Preston Sturges' Oscar winning satire on political corruption, The Great McGinty, premiered on this date.
On August 19, 1939, Paramount issued a check to contract writer Preston Sturges to buy the story and screenplay of this movie, in the amount of $10. Sturges promised to sell the script for that amount if he could direct. The studio took him up on it and the film was a hit and won an Academy Award for the screenplay, probably making it the cheapest Oscar-winning script in history.
August 23, 1946 -
Howard Hawks' noir classic, The Big Sleep, starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, and Dorothy Malone, premiered in NYC on this date.
According to Lauren Bacall, production was such fun that they got a memo from Jack L. Warner saying, "Word has reached me that you are having fun on the set. This must stop."
August 23, 1957 -
20th Century Fox released its film adaptation of the Ernest Hemingway novel, The Sun Also Rises, on this date.
Upon seeing it for the first time, Ernest Hemingway walked out after the first 25 minutes. He criticized most aspects of the film heavily, and said the only good thing about the film was Errol Flynn's performance. If Hemingway walked out after 25 minutes claiming Flynn's performance was the only good thing, he couldn't have seen it as Errol didn't appear until 54 minutes in.
August 23, 1959 -
Charlie Brown's sister Sally was born on May 26, 1959, with Charlie Brown receiving a telephone call from the hospital and dashing out of the house yelling that he had a new baby sister.
August 23, 1965 -
The British science fiction film, Dr. Who and the Daleks, directed by Gordon Flemyng, and starring Peter Cushing, Roy Castle, Jennie Linden, and Roberta Tovey was released on this date.
Contrary to popular belief, it was not inconsistent for The Doctor to be shown as a human scientist named Dr. Who. At that time, in the TV series, the lead character had been explicitly named as human (in 1965's The Sensorites), implied as inventor of the TARDIS (in 1965's The Chase) and would soon be identified as Doctor Who. (in 1966's The War Machines). The later revelations that he was an alien time-traveler, specifically a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, had not yet been devised.
August 23, 1969 -
The Rolling Stones hit, Honky Tonk Women reached number one on the pop-singles charts on this date.
Lead guitarist Brian Jones was a founding member of the group and was considered their leader in their early years. Unfortunately, drug abuse made him pretty much worthless by 1969, and when The Stones finished recording Honky Tonk Women on June 8, 1969, they drove to his house and fired him. The single was released July 3, 1969, the same day Jones was found dead in his swimming pool.
August 23, 1980 –
David Bowie's single , Ashes To Ashes went to No. 1 on the UK charts on this date.
This song can be seen as a sequel to Bowie's 1969 hit, Space Oddity. It revisits the fictional astronaut, Major Tom, who is now in space. He has regained communication with Ground Control and tells them he is happy, but they deem him nothing but a "junkie, strung out in heavens high, hitting an all-time low." Fans believe this to be Bowie's autobiographical piece about his fight against drug abuse and other personal demons.
August 23, 1985 -
The Toho Studio and New World Pictures released the heavily re-edited American version of The Return of Godzilla (a sequel of the original Gojira movie), Godzilla 1985 (a sequel of the American Godzilla, King of the Monsters) starring the great Raymond Burr, Ken Tanaka, and Yasuko Sawaguchi, on this date.
Contrary to popular belief, Raymond Burr was actually quite proud of his association with Godzilla since his debut in the Americanized version of the film from 1956. It came as a surprise to friends and colleagues when he enthusiastically returned for the international release of the 1985 sequel. While working on that film, he used the clout he'd gained from his success on Perry Mason to ensure the film wasn't too heavily edited and Koji Hashimoto's original intentions were preserved.
August 23, 1985 -
Atlantic Releasing Corp releases the comedy film Teen Wolf, directed by Rod Daniel and starred Michael J. Fox, on this date.
Michael J. Fox's fame rose steadily while filming, due to the increasing success of Family Ties. By the end of production, Fox needed more security than he did at the beginning.
August 23, 1996 -
One of the most bizarre films ever made (starring Marlon Brando) The Island of Dr. Moreau, was released on this date.
The original director, Richard Stanley, had spent four years developing the project, only to be fired after four days. When Val Kilmer encountered Richard Stanley during the wrap party, he apologized for costing the director his job. Marlon Brando later offered to compensate Stanley. To his regret, he didn't take it.
August 23, 1998 -
We got to hang out with Eric Forman and his friends and family in our huckapoo shirts and polyster pants, when That 70s Show, starring Topher Grace, Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, Danny Masterson, Laura Prepon, Wilmer Valderrama, Debra Jo Rupp, and Kurtwood Smith, debuted on FOX on this date.
The episode was shot approximately three months before the show would begin its official shooting schedule after being picked up by Fox. Due to this, certain hairstyles and set designs are slightly different then they would be in the next episode.
Today in History:
August 23, 1305 -
Scottish patriot William Wallace (Mel Gibson) was persuaded to take an early retirement on this date.
According to one eyewitness: "He was hung in a noose, and afterwards let down half-living; next his genitals were cut off and his bowels torn out and burned in a fire; then and not till then his head was cut off and his trunk cut into four pieces. At this point he was given a gold watch, and a humorous card that we had all signed."
August 23, 1912 –
I didn't want to be a dancer. I just did it to work my way through college. But I was always an athlete and gymnast, so it came naturally..
Eugene Curran, dancer, actor, singer, film director, producer and choreographer was born on this date.
August 23, 1914 -
Japan declared war on Germany on this date.
August 23, 1926 -
Rudolph Valentino died from peritonitis and severe pleurisy, on this date, following an emergency appendectomy. His death caused a worldwide frenzy among his fans, sales of the Sheik condoms soared.
Thing is, he probably would have survived if the surgeons weren’t so freaked out by the fact that "Valentino" was their patient. They were so terrified of operating on such a world famous person, that they procrastinated for several hours, dramatically worsening his condition.
Sometime it sucked to be Valentino.
August 23, 1927 -
Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, convicted of murder in 1921, were executed in Boston in spite of worldwide protests, on this date.
Their guilt is still disputed.
August 23, 1939 -
Joachim von Ribbentrop and Josef Stalin signed a non-aggression pact, allowing Germany to attack Poland and the USSR to invade Finland without fears of reprisal on this date. Three years later, the Battle of Stalingrad began. (The Battle of Stalingrad was fought by Germans and Russians, in case the irony was lost on you.)
Moral: secret wartime pacts with evil conquering bastards aren't any more reliable in the real world than they are in a game of Risk.
August 23, 1942 -
The Battle of Stalingrad began on this date, which many historians think of as the turning point of World War II. Hitler had already conquered all of Europe except for England, Switzerland and Monaco and he began the invasion of Russia in the summer of 1941 with an army of four million men. The Germans reached Stalingrad on this day in 1942 and flew more than 2,000 bombing raids in just the first day of the battle. They hit oil storage tanks that flowed into the river and caught fire and laid siege to the city. It went on for months.
It's been called the most terrible battle the world has ever known, and in the end the Russians won, thanks to the approach of winter. The German troops were not prepared for fighting in below zero weather.
By February of 1943, all the German soldiers had surrendered or been killed, the first defeat of Hitler's army.
August 23, 1944 -
At 10.30 am on this date, an American Liberator Bomber 42-50291 took off from Warton on a routine test flight. A huge explosion, thought to have been sparked by a bolt of lightning, tore the huge plane apart and parts of the fuselage hit the Holy Trinity Church of England School in Freckleton, England.
August 23, 1944 -
Romanian Prime Minister Ion Antonescu was dismissed by King Michael (another cousin of both Queen Elizabeth and her late itinerant sailor husband Philip Mountbatten), paving the way for Romania to abandon the Axis in favor of the Allies.
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King Michael organized a coup against the pro-Nazi dictator, Marshal Ion Antonescu, but was double-crossed by Joseph Stalin and betrayed by the Allies who ceded the country to the Russians at the Yalta summit in 1945.
August 23, 1966 -
Once again ... No, no, don't leave. There's a beautiful Earth out tonight.
August 23, 1968 -
The Youth International Party designated Pigasus as their choice of candidate for U.S. President on this date. The boar hog was introduced at a press conference outside the Chicago Civic Center, with the slogan "They nominate a President and he eats the people. We nominate a President and the people eat him."
The gathering is broken up shortly thereafter when the Chicago PD took into custody the Yippie organizers and their pig.
August 23, 1973 –
Jan-Erik Olsson walked into a Stockholm bank, Kreditbanken, on this date, and almost immediately his bank robbery had gone wrong, and turned into a hostage crisis.
Over the next six days the hostages begin to sympathise with their captors, leading to the term "Stockholm syndrome". Many psychiatrists do not believe that Stockholm syndrome is a psychiatric diagnosis but rather the term is used to describe a "defence mechanism that helps the victim" cope with a traumatic situation.
August 23, 2012 -
An 80 something grandmother, Cecilia Gimenez, took it upon herself to restore a fresco of Jesus called Ecce Homo painted by Elias Garcia Martinez at the Sanctuary of Mercy Church near Zaragoza, Spain.
Unfortunately her attempt at restoration did not turn out the way she hoped and the fresco was turned into an image almost resembling a hairy monkey. The woman hoped that it could be further restored by professionals and had gone into it with good intentions.
And you all know what is paved with good intentions.
And so it goes.
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