Day Tripping: March 8

Suffrages, Insufferables, and Terrible Suffering

Welcome to my daily feature where each day on the calendar marks a part of our shared history.

Not Funny To Wait

Sixteen years after confounding the suffrage movement in America, Susan B. Anthony delivers a statement to the United States House Judiciary Committee in 1884. She argues for an amendment to the Constitution “that shall prohibit the disfranchisement of citizens of the United States on account of sex.”

The bill granting women’s right to vote would be passed thirty-five years later, and almost fifteen years after Anthony’s death. The wheels grind slowly still.

Funny Ha Ha!

The original Marx Brothers, Chico, Harpo, and Groucho make their final television appearance on General Electric Theater for CBS in 1959. Performing a skit called The Incredible Jewel Robbery, Chico and Harpo carry most of the narrative until Groucho makes a cameo appearance near the end. He has the only speaking part.

Because he was under contract with rival network NBC, Groucho went on uncredited. The host of General Electric Theater was some guy named Ronald Reagan.

Not Funny But Strange

It’s hard to believe that seven years have passed since the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in 2014. Twelve crew members and 227 passengers went missing somewhere over the Indian Ocean after departing Kuala Lumpur on the way to Beijing. Numerous theories have been promoted about the cause of the Boeing 777' s demise from hijacking and terrorism to suicide, but no conclusive cause has been determined.

The tragic miscommunication between Vietnamese traffic control which was supposed to have the flight on its radar and Kuala Lampur, delayed notice of the missing aircraft for more than four hours. By that time, it should have landed safely in China.

Musical Milestones

Every major act from the Golden era of Rock was making a comeback at the end of the eighties. McCartney, The Stones, the Allman and Doobie brothers were all getting into it. Unfortunately, so did Jefferson Airplane after being apart for seventeen years. In a 1990 article, Rolling Stone Magazine called the disaster that was the band’s reunion the “Most Unwanted Comeback of The Year”.

Narratives

Nobel Prize winner for literature William Faulkner says in 1958 that US schools have degenerated into baby sitters.

Remembrance

“From the day that he gave The Beatles our first recording contract, to the last time I saw him, he was the most generous, intelligent and musical person I’ve ever had the pleasure to know”, Paul McCartney was quoted saying when producer George Martin died in 2016 at age 90.

Notable Births

1945 —He wasn’t really much of a drummer but Micky Dolenz sure was popular as a member of The Monkees.

1946 — Randy Meisner co-wrote the hit song Take It To The Limit and was the Eagles bass player until leaving in 1977 claiming exhaustion.

Thanks for taking the time to read this article dedicated to the days of our history. I hope to see you tomorrow for another instalment.

K. Barrett Katie Wallace Maria Rattray Joseph M. Learned Maryam Merchant Dr Mehmet Yildiz Tree Langdon Myriam Ben Salem Phil Truman Chelsea Mandler MAT Terry Mansfield Hollie Petit, PhD. Terry Trueman Dr Preeti Singh John Gruber Bill Abbate James G Brennan ScienceDuuude