Lights on the date in 1883 that #ThomasEdison first switched on overhead electric lighting.

“A candy-colored clown they call the sandman Tiptoes to my room every night Just to sprinkle stardust and to whisper 'Go to sleep, everything is alright'”

– Roy Orbison, In Dreams (1963)

David Lynch at his finest Anger, and Stockwell at his peak. The work light was improvised when Lynch noticed Stockwell handling it between shoots.

Roses for the end of the Wars of the Roses (note: January 18 is when Henry VII married Elizabeth of York in 1486; the wars would continue until June 16 the following year).

“All my life, hold me close to your heart But all else above Hold my love, darling, just hold my love”

– Ella Fitzgerald, All My Life (Sidney D. Mitchell & Sammy Stept), 1936

In one continuous shot, the camera tracks a fence and rose bushes while Ella Fitzgerald's 1936 debut song All My Life is playing.

An invention for Benjamin Franklin's birthday. Inventor Charley (Charles R. Bowers) comes up with an ingenious method to make eggs break-proof for transport by rubberizing them.

“… as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generously.”

– Benjamin Franklin in his autobiography

Bowers was an almost-forgotten silent era comedian, filmmaker, and animator. In more recent years, his groundbreaking stop-motion comedy has found a new, well-deserved, interest.

A funnily dressed pet for National Dress Up Your Pet Day (USA) (please don't!).

– Now, see! You kill-a de monk! – Pay him for that baboon… or I'll run you in!

After cameraman Buster accidentally knocks over a monkey, he has no choice but to take the sailor-suited simian along on his movie shoots.

A film about space travel on the day Nixon announced the Space Shuttle program in 1972.

“I came from a dream that the black man dreamed long ago. I’m actually a presence sent to you by your ancestors.”

– Sun Ra

Featuring rhythm and blues, funk or blues, for Walter “Wolfman” Washington's birthday (1943)

“I hate to see the evening' sun go down I hate to see the evening' sun go down It makes me think I'm on my last go 'round

Feeling' tomorrow like I feel today Feeling' tomorrow like I feel today I'll pack my grip and make my getaway”

Saint Louis woman with her diamond rings Pulls that man around by her apron strings Wasn't for powder and the store-bought hair The man I love wouldn't go nowhere, nowhere

I got them Saint Louis Blues; just as blue as I can be He's got a heart like a rock cast in the sea Or else he wouldn't have gone so far from me”

– Bessie Smith, St. Louis Blues (W. C. Handy)

A backyard, deck or fences for Daniel LaRusso's (the Karate Kid kid who, as part of his martial arts training, endlessly paints fences) birthday.

“What drives me insane is the twofold nature of this nymphet, of every nymphet perhaps, this mixture in my Lolita of tender, dreamy childishness and a kind of eerie vulgarity. I know it is madness to keep this journal, but it gives me a strange thrill to do so. And only a loving wife could decipher my microscopic script.”

– Prof. Humbert Humbert

“I don't need a card to figure out who I am. I already know.”

– Jack Burns

A monkey for (unofficial) Monkey Day.

 

Cotton candy for (National) Cotton Candy Day. Gifs via Little Horror Shop on Tumblr.

“When a boy loses his job, buys a new suit and takes a girl to Coney Island, he's either insane or in love – – and there's not much difference.”

– title card