Happy Herbie Day!

Beating out Cinco de Mayo by two days, Herbie Day is today, May 3rd. Why is May 3rd Herbie Day? Because “5/3” is Herbie’s famous number… and because I say so. To celebrate here’s the fun poster for Herbie Rides Again (1974), the sequel to the wildly popular The Love Bug (1969). Though not as good as its predecessor, Herbie Rides Again has many marvelous moments, as it’s directed by Robert Stevenson and produced and written by the great Bill Walsh who (along with Don DaGradi) created the original. (The other Herbie sequels aren’t worth mentioning.) The film also features the return of Keenan Wynn as Alonzo Hawk, the unscrupulous loan shark from The Absent-Minded Professor (1961). To explain the significance of number 53 and a lot of other fun Herbie facts I’ll soon post an article I wrote about The Love Bug. Meanwhile here’s a "racy" tidbit: at the London (not San Francisco?) premiere of Herbie Rides Again, the gala was illuminated not by klieg lights but by Volkswagen headlights. (PS: Happy Herbie Day, “Hughbie”!)