May 8, 1942 -
(Unusual, for his career), John Huston's second directorial outing, the soap-opera, In This Our Life, starring Betty Davis, Olivia de Havilland, George Brent, and Dennis Morgan, premiered in New York City on this date.
Both Bette Davis' and Olivia de Havilland's characters have masculine given names--"Stanley" and "Roy," respectively. The film never hints that there is anything unusual about their names, nor does it offer any explanation. Barack Obama's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham Obama Soetoro, was named "Stanley" not after her own father, Stanley Dunham, but after the Bette Davis character in this film.
May 8, 1943 -
Another Tex Avery masterpiece, Red Hot Riding Hood, was released on this date.
Throughout the production of this short, the MGM animation department had an ongoing problem with storyboard sketches and even finished cels mysteriously disappearing - appropriated as souvenirs by Red's more brazen admirers.
May 8, 1946 -
David O. Selznick's very silly but highly entertaining, Duel in the Sun, premiered in New York on this date. (Even if you hate this film, you must watch the ending.)
Producer (and uncredited director) David O. Selznick battled amphetamine addiction throughout production. His drug abuse exacerbated much of his erratic behavior during filming, including his constant demand for reshoots. Selznick's constant rewrites of completed scenes and insistence on reshoots caused director King Vidor to quit and be replaced by William Dieterle, although Vidor and Selznick still remained friends.
May 8, 1958 -
Hammer Studios had its turn at the classics when Horror of Dracula premiered in the US on this date.
Christopher Lee has only sixteen lines in this movie. Apart from assorted snarls and hisses, Count Dracula never actually speaks to anyone other than Jonathan Harker throughout the entire movie.
May 8, 1963 -
The first James Bond film, Dr No, starring Sean Connery as the MI6 agent 007, premiered in US on this date.
Sean Connery is morbidly afraid of spiders. The shot of the spider in his bed was done with a sheet of glass between him and the spider, which can be seen in one shot in the movie. When this didn't look realistic enough, additional close-up scenes were re-shot with stuntman Bob Simmons. Simmons reported that the tarantula crawling over Bond was the scariest stunt he had ever performed.
May 8, 1984 -
Joanie (Erin Moran) and Chachi (Scott Baio) tied the knot (finally) on Happy Days, on this date.
The comedy series, starring Henry Winkler, Tom Bosley and Marion Ross (Ron Howard and Anson Williams had already left the show), was winding down in its final season on ABC-TV.
May 8, 2010 –
On a Mother’s Day-themed episode, the 88-year old Betty White, the more than 70 years in show business, six Emmy Award winning actress, hosted Saturday Night Live, thanks to a push by fans on Facebook.
She won her seventh Emmy for her appearance.
Another failed ACME product
Today in History:
On May 6, 1758, Maximilien-Francois-Marie-Isidore de Robespierre was born (this is not the Today in History fact but follow along, we'll get to it). Even in the revolutionary context of his age, Mr. Robespierre stands out as one of the most revolting figures in history.
M. Robespierre fought valiantly to help revolutionary France achieve liberty, fraternity and equality but inadvertently caused an unfortunate turn of weather known as the "rain of terror."
At first this rain caused only French loyalists to lose their heads, but M. Robespierre's egalitarian convictions led him to conclude that citoyens from all walks of life should lose theirs as well. The celebrated chemist Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, for example, was beheaded on May 8, 1794 for having identified oxygen, which people mistakenly thought to be one of the noble gases.
May 8, 1886 -
John Stith Pemberton was druggist and drug addict in North Carolina, plagued by his morphine addiction. Pemberton began work on a coca and cola (kola) nut beverage. It was intended to stop headaches and calm nervousness, but others insist he was attempting to create beverage to help control his addiction, also afflicting other wounded Confederate veterans (he was shot once and slashed with a saber). At that time, beverages containing coca leaf, which in turn contains cocaine were believed to be helpful in combating dependence on opiates. He began this process at his Columbus laboratory, but soon after the war, moved his entire operation to Atlanta.
He created the formula in a brass kettle in his backyard on May 8th 1886. He instructed his assistant, Venable, to mix it with ice water and chill it. They drank it, and both loved it (of course they did - who wouldn't love a drink with cocaine in it). But then Venable accidentally mixed it with carbonated water. They decided to sell it as a fountain drink, as an alternative for root beer and ginger ale.
Pemberton's bookkeeper, Frank Mason Robertson suggested that they name it Coca Cola for the Coca leaves and Kola (cola) nuts in it. Indeed, Coca-Cola was originally advertised (in part) as a cure for morphine addiction.
Oh, for the original formula.
May 8, 1945 -
Let's face it, Harry S. Truman was a shlub for most of his adult life. He was a failed businessman. He was a minor cog in a a political machine when he was picked to be Senator for his home state, Missouri. Roosevelt picked him to be his Vice President to spite his former Vice President, Henry Wallace, who was thought too liberal. Truman's vice-presidency was relatively uneventful, and contact with the White House was minimal; he was not asked for advice nor informed of major decisions. Truman might have slipped into historical obscurity had Roosevelt not to have a massive stroke and died on April 12, 1945.
And what did Jodl get for this special gift - a necktie party at the end of his trial at Nuremberg. It was later learned that Jodl was neither guilty of crimes of war punishable by death under international law, nor of other crimes which would have made him a criminal or abuser of military power.
And so it goes
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