SEPTEMBER 27 — 1992 Video for Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy” is released; 1869 Wild Bill Hicock relieved of duty as Sheriff, Hays Cty Kansas; 1894 Aqueduct Race Track opens in Queens; 2016 “Jaws” clapperboard becomes most expensive clapperboard ever
SEPTEMBER 27
1938 – FDR writes a letter to Hitler.
…Delano was concerned that Hitler was going to invade Czechoslovakia and was trying to avoid conflict. While German Chancellor Adolf Hitler wrote back stating that he was sympathetic to Roosevelt’s wish to avoid hostilities, Hitler had full intentions of taking over Sudetenland. SOO-DAY-TON-LAND He felt obliged to take over a nat5ion that he felt was rightfully German in ancestry and history. Hitler mentioned he was also dissatisfied with the 1919 Treaty of Versailles which founded the Czechoslovak State that the League of Nations ignored.
President Roosevelt responded that first, he wanted matters settled between Germany and Czechoslovakia governments, Second, act of force would lead to and unjustifiable war. “Should you agree o a solution in this peaceful manner I am convinced that hundreds of millions throughout the world would recognize your action as an outstanding historic service to all humanity. …and the souls of every man, woman and child whose lives will be lost in the threatened war, will hold us and all of us accountable should we omit any appeal for prevention of war.” Hitler of course would ignore the fact that FDR was right and invaded Czechoslovakia anyway in March 1939.
1992 — Pearl Jam releases Jeremy.
King Jeremy the Wicked definitely spoke in class today and backed up his words with his two buddies Smith & Wesson.
Paarl Jam frontman Eddie vedder and bassist Jeff Lament were inspired to write the song based on a couple stories, but the main one was about 15-year old Jeremy Wade Delle from Richardson, TX who was late for his English class on the morning of January 8, 1991. His teacher told him to go see the principle because of his tardiness, and Jeremy left and returned with a 357 Magnum and shot himself in front of his teacher and the entire class. After director Mark Pellington shot the video for the song Jeremy, MTV probably played it more than the Red Hot Chilli Pepper’s Under the Bridge.
Rolling Stone magazine and other publications have blamed the band and MTV for harvesting a culture of suicide shootings in schools. Pellington states that the video, about a boy ignored by his father at home and teased by classmates at school, was totally misunderstood, as a scene at the end of Jeremy putting the gun in his mouth was deleted due to violent restrictions on MTV. As a result, we see a frozen shot of a classroom full of teenagers with a shocked look on their faces and blood on their shirts.
But the blood depicted was intended to symbolize Jeremy’s blood, which was on their hands. Jeremy is considered one of the most controversial videos of all time, but it’s hard not to make the case that MTV played it in super duper heavy rotation for what seemed like at least four months, just a few years before the Columbine massacre and the rest of the shootings since.
Should Pearl Jam be blamed for the song, as Rolling Stone magazine reported? Should we blame the Boomtown Rats for the 1979 Cleveland Elementary School shooting in San Diego just because they don’t like Mondays either? Or should MTV take responsibility for showing the video way too much?
Does it matter? Barry Loukaitis, the 16 year old boy, who shot and killed three people at the Frontier Middle School shooting, blamed both, according to his attorney. If Jeremy hadn’t been edited by MTV, we’d see that it was about a suicide, not a mass-murderer. But if you recall in the song, Jeremy was imagining mountaintops with him on top, as the dead lay in pools of maroon below.
Would history have changed at all is MTV hadn’t deleted that scene of Jeremy raising the gun to his mouth? The New Yorker points out it’s not like Jeremy was the first violent song ever to become popular, but Jeremy had rage. Daddy didn’t listen, no! to the fact that Mommy didn’t care.
1869 – Wild Bill Hickok
…is relieved of duty as sheriff of Hays City, Kansas. James Butler, otherwise known as Wild Bill Hickok was born May 27, 1837 in Troy Grove, Ill. He was a helluva shooter since he was a young child. Hickok boasted a tall slim figure who had a heavy hand for dealing with lawlessness. He joined General James Lane’s Free State forces in Kansas, who opposed slavery. Hickok would serve as a Union soldier and spy in the Civil War, and was a very popular scout, marksman, actor and gambler.
But as sheriff, Hickok had a bad reputation for killing people for the sake of enforcing the peace. He shot a soldier who resisted arrest, and then some drunk dudes at John Bitter’s Beer Saloon who were acting like they were in the Old West and creating havoc in the saloon. The Hays City people didn’t agree that the ends justified the means with Hickok’s rule, and voted him out.
1894 – The Big A opens up in Queens.
…The Aqueduct Racetrack was New York City’s only thoroughfare racetrack, occupying 21 acres in South Ozone Park just eight miles away from Belmont Park. It’s right next to the JFK airport. The big A was home to some of the world’s best horse races. As it went through much changes in its day, these days in addition to the track, it boasts a multi-level, 415,000 square foot casino.
2016 — Jaws Clapperboard becomes the most expensive clapperboard ever.
Now, for those of you who don’t know what a clapperboard is, and I certainly didn’t by the way, it’s the wooden board that with the production name and director written in chalk that gets snapped right in front of the director to start the filming of the scene. Whatever the scene is, in this case for example when Brody blows Jaws to smithereens at the end.
In the 1990s the wooden clapperboard started getting replaced by digital ones, which are used to this day. The clapperboard for Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back sold for 27,000 pounds, or around $35k. What was cool about the Jaws clapperboard was that instead of the clapper stick being straight it’s cut to look like sharp teeth. Very scary. Anyway, it would be really cool to have in any collection, especially considering on this day in 2016 the Jaws clapperboard sold for $109K. Chomp!
1986 – Cliff Burton dies. Miss you dude!
…The original bassist for Metallica was killed when the band’s tour bus skidded and flipped over in rural southern Sweden.Metallica was promoting Master of Puppets at the time. Burton, who was 24 at the time, was thrown out of the window of the bus, which fell on top of him, crushing him to death. He would be posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame with the rest of Metallica on April 4, 2009.His real name was Clifford Lee Burton and he was selected as the nine greatest bassist of all time in an online reader poll by Rolling Stone in 2011. Cliff Burton, like a BOSS