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This Day in Pop Culture

This Day in Pop Culture for June 14

The first flag day was held on this day and actress Zsa Zsa Gabor slapped a police officer.

June 14, 2020

2–3 minutes

1777: The First Flag Day

On this day in 1777 and during the American Revolution, the Continental Congress adopting a resolution that “the flag of the United States be thirteen alternate stripes red and white” and that “the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation.” Believe it or not, the idea that seamstress Betsy Ross designed the new canton for the flag with a circle of 13 stars for George Washington is a legend that no one has been able to prove. In 1916, the president of the United States issued a proclamation that officially established June 14 as Flag Day.

1989: Zsa Zsa Goes Slapping Crazy

The Hungarian-American actress Zsa Zsa Gabor was a colorful person to say the least. On this day in Beverly Hills, she made headlines for slapping the face of Officer Paul Kramer who had pulled the socialite’s Rolls Royce over for a traffic violation. As it turns out, Gabor was driving without a license and had an open container of Jack Daniels. Gabor didn’t handle the event well and slapped Kramer.

Three months later, a municipal judge sentenced Zsa Zsa to three days in jail, fined her $12,937, undergo a psychiatric evaluation and to perform 120 hours of community service. While she paid the fine and went to jail, she refused the community service.

1976: TV’s Tasteless Talent Show

Long before America’s Got Talent, there was The Gong Show. Hosted by Chuck Barris, this talent show (or lack thereof) featured many acts judged by three celebrities. If an act was particularly bad, one of the judges would bang a big gong and the act would stop right then and there.

The Gong Show debuted on NBC’s daytime schedule on this day in 1976, was spoofed on The Carol Burnett Show in 1977 (with her character Eunice Higgins appearing on the talent show thinking that she was going to win big) and continuing its run through 1978 as well as a syndicated version which ran through 1980.

Also in 1980, Universal Pictures released The Gong Show Movie dubbed, “The Gong Show that was gonged by the censors.” The movie showed a fictional week in the life of Chuck Barris working on the show. The movie was written, directed and starred Barris. It got terrible reviews and was pulled out of theater within days.

The Gong Show was revived in 1988 as a syndicated show with Don Bleu serving as host and again in 2008 with host Dave Attell for Comedy Central. In 2017, The Gong Show returned to TV during the summer with Mike Myers pretending to be Tommy Maitland a fictional British celebrity hosting the show. It ran for two summers.