July 24, 1976 –The Manhattans’ song Kiss And Say Goodbye hits #1 in the US on this date. The song was produced by the Philadelphia-based record producer Bobby Martin, a former member of the MFSB band of session musicians and recorded in 1975 at Joe Tarsia’s Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia. It would be aContinue reading “I had to meet you here today”
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Live from New York
July 23, 1962 –Telstar relayed the first publicly transmitted, live, trans-Atlantic television program, featuring CBS’s Walter Cronkite and NBC’s Chet Huntley in New York, and the BBC’s Richard Dimbleby in Brussels. The first broadcast was intended to have been remarks by President John F. Kennedy, but the signal was acquired before the president was ready,Continue reading “Live from New York”
The World According to Garp opened
July 23, 1982 –Warner Bros. released George Roy Hill’s adaptation of John Irving’s novel, The World According to Garp, starring Robin Williams, Mary Beth Hurt, Glenn Close, and John Lithgow, on this date. Glenn Close plays Robin Williams’s mother, yet she is only four years older than him. Similarly, Close and actress Mary Beth HurtContinue reading “The World According to Garp opened”
Bad Ol’ Putty Tat premiered
July 23, 1949 – The Merrie Melodies short, Bad Ol’ Putty Tat, directed by Friz Freleng, and starring Syvester and Tweety Bird, was released on this date. The two badminton players in this cartoon are caricatures of screenwriters Michael Maltese (the short, fat one) and Tedd Pierce (the tall, thin one).
Cinderella Meets Fella premiered
July 23, 1938 – The Merrie Melodies short, Cinderella Meets Fella, directed by Tex Avery, and starring Elmer Fudd, was released on this date. After moving to MGM, Avery made a more famous Cinderella parody entitled Swing Shift Cinderella.
My failures have been errors in judgment, not of intent.
July 23, 1885 – One of the most famous residents of West 122nd Street and Riverside Drive made a most fateful decision on this date. He decided to give up the ghost. In 1881, Ulysses S. Grant – American general, the eighteenth President of the United States, and a famous horseback-riding drunk – purchased a houseContinue reading “My failures have been errors in judgment, not of intent.”
This should be a red letter day
July 23, 1904 –At the turn of the last century, ice cream men were a breed apart. It was hard work making ice cream, and the rewards were few. “You don’t choose ice cream,” they said. “Ice cream chooses you.” Well, Charles E. Menches was an ice cream man. They say it ran in hisContinue reading “This should be a red letter day”
You got me runnin’, goin’ out of my mind
July 23, 1979 –Electric Light Orchestra dedicated the release, on this date, of the single Don’t Bring Me Down from their album Discovery to Skylab which had crashed back to Earth on July 11, 1979. (The song is the first ELO song without any strings.) Don’t Bring Me Down became the biggest hit ELO everContinue reading “You got me runnin’, goin’ out of my mind”
It is kisstomary to cuss the bride
Today is Spooner’s Day, honoring Reverend William Archibald Spooner, a 19th Century British clergyman, who was born on this date in 1844. Spoonerisms are usually a two-word phrase in which the first letters (and occasionally the initial vowels) of the words are reversed. Reverend Spooner was adept at the art of the oopsy linguae, orContinue reading “It is kisstomary to cuss the bride”
Can your heart stand the shocking facts …
July 22, 1959 – Either considered the worst or greatest film ever made, Ed Wood Jr’s sci-fi classic, Plan 9 from Outer Space, starring Bela Lugosi, Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Tor Johnson, Vampira and narrated by Criswell, opened in the US on this date. Bela Lugosi appears in footage shot just before his death, butContinue reading “Can your heart stand the shocking facts …”
