Monday, December 19, 2005

"I'm king of the world"...

That self proclamation belongs to: a) Larry King, b) Don King, c) King Kong or d) none of the above. Give yourself 10 points for guessing the correct answer, d) none of the above. But who was it that made that quote ? The correct answer is a) Leonardo DiCaprio playing Jack Dawson, b) Director James Cameron, c) all of the above or d) none of the above. Give yourself 10 points for guessing c) all of the above...

It was on December 19th, 1997, the day "Titanic" premiered that the quote was first used by Jack Dawson, a.k.a. Leonardo DiCaprio to Rose DeWitt Bukater, a.k.a. Kate Winslet. 11 Oscars later, on the night of March 23rd, 1998 it was "Titanic" director James Cameron who uttered one of the most famous of all movie quotes...

For those boxoffice fans keeping score, "Titanic" has grossed $1.835 billion, that's billion, to-date including global boxoffice receipts, DVD and VCR sales and even mercury and non-mercury based fillings. The #2 all-time grossing film ? "Jurassic Park" with a measly $920 million. The original "Titanic" soundtrack album has sold more than 25 million units worldwide and is 10 times platinum in the U.S...

More December 19 Memories...

1732) Benjamin Franklin begins publishing "Poor Richard's Almanac"...

1777) General George Washington leads his army of 11,000 men to Valley Forge to camp for the winter...

1903) The Williamsburg Bridge, connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan opens (it's the 1st major suspension bridge in America)...

1917) The first games of the new NHL are played (the original 5 teams played in Toronto, Ottawa, Quebec and 2 in Montreal, eh ?)...

1918) Robert Ripley begins his "Believe It or Not" column in the New York Globe...

1955) Carl Perkins records "Blue Suede Shoes"...

1957) Meredith Wilson's "The Music Man" opens at the Majestic Theatre in New York City for a run of 1,375 shows...

1958) "The Chipmunk Song" is #1 (this was Ross Bagdasarian, a.k.a. David Seville's 2nd chart topper. In April he topped the charts with "Witch Doctor". This and "Tom Dooley" were 2 of the 1st songs I ever played in my radio career)...

1960) "Calendar Girl" by Neil Sedaka is released...

1961) "Judgment At Nuremberg" premieres in New York City...

1965) Jim Brown scores his 126th and final NFL touchdown, winning his 8th rushing title in 9 years in the Browns final regular season game of 1965 (The future Hall of Famer will gain 50 yards in a playoff loss to Green Bay and never play again)...

1971) Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange" premieres...

1973) Apollo 17, last of the Apollo Moon landing series, returns to Earth...

1974) Nelson A. Rockefeller is sworn in as VP, replacing Spiro Agnew who resigned...

1975) Ron Wood joins the Rolling Stones...

1979) Rupert Holmes is #1 with "Escape (Pina Colada Song)" (the last #1 song of the 70s)...

1980) "9 to 5", starring Dolly Parton premieres...

1984) Buffalo's Scotty Bowman becomes the NHL's career leading coach in victories with #691 when his team beats Chicago 6-3...

1984) Britain and China sign an accord returning Hong Kong to the Chinese on July 1, 1997...

1985) ABC Sports cuts ties with Howard Cosell (Cosell stays on ABC radio for another 5 years)...

1987) It's "all Paul Simon, all the time" on Saturday Night Live as the singer and presidential candidate co-host...

1989) U.S. troops invade Panama to overthrow the regime of General Noriega...

1990) Bo Jackson becomes the 1st athlete to be chosen for All Star games in 2 sports as he's selected for the NFL's Pro Bowl...

1996) The school board of Oakland votes to recognize black english. Ebonics is born, English dies...

2000) Former New York City Mayor John Lindsay dies at 79...

2002) Citing new DNA evidence, a judge throws out the convictions of 5 men in a 1989 attack on a Central Park jogger who was raped and left for dead...

Happy Birthday To...

1920) Little Jimmy Dickens...

1933) Cicely Tyson...

1934) Baseball Hall of Famer Al Kaline...

1941) Maurice White of Earth, Wind and Fire...

1945) John McEuen of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band...

1957) Former Celtic great Kevin McHale...

1963) Jennifer Beals...

Commentary...

Can it be that this blog has become a kiss of death ? A blog version of the dreaded Sports Illustrated curse ? Friday's feature on "The Perfect Season" of the 1972 Miami Dolphins and the possibility of the Indianapolis Colts tying that 14-game victory mark would fall short for Indianapolis when the Colts suffered their 1st defeat on Sunday. Only time and the possibility of the Patriots 3rd consecutive Super Bowl victory will tell. Stay tuned...