This Day in Pop Culture for January 15

2021: ‘WandaVision’ Surprised and Delighted

One of the first limited series to debut on the new Disney+ streaming service was WandaVision. It was the first Marvel Cinematic Universe TV series based on characters Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany) with a story set right after the movie, Avengers: Endgame.

The series featured the heroes living an idyllic life together in the suburban town of Westview, New Jersey. Bizarre as much as it was clever, each episode of the show duplicated the look and feel of different eras of TV programming including the opening credits.

Dick Van Dyke was a consultant for the first episode which was filmed in black and white and was shot in front of a live audience. Producers wanted the episode to really resemble a show from the 1950s/1960s. By the seventh episode, the show was set in the 2000s and the show finished up looking very much like a modern Marvel movie.

WandaVision also starred Debra Jo Rupp, Fred Melamed, Teyonah Parris, Randall Park, Kat Dennings, Evan Peters and Kathryn Hahn as nosey neighbor (and ultimate villain) Agatha Harkness who starred in the spinoff series, Agatha All Along, three years later. Although critics like it, Agatha wasn’t received nearly as well by viewers.

1967: The First Super Bowl

Originally, the Super Bowl was created as part of the merger between the NFL and the AFL. The first one aired on this day in 1967. The game was broadcast on both CBS (24.43 million views) and NBC (26.75 million views). Green Bay Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs 35 to 10. (Image: Wikimedia)

1870: The First Political Cartoon Featuring a Donkey

Of course, the most common mascot symbol for the Democratic Party has been the donkey. The story goes that Andrew Jackson’s enemies made fun of his name to “jackass” as a term of ridicule, but the Democrats liked it! It was on this day in the pages of Harper’s Weekly where the Democratic Jackass was first presented. Cartoonist Thomas Nast featured the donkey in his drawing called “A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion.” (Wikimedia)

1919: A Sticky Situation

The phrase, “Slow as molasses in January” is a description of when something that is moving at a very slow pace. Since January is one of the coldest months, it only makes sense that pouring molasses would move all the slower. However, that was not the case in 1919 when an exploding storage tank created the Great Molasses Flood in Boston, Massachusetts.

Despite the saying, it is estimated that 12,000 metric tons of the sticky stuff stored at the Purity Distilling Company plant came pouring out onto the streets at a rate of 35 miles per hour.

There is a theory of why the tank burst open. Perhaps the delivery of newer, warmer molasses delivered on the day before caused the older and colder molasses to expand on this day at 12:30 p.m. Sadly, 150 people were injured that day and 21 others died during the incident.

1974: Those Were the ‘Happy Days’

The pilot for the TV series Happy Days was called New Family in Town. The story took place in 1950 with the Cunningham family purchasing the first television set on the block. Harold Gould and Marion Ross played Mr. and Mrs. C, Ron Howard as son Richie and Anson Williams as his friend, Potsie. Pitched to Paramount, the show was rejected and became a story for the anthology series, Love American Style. It was that performance that convinced George Lucas that he needed Howard for his 1950’s themed movie, American Graffiti. Due to its success, ABC’s interest with Happy Days was renewed.

Do to scheduling conflicts, Gould bowed out of Happy Days and Tom Bosley came in. The cast was rounded out with Erin Moran playing Richie’s younger sister Joanie and Gavan O’Herlihy as older brother Chuck. (The character was written out by Season 3.) In addition to Potsie, Richie acquired Ralph Malph (Don Most) and greaser Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli (Henry Winkler) as friends.

Happy Days ran for 11 seasons ending on September 27, 1983 with the wedding of Joannie and long-time boyfriend and nephew of Fonzie, Chachi Arcola (Scott Baio).