Monday Morning Video Laugh - April 6, 2026

 The now monthly visit with Oliver the Beagle.

Dinner last night:  Baby back ribs at the Smoke House.

The Sunday Memory Drawer - Easter Redux Again

 

It's a weird holiday on our calendar.  The first problem with Easter Sunday is that it's not consistent.  Sometimes it's in April.   Or, in other years, March.  It can be hotter than blazes.   Or you have six inches of snow on your doorstep.

Meanwhile, there is the day itself.  Unlike Thanksgiving and Christmas, when family gatherings were a requirement, there was less of a focus on the big holiday meal for Easter.  Sometimes we did.   Or, in other years, we didn't. 

There were one or two Easters when we got all dressed up and took a bunch of silly pictures out in a park or at City Island in the Bronx.  You see evidence of that as my mom poses for one of Dad's Technicolor slides with Bing Crosby Jr.    At the same time, there were several Easters where we never left the front of the television set.  Let's Go, Mets!   Let's Go, Mets!

There were gifts for Easter sometimes.  And then, sometimes, there weren't.   There was always a chocolate bunny and a basket full of candy.  Which my dad would eat most of since my parents were worried about cavities. 

A holiday celebration that was sometimes sweet and very frequently sour.

Yep, I could never get a handle on Easter Sunday.

Okay, there is the religious celebration and that was always stressed when I was a kid.  My grandparents didn't go to church all that much anymore, but they never missed Good Friday services.  Meanwhile, while we were a Protestant home with nary a religion-provoked dietary restriction, my own parents really pushed the "no meat" rule on Good Friday.  It was always grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. 

Part of my confusion about this Easter stuff naturally came from an innocent child's questioning of what I learned in Sunday school.  On Good Friday, you're told that Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross and took three hours to die.  There was one kid in my neighborhood who was a religious nut.  He told me that the nuns in his school told him that the skies get dark every Good Friday from the hours of 12 noon to 3PM. 

Yeah, right.

Naturally, that very year, it happened just like he said.  Day turned into night due to an impending storm.  I peered out the window of my grandmother's living room at the doom and gloom.  Maybe there was something to this all.   Ever the skeptic, Grandma injected her usual logic.

"Oh, don't believe everything those crazy Catholics tell you."

Oh.

My inward struggle also got contributions from my mother, who wasn't particularly religious but had dragged me to every Biblical epic that played at the RKO Proctor's Theater on Gramatan Avenue in Mount Vernon, New York.   We saw them all either first-run or in revival.

"The Story of Ruth."

"Spartacus."

"The Ten Commandments."

"King of Kings."

"Barabbas."

"El Cid."

"The Robe."

Whatever the film, most ended with Jesus dying on the cross and the subsequent resurrection.  The latter was another concept that had me raising my hand in question a time or two.

They put Jesus Christ in a tomb.   They blocked it with a stone.  But, by the third day, he was gone.   Risen to heaven.   His body was gone.

Okay, this happens to all people, right, Mom?

When my dad's brother, Uncle Fritz, died and was buried at Ferncliff, I had a novel idea.   Let's go up there and see if we can watch this happen.  I mean, you must be able to see these people coming out of their graves and going skyward.  I presented this idea to both my parents.   And got the vague response.

"It doesn't work like that."

But they told us that in Sunday school.  The pastor told us that.  Gee, we saw it happen just like that in "King of Kings."

"It's more complicated than that."

Uh huh.  Over the years of my life, I realized that those questions were at the very heart of Christian belief. 

So, along with the changing day and unplanned weather and the inconsistent holiday celebrations, that was the main reason I still can't figure out Easter Sunday.  Our church is temporarily closed but, in my mind, I hear the story one more time.  

Perhaps that's the struggle that was originally intended. 

And then, to make the holiday even more confusing, there are those Easters when I spent the day at a Dodger game.  Go figure.

Dinner last night:  Lasagna.

Classic TV Commercial of the Month - April 2026

 Do they still make Vanquish?

Dinner last night:  Popcorn at the movies.

That Lovable Easter Bunny

 

Dinner last night:  Sandwich.

April Fools With a Police Record

 

And you all thought we got Osama bin Laden?

Hey, who stole my Bic Razor???

Yeah, we know.   You're innocent.

This is jail, not Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater.

No, God doesn't really listen to felons.

Wow, where do I start?

And she posed the same way for her prom picture.

Eight out of ten convicts don't use Crest.

 He's one of the two in ten that do use Crest.

Please don't let the camera pan down.

The helmet will come in handy for the prison football game.

Oh, my God!  They've arrested Della Reese!

Dinner last night:  Sandwich.

This Date in History - April 1

 

No fooling around today.   All of this really happened on April 1.  

286:  EMPEROR DIOCLETIAN ELEVATES HIS GENERAL MAXIMIAN TO CO-EMPEROR WITH THE RANK OF AUGUSTUS AND GIVES HIM CONTROL OVER THE WESTERN DIVISION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

I wonder how many times the Western Division plays the Eastern and Central Divisions.

325:  CROWN PRINCE JIM CHENGDI, AGE 4, SUCCEEDS HIS FATHER AS EMPEROR OF THE EASTERN JIN DYNASTY.

No age requirement there.

457:  MAJORIAN IS ACCLAIMED EMPEROR BY THE ROMAN ARMY.

The majorian rules.

527:  BYZANTINE EMPEROR JUSTIN 1 NAMES HIS NEPHEW JUSTINIAN I AS CO-RULER.

Justin time.

1318:  BERWICK-UPON-TWEED IS CAPTURED BY THE SCOTTISH FROM ENGLAND.

How about Berwick-Upon-Polyester and Wool Blend?

1572: IN THE EIGHTY YEARS WAR, THE WATERGEUZEN CAPTURE BRIELLE FROM THE SPANIARDS, GAINING THE FIRST FOOTHOLD ON LAND FOR WHAT WOULD BECOME THE DUTCH REPUBLIC.

There's a Brielle in New Jersey.  I don't think this is the same one.

1789:  IN NEW YORK CITY, THE US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES HOLDS ITS FIRST QUORUM AND ELECTS FREDERICK MUHLENBERG OF PENNSYLVANIA AS ITS FIRST HOUSE SPEAKER.

Back when House Speakers had a brain in their heads.

1854:  CHARLES DICKENS' NOVEL "HARD TIMES" BEGINS SERIALIZATION.

How about "Fast Times?"   At Ridgemont High?

1865:  THE BATTLE OF FIVE FORKS DURING THE AMERICAN CIVIL WARS.

I guess forks can kill just as much as knives.

1883:  ACTOR LON CHANEY SR. IS BORN.

The Man of a Thousand Faces.  As opposed to Nancy Pelosi, who only had five.

1887:  THE MUMBAI FIRE BRIGADE IS ESTABLISHED.

Slumdog Fireman.

1891:  THE WRIGLEY COMPANY IS FOUNDED IN CHICAGO.

Chew on that for a while.

1893:  THE RANK OF CHIEF PETTY OFFICER IN THE US NAVY IS ESTABLISHED.

That's so...well...petty.

1922:  WRITER WILLIAM MANCHESTER IS BORN.

Birth of a Writer.

1924:  ADOLF HITLER IS SENTENCED TO FIVE YEARS IN JAIL FOR HIS PARTICIPATION IN THE BEER HALL PUTSCH.  HOWEVER, SHE SPENDS ONLY NINE MONTHS IN JAIL, DURING WHICH HE WRITES MEIN KAMPF.

Dumbest guy in the world?   The guard who opened the prison door and let him out.

1924:   THE ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE IS FORMED.

Good.  In case we're attacked from the North.

1929:  ACTRESS JANE POWELL IS BORN.

Still with us.  And married to a former Little Rascal Dickie Moore.

1932:  ACTRESS DEBBIE REYNOLDS IS BORN.

Mother of Princess Leia.

1933:  THE RECENTLY ELECTED NAZIS UNDER JULIUS STREICHER ORGANIZE A ONE-DAY BOYCOTT OF ALL JEWISH-OWNED BUSINESSES IN GERMANY, USHERING IN A SERIES OF ANTI-SEMITIC ACTS.

That series will unfortunately be long running.

1934:  NEW YORK MET ROD KANEHL IS BORN.

Hot Rod!

1937:  DURING THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR, SPAIN IS BOMBED BY NAZI FORCES.  

So they hated the Spaniards, too.

1939:  ACTRESS ALI MCGRAW IS BORN.

Love means never having to say "happy birthday."

1939:  GENERALISIMO FRANCISCO FRANCO OF THE SPANISH STATE ANNOUNCES THE END OF THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR.

Still dead in 2015.

1944:   BASEBALL STAR RUSTY STAUB IS BORN.

Love his baby back ribs.  Oh, and the baseball playing, too.

1945:  DURING WORLD WAR II, UNITED STATES TROOPS LAND ON OKINAWA IN THE LAST MAJOR CAMPAIGN OF THE WAR.

Getting ready to say sayonara.

1949:  THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA REPEALS JAPANESE CANADIAN INTERNMENT.

The war's been over for four years.   What took you so long?  

1957:  THE BBC BROADCASTS THE SPAGHETTI TREE HOAX.

The sequel was the Ravioli Plant Scandal.

1965:  BUSINESSWOMAN HELENA RUBINSTEIN DIES.

No amount of eye shadow is going to cover this up.

1967:  THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION BEGINS OPERATION.

Well, heck, how did people get around before this???

1970:  PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON SIGNS THE PUBLIC HEALTH CIGARETTE SMOKING ACT INTO LAW, REQUIRING THE SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNINGS ON TOBACCO AND BANNING CIGARETTE ADS ON TV AND RADIO IN THE US, STARTING IN 1971.

Marlboro Man, you're on notice.

1976:  APPLE INC IS FORMED.

I wonder how successful they will be.

1976:  CONRAIL TAKES OVER OPERATIONS FROM SIX BANKRUPT RAILROADS IN THE NORTHEAST.

And proceeded to run them into the ground.

1979:  IRAN BECOMES AN ISLAMIC REPUBLIC BY A 99% VOTE, OFFICIALLY OVERTHROWING THE SHAH.

Shah Na Na.

1984:  SINGER MARVIN GAYE DIES.

We heard it through the grapevine.

1996:  UMPIRE JOHN MCSHERRY DIES.

On Opening Day in Cincinnati, he was umpiring behind home plate and collapsed.  Video exists.
 
2001:  SAME-SEX MARRIAGE BECOMES LEGAL IN THE NETHERLANDS, THE FIRST CONTEMPORARY COUNTRY TO ALLOW IT.

Unless, of course, two guys get married and then the judge says....April Fools.

2004: GOOGLE ANNOUNCES GMAIL TO THE PUBLIC.

I have to tell you that it's a clunky e-mail system.

2010:  ACTOR JOHN FORSYTHE DIES.

Bachelor Corpse.

2018:  TV PRODUCER STEVEN BOCHCO DIES.

Hill Street Extremely Blue.

2025:  ACTOR VAL KILMER DIES.

The former Batman to you.

Dinner last night:  Grilled sausage.

Hollywood Then and Now - March 2026

 

There is nothing more regal and stately than an old department store.   We're not talking Walmart here, folks.   This is the famed May Company store that sits at the intersection of Fairfax and Wilshire.  It is the place where...allegedly...Jack Benny first met his wife Mary Livingstone as she worked behind one of the counters.

Well, the building is still there.   And it has a bit of a show biz motif.   The place was converted to house the Motion Picture Academy's museum and headquarters. 

 So, a nice transition, right?

WRONG!

In its new iteration, the new tenant of the building has created a badly designed mess.  Oh, sure, the motion picture history is here.  And there are some marvelous theaters for screenings.   That is, if you want to see "diverse" movies.  Seemingly, that's all they show there.

What's worse is the ADA access for those museum goers with mobility issues.  The ADA parking is either non-existent or a long crawl away.  And the bathroom access for those going to see a movie.   Another ten minute walk.   

I've seen other articles talking about how the Academy botched this golden opportunity.   Good luck if you want to head out there.

It was better off as a department store.

Dinner last night:  Leftover Korean Chicken.