.S. Patent 1,908,081) in 1932. In 1933, Thompson’s patents were transfers to a friend of his, Henry F. Phillips, the managing director of the Oregon Copper Company,Continue reading “Apparently you can build a better mousetrap or improve on a screw.”

July 7, 1981 –The first solar-powered aircraft, Solar Challenger, crossed the English Channel flying 163 miles from the Pointoise Cormeilles airport, near Paris, to the Manston Royal Air Force Base, in Kent, England, on this date. The aircraft weighs some 217 pounds. Its 2.7 hp engine is powered exclusively by 16,128 photovoltaic cells. It wasContinue reading “The Solar Challenger crossed the English Channel”

July 7, 1936 –The first ever television show was broadcast by NBC/RCA on this date. It was seen by only a few hundred people who had access to the new television. The first ever program featured newsreel items, as well as a variety show of sorts, which included female dancers performing a water lily dance,Continue reading “NBC’s first TV broadcast”

July 6 1944 –Fire broke out at a matinee performance of the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Baily Circus, in Hartford, Connecticut, burning 168 people to death, and injuring an additional 250. The main tent had been waterproofed with wax thinned by gasoline. Said one of the Flying Wallendas, “I can never look down at aContinue reading “Sometimes it sucks to go to the circus”

July 6, 1957 –It was on this date that the 16 year old John Lennon met the 15 year old Paul McCartney for the first time. In the afternoon, John Lennon’s band the Quarrymen were playing at the garden fete of St Peter’s Church, Woolton, Liverpool and Paul McCartney heard them. McCartney impressed Lennon whenContinue reading “It was 65 years ago today …”