The hand-colored card Horsley designed was lithographed on stiff, dark cardboard and featured adults and children raising wine glasses in a toast. Some thought the card blasphemous with the family, surrounded with religious symbols, holding glasses of wine
Printed in an edition of 1,000, Horsley's card was sold in London stores. At the time, the greeting cards could be mailed for a penny each. Less than a dozen of those cards exists today. Printed cards soon became the rage in England; the controversy is thought to have helped promote Cole's idea.
December 9, 1947 -
An oft forgotten holiday classic, The Bishop's Wife, starring Cary Grant, David Nivens, and Loretta Young premiered in NYC on this date.
One scene shows Cary Grant and Loretta Young in a conversation. Director Henry Koster staged this with the two facing each other, but both complained that this showed the "wrong" side of their faces. In order to show the "right" side, they both had to be looking screen left, which made a face-to-face talk impossible to film. Koster had a window set piece brought in, and he filmed it from outside, with both looking out in the same direction, Grant behind Young. The next day, producer Samuel Goldwyn visited the set after seeing dailies and berated Koster for shooting the scene in that manner. Koster replied by asking Young and Grant to explain why the scene was shot that way. After both told Goldwyn about the "right" and "wrong" sides of their faces, Goldwyn said "Look, if I'm only getting half a face, you're only getting half a salary!" and stormed off the set. The subject of "right" and "wrong" sides never came up again.
December 9, 1965 -
A pre-teen drama about the bi-polar kid and his wacky friends first experiences of the depressive nature of the holiday season premiered on this date -
When viewing the rough cut of the show, both Bill Melendez and Lee Mendelson were convinced that they had a flop on their hands. After it premiered, they were happily surprised and shocked at the high ratings and excellent reviews that the show received. Today, the show remains the second longest-running Christmas special on US network television (the 1964 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer premiered one year earlier and was still broadcast every year on US network television, until this year).
December 9, 1978 -
Nicolas Roeg's iconic thriller Don't Look Now, starring Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland, was released in New York City on this date.
Shooting the drowning sequence was particularly problematic: Sharon Williams, who played Christine, became hysterical when submersed in the pond, despite the rehearsals at the swimming pool going well. A farmer on the neighbouring land volunteered his daughter who was an accomplished swimmer, but who refused to be submersed when it came to filming. In the end, the scene was filmed in a water tank using three girls.
December 9, 1989 –
Billy Joel's history lesson, We Didn’t Start the Fire hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts on this date.
Joel wrote the lyrics first, which he rarely does. He says that is why the song has no melody. Joel told Billboard magazine: "It's terrible musically. It's like a mosquito buzzing around your head."
December 9, 2005 -
The adaptation of C. S. Lewis's fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe premiered on this date.
The role of Edmund was cast last of the four children. That helped make his character a bit detached from his siblings, since the other three actors had been together in a workshop for almost a month by the time Skandar got the part. Skandar absolutely hated being hugged by the other kids, so to ramp up on-screen antagonism, director Andrew Adamson used every opportunity to have them do just that - even if the scene was finished. Skandar was absent during the scene where Edmund follows Lucy into the wardrobe, so Anna Popplewell wore his costume from the waist down and did the scene for him.
December 9, 2005 -
Rob Marshall's adaptation of critically acclaimed novel (of the same name) Memoirs of a Geisha, starring Zhang Ziyi, Ken Watanabe, Gong Li, Michelle Yeoh, Youki Kudoh, and Suzuka Ohgo premiered in the US on this date.
The filmmakers decided that the Gion district of modern-day Kyoto (the Geisha district where Arthur Golden's novel is set) looked much too modern to evoke the 1920s and 30s. So, a large set of the Gion district was constructed outside of Los Angeles in Thousand Oaks, California. The detailed set had real cobblestone streets, bridges, a river, period buildings and antique props which evoked the period described in the novel.
Another unimportant moment in history
More about that depressed kid's holiday
Today in History:
December 9, 1783 -
The site of London's executions (via the gallows) was moved from Tyburn to Newgate, on this date. The public spectacle of prisoners' executions drew large crowds.
Out with the old, in with the new.
December 9, 1902 -
It's not subtle or restrained. It's not any of the things you like to think apply to your acting..
Margaret Hamilton, celebrated character actress best known for her portrayal of The Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, was born on this date.
December 9, 1935 -
The Downtown Athletic Club Trophy, later renamed the Heisman Trophy, was awarded for the first time, on this date.
December 9, 1957 -
Donny Osmond was born on this date!
Still a little bit Rock and Roll.
December 9, 1967 –
Jim Morrison is arrested during a Doors concert in New Haven, CT after being maced prior to the show while making out with a young fan in a backstage shower.
After the macing, Morrison taunted the police from the stage, and was arrested mid-concert for inciting a riot, indecency and public obscenity. Allegedly, he is the first rock star ever arrested onstage during a performance.
December 9, 1968 -
The NLS, a computer collaboration system that was the first to employ the practical use of hypertext, the computer mouse, and other modern computing concepts, was publicly demonstrated for the first time in San Francisco on this date.
Engineer and inventor Douglas Engelbart's 90-minute 'Mother of All Demos' essentially demonstrated almost all the fundamental elements of modern personal computing.
December 9, 1968 -
The John Birch Society, a political education and action organization, was founded by Robert W. Welch on this date.
The society supports associated with traditionally conservative causes such as anti-communism, support for individual rights and the ownership of private property.
If you think I'm going to make fun of them, given some of the things that the ex-president has said, you've got another thing coming.
December 9, 1994 -
Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders was dismissed after suggesting discussion of masturbation in school classes on sexuality.
This gives rise to the euphemistic term "firing the surgeon general."
Useless Christmas Trivia:
The lighting of candles and decorating with candles has always been popular, but also one of biggest sources of danger during the Christmas holidays.
In 1895 a New England Telephone employee, Ralph Morris, while looking at the newly installed string of lights made for the telephone switchboard decided to take some home to decorate his tree with. And/or it may be attributed to Thomas Edison's partner, Edward Johnson for inventing the first string of lights around the same time Ralph, for safety reasons.
And so it goes
No comments:
Post a Comment