Today's Puzzle
What game do cannibal children play?
What Happened On
First Self-Serve Grocery Store
September 6, 1916
Piggly Wiggly, the first true self-service grocery store, is founded. The first store opened several days later in Memphis, Tennessee.
The concept was the brain child of Clarence Saunders. Prior to this, grocery stores did not allow customers to gather their own goods. The customer would give a list of items to a clerk, who would go get them for you. Allowing customers to go through the store and gather their own goods cut costs, thus lowering prices. Losses due to increased shoplifting were offset by lower operating costs and increased impulse shopping.
Customers entered the store through a turnstile and walked down four aisles to view the 605 items available, selecting merchandise as they worked their way to the cashier.
This also created a need for companies to develop packaging and brand recognition.
The "self-serving store" idea was patented by Saunders in 1917.
Why "Piggly Wiggly"? Once when Saunders was asked why he had chosen such an unusual name for his store, he replied, "So people will ask that very question".
President McKinley Assassination
September 6, 1901
U.S. President William McKinley is shot and mortally wounded by Leon Czolgosz. McKinley died eight days later. Czolgosz believed there was an inequality in American society which allowed the wealthy to enrich themselves by exploiting the poor. At his execution he proclaimed, "I killed the President because he was the enemy of the good people - the good working people. I am not sorry for my crime." He was inspired by the assassination of King Umberto I of Italy the previous year by anarchist Gaetano Bresci, who told the press that he had decided to take matters into his own hands for the sake of the common man. Czolgosz decided to do the same.
Prior to the assassination of McKinley, the Secret Service's main duties were to combat counterfeiting of U.S. currency. After the assassination, Congress added protecting the president to their duties.
Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor by William Halsall, 1882
Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor by William Halsall, 1882
The Mayflower
September 6, 1620
The Mayflower sets sail from Plymouth, England with 102 Pilgrims and about 30 crew members.
First Circumnavigation of the Globe
September 6, 1522
31 survivors of the Ferdinand Magellan expedition complete the three year voyage by reaching San Lucar. Magellan was killed in battle during the voyage. Only 18 out of the original 237 men were still on board. Only one of the five ships that started the voyage completed the journey. Approximately 232 sailors died on the expedition. The voyage proved that the globe could be circled by sea and that the world was much larger than previously believed.
Magellan had not originally intended to circumnavigate the world, but was trying to find a route through which Spanish ships could navigate to the Spice Islands. After Magellan's death, his assistant Juan Sebastián Elcano took command and decided to continue the voyage around the Earth.
St. Petersburg port with sign reading "Leningrad"
Photo Credit: Stan Shebs
St. Petersburg port with sign reading "Leningrad"Photo Credit: Stan Shebs
Leningrad Renamed St. Petersburg
September 6, 1991
The Soviet city Leningrad's name is restored to St. Petersburg.
Baltic States
September 6, 1991
The Soviet Union recognizes the independence of the Baltic states Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
National Grandparents Day
September 6, 1979
National Grandparents Day is proclaimed by the president. To be celebrated on the Sunday following Labor Day.
H.R. Pufnstuf
September 6, 1969
The TV show H.R. Pufnstuf, with puppets by Sid and Marty Krofft, debuts on NBC. The show was accused of drug references, including the title character's name H.R. Pufnstuf as meaning "Puffing [H]and [R]olled stuff [Marijuana]" and the title lyrics of "he can't do a little, 'cause he can't do enough" as a reference to the addictive nature of drugs. The creators of the show denied these claims.
The show sued McDonald's in 1977 because of Mayor McCheese's and the McDonaldland advertising campaign's resemblance to Pufnstuf and other characters, and won $50,000. The verdict was appealed by both sides and was eventually amended to a total award to the Kroffts of $1,044,000, noting:
The "Living Island" locale of Pufnstuf and "McDonaldland" are both imaginary worlds inhabited by anthropomorphic plants and animals and other fanciful creatures. The dominant topographical features of the locales are the same: trees, caves, a pond, a road, and a castle. Both works feature a forest with talking trees that have human faces and characteristics. The characters are also similar. Both lands are governed by mayors who have disproportionately large round heads dominated by long wide mouths. They are assisted by "Keystone cop" characters. Both lands feature strikingly similar crazy scientists and a multi-armed evil creature.
First Co-Ed College
September 6, 1837
Oberlin Collegiate Institute, Ohio grants women equal status, although it had allowed them to attend since its opening in 1833.
Birthdays
Jane Curtin
Born September 6, 1947
American Emmy-winning actress, comedienne. TV: Saturday Night Live (1975-80, One of the original "Not Ready For Prime Time Players"), Kate & Allie (1984-89, Allie), and 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996-2001, Dr. Mary Albright).
Schreck and as vampire Count Orlok in Nosferatu
Schreck and as vampire Count Orlok in Nosferatu
Max Schreck
Born September 6, 1879 d. 1936
German actor. He played the count in the first Dracula movie, Nosferatu (1922).
Swoosie Kurtz
Born September 6, 1944
American actress. TV: Love, Sidney (Sidney's roommate Laurie).
Roger Waters
Born September 6, 1943
English singer, with Pink Floyd. Music: Dark Side of the Moon (1972, #1), Wish You Were Here (1975, #1), and The Wall (1979, #1).
Jo Anne Worley
Born September 6, 1937
American comedienne. TV: Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.
Billy Rose (William Samuel Rosenberg)
Born September 6, 1899 d. 1966
American songwriter. Music: Me and My Shadow and It's Only a Paper Moon.
Sir Edward Victor Appleton
Born September 6, 1892 d. 1965
English Nobel-winning physicist, discovered the conductive "Appleton layer" in the ionosphere making long range radar and radio transmission possible.
Charles "Buddy" Bolden
Born September 6, 1877 d. 1931
American New Orleans cornetist. He is reputed to have invented jazz music. Suffering from schizophrenia, he spent the last 24 years of his life in an insane asylum.
John James Rickard MacLeod
Born September 6, 1876 d. 1935
Scottish physiologist. He shared a Nobel Prize for the discovery of insulin (1921), although his primary role was only to provide the lab in which the work was done.
John Dalton
Born September 6, 1766 d. 1844
English chemist, physicist. He perfected the atomic theory (1804).
Marquis de Lafayette
Born September 6, 1757 d. 1834
French general. He became the youngest major general ever in the U.S. army when he joined (1777) during the American Revolution. According to legend, U.S. President John Quincy Adams allowed Lafayette to keep an alligator in the bathroom of the White House's East Room for a few months.
Heinrich Melchior Muhlenberg
Born September 6, 1711 d. 1787
American religious leader, founder of the U.S. Lutheran Church (1748).
Deaths
Reynolds in Gunsmoke (1962)
Reynolds in Gunsmoke (1962)
Burt Reynolds (Burton Leon Reynolds Jr.)
Died September 6, 2018 b. 1936
American actor. He was featured as a nude male centerfold in the April, 1972 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. He was a star football halfback for Florida State University hoping to turn pro, but his career was sidelined after losing his spleen and injuring his knee in a car accident.
Reynolds was married briefly to Judy Carne (1963-65, the "Sock it to me" girl on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In) and to Loni Anderson (1988-93). Film: Deliverance (1972), The Longest Yard (1974), Smokey and the Bandit (1977), and Boogie Nights (1997). TV: Gunsmoke (1962-65, blacksmith Quint Asper) and Evening Shade (1990-94, Wood Newton).
Birth-Control Advocate
Margaret Sanger
Died September 6, 1966 b. 1879
American birth-control advocate. She coined the term "birth control" (1914), opened the first birth-control clinic in the U.S. (for which she was promptly arrested), and published Birth Control Review (1917-29).
Jean-Paul Belmondo
Died September 6, 2021 b. 1933
French superstar actor. Film: Breathless (1960), That Man from Rio (1964), and Pierrot le Fou (1965).
Kevin Dobson
Died September 6, 2020 b. 1943
American actor. TV: Kojak (Lt. Crocker) and Knots Landing (Mack).
Luciano Pavarotti
Died September 6, 2007 b. 1935
Italian tenor, one of "The Three Tenors." He was caught lip-syncing during a live BBC radio performance (1992).
Ernest Tubb
Died September 6, 1984 b. 1914
American country music Hall of Famer. Music: I'm Walkin' the Floor Over You (1942) and Goodnight, Irene (1950, #1).
My Left Foot
Christy Brown
Died September 6, 1981 b. 1932
Irish author, artist. Born with cerebral palsy, his left foot was the only part of his body not affected by paralysis. The 1989 movie My Left Foot was based on his 1954 autobiography - which he typed with his left foot.
Edmund Gwenn
Died September 6, 1959 b. 1877
English Oscar-winning actor. Film: Miracle on 34th Street (1947, Oscar as Kris Kringle) and The Trouble with Harry (1955).
Sir Frederick Abel
Died September 6, 1902 b. 1827
English chemist. With Sir James Dewar invented cordite, a smokeless explosive (1891), which was used by the British army in WWI. It enabled the battlefield to remain visible during heavy bombings.
Arnaldus de Villa Nova
Died September 6, 1311 b. circa 1240
Spanish physician, religious reformer. He was the first person to produce pure alcohol. He also discovered carbon monoxide.
John XIII
Died September 6, 972 b. ????
Italian religious leader, 133rd Pope (965-972).