October 5, 1969: "Monty Python's Flying Circus" Premieres

Left to right: Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, John Cleese,

Terry Jones, Graham Chapman, Michael Palin

October 5, 1969: Monty Python's Flying Circus premieres on BBC1. It becomes one of the most beloved comedy programs in the history of television on planet Earth.

The Monty Python comedy troupe consisted of John Cleese, about to turn 30, from the Bristol area; Terry Gilliam, about to turn 29, from Minneapolis and thus the only non-British member; Graham Chapman, 28, from Leicester; Terry Jones, 27, from Colwyn Bay, Wales; Eric Idle, 26, from the Newcastle area, and Michael Palin, 26, from Sheffield.

Chapman was considered the leader of the group, and took the lead roles in their films Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975, King Arthur) and Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979, Brian). Cleese is best remembered for his "Ministry of Silly Walks" and "Dead Parrot" sketches. Palin wrote and starred in the "Lumberjack Song" and "Spanish Inquisition" sketches. Gilliam was responsible for most of the show's animated sketches, Idle for composing most of their music.

The show aired 45 episodes over 5 years, ending in 1974. That year, it began airing in America on PBS, with its penchant for showing British programs.

Chapman died in 1989. Jones died in 2020. As of October 5, 2022, Cleese, Gilliam, Idle and Palin are still alive.

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October 5, 1969 was a Sunday. The NHL season started 6 days later; the NBA season, 9 days later; the ABA season, 12 days later.

Baseball was in its 1st-ever League Championship Series, and both were in Game 2. In the National League, the New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves, 11-6 at Atlanta Stadium. (It was renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in 1975.) Tommie Agee, Ken Boswell and Cleon Jones hit home runs for the Mets; Hank Aaron for the Braves.

In the American League, the Baltimore Orioles beat the Minnesota Twins, 1-0 in 11 innings at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Curt Motton singled home the winning run, off Dave Boswell. He and Dave McNally both went the distance. The Mets and the Orioles each finished their sweeps the next day, setting up one of the most stunning World Series ever played.

There were 8 games played in the NFL:

* The New York Giants beat the Chicago Bears, 28-24 at Yankee Stadium.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 38-7 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.

* The Baltimore Colts beat the Atlanta Falcons, 21-14 at Grant Field in Atlanta, moved there due to the Braves having first choice at Atlanta Stadium.

* The Los Angeles Rams beat the New Orleans Saints, 36-17 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* The football version of the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 27-14 at Pitt Stadium in Pittsburgh

* The Detroit Lions beat the Cleveland Browns, 28-21 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Minnesota Vikings beat the Green Bay Packers, 19-7 at Memorial Stadium on the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. As with the Braves and Falcons, this game had to be moved because the Twins had first choice on Metropolitan Stadium in suburban Bloomington. This would remain the only game the Vikings would play in Minneapolis proper until the Metrodome opened in 1982.

* And the Washington Redskins and the San Francisco 49ers played to a tie, 17-17 at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco.

There were 3 games played in the American Football League:

* The New York Jets beat the Boston Patriots, 23-14 at Alumni Stadium, on the campus of Boston College, just outside Boston in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

* The Houston Oilers beat the Buffalo Bills, 28-14 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* And the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Denver Broncos, 26-13 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

Two other AFL games were played the day before. The Oakland Raiders and the Miami Dolphins played to a tie, 20-20 at the Orange Bowl in Miami. And the San Diego Chargers beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 21-14 at San Diego Stadium.

April 12, 1975: "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" Premieres

April 12, 1975: Monty Python and the Holy Grail premieres. It is the 1st original feature film made by the Monty Python comedy troupe. They had previously released, in movie theaters, And Now for Something Completely Different, a collection of sketches from their TV show, Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Directing credits are shared by Python members Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones. All 6 members are credited as writers: Gilliam, Jones, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Michael Palin and Eric Idle.

Palin said, "It was by no means unanimous that we should do a film after the television series. John, to his credit, was doing Fawlty Towers. Eric was doing Rutland Weekend Television. But the two Terrys wanted to direct a film, and I loved cinema as well, so that was the only way forward, not to make it three Python shows tacked one after the other, but to make it a full cinematic experience. No other television series had, as far as I know, leapt into cinema, but we thought we'd have a go."

He appears to have been right: This was before Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and the film-fed growth of that franchise: Usually, it was the other way around, with a film being a success, and then a TV show would be based on it. In the last 10 years, in America, this had included Peyton Place, Gidget and M*A*S*H.

"We had to do something that used all six of us," said Palin, "and, of course, the Round Table was the perfect template for that, because we could each play one of the knights. And also because the Holy Grail legend was something that everyone had heard of, but nobody really knew anything about it. You could create any sort of story based around the search for a Grail."

Each member played multiple roles. Chapman didn't direct, but he did play God. Or, at least, the voice of God. He also played the lead role, King Arthur. Cleese played Sir Lancelot the Brave, and a French castle guard who taunts Arthur and his men. And he plays the Black Knight, whom Arthur slowly defeats, but keeps on fighting Arthur anyway: "'Tis but a scratch!" "'Tis but a flesh wound," and so on, until, with no arms and no legs, he still talks trash, and Arthur, having previously saluted the man's bravery, says, "What are you going to do, bleed on me?"

Gilliam played Patsy, Arthur's servant, who follows him around, clapping coconuts together, to simulate the sound of horse's hooves, as was done in pre-television radio programs. You see, there was a small budget, and they couldn't afford horses, so every knight had a squire who walked behind him and carried coconuts, and the knights merely pretended to ride horses.

Idle played "Sir Robin the-not-quite-so-brave-as-Sir Lancelot," and Lancelot's squire Concorde. He also played the man who drove a cart full of corpses, shouting, "Bring out your dead!" Jones played Sir Bedevere the Wise, whose appellation is ironic, since he seems more a conspiracy theorist. He builds not a Trojan Horse, as in ancient Greece, but a Trojan Rabbit.

And Palin narrates the film, and also plays Sir Galahad the Pure, who ultimately finds the Holy Grail, since he's the only one pure enough. He also plays the leader of the Knights Who Say Ni. According to Arthur, "Those who hear them seldom live to tell the tale!" Apparently, their speaking the word "Ni" causes great pain. But Arthur inadvertently discovers that the Knights Who Say Ni can't handle the word "It," and he and Bedevere pass through the forest that the Knights Who Say Ni were blocking.

There is also a Three-Headed Giant, played by Jones, Chapman and Palin.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is regarded as one of the funniest films of all time, regardless of country or genre. It lead to two additional Python films: Monty Python's Life of Brian in 1979, and Monty Python's The Meaning of Life in 1983.

I swear, I am not making this up. I had never seen the film until 1992. I was playing in a softball game with members of my church's youth group, and, an inning after getting a hit, I injured my knee. It didn't seem bad enough to go to the hospital, but, in hindsight, I probably should have. After the game, there was a party at a group member's house. He was a Python fanatic, and showed the film. And every time a Knight said, "Ni!" I felt it in my knee. (I should have had surgery on it, but didn't, and have regretted it ever since.)

So I wasn't in the mood for it, and was already not a Python fan, and so, I didn't "get it." About 20 years later, I was in a British-themed restaurant (now defunct) in Brooklyn, and they showed it. Maybe it was the atmosphere, but I liked it a lot better.

In 2005, Idle reworked the film into a Broadway musical titled Spamalot, using songs from the group's entire repertoire. Tim Curry played King Arthur, Sara Ramirez the Lady of the Lake, Hank Azaria Sir Lancelot, and David Hyde Pierce Sir Robin. It won the Tony Award for Best Musical.

*

April 12, 1975 was a Saturday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Detroit Tigers, 7-2 at Shea Stadium, where the Yankees were playing during the renovation of the original Yankee Stadium. Vern Ruhle outpitches Pat Dobson. Lou Piniella got 2 hits, but the rest of the Yankees combined only got 4. Bill Freehan and Nate Colbert hit home runs for the Tigers.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-5 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Bob Gibson and former Cardinal Steve Carlton started, but neither was the pitcher of record: Mike Garman was the winning pitcher, Gene Garber the losing pitcher. Ted Simmons singled Ted Sizemore home with the winning run in the top of the 9th inning. Mike Schmidt went 2-for-4.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles. 3-2 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Carl Yastrzemski went 2-for-5. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-6.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Montreal Expos, 6-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Cleveland Indians, 6-5 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Robin Yount hit a home run. Hank Aaron went 1-for-3 with a walk. Indians player-manager Frank Robinson did not put himself in the game.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins, 2-1 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. Hal McRae singled Freddie Patek home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning. George Brett went 0-for-4. Rod Carew did not play. Nor did Harmon Killebrew, the longtime Twins star playing his last season, with the Royals.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Texas Rangers, 5-4 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. The Rangers cored 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th, but it wasn't enough. Reggie Jackson went 1-for-4. Billy Williams and Sal Band hit home runs for the A's.

* The Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-5 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). Pete Rose went 3-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Johnny Bench and Dave Winfield each went 0-for-3 with a walk, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly. Willie McCovey, then with the Padres, went 2-for-4.

* The California Angels beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-3 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Leroy Stanton hit a home run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants, 7-4 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

* And, as it was the day after the Pittsburgh Pirates' home opener, in which they beat the New York Mets, 4-3, those 2 teams had the day off.

Football was out of season. There were 2 games in the NBA Playoffs. The New York Knicks lost to the Houston Rockets, 118-86 at the Hofheinz Pavilion (now the Fertitta Center) in Houston. And the Seattle Supersonics beat the Detroit Pistons, 100-93 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

There were 2 games in the American Basketball Association Playoffs. The Denver Nuggets beat their then-rivals, the Utah Stars, 130-119 at the Denver Auditorium Arena. And the San Antonio Spurs beat the Indiana Pacers, 110-109 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs were between rounds. There were 3 games in the World Hockey Association Playoffs:

* The Houston Aeros beat the Cleveland Crusdaers, 5-3 at the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston.

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Phoenix Roadrunners, 3-0 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

* And the San Diego Mariners beat the Toronto Toros, 7-6 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena).

And in English soccer, Yorkshire team Leeds United defeated Arsenal, the team I would one day follow, 2-1 at the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury, in North London.

March 22, 1978: “The Rutles" Debut

March 22, 1978: The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash, a parody of The Beatles, premieres on NBC. The fake band had previously appeared in 1975, on an episode of Rutland Weekend Television. The show's title was also a parody: The largest local channel in Britain, "London Weekend Television," in the capital, became "Rutland Weekend Television," based in Rutland, in the East Midlands, the smallest "historical county" in England. Hence, "Rutles."

Eric Idle of Monty Python fame played Dirk McQuickly, based on Paul McCartney, although Ollie Halsall provided the voice and bass playing for the actual recordings. Neil Innes of The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, and an occasional Python collaborator, played Ron Nasty, the stand-in for John Lennon. Ricky Fataar, the drummer for Bonnie Raitt's band, played Stig O'Hara, their version of George Harrison. And John Halsey, who had worked with Innes on the British comedy series Rutland Weekend Television, played Barrington Womble, a.k.a. Barry Wom, the analogue to Richard Starkey/Ringo Starr.

As with the 2007 parody of rock star biopics Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (which also featured a version of The Beatles), it wouldn't have worked had they gotten the music wrong. They got it right. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" became "Hold My Hand." "Help!" became "Ouch!" "Get Back" became "Get Up and Go."

Mick Jagger and Paul Simon played themselves, and Ron Wood played a Hell's Angel. Terence Bayler played their Brian Epstein, Bianca Jagger (Mick's real-life wife at the time) played their Linda McCartney, Gwen Taylor played their Yoko Ono, Henry Woolf played their Maharishi, and Jeannette Charles played Queen Elizabeth II, as she had done many times before, and would after.

Idle's Python mate Michael Palin played their version of Derek Taylor. From Saturday Night Live, Bill Murray played "Bill Murray the K," John Belushi played their Allen Klein, Gilda Radner played an interviewee, and Dan Aykroyd played the idiot record company executive who turned the band down. Gary Weis, who had directed several short films for SNL, co-directed the film with Idle.

The real George Harrison was willing to participate, playing a TV interviewer, and was willing to back the production with his own money. The great irony of the film is that, unlike the actual Beatles, their behind-the-scenes "Paul," Halsall, really was the first to die, from a drug-induced heart attack in 1992, only 43 years old. Or was that an irony? Maybe not, because, onscreen, Halsall also played the Stuart Sutcliffe stand-in.

In 1996, as a parody of The Beatles Anthology, the surviving Rutles got together for a new "mockumentary," Archaeology. After the 2000 TV special The Beatles Revolution, a new film was released in 2003: The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch.

Innes died in 2019. As of March 22, 1978, Idle, Fataar, Halsey and Weis are still alive.

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March 22, 1978 was a Wednesday. This was also the day that the great daredevil Karl Wallenda fell to his death during a performance in Puerto Rico. I have a separate entry for that event.

Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There were 6 games played in the NBA that night:

* The New Jersey Nets beat the Chicago Bulls, 105-99 at the Rutgers Athletic Center in Piscataway, New Jersey. (It's now named the Jersey Mike's Arena.) Bernard King, not yet the star he would become, had 33 points and 18 rebounds.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 105-99 at the Boston Garden.

* The Washington Bullets beat the New Orleans Jazz, 124-109 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

* The Kansas City Kings beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 120-108 at the Kemper Arena in Kansas City. (It's now named the Hy-Vee Arena.)

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Houston Rockets, 124-106 at The Summit in Houston. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored 31 points for the Lakers, Calvin Murphy 36 for the Rockets. (The arena has since been converted into the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch.")

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Buffalo Braves, 97-92 at the Seattle Center Coliseum. Within 15 months, the Bullets and the Sonics had played each other in back-to-back NBA Finals, each team having won one; while the Braves had moved to San Diego and the Jazz to Salt Lake City.

There were 5 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the St. Louis Blues, 6-1 at the St. Louis Arena -- or, as it was known from 1977 to 1980, during Ralston Purina's ownership of the team, the Checkerdome. Ron Greschner, a defenseman, had a hat trick. Phil Esposito scored 2 goals, and Pat Hickey scored the other Ranger goal.

* The New York Islanders beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. The Isles had 6 different scorers: Lorne Henning, Bryan Trottier, Denis Potvin, Billy Harris, Bob Nystrom and Stefan Persson.

* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Washington Capitals, 6-2 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-2 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh. This would be the only season, out of the 6 they played in Denver before becoming the New Jersey Devils, that the Rockies made the Playoffs.

* And the Detroit Red Wings beat the Atlanta Flames, 4-1 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

There were 3 games played in the World Hockey Association:

* The Winnipeg Jets beat the New England Whalers, 5-3 at the Springfield Civic Center in Springfield, Massachusetts, where they were playing home games during the repair work on the Hartford Civic Center. (It's now named the MassMutual Center.)

* The Cincinnati Stingers beat the Houston Aeroes, 9-2 at the Riverfront Coliseum. (It's now named the Heritage Bank Center.)

* And the Birmingham Bulls beat the Edmonton Oilers, 5-3 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.

Also, Josh Heupel was born. He quarterbacked the University of Oklahoma to the 2000 National Championship. He is now the head coach at the University of Tennessee.