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I wanna thank Penguin for letting me blog wildly this week, and, as a reward for clicking along with me each and every day, I’d like to give readers that interview with Henry VIIIth I promised. Beyond hype for my book, The Dead Guy Interviews, there’s actually some historical significance here: On this day in 1539, the cantankerous King became engaged to wife #4 Anna of Kleef. Funny thing was, he wouldn’t actually meet the German princess until January of the next year, and remained married to her for only three months. She was, quite frankly, uglier than advertised (not that Henry was any prize at this point in the game, believe me…). And given that the whole thing was for political reasons, after 90 some-odd days, Henry had had enough. So as not to upset the German alliance, the King made Anne his honorary “sister” – and put her up in fine style for the rest of her days. Better than a be-heading, indeed…

Henry VIII

1491-1547

Henry VIII became King of England in 1509 at the age of 17 after his dad, Henry VII (obviously), died of tuberculosis. The second monarch of the Tudor dynasty, Henry is known less for playing a mean harp than his six marriages, creating the independent Church of England (the other church wasn’t big on divorce), and uniting England and Wales (and irritating speakers of Welsh ever since).

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Though most of us saw it years later in re-runs, “Leave it to Beaver” made its debut on CBS on this day in 1957. The show broke new ground – by being the first program to show a toilet on TV – and for making rug-rats the lead actors in a series. Now, a blog is as good a place as any to lay some rumors about the Beaver crew to rest: First and foremost, Eddie Haskell (actor Ken Osmond) did not become a porn star; turns out John Holmes did a few flicks using his name (and was unsuccessfully sued by Mr. Osmond for doing so). Another urban legend said Eddie Haskell grew up and turned into rockstar/bat eater Alice Cooper. Also not true. While Eddie may have played a naughty kid on the show, in real life, he was a pious gem. Now aren’t ya glad you’re spending your work day reading blogs? This stuff is important!

In more politically important news, fifty years ago today, the USSR launched Sputnik, the first artificial Earth satellite, and the space race was on (and our tax dollars spent). Sputnik may have only been two feet long and 184 pounds, but it threw the U.S. into a wild tizzy, with fears running rampant that not only were the Ruskies technologically superior, but that they might launch future rockets, delivering a nuke to each and every doorstep in the country.

It took a while for America to catch up – the Soviets launched three more Sputniks, including one on November 3^rd of 1957 with a dog on board. Laika, a sweet husky (nicknamed Muttnik), never had a chance – mainly because the Russians didn’t build Sputniks for return touchdowns – so the poor pooch bit it on day four of the flight when the cabin overheated. Support PETA. Oh, and if anyone’s keeping score, the United States won the Space Race, when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon 12 years later. USA! USA!

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Let’s start the historical tidbits with deaths on this day, and then we’ll move into folks we wish were dead (see O.J. below…): Janet Leigh died on this day in 2004 (at age 76), and she can take the knowledge to her grave that getting into a shower will never again be a relaxing experience. No worries, I’m a bath guy myself.

Folk singer Woodie Guthrie died today in 1967 at age 55. Woodie wrote songs for the disenfranchised, and, was way ahead of Al Gore on issues such as the environment and free speech. In addition to almost 3000 tunes about truth and justice, the Woodman crafted one of the greatest camp songs of all time: “This Land is Your Land”. Cartoonist William Steig also put his pencil down for the last time on October 3, 2003 – but he had a helluva run, making it to 95 years of age.

Births were plenty on this day, including glam-rocker Gwen Stefani (born in ’69), tatted Tommy Lee in ’62 (lucky bastard), Stevie Ray Vaughan (born in 1954 and taken WAY too soon in ‘90), twistin’ Chubby Checker (1941), Al “Photo Op” Sharpton (1954) and Chinese revolutionary Li Tzu-ch’eng (born in 1605) who dethroned the last Ming emperor, but, more importantly, I wanted to include in my blog so that we could have drugs, sex, rock n’ roll and ancient Chinese history - all in one entry. Gore Vidal (1925) was born today, too, and should be represented here by his own words: “Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half.”

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“There’s a fifth dimension beyond what is known to man – a dimension of sight, of sound, and of the mind. You’ve just crossed into…the Twilight Zone”

On this day in 1959, Rod Serling premiered his fantastic and oft-creepy, paranoid program on CBS-TV. Funny thing about the “Twilight Zone” – though it was often advertised as a sci-fi show, there was rarely a scientific explanation for any of the zany discoveries that ever happened …a guy able to transform his face into other people, a soldier who can see death ahead of time, an ever-advancing hitch-hiker (if he can jump ahead like that – why’s he need to hitch?!), that scary monster on the wing! Wanna really be creeped out: Get the DVD with “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street.” “Between the pit of man’s fears, and the summit of his knowledge…lies, the realm simple known, as the Twilight Zone…” The original series has 156 episodes, and is a far better use of your time than “The Simple Life”. Better yet, read the scripts…

On October 2, 1967, Thurgood Marshall was sworn in, becoming our nation’s first black Supreme Court Justice. In addition to winning the ground-breaking Brown vs. the Board of Education case as an attorney , Marshall helped dismantle the less-than human “Separate but Equal” standard in the United States, and sparked the civil rights movement. (Oh what I wouldn’t give for us to be able to swap Mr. Marshall with our current African-American justice, Clarence Thomas, who seems hell bent on reversing every case Thurgood ever voted on in his 24 wonderful years on the bench…)

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“Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.”

Will Rogers (1879-1935)

Allow me to introduce myself: I’m Michael Stusser, a columnist for mental_floss magazine, ParentMap, and author of The Dead Guy Interviews, Conversations with 45 of the Most Accomplished, Notorious and Deceased Personalities in History – my first book.

The genesis of The Dead Guy Interviews came about after running into Beethoven at a RiteAid. I was trying to use one of those damn photo machines (straightforward my ass) and the Boy Genius was refilling the batteries in his hearing aid. Well, it looked like Beethoven, anyway (must have been the ruffled collar and bouffant that threw me off…). Point is, it got me to thinking: what if I could track down the most famous folks in history and ask obnoxious and intrusive questions about their lives: Did Napoleon really have a complex, or was he just French? What was up with Thomas Jefferson’s hypocritical stance on slavery (not to mention the DNA tests), and did Washington inhale? Might Frida consider a brow wax or J. Edgar Hoover a bigger bra size? And what the hell was Van Gogh thinking with the whole ear episode? Edutainment, you might call it, but with a little theatre and pop-off pop-culture thrown in for good measure. If you ever wondered what it would be like to have dinner with anyone in history – now you’ll know.

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Michael A. Stusser is our guest blogger during the week of October 1st. If you have any questions for Michael A. Stusser, add a comment to any of his posts. Here is some brief information on The Dead Guy Interviews: Conversations with 45 of the Most Accomplished, Notorious, and Deceased Personalities in History: 

“Michael Stusser’s ingenious ability to bring historical figures to life falls somewhere between brilliant writing and method acting. Or perhaps even necrophilia. Who knows. Point is, The Dead Guy Interviews is both wildly educational (yes, it’s possible) and wickedly entertaining.”

- Neely Harris, Editor-in-Chief, mental_floss magazine

Ever wanted to ask Nostradamus for the winning lotto numbers or van Gogh about the whole ear episode? How about Napoleon about his complex, or if Frida might consider a brow wax? In The Dead Guy Interviews, journalist Michael Stusser has created forty-five interviews with some of the most famous personalities of all time, asking them probing questions about their lives, accomplishments, and what’s on their iPods. Based on his column in the acclaimed magazine mental_floss, this collection of conversations is incredibly funny, but each interview is also based on serious research, so in addition to laughing, readers actually learn real history.