Sunday, September 18, 2011

Kids, if you plan on taking barbituates before bedtime, NO late night snacks.

September 18, 1970 -
A sleeping Jimi Hendrix died in London from of a barbituate overdose when chunks of vomited tuna sandwich wind up in his lungs, causing him to choke, on this date. He was 27 years old.



At least his family could take comfort that he did not choke on someone else's vomit.

And remember Mama Cass did not choke to death on a ham sandwich. It is an urban myth born out of a quickly discarded speculation by the coroner, who noted a part eaten ham sandwich and figured she may have choked to death. In fact, she died of heart failure.

So cut it out.


September 18, 1963-
The show that taught elder men that twin cousins might be lured into immoral acts with the purchase of a grilled sausage - The Patty Duke Show, premiered on ABC-TV on this date..



Although the series was still doing well enough in the Nielsen ratings, ABC decided not to renew it for a fourth season. ABC wanted all of their black & white shows to switch color production. United Artists wanted more money to make the change. The network decided it would be more cost-effective to develop a new color show instead.


September 18, 1964 -
Gomez first kissed Morticia's hand as The Addams Family premiered on ABC TV on this date.



It took Carolyn Jones two hours every day to put on Morticia's make-up. Topping it all off, she wore a wig made of human hair. Jackie Coogan was originally rejected as Uncle Fester. He went home, shaved his head, and did his own Fester makeup and costume. This won him the part.


September 18, 1965 -
TV executives nervously worried if one belly button would sink a network as I Dream of Jeannie premiered on this date.



Located on the Columbia Pictures back lot - the "Columbia Ranch" - in Burbank the exterior facade used as the Bellows' house was also used as the Stephens' house in Bewitched.


September 18, 1965 -
Mel Brooks and Buck Henry started making the world safe from KAOS when Get Smart premiered on NBC-TV on this date.



When Don Adams was negotiating his salary, he had his choice between more money per week and no ownership stake in the show or less money per week and part ownership. He chose the ownership deal and never regretted it.
.

September 18, 1968 -
The film musical Funny Girl with Barbra Streisand premiered in NYC.



Barbra Streisand was, at the time of the film's release, a voting member of AMPAS. When she found she was nominated, she, like any member nominated, voted for herself. If she hadn't, she wouldn't have tied with Katharine Hepburn for the year's Best Actress Oscar.


September 18, 1978 -
We first started living on the air in Cincinnati when WKRP in Cincinnati, premiered on CBS-TV on this date.



The pilot was filmed at CBS Television City in Los Angeles but the rest of the episodes were taped at CBS Studio City in the San Fernando Valley. It was filmed on the same stage as another sitcom about a midwestern station, Mary Tyler Moore. Only shots for the opening and closing credits and cutaways for a few episodes were recorded in Cincinnati.


Today in History:
Once again, I must ask all children and those with delicate natures to turn away from their computer screens as we discuss the bizarre deviant sexual behavior on the part of our founding fathers.

On September 18, 1793, President George Washington laid the foundation stone for the U.S. Capitol. According to numerous sources, President Washington "laid the stone in a Masonic ceremony... preceded by a parade and followed by celebration and feasting."


The 1792 competition for the design of the Capitol had been won by an amateur architect, and the building was therefore burned by the British before it could be completed. Congress had moved into the building on November 22, 1800, but managed to escape the fire.


September 18, 1932 -
24-year-old starlet Peg Entwhistle dives head first from the letter "H" of the HOLLYWOODLAND sign in Los Angeles. She is the first person to commit suicide at the landmark.



Her body was discovered in the brush at the base of the hill two days later, and pronounced dead. When police examined her belongings, in her purse they found a note that read:

"I am afraid, I am a coward. I am sorry for everything. If I had done this a long time ago, it would have saved a lot of pain. P.E."



Two days later, in an ironic twist, Entwistle's uncle opened a letter addressed to her from the Beverly Hills Playhouse; it was mailed the day before she jumped. In it was an offer for her to play the lead role in a stage production—in which her character would commit suicide in the final act.


September 18, 1961 -
Dag Hammarskjold, Secretary-General of the UN, was killed in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia)on this date. He was flying to negotiate a cease-fire in the Congo.



Hammarskjold was the son of a former Swedish prime minister. In 1953, he was elected to the top UN post and in 1957 was reelected. During his second term, he initiated and directed the United Nation's vigorous role in the Belgian Congo.

Strangely enough, I have an office in one of the building that bears his name.


September 18, 1992 -
Two weeks after being outed in the New York weekly QW, attorney John Schlafly admits in an interview with the San Francisco Examiner that he enjoys the love that dare not speak it's name. This causes a certain amount of consternation for his mother, archconservative gay rights opponent Phyllis Schlafly.

The Schlafly family have yet to fulfill their obligation as good Christians to present their rebellious son to the town elders and have him stoned to death as instructed in Deut. 21:18.


September 18, 1994 -
Vitas Gerulaitis is killed in his sleep in the guest cottage of a friend's Long Island estate. The professional tennis player dies from carbon monoxide poisoning, caused by a faulty propane swimming-pool heater.



How many more people must die from killer swimming pools?



And so it goes

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