Pop Culture Flashback: Talk Like a Pirate Day (Sept. 19)

Sometimes fake holidays are more fun than real ones. Today is one of those days. It’s International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Find out how a couple of guys turned an injury into a festive occasion and learn what inspired this “accent” to begin with.

1995 – Yo Ho, Yo Ho A Pirate’s Life for Me…for a Day

"Cap'n Slappy" and "Ol' Chumbucket" - founders of Talk Like a Pirate Day — Mark Summers (“Cap’n Slappy”) and John Baur (“Ol’ Chumbucket”) – Founders of Talk Like a Pirate Day. (Wikimedia Commons)

Aaarr ye maties! On June 6, 1995, John Baur and Mark Summers from Albany, Oregon were in the middle of a racquetball game when one of the duo’s smooth moves caused an injury and the other uttered “Aaarrr!” in response to the pain from that injury. The two continued on speaking to each other like pirates.

In 2002, they decided to make today an unofficial holiday called, International Talk Like a Pirate Day. (September 19 was Summer’s ex-wife’s birthday, so he thought the date would be easy for him to remember.)

Initially, the day was only an inside joke between the two who now call themselves Ol’ Chumbucket and Cap’n Slappy, until the pair sent a letter to humor columnist Dave Barry who liked the idea so much that he promoted it.

Baur and Summers point out that the day isn’t “Act Like a Pirate Day” or “Dress Up Like a Pirate Day” it’s just a day to say “Ahoy, maties” or “Ahoy, me hearties” to one another. However, some organizations in Washington, California, Florida and Ohio hold special events.

Three prisoners try to coax a dog with a key inside Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean ride — The Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland. *(Disneyland Resort)*

Fun Pirate Fact: How do we know how pirates actually talked? Well, Robert Newton’s portrayal as Long John Silver in Disney’s 1950 movie, Treasure Island, is often regarded as the best source material. At least two books credit Newton’s exaggeration of his own native West Country Accent that contributed to the stereotypical pirate speech. In fact, both Captain Jack Sparrow and Captain Hector Barbossa from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies are also based on this “accent”. For that matter, you can hear the accents all around you throughout the Pirates of the Caribbean ride in the Disney parks too.

1970 – Mary Richard’s First Day on the Job

The cast of the Mary Tyler Moore Show — Valerie Harper, Ed Asner, Cloris Leachman, Gavin MacLeod, Mary Tyler Moore and Ted Knight from *The Mary Tyler Moore Show. (CBS via TVDB)*

While Mary Tyler Moore was the star of her own show when it began, as The Mary Tyler Moore Show aged, it became more of an ensemble show. Even though the CBS comedy focused a lot on Mary Richard’s private life, a good portion of each episode took place at the WJM TV studio in Minneapolis too.

Created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns, The Mary Tyler Moore Show starred Moore, Ed Asner, Valerie Harper, Gavin MacLeod, Ted Knight, Cloris Leachman, Georgia Engel and later, Betty White.

During the show’s seven-year run, it won numerous Emmy Awards including Outstanding Comedy Series (1975, 1976 and 1977), Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (Moore: 1973, 1974 and 1976) and Actress of the Year (1974) as well as three Golden Globes. TV Guide ranked the episode, “Chuckles Bites the Dust” as the #1 Greatest Episode of all Time.

Three spin-off series were created from the show: Rhoda (1974-1978), Phyllis (1975-1977), and Lou Grant (1977-1982) which wasn’t a comedy but an hour-long drama series. In 2000, Moore and Harper reunited and reprised their roles for the Made-for-TV movie, Mary and Rhoda.

1952 – Superman Saves TV

The TV series, Adventures of Superman, based on the radio show of the same name, debuted on this day. It was the first TV show to feature the “Man of Steel” taking extra inspiration from the comic books and concepts by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The pilot episode was taken from Robert L. Lippert’s film, Superman and the Mole Men, which was released the year before.

The show starred George Reeves as Superman, Phyllis Coates as Lois Lane, Jack Larson as Jimmy Olson and John Hamilton as editor Perry White. (Noel Neill took over the role of Lois Lane during the second season.) All of the characters wore the same costumes throughout the entire series. This was done so that scenes could be shot out of order, and it saved on budget costs.

Adventures of Superman was filmed in black and white for the first two years, but it continued to be broadcast in black and white throughout the show’s first run. America did not witness a full-color Superman until the series went into syndication in 1965.

The show was sponsored by Kellogg’s, who also hosted the radio program. The male characters from the series were often used to promote the cereal, but never Lois Lane. Kellogg’s thought that showing Clark Kent and Lois Lane eating breakfast together would be too suggestive.

SATURDAY MORNING TV

Remember watching your favorite cartoons with a bowl of cold cereal? Here are some that began airing on this day. How many do you remember?

Hello Kitty putting on a puppet show — *(TVDB)*

1987: Hello Kitty’s Furry Tale Theater

This CBS series involved Hello Kitty and her friends performing their own version of famous stories with new titles like “The Wizard of Paws”, “K.T. the Kitty Terrestrial”, “Frankencat” and “Snow White Kitty and the One Dwarf”.

1987: Popeye and Son

CBS agreed to another show about Popeye created by Hanna-Barbera. This time, Popeye and Olive Oil are married and have a son, Popeye Jr. Bluto is also married and has a son too named Tank. What could go wrong? A lot. It only lasted half a season.

1987: Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures

This CBS revival series of the classic Terrytunes’ Mighty Mouse cartoons was a project created by Ralph Bakshi who tried to modernize the series by making it wackier. The end result was something completely different from its source material.

Other TV Shows That Debuted on This Day:

1987: Dennis the Menace
1992: The Plucky Duck Show; Eek! the Cat; Super Dave: Daredevil for Hire; Jim Henson’s Dog City; C.O.P.S.; Raw Toonage; The Amazing Live Sea Monkeys