February 12, 2022 - Global Movie Day | National Plum Pudding Day

Welcome to February 12th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate how far movies have come and a Presidential birthday treat. Before there were movie theaters, there were Kinetoscopes. These cabinet-like devices looked a little like arcade games. For a quarter—which was a pretty steep price in 1894—people could watch a movie. By themselves, anyway. Kinetoscopes showed short films via a peephole and only one person could watch at a time. The films were very basic—usually nothing more than people dancing or a horse running. But to a world that had never seen a moving image before, the Kinetoscope was nothing short of magical. Over a century later, we can celebrate Global Movie Day from the couch as we stream our favorite films—with or without someone else. Everyone knows that the birthday boy or girl gets to choose their favorite dessert on their special day. Most of us like cakes or pies for the occasion, but one American president loved plum pudding. While this dessert hails from England, Abraham Lincoln liked it so much that the recipe can still be found in White House Historical cookbooks. The steamed pudding does not call for plums, however, but is made instead from apples, dates, raisins, nutmeg and cinnamon. Thanks to Charles Dickens, most people think of it as a Christmas dessert. Back in the day people dimmed the lights to serve plum pudding and children played a game called snap dragon as they tried to snatch raisins from the flaming dessert. On National Plum Pudding Day we honor the birthday boy’s choice and give a nod to Mr. Lincoln. I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson. Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices