This Day in Pop Culture for November 19

1959: Ford Discontinues the Edsel

Beginning in 1958, Ford began production of the Edsel in hopes of making a huge dent in sales against GM and Chrysler. It was not to be. On this day in 1959, Ford announced that they would discontinue production of the car with the name that became synonymous with the word, “failure.”

The next day, UPI wire service reported that book values for the car had declined by as much as $400 immediately following the press release. In turn, Ford offered rebates of up to $400 worth of new Ford products to leery buyers. In the end, only 118,287 Edsels were built, and total sales of the car were about 116,000 which was less than the projected break-even point! (Image: Bob P. B. /Wikimedia)

1975: It Took Over 13 Years for One to Fly Over that Cuckoo’s Nest

*“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”* (TVDB)

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was directed by Miloš Forman, but not right away. From the day that the film had first been announced to its first day of shooting, 13 years had gone by! The actual filming of the movie only took three months, which was filmed at Oregon State Hospital in Salem, Oregon.

Based on Ken Kesey’s novel of the same name, the movie starred Jack Nicholson as Randle McMurphy, a man accused of raping a child who feigned mental illness so that he could avoid going to prison. Louise Fletcher played the cold Nurse Ratched. The movie also starred Will Sampson, Danny DeVito, Sydney Lassick, William Redfield, Christopher Lloyd and Brad Dourif.

The film was nominated for nine Academy Awards and won five Oscars for Best Picture, Director, Best Actor (Nicholson), Actress (Fletcher) and Best Screenplay – Adapted from Other Material.

1959: ‘Rocky and His Friends’ Debuts

While many people remember The Bullwinkle Show the cartoon series was first called Rocky and His Friends when it debuted for the first time on ABC on this day.

The show featured Bullwinkle the Moose (voiced by Bill Scott) and Rocky the Flying Squirrel (voiced by June Foray) and their adventures doing battle against Boris and Natasha. The show also featured other segments including Fractured Fairy Tales, Peabody’s Improbable History, Dudley to-Right of the Mounties, Aesop and Son, Bullwinkle’s Corner and Mr. Know It All.

The show aired after American Bandstand on Tuesdays and Thursdays and was the highest-rated daytime network program at the time. In 1961, the show moved to NBC and aired at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday nights (just before Walt Disney’s World of Color). However, the show’s ratings took a beating going up against Lassie. The show was cancelled in 1964, but reruns of the series continued to air for many years.