Back In the Day-April Fools!

April Fool's Day is a day of pranks and it looks like that has been the case over the years.

1929 - Louie Marx introduced the YO-YO.  From then on, his friends called him Yo-Yo Marx which made people think he was related to Groucho, Harpo, Chico AND Zeppo!

1957 - The EVERLY BROTHERS' smash hit "Bye Bye, Love" was first released  after being rejected by 30 record labels.  It went on to hit #2 on the Pop chart and #1 on the Country chart.

1957 - April Fool's Prank: The BBC announced that because of a mild winter in Switzerland, spaghetti trees were producing more spaghetti than normal.  And they showed footage of people pulling strands of spaghetti off tree branches.

People immediately started calling in asking how to grow their own spaghetti tree.  So the BBC told them, quote, "place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best."

1963 - "General Hospital" made its debut as a half-hour show.  It was expanded to 45 minutes in July of 1976  and finally stretched to a full hour in January of 1978.

1970 - DICK NIXON signed a measure banning cigarette advertising on radio and television, to take effect after January 1st, 1971.

1976 - THE SPRING BREAK CLASSIC "MARGARITAVILLE", BY JIMMY BUFFETT, WAS RELEASED!

1984 - The great MARVIN GAYE was shot to death by his own father  who later pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and got off with probation.

1985 - April Fool's Prank: "Sports Illustrated" claimed a rookie pitcher named Sidd Finch was planning to play for the Mets.  They said he could throw 168 miles an hour, and that he trained at a monastery in Tibet.

1985 - DAVID LEE ROTH left VAN HALEN to pursue a solo career.

1992 - BILLY IDOL pleaded no contest to punching a woman in the face.  He was fined and told to make public service announcements against rampant alcohol and drug use.

1994 - On a ski trip in Telluride, Colorado, CHRISTIE BRINKLEY escaped death as her helicopter crashed into a mountainside, injuring five.

She dumped Billy later that month, married one of her fellow survivors from the crash then divorced HIM a year later.

1996 - April Fool's Prank:  TACO BELL said they were buying the LIBERTY BELL and renaming it the "Taco Liberty Bell."  Outrage ensued.

1998 - A U.S. District Judge dismissed PAULA JONES' lawsuit against then-President BILLY CLINTON, saying her claims of sexual harassment fell "FAR short" of being worthy of trial.

SADDAM HUSSEIN'S SERIES OF EVIL PRANKS. Between 1998 and 2001, Saddam Hussein and his son pulled some of history's more mean-spirited April Fools' Day pranks, no surprise there.

First, the country's government-run newspaper published a fake report that President Clinton was lifting sanctions on Iraq.  If it had been true, it would have been huge for the country's economy but it wasn't true.

Then, for April Fools' Day in 1999 Saddam's son Uday announced that the monthly food rations would also include bananas, Pepsi, and chocolate.  People got excited, then he said he was just joking.

After that, Saddam and his fellow pranksters ran out of ideas.  They did the sanctions prank again in 2000, and the food rations prank again in 2001.  And now they're all dead.

2000 - April Fool's Prank: A Romanian newspaper announced that dozens of prisoners would be released from prison.  So their families showed up to take them home, only to find out it was all a joke.  The newspaper later published an apology.

2009 - April Fool's Prank: FunnyOrDie.com devoted their ENTIRE website to REBA MCENTIRE right down to renaming the front page Reba Or Die.

2010 - April Fool's Prank: BEN AND JERRY'S announced the world's first virtual ice cream.  They claimed you could test the flavor of the ice cream just by licking your computer screen.  If only this one were true.