September 27, 1947 -
Delmer Daves' stylish noir-thriller, Dark Passage, starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, opened on this date.
Humphrey Bogart's complete uncovered face is not seen clearly until 62 minutes into the movie, when his character finally removes his bandages and looks into a mirror. All previous scenes with the character are either shown from his point of view or have his face obscured with shadows or bandages. Warner Brothers studio head Jack L. Warner was not pleased to discover that the face of one of his biggest stars, was not seen for the first half of the movie. But by the time Warner knew this, the film was too far along to be changed.
September 27, 1954 -
Steve Allen sat down at his piano, took his local New York City late night program, the Tonight Show nationally on NBC, on this date.
Steve Allen's high-energy wit and appreciation for the emerging medium lent itself to spontaneous, original humor. He put cameras on the street and tried to find unscripted comedy in random interviews with passersby. He was a comedy adventurer, jumping into vats of funny stuff like Jell-O, or dressing up in a suit of tea bags and lowering himself into a giant cup of hot water.
September 27, 1961 -
The science fiction film The Day the Sky Exploded (also known as Death Comes from Space and Death From Outer Space), directed by Paolo Heusch and starring Paul Hubschmid and Fiorella Mari, is released to US theaters.
Though the Americans and British among others had been making science fiction films earlier in the Fifties, this 1958 Italian co production is considered the first entry by that country into the sci fi genre.
September 27, 1964 -
The Beach Boys appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time on this date.
They also performed the song I Get Around that evening. The song was released as a double A-side single in May 1964 with Don't Worry Baby. It is considered one of the best ever single releases along with Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever by The Beatles and Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog by Elvis Presley.
September 27, 1975 -
The documentary film by Albert and David Maysles, Grey Gardens, premiered in the New York Film Festival on this date.
The film was something of an accident, in the sense that Albert Maysles and David Maysles came across Edith Bouvier Beale and Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale when involved in another project--a movie about (Jacqueline Kennedy's sister) Lee Radziwill's childhood. As part of research, the Maysles brothers were introduced to the Beales, and were captivated by their world. Deciding not to make the Radzwill film, they turned instead to the Beales, and a year after first meeting the two women, began filming.
September 27, 1976 -
The TV drama Dawn: Portrait of A Teenage Runaway, starring Eve Plumb premiered on NBC-TV, on this date.
Eve Plumb has said in interviews that to this day she still "gets crap" from hardcore Brady Bunch fans who didn't like that she did this movie instead of doing the Brady Bunch Variety Hour; where a "fake Jan" had to take her place.
September 27, 1980 -
Kurtis Blow becomes the first rapper to perform on national television when he does The Breaks on Soul Train.
The Breaks was the first rap song to sell over 500,000 copies, earning a certified Gold record. Rapper's Delight, released a year earlier, certainly sold a lot more (as Kurtis attests), but that song was released on the independent label Sugar Hill Records, which apparently never sent it to the RIAA for certification. Kurtis Blow was signed to Mercury Records, a major label that followed the standards and used their Gold records for promotion. When Kurtis signed with Mercury in early 1980, he became the first rapper signed to a major label. His self-titled debut album (with The Breaks) was the first rap record released on a major label.
September 27, 1991 -
The very short-lived series (it only aired for eight episodes,) Princesses, starring Julie Hagerty, Fran Drescher, and Twiggy premiered on CBS TV, on this date.
Even in the face of bottom five Nielsen ratings, universally-scathing reviews, behind-the-scenes problems, affiliate defections, and the general apathy of Fran Drescher and CBS programming head Jeff Sagansky, the producers actually considered recasting Julie Hagerty's part (following her departure). Before they managed to get very far, CBS saved them the trouble by canceling the series.
September 27, 1994 -
RCA Records released the debut album of The Dave Matthews Band, Under The Table and Dreaming, on this date.
In 1994 the band signed to RCA Records and recorded their first album, with the superstar producer Steve Lillywhite, known for his work with Peter Gabriel and U2.
Another unimportant moment in history
Today in History:
September 27, 1777 -
This was not the first time the Continental Congress had fled Philadelphia during the Revolution. The prior winter, in December of 1776, as the British Army was getting too close to Philadelphia for comfort, the Continental Congress left Philadelphia and for a time Baltimore served as the Capital of the United States.
September 27, 1854 -
The first great disaster involving an ocean liner in the Atlantic occurred when the steamship Arctic sank in foggy weather after colliding with the iron bow of the Vesta on this date. When Captain Luce of the Arctic orders women and children into the lifeboats, the crewmen rebel and take the boats for themselves.
Of 435 on board, only 85 survived -- and none of them women or children. It is the first major ocean liner disaster in the Atlantic. The Arctic disaster shattered high Victorian notions of how men were supposed to respond under duress.
Today is the 119th anniversary of the completion by Albert Einstein of his paper, Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?, introducing the equation E=MC², on this date.
Before this, E equaled just about anything you wanted it to equal. Just think what the atomic bomb would have been like if E = grapes seeds or the real content of Schrödinger's box.
September 27, 1937 -
The last known Balinese tiger, which was an adult female, was killed in SumbarKima, West Bali, on this date. However, sightings of this subspecies still persisted for years later, up to the 1940s, but were never proven.
Being the first subspecies of tigers to go extinct, Bali tigers were never held in captivity and never displayed in a public zoo. In addition, they were never captured on film or motion picture alive. Strangely, body parts such as skulls, skins, and bones, are preserved in museums today.
September 27, 1938 -
RMS Queen Elizabeth was launched by Queen Elizabeth (after a couple of G and T's) at the John Brown and Company yard in Clydebank, Scotland.
She (the ship and not her majesty) was the largest passenger liner ever built and named to honor Queen Elizabeth, wife of King George VI of England and mother to Queen Elizabeth II.
September 27, 1940 -
Japan, Germany and Italy, signed the Tripartite Pact in Berlin on this date. The pact saw the formation of the World War II Axis powers, an opponent group against the Allies.
The Axis alliance bizarrely hoped to persuade the US against joining the Allies during the war, but failed. In 1940, Hungary was forced by Germany to became the fourth country to sign the Pact, allying themselves with the Axis powers.
September 27, 1951 -
Marvin Lee Aday, singer songwriter was born on this date.
Despite his famous moniker, Marvin didn't like to eat meatloaf.
September 27, 1959 -
Typhoon Vera, otherwise known as the Isewan Typhoon, killed 4,464 people on the Japanese island of Honshu and injured 40,000 more. 1.5 million were made homeless.
The severe storm conditions of Typhoon Vera caused the most of destruction and loss of life of any tropical cyclone in Japanese history.
September 27, 1962 –
Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring, documenting the environmental harm caused by the indiscriminate use of DDT, a pesticide used by soldiers during WW II, was published on this date. The book inspired an environmental movement and the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Silent Spring has been featured in many lists of the best nonfiction books of the twentieth century. It was fifth in the Modern Library List of Best 20th-Century Nonfiction and number 78 in the National Review's 100 best non-fiction books of the 20th century.
September 27, 1986 -
The most balloons released simultaneously was 1,429,643 on this date, in Cleveland, Ohio. The event was called "Balloonfest '86" and was organized by the United Way of Greater Cleveland.
The goal was to break the Guinness World Record for the most balloons released simultaneously, which was previously held by Disneyland. Soon after the balloons were released, the weather unexpectedly changed, and strong winds that were not expected pushed the balloons back down to earth. Instead of floating away, the balloons fell, covering the city and nearby Lake Erie, and may or may not have led to the death of two boaters. The people from The Guinness Book did not recognize the accomplishment.
September 27, 2008 -
Chinese astronaut, Zhai Zhigang, aboard Shenzhou 7, became the first person from China to walk in space on this date.
Zhia would immediately return to his space craft when he realized that he could not get a good wi-fi connection in space.
And so it goes
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