RKO Studios, on the brink of bankruptcy, gambled the studio on a filmed puppet show for kids, releasing the film King Kong on this date.
In the original film, the character's name is Kong -- a name given to him by the inhabitants of "Skull Island" in the Indian Ocean, where Kong lived along with other over-sized animals such as a plesiosaur, pterosaurs, and dinosaurs. 'King' is an appellation added by an American film crew led by Carl Denham, who captures Kong and takes him to New York City to be exhibited as the "Eighth Wonder of the World".
Kong escapes and climbs the Empire State Building (the World Trade Center in the 1976 remake) where he is shot and killed by aircraft. Nevertheless, "it was beauty who killed the beast", as he only climbed the building in the first place in an attempt to protect the lead female character Ann Darrow.
The film saved RKO Studios from bankruptcy.
March 2, 1939 -
The first of many collaborations between John Ford and John Wayne, Stagecoach, went into general release on this date.
The local Navajo people played the Apaches. The film's production was a huge economic boost to the local impoverished population, giving jobs to hundreds of locals as extras and handymen.
March 2, 1940 -
The Looney Tunes short, Elmer's Candid Camera, directed by Chuck Jones, and featuring the newly redesigned Elmer Fudd for the first time, premiered on this date.
Elmer's voice is fully developed, and his appearance is similar to that in later cartoons, except for having shiny cheeks and nose. When in a mild-mannered mood, he is very much like the familiar Elmer.
March 2, 1965 -
The movie version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical The Sound of Music, starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, had its world premiere at New York's Rivoli Theater on this date.
Christopher Plummer intensely disliked working on the film. He's been known to refer to it as The Sound of Mucus or S&M and likened working with Julie Andrews to "being hit over the head with a big Valentine's Day card, every day." Nontheless, he and Andrews have remained close friends ever since.
March 2, 1984 -
Rob Reiner's seminal mockumentary, This Is Spinal Tap starring Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer and a bunch of other great actors premiered in the US on this date.
Several rock stars have commented on what an uncannily accurate spoof of the rock and heavy metal world this film was. Ozzy Osbourne said that when he first watched the film, he was the only person who wasn't laughing; he thought it was a real documentary. U2 guitarist The Edge said about this film: "I didn't laugh, I wept. It was so close to the truth."
March 2, 1990 -
Paramount Pictures released the submarine thriller, based on the Tom Clancy novel of the same name, The Hunt for Red October, starring Sean Connery (with the worst attempt at a Russian accept ever), Alec Baldwin, Scott Glenn, James Earl Jones, and Sam Neill, on this date.
The underwater model of the Red October has never been in the water. This effect was achieved using smoke on the "underwater" set and a few digital touch-ups. The sub was hung by twelve wires, from an overhead grid, which gave the ability to tilt and turn the model as needed.
March 2, 2009 -
Jimmy Fallon premiered on the third incarnation of the Late Night franchise, first hosted by David Letterman, followed by Conan O'Brien, on this date.
In 2013, Fallon was selected by NBC to succeed the continually retiring Jay Leno as host of The Tonight Show. The last episode of Late Night under Fallon aired one night after Leno's final episode of The Tonight Show on February 6, 2014. Most of the cast and crew immediately began working on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, which premiered on February 17, 2014. Seth Meyers was named as Fallon's replacement, and Late Night with Seth Meyers debuted February 24, 2014.
Today in History -
When he was a young man, no one knew for sure if Nicholas I of Russia, the son of Paul I, was Czar, Tsar, or Tzar. It was hard to know anything at all about someone whose last name was a vowel, especially when he lived in a hermitage. Nicholas was therefore as confused as he was powerful, which inevitably led to his becoming an Evil Bastard.
He didn't realize what an Evil Bastard he'd become until he lost the Crimean War, however, at which point he discovered that in addition to being Evil he was also an Incompetent Bastard. This made him Autocratic and he therefore died on March 2, 1855.
His first son Alexander, was left to ponder all of this when he became Alexander II on the same day.
March 2, 1882 -
Queen Victoria was a much beloved monarch, except by her would-be assassins. The queen escaped another assassination attempt on this date. Roderick Maclean, the final in a series of eight malcontents over the course of her very long reign, took a shot at the queen as her carriage pulled away from Windsor railway station after she refused to accept one of his poems.
March 2, 1900 -
... I have never acknowledged the difference between serious music and light music. There is only good music and bad music.
Kurt Weill, composer, Brecht and Gershwin collaborator, was born in Dessau, Germany on this date.
Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, was born more than 110 years ago today, on March 2, 1904. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984, and is one of only a few men in history to have written illustrated books in verse about a pedophiliac cat.
You can hardly blame the guy for changing his name. (Remember it's National Read Across America Day in honor of Dr. Seuss.)
On March 2, 1931, Mikhail Gorbachev was born with a big red splotch on his head, so he got right into politics. Mr. Gorbachev was the last Evil Bastard to reign over the Soviet Empire. Fortunately, he was also Bumbling Bastard, and his invention of glasnost and perestroika accidentally made walls fall down in Germany.
This caused Boris Yeltsin to ride on top of a tank and was therefore historical.
March 2, 1939 -
Howard Carter died of King Tut's curse on this date.
But dammit remember there is no mummy's curse.
March 2, 1944 -
A train of mixed military/civilian passengers (Train #8017) stalls inside a tunnel outside Salerno, Italy, asphyxiating 426 from fumes. Authorities question Mussolini on the necessities of have trains run on a timely basis to meet ones death in such an unpleasant manner.
March 2, 1944 -
I was a product of Andy Warhol's Factory. All I did was sit there and observe these incredibly talented and creative people who were continually making art, and it was impossible not to be affected by that....
Lewis Allan Lou Reed singer, songwriter, poet and guitarist was born (on the wild side.)
March 2, 1949 –
The first round the world nonstop airplane flight was completed in a US Air Force B-50 Superfortress bomber, the Lucky Lady II headed by Captain James Gallagher, on this date.
They landed back at Carswell Air Force base, Fort Worth, Texas, which they had left on February 26, about 94 hours earlier.
March 2, 1968 -
Syd Barrett left Pink Floyd, after melting his mind with various extremely dangerous drugs on this date. He spends the following years mumbling about pork chops and refrigerators.
A very good biography about Syd Barrett, A Very Irregular Head, came a few years ago.
March 2, 1982 -
Science fiction author Philip K Dick died of a stroke in Santa Ana, California on this date. Since 1974 the author had been possessed by a superalien who arrived in his head via a beam of pink light.
It has been suggested that Mr Dick and Mr Barrett had been in regular communication via the pork chops in his refrigerator.
March 2, 1997 -
Don P. Wolf and a team of researchers at the Oregon National Primate Research Center announce that they had produced rhesus monkeys from cloned embryos, the first successful use of cloning-related technology in primates.
And so it goes.
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