Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Just in time for Halloween

The perfect horror movie



And at :31 seconds, the perfect length



October 27, 1939
-
John Cleese, actor, writer and all around funny guy was born on this date. (Oh yeah, I think he was in a comedy group in the late 60's, early 70's.)



During the disruption caused by the Eyjafjallajökull eruption in 2010 Cleese became stranded in Oslo and decided to take a taxi to Brussels. The 1500 km journey cost £3,300 and was completed with the help of three drivers who took shifts in driving Cleese to his destination where he planned to take a Eurostar to the UK.


October 27, 1955 -
What's now seen like the quintessential 50's movie, Nicholas Ray's masterful, Rebel Without a Cause, was released on this date.



Natalie Wood was first considered too naive and wholesome for the role of Judy. She began changing her looks and eventually attracted the notice of director Nicholas Ray, who began an affair with her but still would not guarantee her the part, though he eventually relented. Both Ray and Wood later claimed that he changed his mind after she was in a car accident with Dennis Hopper and someone in the hospital called her a "goddamn juvenile delinquent".


October, 27, 1956 -
A good late period Elmer vs. Bugs, Wideo Wabbit, premiered on this date.



Among the television programs parodied are You Bet Your Life starring Groucho Marx, You Are There with Walter Cronkite, and The Liberace Show, starring Liberace.


October 27, 1964 -
Another Paddy Chayefsky scripted classic from the 60's (although unappreciated), The Americanization of Emily, starring James Garner and Julie Andrews, premiered on this date.



Julie Andrews' only movie in black and white.


Today in History:
October 27, 1553 -
Michael Servetus, noted theologian, was honored in Switzerland for his discovery of the pulmonary circulation of the blood, on this date by being burned at the stake just outside Geneva with what was believed to be the last copy of his writing chained to his leg. Historians record his last words as: "Jesus, Son of the Eternal God, have mercy on me.".

John Calvin is given a good deal of credit for having arranged these honors, which may have had something to do with his own gratitude to Mr. Servetus for having raised an important theological question.

Throughout history, such important theological questions have caused almost as much bloodshed as important theological answers. That doesn't mean theology's an especially bloody field—there's been just as much carnage from philosophy, political science, economics, linguistics, and the rest of the humanities.

It's probably all that blood that puts the 'human' in the humanities or as one of my faith readers put it, the 'hard' in hard science.


The New York City subway system opened officially 106 years ago today. It ran from the Brooklyn Bridge uptown to Broadway at 145th Street with a fare of one nickel.



Let Joy Reign Supreme - This means New Yorkers can look forward to 365 days of riding the World's Most Crowded, Smelly and Largest Transportation System!


October 27, 1954 -
"... It was all started by a mouse." Walt Disney's first TV show, Disneyland, premieres on ABC-TV on this date



Both CBS and NBC rejected the idea of a weekly Disney program, in part because any network airing the show was asked to help finance Walt’s idea for a new kind of amusement park: a clean, family-friendly park consisting of different themed areas. ABC signed on to the idea with the hope Walt could deliver a major success for the struggling network, which could only boast of two moderate hits in the early 1950s: The Lone Ranger and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.


October 27, 1964 -
In a private ceremony, Sonny and Cher exchanged rings in Tijuana (on this date) and told others they were married,



they were not legally married until 1969.



And so it goes.

No comments: