Question: Who were not a famous comedy team of the 1930s? The Marx Bros. Abbott and Costello, The Smothers Brothers, Olsen & Johnson.

Yesterday’s Question Answered Below: A Christmas Carol commands, “Now bring us some figgy pudding...” What is figgy pudding?
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History for 12/6/2023
Birthdays: King Henry VI of England-1422, English Puritan General George Monck-1608, John Eberhard 1822, builder of the first large pencil factory in the US, John Singleton-Mosby the Grey Ghost, Henry Jarecki, Baby Face Nelson, William S. Hart, Ira Gershwin, Dave Brubeck, Agnes Moorehead, Tom Hulce is 70, Wally Cox the voice of Underdog, Lynn Fontaine, Steven Wright, JoBeth Williams, Judd Apatow is 55, Nick Park is 66

Dec 6,Today is the FEAST of SAINT NICHOLAS, the patron saint of sailors and children. In what is modern Turkey, in 350AD, Bishop Nicholas of Myra heard of a man so poor that he was about to sell his daughters into prostitution. Nicholas climbed into the man’s window and placed gold coins in the family socks drying by the fireplace. In some cities during the Middle Ages the custom was this day to elect a Boy Bishop who would reign in an honorary style until the Feast of the Holy Innocents December 28th.
In Northern Europe St. Nicholas was accompanied by the devil Krampus or Schwartz Piet (Black Pete), who beat the crap out of naughty kids. Small wonder when the custom came over to America they left out the demon part.

1196- The northern coast of Holland was flooded, the Saint Nicholas Flood.

1240- The Mongol horde of Batu Khan destroyed the City of Kiev (Kyiv). This ended the old kingdom of Kievan Russ.

1534- Spanish settlers in Ecuador found the city of Quito.

1648- PRIDE'S PURGE -The final move of the Cromwell’s Army to secure power in post-Civil War England. His army had occupied London after Parliament ordered them to disband. Soldiers led by Colonel Thomas Pride stood at the entrance to the House of Commons with a list and as the Parliament members walked in he pulled out 60 of them for arrest. Outraged politicians demanded to know what was his commission? Col. Pride sneered, " This sword point is my commission!"
Thus cowed, the truncated remainder was nicknamed The Rump Parliament. General Oliver Cromwell was discreetly out of town, but he was doubtless in on the planning of the purge. England was now a military dictatorship and would remain so for ten years until Cromwell's death, when General Monk summoned back the monarchy.

1757-Battle of Leuthen- Frederick the Great beats the Austrian Army outnumbering him three to one. Austrian commander Archduke Charles was contemptuous of the smaller Prussian army, calling them a “Berlin Watch Parade” i.e. a police patrol. But the Prussians defeated the Austrians badly, and sang their hymn Nun Danket Alle Gott on the blood soaked snow. Napoleon called Leuthen Frederick’s masterpiece.

1790- Congress moved from New York City back to Philadelphia to await construction of it’s final home in the new Federal City in Maryland, already being called by some Washington-City. George Washington himself would occasionally ride out from Mt Vernon and meet with Jefferson and Madison to inspect the construction site.

1825- In his first message to Congress, President John Quincy Adams called for increased funding for scientific research, the founding of a national university and a national observatory. His political enemies ridiculed his ideas as idiotic. They accused the president of wasting taxpayer money on depraved European luxuries like a billiard table. Adams also installed the first indoor toilets in the White House. People started calling the newfangled commodes a John Quincy, or simply a John.

1846- Battle of San Pasqual- A Mexican victory in the U.S.-Mexican War. The US Army was so sure that California was conquered that General Phil Kearny sent away half of his army to go join Zachary Taylor in Mexico while he pushed on to the Pacific Coast. Just outside of San Diego near Julian he was attacked by California Vaqueros, brandishing lances. The Yankee dragoons at first laughed at the silly “pig-stickers”, until they realized the previous nights rainstorm had made their gunpowder useless. Kearny’s force was routed. Only with great difficulty did they escape under Kit Carson’s guidance to the sheltering guns of the US Fleet in San Diego harbor.

1849- Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery in Maryland and began her underground railroad to smuggle runaway slaves from the South up North. After the Fugitive Slave Act was passed she extended her route to Canada. At one point she wanted to join John Brown’s insurrection in Harpers Ferry but illness prevented her, and probably saved her life.

1877- First edition of the Washington Post.

1882- English novelist Anthony Trollope was listening to his niece read aloud from a comic novel Visa-Versa by E.F. Asthley. Trollope laughed so hard he had a stroke and dropped dead. He was 67.

1915- MAX FLEISCHER PATENTED THE ROTOSCOPE- This system enabled you to film an actor then draw the cartoons over the still frames of the live action to achieve a realistic motion. (an early form of Motion Capture) Max would film his brother Dave in a clown suit then draw Koko the Clown over him. Dave had already owned the clown suit because he had been seriously considering a change in careers. Max invented the system while working for John Randolph Bray. Bray, usually quick to sue to enforce his copyrights, allowed Max and Dave to go off on their own with no problem. The Fleischer's New York studio would be Disney's chief rival for most of the 1920's-30's.

1921- Irish Home Rule- It had been an Irish dream since William Strongbow and the Norman English invaded in 1085. After decades of Parliamentary pressure from advocates like Charles Parnell and Daniel O'Connell, a long guerrilla war with the IRA and public exhaustion from the Great War, London was ready to talk terms. But the British Crown insisted on a compromise of letting the 6 Protestant Counties of Ulster remain under British rule and an oath of loyalty to the king. Prime Minister Lloyd George threatened a full war on Ireland with the full resources of the British Empire as the alternative.
Irish negotiators Michael Collins and Alexander Griffith knew this deal would cause resentment, but they felt it was the best they could get. In the following months both men would be dead and a civil war broke out. The loyalty oath was ignored and full Irish independence declared in 1946.

1929- Turkey under Kemal Ataturk gave women the right to vote.

1933- U.S. Federal Judge Woolsey decides James Joyce's "ULYSSES" is not a dirty book and can be published in the U.S by Viking Press. The book had been out in Europe since 1922.

1941- Admiral Nagumo turned his carriers into the wind and began to prepare to launch the attack on Pearl Harbor. Meanwhile in Washington DC, Colonel William Bratton of army intelligence decoded a message from Tokyo to the Japanese Embassy telling them after their final message to destroy their cyphers and all top-secret documents. He ran all over D.C. trying to get someone to listen, but it was a quiet weekend like any other.
Early Sunday morning Mrs. Dorothy Edgers of the Navy cryptographic division translated long decoded instructions to the Japanese Consul Kita in Honolulu to provide up to date intelligence on Pearl Harbor's ship movements and armaments, then destroy his ciphers. When she showed this to her supervisor, he told her, “Well, umm….We'll get back to this on Monday."

1941- NY City Council voted to build a second municipal airport- Idylwild Airport, later renamed John F. Kennedy Airport.

1942- Val Lewton’s movie The Cat People with Simon-Simon premiered.

1957- In their initial reaction to the Russians launching sputnik, the US attempt to launch a satellite into space failed- the Vanguard I rocket blew up on the launch pad.

1960- Baseball’s American League granted an expansion franchise team to old cowboy singer Gene Autry, the California Angels.

1963- Soon after the assassination, Jackie Kennedy had writer T. H. White to the White House for an interview. She was already shaping how her husband’s presidency would be remembered. She mentioned his favorite album was the soundtrack of the musical Camelot. White took this and expanded the idea in the piece he wrote for Life Magazine, “For President Kennedy, An Epilogue” which came out on this day. The JFK era would forever after being known as Camelot.

1964- The first concert at the Los Angeles Music Center.

1964- Rankin Bass' TV special 'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer' first broadcast.

1969- The Rolling Stones do the last big rock festival of the 60s in Altamont California. The festival turned ugly when Hells Angels motorcyclists, hired to guard the stage, started fighting with fans. One man, Meredith Hunter, was killed.

1980- Reverend Jim Baker of the PTL ministry had sex in a motel room with church volunteer Jessica Hahn. His reasoning to her was “when you help the shepherd, you help the flock”. But later he paid her hush money. This indiscretion would help pull down his Church. Baker’s ministry included a lavish lifestyle, air-conditioned doghouse for his pets and a Christian theme park called Heritage USA. Ex-evangelist turned comedian Sam Kinison joked: I can imagine up in heaven, Jesus is thumbing through the New Testament saying” Hey, where the hell did I ever say anything thing about a water slide?”
In recent years, Jim Baker has made a comeback. He has another big church and is a loud supporter of former President Trump.

1994- Orange County California, one of the richest counties in the United States declared bankruptcy because an official gambled and lost the county's funds on speculative investments like junk-bonds. One billion dollars disappeared in less than a week of day trading.
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Yesterday’s Question: A Christmas Carol commands, “ Now bring us some figgy pudding..” What is figgy pudding?

Answer: 14th Century English pudding were small cakes made of pork suet, heavily laced with sweet figs and other dried fruits. For many average people it would be the only sweet confection they’d get all year.