History Schmistory: December 3. Keep your pants on!
Tuesday, December 3, 2024
1927: Putting Pants on Philip, the first Laurel and Hardy film, is released. If you don’t know them, get on it. Here’s a good start!
History Schmistory: December 2. Hubble Trouble.
Monday, December 2, 2024
1993: NASA launches the Space Shuttle Endeavor on a mission to repair the damaged Hubble Space Telescope, and, of course, terminate the culprits…
History Schmistory: November 30. Jersey Shake.
Saturday, November 30, 2024
1783: A magnitude 5.3 earthquake strikes New Jersey, the largest in the state’s history. Citizens threaten to punch the earth in the face.
History Schmistory: November 29. Going South.
Friday, November 29, 2024
1929: U.S. Admiral Richard Byrd becomes the first person to fly over the South Pole. Say, if Santa Claus lives in the North Pole, then who lives in the South Pole? Could it be…
See page for author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
History Schmistory: November 28. “Someone should invent the windshield.”
Thursday, November 28, 2024
1895: The first American automobile race takes place along a 54 mile stretch between Chicago’s Jackson Park and Evanston, Illinois. In a little over 10 hours, Frank Duryea wins by a two hour nose. Here we see the thrill of their victory…
History Schmistory: November 26. “Someone’s here… Places!”
Tuesday, November 26, 2024
1922: Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon become the first people to enter the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun (“King Tut”) in over 3000 years, giving the King ample time to perfect his moment in the spotlight…
History Schmistory: November 25. “Take my money, just make it stop!”`
Monday, November 25, 2024
1984: In a Band-Aid charity event, 36 top musicians gather in a Notting Hill studio and pretend to enjoy singing Do They Know It’s Christmas to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. While it was certainly a great cause for Ethiopia, the only thing it caused elsewhere was severe auditory hemorrhaging
History Schmistory: November 24. Gone Apey.
Sunday, November 24, 2024
1859: Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species, introducing the scientific theory of natural selection, which suggests, among many things, that humans evolved from apes. Many tempers flare, while other imaginations run wild!
History Schmistory: November 23. Music to your ear-holes.
Saturday, November 23, 2024

For a nickel apiece a thrilled group tunes in on a screechy jukebox of the 1890s.
Photo:Â Bettmann/Corbis
1889: The first jukebox goes into operation at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco. Originally named the “nickel-in-the-slot-player”, the machine caused a such a sensation that people didn’t even mind exchanging earwax…
History Schmistory: November 22. Maynaaaarrrrrrrrd!
Friday, November 22, 2024
1718: Off the coast of North Carolina, renowned and dreaded English pirate Edward Teach, the original “Blackbeard”, is killed during a battle with a small battalion of the Royal Navy, led by Lieutenant Robert Maynard.
They cut off his head and fastened it to the bow of the ship for all to see. As for the beard, the Lieutenant had his own plans…