October 20th

October 20 is the 294th day of the year.  There are 72 days remaining until the end of the year.

1774 Continental Congress discourages entertainment...for fear of competition

1873 P. T. Barnum Hippodrome featuring "Greatest Show on Earth" opens (New York City)

1935 400,000 demonstrate against fascism in Madrid -- for all the good it does. . .

1944 General Douglas MacArthur fulfills his promise to return to the Philippines when he commands an Allied assault on the islands, reclaiming them from the Japanese during the Second World War.

1955 Ira Levin's "No Time for Sergeants" premieres in New York starring Andy Griffith

1967 A purported bigfoot is filmed by Patterson and Gimlin.

1973 The Saturday Night Massacre: President Nixon fires Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus after they refuse to fire Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox, who is finally fired by Robert Bork. The Senate gets its revenge against Bork later

1975 Supreme Court rules teachers can spank their pupils after warning

1977 A plane carrying Lynyrd Skynyrd crashes in Mississippi, just short of sweet home Alabama for lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, backup singer Cassie Gaines, the road manager, pilot, and co-pilot.

1997 U.S. accuses Microsoft of violating pact forcing IE browser on computers

1917 Jean-Pierre Melville [Grumbach], maybe gay French film director 

1918 Anton Diffring [Alfred Pollack], maybe gay German actor 

1931 Mickey Mantle, US baseball great 

1958 Viggo Mortensen, US actor 

1961 Les Stroud, Canadian Survivorman/a frequent guest star in my fantasies 

1971 Snoop Dogg [Calvin Broadus], US rapper/actor 

1972 Will Greenwood, English rugger 

1973 Kyle Bradford, gay US pornographic actor who claimed to bump nasties with Tom Cruise...Tom could’ve done much much better IMHO 

1975 Olivier Sarramea, French rugger/Dieux du Stade model 

1980 Alberto Amarilla, Spanish actor 

1982 Jose Acasuso, Argentine tennis player 

1988 Adam Butcher, Canadian actor 

1994 Burt Lancaster, actor (Elmer Gantry), traverses the hallelujah trail

1995 Christopher Stone, actor (Dave-Dallas, Interns), is howling at the moon

2011 Muammar Gaddafi, "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, gets no virgins in heaven

March 5th

March 5 is the 65th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. If the ancient Mayans were correct, there are 291 days remaining until the end of time.

1558 Smoking tobacco introduced in Europe by Francisco Fernandes. ¡Gracias, Paco!

1616 Copernicus' "de Revolutionibus", a scientific treatise on circle jerking rocking your world, is placed on Catholic Forbidden index

1836 Samuel Colt manufactures first pistol, .34-caliber "Texas" model. Colt models have improved over time, but they are still judged on their ability to shoot.

1922 "Nosferatu" premieres in Berlin

1960 Elvis Presley ends 2-year hitch in U.S. Army with rank of sergeant

2004 "Starsky and Hutch" opens. Obviously, there are several missed opportunities which could've improved this weak movie.

1922 Pier Paolo Pasolini, gay Italian poet/writer/director/murdered by a hustler 

1927 Jack Cassidy, bisexual actor/father 

1938 Fred Williamson, US football player/actor 

1946 Murray Head, English actor/singer/One Night in Bangkok 

1954 Marsha Warfield, US bitch goddess comedienne/actor/Night Court

1955 Penn Jillette, US magician/comedian/TV host 

1956 Teena Marie, singer/poor Lady Miss T 

1962 Jonathan Penner, actor/reality TV contestant (Survivor: Cook Islands) 

1966 Aasif Mandvi, unmarried Indian-born US actor/Daily Show reporter 

1966 Richard Mann, US porn star/freak of nature 

1968 Sam Dixon, US porn star

1970 John Frusciante, US singer/songwriter/guitarist/producer (Red Hot Chili Peppers) 

1974 J. P. Pitoc, US actor/Trick 

1976 Neil Jackson, English boxer/personal trainer/actor 

1986 Eugene Bauder, Kazakh-born Swiss model 

1987 Fabio Ceravolo, Italian soccer player 

1625 James VI & I, king of Scots (1567-1625) and England (1603-25)/poet/author/has a Bible named after him, is led to the valley of the shadow of death

1770 Crispus Attucks, a slave, is first to take one for American independence during Boston Massacre

1953 Those lips, those eyes:  Joseph Stalin, Soviet Leader, visits a warmer gulag a lot further south

 

1963 Patsy Cline, US country singer (Crazy), falls to pieces—literally

1974 Billy DeWolfe [William Andrew Jones], US actor (Doris Day Show, Good Morning World)/"confirmed bachelor", is meticulously groomed by the mortician

1980 Jay Silverheels [Harold J. Smith], Canadian First Nations actor (Tonto-Lone Ranger), rides alone, kemosabe

2010 Richard Stapley (aka Richard Wyler), probably gay British-born US actor (The Three Musketeers), is target zero today.