Dan's Almanac
July 6, 2024: Being an Almanac of Movies for the Day, A Lawyer's Almanac, Nixon's World, Carter's Cartoon World, Shakespeare's World, A Guide to the Presidents, and Miscellany
Movies for the Day
Which of today’s three movies would you watch (July 6)?
The Bill Cosby Show (1969-1971) is a sitcom that aired for two seasons and stars comedian Bill Cosby, born July 12, 1937. Below is Cosby as Chet Kincaid with Rupert Crosse and Beah Richards, 1970. **
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) is the latest entry in the Indiana Jones franchise. It stars Harrison Ford, born July 13, 1942. The prior four movies were Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008). In this action adventure series, Ford plays an archaeologist college professor. See also The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992-1993), a TV production. *****
Meg 2: The Trench (2023) is the second movie about a huge shark (a megalodon). Science fiction and action and horror. This movie is a sequel to The Meg (2018) which was based on the novel The Trench (1999) by Steve Allen. Shark Awareness Day is July 14. ***
A Lawyer’s Almanac
The United Nations International Day of Cooperatives has been celebrated since 1992 (see logo below). The more generic International Co-Operative Day is usually the first Saturday in July. Cooperatives are an alternative model of business enterprise. The earliest record of a co-operative dates to Scotland on March 14, 1761. In 1844, a group of 28 artisans working in the cotton mills in the north of England established the first modern co-operative business. 2012 was decreed an International Year of Cooperatives by the United Nations. 2025 will be another.
Nixon’s World
Sidney J. Weinberg was a rags to riches story eventually causing him to be nicknamed Mr. Wall Street. He was born October 12, 1891, in New York City. He worked his way up at Goldman Sachs from janitorial services to a leader of the firm beginning in 1927. The investment banker supported the candidacy of General Dwight Eisenhower in 1952 and supported Vice President Nixon, who was experiencing some headwinds, to be on the ticket again in 1956. He is pictured below in 1942.
Carter’s Cartoon World
Joseph A. Smith was an editorial illustrator and cartoonist before becoming a children’s book illustrator whose work is now exhibited in several art museums. He was born September 5, 1936, in Pennsylvania. He is an alumnus of the Pratt Institute and Penn State University. He is pictured below in a classroom.
Shakespeare’s World
Edmund Bonner was an English prelate. He became chaplain to Cardinal Wolsey. Employed by Henry VIII as his envoy at Rome in 1532, in connection with the divorce from Catherine of Aragon, he was later sent on other embassies. He was made bishop of Hereford in 1538 and bishop of London in 1539. He was imprisoned from 1549 to 1553 under Edward VI and deprived of his bishopric for failing to enforce the use of the new Prayer Book, but was reinstated by Mary in 1553. The following year, after a rebuke from the Crown for his leniency to heretics, he signed the condemnation of the Protestants sentenced to be burned in London for heresy. After the accession of Elizabeth I he refused to take the oath of supremacy, and from 1560 to 1569 was imprisoned in the Marshalsea Prison, where he died September 5, 1569. During his time he earned the sobriquet Bloody Bonner. He appears below in a 19th century engraving after a 16th century portrait.
A Guide to the Presidents
President William H. Harrison was born February 9, 1773, in Charles City County, Virginia, at Berkeley Plantation. Despite having grown up in a mansion, during his Presidential campaign he was portrayed as having lived in a log cabin. His father had signed the Declaration of Independence. Harrison’s main home as an adult was Grouseland in Indiana. He was educated at Presbyterian Hampden-Sydney College (1787-1790) and spent a year in medical training at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia (1790). He was a non-voting delegate to the United States House of Representatives from the Northwest Territory from 1799 to 1800. He married Anna Harrison on November 25, 1795. Their grandson, Benjamin Harrison, was the 23rd President of the United States (1889-1893). Anna and William had ten children and 48 grandchildren. William Harrison served as Governor of the Indiana Territory from 1801 to 1812. The capital was Vincennes. From 1816 to 1819, Harrison was a United States Congressman from Ohio. From 1819 to 1821, he served in the Ohio legislature. Harrison was a United States Senator from Ohio from 1824 to 1828. During 1828 to 1829, he was Ambassador to Colombia. From 1836 to 1840, he was Clerk of Courts for Hamilton County. He had a distinguished military career with the Indiana Territory Militia and the United States Army (Major General). He especially gained fame during the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. He served as President from March 4, 1841, to April 4, 1841, when he became the first President to die in office. He had the shortest tenure of any President. He had given the longest inauguration speech in history. He talked for one hour and 40 minutes and caught a cold that turned into pneumonia. He was 68 years old when he died. He was originally entombed at Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C. and is presently buried at the William Henry Harrison Tomb State Memorial in North Bend, Ohio. He was known as “Old Tippencanoe” and his Presidential campaign slogan was “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too.” His portrait is below.