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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.”

July 17, 1955 –That place is my baby, and I would prostitute myself for it. – Walt Disney Disneyland, the happiest place in the world, opens in Anaheim, California on this date. Things didn’t go so well on that first day. A 15 day heat wave raised temperatures up to 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Also, dueContinue reading “Step through portals of Disneyland will be like entering another world”

July 16, 1951 –The Catcher in the Rye was published 70 years ago today. The book contained secret code words by means of which its author, J.D. Salinger, was able to communicate diabolical commands to his evil minions. (Exactly fourteen years later, the tunnel connecting France and Italy through Mont Blanc was opened to theContinue reading “Avoid anyone walking around with this book under their arm”

July 16, 1951 –One of the best adaptations of a Charles Dickens‘ novel, David Lean’s Oliver Twist was released in the US on this date. Oliver Twist originally premiered in the UK in 1948. The movie’s release in the U.S. was delayed until 1951 because of protests from Jewish pressure groups, who judged Alec Guinness‘Continue reading “Please sir, I want some more”