Monday, June 23, 2014

June 24 History National Pralines Day



Ridley's Believe It Or Not—June 24, 2014:  Fourth day of summer and the holidays are rarer than a four leaf clover in a field of grazing goats. Hope you are in full summer enjoyment mode and enjoy these questionable holidays, factoids, and a quote by Jack Dempsey and repeated by Ronald Reagan with a smile on your face and several pralines in your hand.
            1. International Fairy Day—celebrating a day for fairies, magic, and wishes to come true. For one day, put aside the cynicism of the modern world and embrace the possibilities of the unknown, and believe in fairies, including the Tooth Fairy and Tinkerbell.     
            2. Don’t Count Me Out Day—honoring the birthday on this day in 1895  of heavyweight boxer Jack Dempsey who in a rematch with Gene Tunney to regain his heavyweight title from Tunney, knocked him to the canvas but refused to move to a neutral corner, delaying the start of the count. The additional time enabled Tunney to avoid being knocked out and to win the match.
           3. The Honeymoon Is Over Day—mourning the death on this day in 1987 of movie and TV actor Jackie Gleason, famous for his role in the long running TV series The Honeymooners and the overweight Southern sheriff chasing without success the Bandit in that classic Smokey and the Bandit.
           4. National Pralines Day—following in the heels of National Pecan Sandies Day yesterday and celebrating a great snack originally created in France by coating almonds in caramelized sugar. The praline got its name from French soldier and sugar industrialist, Marshal du Plessis-Praslin, as it was his cook who invented it. The recipe evolved when French settlers brought the recipe to Louisiana where chefs in New Orleans eventually substituted pecans for almonds and added cream.
On this day in:
            a. 1916 Mary Pickford became the first female actress to sign a million dollar movie contract (almost 23 million in 2014 dollars).
            b. 1949 NBC aired the first of many TV Westerns, Hopalong Cassidy starring William Boyd.
            c. 1957 the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Roth v. the United States, ruled that obscenity was not protected by the First Amendment.  
We now know the origin of a famous Reagan quote to his wife: “Honey I forgot to duck.” Jack Dempsey after losing his championship to Gene Tunney on September 23, 1926 to his wife. Reagan repeated the same line to Nancy after being shot by Hinckley
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© June 24, 2014 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet

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