September 23, 1989

Hello, everyone!  Welcome to another edition of the Tuesday Timeline.  It's September 23, and I'll be honest with you...this Tuesday Timeline entry is going to be a little bit different because rather than focus on one pop culture event, today will be a day that celebrates many different subjects!

In fact, I suppose you could consider it to be a whole week's worth of "A POP CULTURE ADDICT'S GUIDE TO LIFE" in one whole day!

That's your only clue behind today's special look back. 

But in the meantime, are you ready to see what happened on September 23 throughout history?  Have a look!

1642 - The first commencement exercises are held at Harvard College

1806 - Lewis and Clark return to St. Louis following their exploration of the Pacific Northwest United States

1845 - The Knickerbockers Baseball Club is founded in New York City

1869 - "Typhoid Mary" (d. 1938) is born in Cookstown, County Tyrone, Ireland

1889 - Fusajiro Yamauchi founds the Nintendo Koppai playing card company which would later switch to video game manufacturing

1905 - The Karlstad Treaty is signed between Sweden and Norway, dissolving the Union between the two countries

1909 - "The Phantom of the Opera" is first published as a serialization in the French publication "Le Gaulois"

1913 - France's Roland Garros becomes the first person to fly an airplane across the Mediterranean

1920 - Actor Mickey Rooney (d. 2014) is born in Brooklyn, New York

1930 - Singer Ray Charles (d. 2004) is born in Albany, Georgia

1962 - The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts opens in New York City

1969 - The Chicago Eight trial commences in Chicago

1974 - Actor/comedian Cliff Arquette dies at the age of 68

1983 - All 117 passengers are killed following the bombing of Gulf Air Flight 771

1986 - Jim Deshaies of the Houston Astros strikes out the first eight batters of the game against the opposing team, setting a record - the record was equaled by Jacob DeGrom of the New York Mets in September 2014

1988 - Jose Canseco becomes the first member of the 40-40 club

1992 - Forensic laboratories in Belfast, Ireland are destroyed by a bomb planted by the Provisional Irish Republican Army

1998 - "Newhart" actress Mary Frann passes away at the age of 55

1999 - The United States begins observing "Celebrate Bisexuality Day"

2002 - The first version of Mozilla Firefox is released

2004 - Hurricane Jeanne strikes Haiti causing widespread flooding that kills over one thousand people

And celebrating a birthday on September 23 are the following people; Julio Iglesias, Ron Bushy, Paul Petersen, Christian Bordeleau, Mary Kay Place, Bruce Springsteen, Rosalind Chao, Jason Alexander, Chi McBride, Elizabeth Pena, Anne-Marie Cadieux, LisaRaye McCoy-Misick, Yvette Fielding, Ani DiFranco, Jermaine Dupri, Karl Pilkington, Matt Hardy, Jaime Bergman Boreanaz, Layzie Bone, Rob James-Collier, Wlademir Sidorenko, Keri Lynn Pratt, Anthony Mackie, Misti Traya, Anneliese van der Pol, Skylar Astin, and Trinidad James.

And now for today's date.

September 23, 1989.

Now, there's nothing really that spectacular about this date as far as Hollywood news goes.  However, this date was a big one in my family.  That was the day that my eldest sister got married to her husband.  As of today, they've been married twenty-five years.  How's that for a wonderful accomplishment?

To me, it doesn't even seem like it has been that long since they got married.  I mean, physically speaking, I know it has been.  After all, when they tied the knot, I was only eight years old and the shortest member of the family.  Now I'm 33 years old and the tallest member of the family - at least for now anyway.  But I do remember some bits and pieces about that day.  After all, their wedding was the very first one that I remember seeing!

I remember the colour scheme that was chosen for the wedding was white and burgundy.  Hence the reason why I chose burgundy for the emphasis colour this week.

I remember that it was one of the last events in which the entire family was there.  My grandmother would pass away just two years later in October 1991.

I remember actually dancing a lot at that wedding - a fact that shocks me as I need at least a 6-pack of Heineken to get me on a dance floor today.  Ah, maybe at the age of eight I cared less about people judging me.  I wish I could go back to that.

I also remember that I had to wear a rented tux for the event - which I despised.  And I also remember having to wear a bowtie to go with the tuxedo.  Which I also despised.  Though the expressions on my parents faces upon learning that I accidentally smeared chocolate mousse all over the sleeve of the tuxedo at the wedding reception was quite priceless.  I honestly thought that they would have a coronary right there!

Anyway, I thought that for today, as mentioned, that I would cram a whole week of the blog in one whole day.  And that's what we're going to do.

We'll be taking a look at what was topping the charts 25 years ago.  We'll look at what kind of movies were being shown at the box office 25 years ago.  We'll see what television shows were debuting 25 years ago.  We'll see what video games were coming out during that period.

It's basically a 25-year-retrospective to celebrate a silver anniversary.  Does that sound like fun?

Okay, so let's start off with the world of video games.  Now, because September 23 was on a Saturday, there weren't any releases that day (mainly because most video games are released on either Tuesdays or Fridays).  However, there was a game and a game system released in September 1989.

I don't know how many of you out there owned an Atari Lynx, but it made history as being the very first hand held electronic game console that displayed 16-bit images in colour.  Keep in mind that at that time, it was competing against the wildly successful Nintendo Game Boy, so the company certainly tried its best to stand out.  For what it was worth, the handheld console did last on store shelves until the mid-1990s, and for what it was worth, many of the games were worth playing.  Or, so I hear, I never owned one.

The other big news that came out of video gaming was the release of the Nintendo video game DuckTales, based on the popular Disney cartoon.  Released by Capcom in September 1989, it was an incredibly fun, but challenging game.  Do you have any idea how long it took me to get through the UFO level?  Insane.  And then I had to go and play the Transylvania level TWICE to get the true ending of the game?  Well, you have to leave it to Capcom...they still make challenging games even today.

Okay, now let's have a look at television series that debuted.  And the day before my sister got married, a TV show was just starting its insane eleven season run.

So back in September 1989, "Baywatch" wasn't exactly known for being the show with sexy women running across the beach in slow motion.  In fact, when the show debuted on NBC, the show was nearly cancelled after its first year!  The move from NBC to syndication ended up saving the show, and it ran straight through until the year 2001.

Also debuting on television on September 23, 1989 was a television show called "Short Ribbs".  Hosted by Billy Barty, it aired in the Los Angeles area as a spoof of "Saturday Night Live".  The only major difference?  The cast were all considered "dwarfs", as no cast member exceeded four feet in height.  The show was quickly cancelled two months later, and Barty was later sued by two producers for money owed.  Barty lost both cases.

Now, for movies - again, September 23 fell on a Saturday, so there weren't any new releases on that date.  But that weekend, two movies debuted.  Have a look at the trailers below.

And would you like to know what the #1 movie was on that weekend?  Well, it was the Al Pacino/Ellen Barkin thriller "Sea of Love".  Again, I have the trailer below.

Other movies that were doing very well at the box office that weekend included "Uncle Buck", "Sex, Lies, and Videotape", "Turner & Hooch", and "When Harry Met Sally".  And, it makes me feel really old knowing that I remember seeing Uncle Buck on television all the time as a child.

Finally, let's take a look at the #1 song back on September 23, 1989.  And, well...for a wedding song, it does NOT work at all, as the song is all about nursing a broken heart.  But hey, it did make it two weeks on the top of the charts.

ARTIST:  Milli Vanilli
SONG:  Girl I'm Gonna Miss You

ALBUM:  Girl You Know It's True
DATE RELEASED:  July 1989

PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #1 for 2 weeks

Yes, this was BEFORE the lip synching scandal that effectively silenced Milli Vanilli for good.  But you know, I don't actually hate this song.  I really didn't mind a lot of Milli Vanilli's stuff.  The guys who actually sang for Rob and Fab back in the day did quite well.  Again, the song itself probably wouldn't have been played at my sister's wedding as it's a song about dealing with a break-up (well, that, plus I doubt anyone in my family even liked Milli Vanilli), but I thought it was an interesting, yet, ironic choice of song to put in this entry.

Regardless, twenty-five years of marriage is a great accomplishment.  And while my sister and brother-in-law are far from being the sentimental type, I decided to do this blog post for them to see what life was like 25 years ago.  After all, it was a time in which Madonna's "Like a Prayer" album dominated the album charts.  A time in which Disney began its renaissance period with "The Little Mermaid".  A time in which "Roseanne" debuted its second season, "Full House" began airing its third, and when "Dallas" kicked off season eleven!  Their marriage even predates "The Simpsons" by three months!  Knowing that their marriage has survived the entire run of that series is remarkable in itself, don't you think?

Happy anniversary, guys!