Ant Farmer's Almanac

Today in Yesteryear. . .

1836: First English-language newspaper published in Hawaii; typesetters have to special-order an extra box of apostrophes from a type shop on the mainland.


1943: The last of the Judy Garland-Mickey Rooney movies, Girl Crazy, released.


1956: U.S. currency motto "In God We Trust" authorized; the wink is implied.


1968: The Beatles' Apple Boutique in London closes, the entire inventory is given away.


1969: Barbra Streisand opens for Liberace at the International Hotel in Las Vegas; as a stipulation of her contract with him, upon his death, she is to inherit his audience.


1991: MTV announces it will split into 3 channels in 1993; what little of the public still paying attention to MTV is baffled that anyone thinks there is a need for this.

Today's Birthdays!

1818 Emily Bronte
1863 Henry Ford
1890 Casey Stengel
1898 Henry Moore
1929 Sid Kroft
1933 Edd "Kookie" Byrnes
1939 Peter Bogdanovich
1940 Patricia Schroeder
1945 David Sanborn
1950 Frank Stallone
1954 Ken Olin
1956 Delta Burke
1958 Kate Bush.

It's National Lasagna Day

WWGD?

(What Would Garfield Do?)

Today in Yesteryear. . .

1874: Major Walter Copton Wingfield patents the portable tennis court; and not a moment too soon.


1914: First transcontinental phone link made between New York & San Francisco; no one answers, so in...


1920: The first transcontinental airmail flight goes from New York to San Francisco to see why nobody's home.


1928: Walt Disney's Steamboat Willie is released.


 

1965: Beatles movie Help! premieres, with Queen Elizabeth II in attendance.

Today's Birthdays!

1805 Alexis de Tocqueville; 1878 Don Marquis; 1883 Benito Mussolini; 1892 William Powell; 1905 Clara Bow, Dag Hammarskjold, Thelma Todd; 1907 Melvin Belli; 1914 "Professor" Irwin Corey; 1936 Elizabeth Dole; 1938 Peter Jennings.

 
 

Today in Yesteryear. . .

1586: "You want pommes frites with that?" Potatoes are introduced in Europe.


1900: Hamburger created by Louis Lassing in Connecticut; deluxe platter that includes fries doesn't appear until 1907.


1943: FDR announces the end of coffee rationing in U.S.; few can hear him over the snoring.

Today's Birthdays!

1866 Beatrix Potter; 1887 Marcel Duchamp; 1901 Rudy Vallee; 1907 Earl Tupper, Vivian Vance; 1938 Robert Hughes; 1940 Phil Proctor; 1943 Bill Bradley; 1945 Jim Davis, Richard Wright; 1947 Sally Struthers.

Dictionarium

Leche Libre: Lactose-intolerant Mexican wrestling.

Same Scent Marriage: When both spouses use Irish Spring bath soap.

Today in Yesteryear. . .

1586: Sir Walter Raleigh brings first tobacco to England from America; Queen Elizabeth commissions Lord Nigel Zig-Zag to come up with some way of smoking the stuff.

1940: Bugs Bunny makes his debut.


1990: Zsa Zsa Gabor begins her three-day jail sentence for slapping a cop.

 

Today's Birthdays!

1906 Leo Durocher 
1916 Keenan Wynn
1922 Norman Lear
1924 Vincent Canby

Today in Yesteryear. . .

1775: Benjamin Franklin becomes first Postmaster General.


1788: New York becomes the 11th state to ratify the new U.S. Constitution; pens in hand, the state's signers pause, glare at other delegates and demand, "Whadda you lookin' at?"


1908: FBI established.


1947: Department of Defense established.


1947: National Security Act establishes the CIA.


1981: New York Mayor Ed Koch is given Heimlich maneuver in a Chinese restaurant; jokes involving "choking" and "chicken" abound.


1991: Despite his and the chair's insistence that it was a consensual act, Paul Reubens (Pee Wee Herman) is arrested for exposing himself at an adult movie theater.

 

Today's Birthdays!

1856 George Bernard Shaw 
1875 Carl Jung 
1892 Pearl Buck 
1894 Aldous Huxley 
1902 Gracie Allen 
1922 Blake Edwards,
Jason Robards Jr. 
1928 Stanley Kubrick 
1941 Darlene Love 
1943 Mick Jagger 
1946 Helen Mirren 
1956 Dorothy Hamill

Today in Yesteryear. . .

1866: Cincinnati Baseball club (The Reds) established (pictured is the Cincinnati Reds 1909 lineup).

1904: Ice Cream Cone introduced at St. Louis World's Fair.


1980: Billy Carter admits to getting paid by Libya; not for having actually done anything, it was just a bonus for being such an embarrassment to the president.


1980: River of No Return Wilderness Area designated by Jimmy Carter; for its grand opening, First Brother Billy is sent downstream in a leaky boat.

Today's Birthdays!

1892 Haile Selassie; 1936 Don Drysdale, Anthony Kennedy; 1938 Ronny Cox; 1947 Don Imus; 1961 Woody Harrelson.
 

Today in Yesteryear. . .

1796: Cleveland, Ohio, founded by Gen. Moses Cleaveland, despite not being able to spell the name right.


1967: Jimi Hendrix quits as opening act for the Monkees' tour after they don't let him ride in the Monkeemobile like they promised.
 

Today's Birthdays!

1849 Emma Lazarus; 1882 Edward Hopper; 1888 Raymond Chandler; 1890 Rose Kennedy; 1898 Stephen Vincent Benet, 1898 Alexander Calder; 1908 Amy Vanderbilt; 1923 Robert Dole; 1932 Oscar de la Renta; 1939 Terence Stamp; 1940 Alex Trebek; 1944 Sparky Lyle; 1945 Bobby Sherman; 1947 Albert Brooks, Don Henley; 1955 Willem Dafoe.

Happy National Junk Food Day!

You know what to do.

Today in Yesteryear. . .

1873: James-Younger gang pulls off the first successful train robbery in the American West; Jesse will later leave the group to pursue a solo career.

Today's Birthdays!

1911 Marshall McLuhan;
1924 Don Knotts;
1926 Norman Jewison;
1943 Edward Herrmann;
1947 Cat Stevens;
1952 Robin Williams;
1957 Jon Lovitz.

Today in Yesteryear. . .

1944: Von Stauffenberg's assassination attempt on Hitler is a failure; 65 years later, Tom Cruise's movie of Von Stauffenberg's attempted assassination of Hitler is also a failure.


1968: Iron Butterfly's In-a-gadda-da-vida hits the charts at #117.


1969: Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin land on the moon (they'd told their wives they were hiking the Applachian Trail).