A THREE-YEAR TOUR

September 26 in history:

Explorer Francis Drake ended a three-year voyage around the world when he arrived back at his starting point of Plymouth, England, on this date in 1580.  Drake was knighted by Queen Elizabeth less than a year later.

The cruise ship Queen Mary was launched on September 26th, 1934.  It made regular cruises between Europe and the U.S. before it was retired in 1967, and docked in Long Beach, California.

“A three-hour tour” for the S.S. Minnow led to a three-year run on CBS for the sitcom “Gilligan’s Island,” which premiered on September 26th, 1964.  “Gilligan” producer Sherwood Schwartz launched another iconic sitcom on this day exactly five years later in 1969, when “The Brady Bunch” made its debut on ABC.

“The Beverly Hillbillies” also had its premiere on September 26th, in 1962…the birthday of Donna Douglas (1933), who played Elly May Clampett on the show.  Immediately after “Hillbillies” that night on CBS, “The Dick Van Dyke Show” began its second season with a new opening sequence, in which Van Dyke, as TV writer Rob Petrie, walks into his house and either trips over an ottoman, or sidesteps it.  Three versions were shot, so viewers could guess every week whether Rob would trip or not.

KING ME!

May 1st in history:

May 1st seems to be a big day for “kings” …

On May 1st of 1328, the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton recognized the Kingdom of Scotland as independent from the Kingdom of England. That declaration was reversed exactly 379 years later – May 1st, 1707 – when the Act of Union joined the Kingdoms of Scotland and England to form Great Britain.

King Kamehameha I established the Kingdom of Hawai’i on this date in 1785.

The star of “Blue Hawaii,” Elvis Presley (the King of Rock and Roll), married Priscilla Beaulieu in Las Vegas on May 1st, 1967.

The Empire State Building, a popular hangout of King Kong, was dedicated in New York on May 1st, 1931.

An obituary of Jack Paar called him the original “King of Late Night,” as host of the “Tonight Show” in the late ’50s and early ’60s.  Paar was born on this date in 1918.  Paar inherited the “Tonight” job from Steve Allen, whose TV shows often featured comedian Louis Nye, born today in 1913. Nye’s TV work included a recurring role as Sonny Drysdale on “The Beverly Hillbillies”.

A THREE-YEAR TOUR

September 26 in history:

Explorer Francis Drake ended a three-year voyage around the world when he arrived back at his starting point of Plymouth, England, on this date in 1580.  Drake was knighted by Queen Elizabeth less than a year later.

The cruise ship Queen Mary was launched on September 26th, 1934.  It made regular cruises between Europe and the U.S. before it was retired in 1967, and docked in Long Beach, California.

“A three-hour tour” for the S.S. Minnow led to a three-year run on CBS for the sitcom “Gilligan’s Island,” which premiered on September 26th, 1964.  “Gilligan” producer Sherwood Schwartz launched another iconic sitcom on this day exactly five years later in 1969, when “The Brady Bunch” made its debut on ABC.

And “The Beverly Hillbillies” also had its premiere on September 26th, in 1962…the birthday of Donna Douglas (1933), who played Elly May Clampett.