Thursday, February 2, 2006

Thursday, February 2, 2006

"They say we're young and we don't know, won't find out until we grow"...

Groundhog Day was immortalized in the 1993 movie starring Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell and of course, Punxsutawney Phil, the lovable little groundhog. Groundhog Day has European roots but started here in the U.S. in 1886 according to the official Groundhog Day website: TheRealGroundhogDay.com...

In the movie, Bill Murray playing Pittsburgh TV weatherman Phil Conners is assigned to cover Groundhog Day but gets trapped in a time warp and keeps waking up on February 2nd every morning, to Sonny & Cher's "I Got You Babe". Murray, according to a review of the movie, wakes up to "I Got You Babe" 33 times. I saw the movie but lost track at 32...

This just in, Staten Island Chuck did not see his shadow which means there will be an early spring but the real, official prognosticator, Punxsutawney Phil did see his shadow indicating 6 more weeks of winter...

Senator Chuck Schumer made the announcement about Staten Island Chuck. No report from the Staten Island Zoo on whether Senator Schumer saw his shadow...

More February 2 Memories...

1653) New Amsterdam, now known as New York City is incorporated...

1863) Samuel Clemens becomes Mark Twain...

1876) Baseball's National League is formed in New York with original teams in Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Hartford, Louisville, New York, Philadelphia and St. Louis...

1882) The Knights of Columbus forms in New Haven, CT...

1886) Groundhog Day begins in Punxsutawney, PA (feature story)...

1946) Mutual Broadcasting airs "Twenty Questions" for the 1st time on radio (the show moves to TV 3 years later)...

1956) The Coasters sign with Atlantic Records' Atco label...

1957) Fats Domino sings "Blueberry Hill" and "Blue Monday" on the Perry Como Show on TV...

1959) Frankie Avalon's "Venus" is released...

1959) The Coasters release "Charlie Brown"...

1966) Petula Clark is #1 with "My Love" (becoming the 1st British female to have 2 consecutive #1 songs on the U.S. charts. The first one was "Downtown")...

1967) The American Basketball Association (ABA) is formed by representatives of the NBA...

1973) "The Midnight Special" debuts on NBC-TV with Wolfman Jack as the announcer...

1979) Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols dies of a drug overdose at 21 less than 4 months after fatally stabbing girlfriend Nancy Spungen in the Chelsea Hotel...

1983) Toto top the charts with "Africa" (the group will dominate the 1983 Grammy Awards, winning in 6 categories including "Record of the Year" ("Rosanna") and LP of the Year ("Toto IV")...

1993) Willie Nelson and the IRS settle their longstanding tax feud. The government keeps $3.6 million in assets it had already seized and Nelson will have to pay $5.4 million of the $13.1 million balance plus throw in all his bandanas and a year's supply of deodorant...

1996) Dancer, actor and choreographer Gene Kelly dies at 83...

In order to ensure accuracy, multiple reference sources were used in the timeline...

Happy Birthday To...

1926) Elaine Stritch...

1937) Tom Smothers...

1942) Graham Nash...

1947) Farrah Fawcett...

1954) Christie Brinkley...

1977) Shakira...

Commentary...

Some things you may not know about the movie "Groundhog Day":
  • The location for most of the shooting of the movie was not actually Punxsutawney but Woodstock, Illinois...
  • Although the actual Groundhog Day celebration location, Gobbler's Knob is 2 miles from the town, the film leads you to believe it's downtown...
  • The concept of the movie came from the TV series "Tru Calling" which also has the theme of the day rewinding each day...
  • The film is #34 on the "100 Funniest Movies" list...
  • In 2000 readers of "Total Film" magazine voted it the 7th greatest comedy movie of all time...

Today is the 33rd day of the year with 332 days remaining in 2006, 46 days until Spring but just 14 days until pitchers and catchers...