Today in History

[Edward]

Even veterans of the actual war, when asked to reenact Pickett's Charge years later, said it was impossible to do a credible Rebel Yell with a full belly and no teeth.

I heard a recoding some years ago - it may even have been via a TFL thread- of a rebel yell recreated some years after the war by recording one CSA veteran and multi-tracking his voice. It was nothing like what I'd expected reading about it, but chilling all the same. especially if it emerged out of the mist and you couldn't see just how many were out there.

 

[LizzieMaine]

In honor of VE Day, listen to "On A Note Of Triumph," by Norman Corwin. Broadcast over CBS on May 8, 1945, and repeated on May 13th by popular demand.

With an estimated audience of over 60 mllion listeners, this was the most-heard American broadcast of the 1940s, with millions of additional listeners via the record album set released that summer. Five years later, Norman Corwin was blacklisted.

 

[Peacoat]

One of the most remarkable things about the Hindenburg broadcast is that it *wasn't* live -- it was in fact the very first time an electrical transcription was broadcast over NBC.

After reading all of this post, the first question in my mind was, "How does she know so much stuff?"

 

[scotrace]

May 10 - Remarkably, in 1872, Victoria Woodhull is the first female nominee for President of the US, as the candidate of the Equal Rights Party. Her running mate was Frederick Douglass. At 34, she was technically too young to run.

Due to the lack of female common sense in government, the US Supreme Court takes up the momentous question of whether a tomato is a fruit or a vegetable and rules in favor of the latter, May 10, 1883.

May 10, 1924, J. Edgar Hoover puts on his big girl panties and becomes head of the FBI.

 

[scotrace]

After reading all of this post, the first question in my mind was, "How does she know so much stuff?"

Because she is amazing, well read, smart as a whip and ridiculously interesting.

 

[LizzieMaine]

On this date in 1928, the General Electric Company's radio station WGY in Schenectady, New York, operating under the experimental call leters W2XB, began broadcasting television on a regular schedule over its regular 790kc frequency, using a 24-line mechanical scanning system. The broadcasts, featuring assorted talks and musical performances, ran from 12:30pm to 1pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.

To support the broadcasts, GE built a receiver called "The Octagon," from the eight-sided casing containing the scanning disc and viewing assembly mounted atop the reciever cabinet. Four units were built for the use of company engineering staff.

The public, for the moment, had to make do with home-built receivers, plans for which appeared in most of the leading radio and technology magazines of the day.

GE continued the expermental W2XB telecasts, soon doubling the picture resolution to 48 lines, and introducing a number of firsts to the infant medium. The WGY dramatic stock company contributed in September with the first dramatic program ever seen on American television, a 40-minute costume sketch called "The Queen's Messenger." Sorry, it's not available on Netflix.

W2XB adopted an all-electronic process in the mid-1930s, moved to different frequencies and resolutions as specified by law and industry standards, and in 1942 received a regular commercial license as WRGB. It remains on the air in Schenectady to this day.

 

[Peacoat]

Today in 1968 The Siege of Khe Sanh ended with the base is still in American hands. The fighting for Khe Sanh started on January 21, 1968, ten days prior to the Tet offensive. General Westmoreland felt Tet was a feint to draw American forces from Khe Sanh. Most historians disagree with this conclusion. Although the fighting at Khe Sanh continued long after the Tet offensive was over.

General Westmoreland, President Johnson and other leaders were determined not to let Khe Sanh become the American Dien Bien Phu. Those were tumultuous times.

 

[AbbaDatDeHat]

Today in 1968 The Siege of Khe Sanh ended with the base is still in American hands. The fighting for Khe Sanh started on January 21, 1968, ten days prior to the Tet offensive. General Westmoreland felt Tet was a feint to draw American forces from Khe Sanh. Most historians disagree with this conclusion. Although the fighting at Khe Sanh continued long after the Tet offensive was over.

General Westmoreland, President Johnson and other leaders were determined not to let Khe Sanh become the American Dien Bien Phu. Those were tumultuous times.

A very sad and ugly time. So much for so little. Khe Sanh kind of reflected the entire war effort imho.
B

 

[GHT]

On this day in 1812, British Prime Minister Spencer Percival was assassinated in the House of Commons, apparently mistaken by his killer, bankrupt broker John Bellingham, for someone else. He is the only Prime Minister in Britain to have been assassinated.

On this day in 1967 Britain, Ireland and Denmark officially applied to join the EEC. The European Economic Community was the forerunner of The European Union. Note, applied to join. Charles de Gaulle had resisted all British attempts to previously join.

 

[Peacoat]

A very sad and ugly time. So much for so little. Khe Sanh kind of reflected the entire war effort imho.
B

And it was an even sadder time for me. On January 21, 1968, the first day of the Khe Sanh fighting, my housemate to be at Hunter Army Airfield was shot down. He was able to bring it down and survive the crash, but was killed in the ensuing firefight. I'll be a long time getting over that. And, unfortunately, he was but one of many. Rest easy Gerald McKinsey. We had to go on without you.

 

[vitanola]

1912: Paramount Pictures is founded.

By Adolph Zukor, Dan Frohman, and Charles Frohman, as the Famous Players film company, with the slogan: "Famous Players in Famous Plays". Their first release was a French film which was partly funded by the Famous Players company, released in the 'States as " Queen Elizabeth", starting Sarah Bernhardt. The film is an interesting artifact, made when Miss Bernhardt was 68.

 

[vitanola]

In honor of VE Day, listen to "On A Note Of Triumph," by Norman Corwin. Broadcast over CBS on May 8, 1945, and repeated on May 13th by popular demand.

With an estimated audience of over 60 mllion listeners, this was the most-heard American broadcast of the 1940s, with millions of additional listeners via the record album set released that summer. Five years later, Norman Corwin was blacklisted.

Like so many who were blacklisted between 1948 and 1952, the real objection was not any ostensible support for Uncle Joe, but rather his support for the New Deal.

 

[AbbaDatDeHat]

And it was an even sadder time for me. On January 21, 1968, the first day of the Khe Sanh fighting, my housemate to be at Hunter Army Airfield was shot down. He was able to bring it down and survive the crash, but was killed in the ensuing firefight. I'll be a long time getting over that. And, unfortunately, he was but one of many. Rest easy Gerald McKinsey. We had to go on without you.

Yes, Peacoat, very sad indeed. I’m glad you got to go on and are still going. Keep em flying.
B

 

[MissMittens]

On this day in 1934, the first dust storm of what became the Dustbowl, occured.

In 1981, Pope John Paul II was shot in St. Peter's Square, bringing in a new age of bulletproofed Popemobiles.

And in China on this day in 1989, more than 2000 students protested against Chinese communism in Tianamen Square

 

[MissMittens]

Today in 2019, Hollywood Golden Era actress, singer, and animal lover, Doris Day, passed away. Ms Day was 97 years old.

 

[Edward]

Today in 2019, Hollywood Golden Era actress, singer, and animal lover, Doris Day, passed away. Ms Day was 97 years old.

RIP indeed. I was in our School production of Calamity Jane in 1990. We had a lot of fun.

 

[scotrace]

May 15 marks the anniversary of the beginnings of Las Vegas, as 110 acres, now the downtown, were auctioned off in 1905.

1940: The first McDonald's opens with 15 cent hamburgers.

"Plane Crazy," marking the first appearance by Mickey Mouse, premiered in 1928.

 

[LizzieMaine]

That was the first Mickey made, but the third to be released -- Disney couldn't find a distributor for it as a silent, since the market was flooded by inkblot-type characters, and Mickey offered nothing to Margaret Winkler that she wasn't getting already from Oswald the Rabbit -- who Disney had just lost to a grimy business move by Winkler's slick-moving husband Charles Mintz -- and the May 15th test screening gathered no particular attention.

It wasn't until Disney made "Steamboat Willie" as a sound cartoon later that year that he got distribution from another shyster-type operator, Pat Powers -- who was the proprietor of a bootleg sound system that managed to evade the pertinent Western Electric patents. With the Powers contract in hand, Disney took "Plane Crazy," and another failed silent Mickey short, "Galloping Gaucho," off the shelf and added soundtracks. Powers wasn't entirely excited with accepting these two retread cartoons as part of the contract, since they were clearly goat-gland jobs -- silent films with a soundtrack grafted on -- but Disney got away with it, and the move bought him time to gear up production with real sound cartoons.

That said, if you mute the soundtrack, you'll see that this is actually a very good silent cartoon, on a par with anything Mintz was doing with Oswald, or Pat Sullivan was doing with Felix the Cat. Unlike "Steamboat Willie," which is clearly timed to music, "Plane Crazy" really doesn't need sound at all to make its point.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Forgot to mention this yesterday (15th) 130 years ago saw the Eiffel Tower open to the publc for the first time at the Exposition Universelle of Paris in 1889, for which it was built.
It was also the centenary of the French revolution which gave added impetus to the exposition.
At the time it was the tallest tour in the world & was extemely popular with the public, notably for the stunning & as yet, unseen views of Paris. The price of admission was equivalent to the average monthly salary of a manual worker. At the end of the 6 month exposition, the Eiffel Tower had received 2 million visiters & the cost of construction (over 7 million gold Francs ) had been entirely recuperated.

Binoculars & telescopes were available for hire. Before the lifts/elevators were brought into service on the 26th May, the first visitors had to walk up (& walk down) the 1,710 steps to the summit. 30,000 of them did.

 

[Rmccamey]

And according to some, efficiencies in farming have set up conditions for it to happen again in the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles. Basically, we've forgotten what history has taught us.

On this day in 1934, the first dust storm of what became the Dustbowl, occured.

In 1981, Pope John Paul II was shot in St. Peter's Square, bringing in a new age of bulletproofed Popemobiles.

And in China on this day in 1989, more than 2000 students protested against Chinese communism in Tianamen Square