An American professional wrestler, actor and television personality. He was born on this day in 1953 as Terry Bollea. In the 1980s, the Hulk Hogan character led the expansion of professional wrestling’s popularity across North America. This period of time in the history of the World Wrestling Federation is now referred to as the Hulkamania Era.
An American actor known for his roles as B. A. Baracus in the 1980s TV series The A-Team, as boxer Clubber Lang in the 1982 film Rocky III and for his appearances as a professional wrestler. He is also known for his trademark African Mandinka warrior hairstyle and his gold jewelry. This dude has been pitying fools for 30 years now.
Larry Bird is one of the greatest NBA players of all time. He started at forward for 13 seasons with the Boston Celtics, spearheading one of the NBA’s most formidable frontcourts that won three NBA championships during the 1980s. His friendship and rivalry with Magic Johnson, whom he faced in the 1979 NCAA finals and three NBA championship series, is widely celebrated.
Note: This is 8-bit character #2 of the 13 greatest NBA players of all time.
A fictional superhero created by Hanna-Barbera in the 1960s. In his original incarnation, he fought supervillains in outer space. In the 1990s, he was the host of the animated parody talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast on Cartoon Network and Adult Swim, which I quite enjoyed. In the 2000s, he was revamped as a serious superhero by DC Comics.
The fictional gorilla monster in the movie Queen Kong, a 1976 British spoof of King Kong with the gender roles reversed. A female film crew journeys to Africa where a giant ape falls in love with the crew’s male star. The film has a cult following in Japan. A version of the movie with new Japanese dialogue was released on DVD in 2001 (with hot pink bikini art).
You can see a poster of the 2001 Queen Kong art in some Laughing Planet Café locations, including the new restaurant in Corvallis, Oregon.
A fictional character in the Pierre Boulle novel Planet of the Apes, and the film series (1968, 1970-73) and television series based on it. He is an anthropomorphized orangutan who serves a dual role in the ape society, as Minister of Science and as Chief Defender of the Faith. Zaius knows the true origins of the ape society and how mankind fell as the dominant species.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes, a reboot of the Planet of the Apes series, opens today in theaters nationwide. I am curious about the new drug-based origin story. Unrelated to this is the amusing @Zaius13 Twitter account.
A 40-foot-tall purple gorilla and star of The Great Grape Ape Show, which was a late-1970s Saturday morning Hanna-Barbera cartoon. His catchphrase is repeating his name twice (“Grape Ape, Grape Ape”) after anything anyone says, usually as a form of agreement or acknowledgment. He travels the countryside with his canine pal Beegle Beagle.
Grape Ape is also one of my favorite items from Oregon’s Voodoo Doughnut. It’s a raised yeast doughnut with vanilla frosting, grape dust and lavender sprinkles.
After the enormous success of King Kong (1933), Merian C. Cooper and the same Hollywood creative team responsible for Kong made another film about a giant ape, this time named Joe. Mighty Joe Young was a 1949 RKO Radio Pictures film about a girl from Africa who brings an oversized ape (10-12 feet tall) to Hollywood to become a nightclub performer.
A fictional gorilla monster created by Merian C. Cooper that has appeared in several remakes and sequels since his 1933 movie debut. The original stop-motion animated film, in which Kong battles an airplane on top of the Empire State Building, is the most significant work featuring this 50-foot-tall gorilla who kidnaps and lusts for a human woman.
An Irish singer-songwriter who rose to fame in the late 1980s and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song “Nothing Compares 2 U” by Prince. In 1992, she controversially tore a photo of Pope John Paul II to pieces on Saturday Night Live to protest sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church and was vilified by the media.
Today MTV is celebrating its 30th birthday. Remember when MTV mattered? You can watch the first 20 minutes of the original August 1, 1981 broadcast.
Hulk – No. 165
A fictional superhero in the Marvel Comics universe who first appeared in 1962. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the Incredible Hulk is the emotional and impulsive alter ego of physicist Dr. Bruce Banner. The Hulk appears shortly after Banner is accidentally exposed to the blast of a test detonation of a gamma bomb he invented. Hulk smash!
Like many kids in the 1980s, I recall happily jumping across furniture to avoid my house’s lava floor while wearing Hulk-themed Underoos.