Calendar of Ideas

Oct 4, 1931. Square-jawed detective Dick Tracy made his comic strip debut in the Detroit Daily Mirror in Plainclothes Tracy.

Image: Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21844862

Oct 4, 1957. This family sitcom was a stereotypical portrayal of American family life. It focused on Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver (Jerry Mathers) and his family: his patient, understanding and all-knowing father, Ward (Hugh Beaumont); impeccably dressed housewife and mother, June (Barbara Billingsley); and Wally (Tony Dow), Beavers good-natured, all-American older brother. The perfectness of the Cleaver family was balanced by other, less-than-perfect characters played by Ken Osmond, Frank Bank, Richard Deacon, Diane Brewster, Sue Randall, Rusty Stevens and Madge Blake. The last episode aired Sept 12, 1963. Leave It to Beaver remained popular in reruns.

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Oct 4, 1923. Born at Evanston, IL, the handsome, resolute Heston won the Best Actor Oscar for his role as Moses in the 1956 Hollywood epic The Ten Commandments. Over a career that spanned six decades, his credits include Ben-Hur, Touch of Evil, Will Penny and Planet of the Apes. Heston died Apr 5, 2008, at Beverly Hills, CA.

Image: WikiMediaCommons

Oct 4, 1862. American author of children’s books, Stratemeyer was born at Elizabeth, NJ. He created numerous series of popular children’s books, including The Bobbsey Twins, The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew and Tom Swift, hiring ghostwriters to work from his outlines. He and his Stratemeyer Syndicate, using 60 or more pen names, produced more than 1,300 books, selling more than 200 million copies. Stratemeyer died at Newark, NJ, May 10, 1930, but his daughters continued his legacy of essentially mass-produced literature until 1982.

Image: Public Domain, Stratemeyer Syndicate

Oct 5, 1703.  Jonathan Edwards, famed theologian and leader of the Great Awakening, the religious revival in the colonies, was born at East Windsor, CT. His Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God is the most famous sermon in American history. He later became president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). Edwards died at Princeton, NJ, Mar 22, 1758, when he contracted smallpox from an inoculation.

Image: Public Domain, engraving by R Babson & J Andrews (1855) 

“Cupid’s foot” often featured in Monty Python’s Flying Circus opening credits (along with rude sound effects). Foot based on Cupid’s foot in Agnolo Bronzino’s Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time. Image in public domain.

Oct 5, 1969. This wacky comedy series debuted on BBC-1 in Great Britain and aired until 1974. The cast was made up of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and American Terry Gilliam. John Philip Sousas Liberty Bell March got the show started, and viewers were treated to surreal animation and such skits as The Spanish Inquisition and The Ministry of Silly Walks. On Oct 6, 1974, Monty Pythons Flying Circus began airing in the US. The cast members also made four films together.

Source: http://pythonline.com/

World Teachers Day on 5 October is a day to honor and celebrate the work of all teachers.

Image: CC0, courtesy of Pixabay user alfakurnia

Oct 6. Observed since the 19th century, this day honors the contributions of German immigrants to US culture and history. Celebrated on the date in 1683 when 13 Mennonite families disembarked near Philadelphia, PA, from Krefeld, Germany. These families later founded Germantown, PA. The day is celebrated by all those who are culturally German from all partsof Europe. This special day had a boost in popularity when President Ronald Reagan became the first US president to proclaim it in 1987.

Oct 6 25, 1973. A surprise attack by Egypt and Syria pushed Israeli forces several miles behind the 1967 cease-fire lines. Israel was caught off guard, partly because the attack came on the holiest Jewish religious day. After 18 days of fighting, hostilities were halted by the UN Oct25. Israel partially recovered from the initial setback but failed to regain all the land lost in the fighting.

Oct 7, 1982. The second longest-running production in Broadwayhistory (after Phantom of the Opera) opened this day. Cats was based on a book of poetry by T.S. Eliot and had a score by Andrew Lloyd Webber. More than 10 million theatergoers saw the New York City production, which closedSept 10, 2000, after 7,485 performances. Cats was also produced in 30 other countries.

Oct 7, 1950. Your Hit Parade began as a radio show in 1935. When it finally made it to TV, the format was simple: the shows cast performed the weeks top musical hits. To sustain interest, since many of the same songs appeared weekly, eye-catching production sequences were created. YHP was the starting point for many famous choreographers and dancers,including Peter Gennaro and Bob Fosse. Regulars included Dorothy Collins,Eileen Wilson, Snooky Lanson and Sue Bennett. The show was overhauled many times and switched networks before leaving the air in 1959. A summer revival in 1974 was short-lived.

Oct 7, 1896. Dow Jones began reporting an average of the prices of 12 industrial stocks in the Wall Street Journal on this day. In the early years these were largely railroad stocks. In 1928 Mr Dow expanded the number of stocks to 30, where it currently remains. Today, the large, frequently traded stocks in the DJIA represent about a fifth of the market value of all US stocks.

A day to celebrate and embrace who we are, despite our differences, no matter what race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age,nationality or disability. A day to reflect on and learn about different cultures and ideologies. A day to vow to uphold acceptance and tolerance. A day to consciously address these areas at educational and religious institutions, as well as in the workplace and at home. Our slogan: Embrace diversity, embrace our world.

Oct 8, 1871. Great fire of Chicago began, according to legend, when Mrs OLearys cow kicked over the lantern in her barn on DeKoven Street. The fire leveled 3 square miles, destroying 17,450 buildings and leaving 98,500 people homeless and about 250 people dead. Financially, the loss was $ 200 million.

Oct 8. Celebration of the pierogy! Commemorates the day in 1952that pierogies were first delivered to a grocery store in Shenandoah, PAmarking the emergence of the traditionally eastern European food as a mainstream American meal staple.

Also on 8 October 1871, more than 1,100 people died in the Peshtigo Fire which burned across six counties of Wisconsin.

Oct 8th. 10th annual. Music is our universal language; its the bridge between head and heart and from heart to heart. Celebrate music,musicians and music making from your heart. Annually, the second Saturdayin October.

Fire Prevention Week runs from 9 October to 15 October to increase the awareness of fire dangers.

Oct 9, 1940. John Winston Lennon, English composer, musicianand member of The Beatles, the sensationally popular group of musical performers who captivated audiences first in England and Germany, and later throughout the world. A fervent activist for peace. Born at Liverpool, England, Lennon was murdered at New York City, Dec 8, 1980.

Leif Erickson Day celebrates the discovery of North America in the year 1000 by the Norse explorer Leif Erickson.

National Work From Home Week celebrates an increasingly popular way of not just earning a living, but making a life.

Image: CC0, courtesy of Pixabay user Pexel