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July 22, 1951 – Two Russian dogs, Dezik and Tsygan, were the first canines to make a sub-orbital flight in history on this date. The Russian space program used dogs quite often to determine whether a particular space mission would be safe for humans. Little know fact: the real reason Nikita Khrushchev slammed his shoeContinue reading “It’s the first episode of Dogs In Space”

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. The film played for years in relative obscurity (to some) on late-nightContinue reading “Plan 9 from Outer Space”

July 22, 1967 –The Toho Studio released King Kong Escapes (Kingu Kongu no gyakushû,) directed by Ishiro Honda in Japan on this date. (Despite the master villain being named Dr. Who, this film has no connection to Doctor Who.) As a children’s film, Toho pressured the filmmakers to show more gore in the monster fights.Continue reading “King Kong Escapes”

July 21, 1899 –Ernest Hemingway was born on this date. He was young at the time of his birth. It was fine to be young. He drove an ambulance in the first world war. It wasn’t called the first world war then. It was called the war. It was one of those times when peopleContinue reading “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”

July 21, 1969 –Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin blast off from the Moon after twenty-one and a half hours on the surface and return to the command module piloted by Michael Collins on this date. The lunar module’s lower section, left behind, has a plaque mounted upon it, reading, “Here menContinue reading “Walkin’ on the moon”

July 21, 1943 –Twentieth Century Fox’s musical spectacular, Stormy Weather, starring Lena Horne, Bill Robinson, Cab Calloway, Katherine Dunham, Fats Waller, Fayard Nicholas, Harold Nicholas, Ada Brown, and Dooley Wilson, premiered in the US on this date. Two musical numbers were deleted from the release print: Good-for-Nothin’ Joe (music by Rube Bloom, lyrics by TedContinue reading “Stormy Weather”

July 20, 1969 –52 years ago today, in a live transmission from the Moon, viewed by 720 million people around the world, Neil Armstrong stepped foot onto the Moon. It was a brave thing to do (and unfortunately caused Buzz Aldrin to have his post-Apollo 11 period of alcoholism and depression.) It was also theContinue reading “Houston, Tranquillity Base here. The Eagle has landed.”

July 20, 2001 –Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi) written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki was released in Japan on this date. (The film went on to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2003, making it the first (and, to date, only) hand-drawn and non-English-language animated film to win that award.)Continue reading “Once you do something, you never forget.”

July 19, 1960 –The initial pilot for what would become The Dick Van Dyke Show, Head of the Family, premiered on this date. Carl Reiner has said that he let this pilot sit for about a year after it didn’t sell, and then he showed it to Sheldon Leonard who told him he liked itContinue reading “Oh Rob!”

July 18, 1939 –Hunter S. Thompson’s birthday is today. He was once considered, armed, and dangerous. Now he is no more than soot on the window sills of his and his neighbors homes. Dr. Thompson founded the Gonzo school of journalism in the 1970s; graduates from that school can today be seen every night onContinue reading “Buy the ticket, take the ride.”