Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Is anyone still carrying pictures of Chairman Mao?

August 5, 1922 -
The silent-film classic, Blood and Sand, starring Rudolph Valentino and Lila Lee, was released on this date.



Rudolph Valentino and Natacha Rambova hoped to have the film shot in Spain, but the studio ultimately elected to shoot the whole film on the backlot in Hollywood.


August 5, 1953 -
Burt Lancaster
and Deborah Kerr got busy in the surf and someone may have gotten a horse head telegram delivered to their bedroom - From Here to Eternity premiered in NYC on this date.



The now classic scene between Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr in the rushing water on the beach was not written to take place there. The idea to film with the waves hitting them was a last minute inspiration from the director.


On August 4, 1955, Carmen Miranda suffered a heart attack during a segment of the live TV show The Jimmy Durante Show, although she did not realize it. After completing a dance number, she fell to her knees, and Durante instinctively told the band to "stop da music!".



He helped Miranda up to her feet as she laughed "I'm all out of breath!". "Dat's OK, honey, I'll take yer lines", Durante replied. Miranda laughed again and quickly pulled herself together, finishing the show. At the end of the broadcast, she smiled and waved, then exited the stage. She died later that night, on August 5, 1955, after suffering a second heart attack at her home in Beverly Hills.



As with all great performers - the show had to go on.


August 5, 1955 -
Alfred Hitchcock's
surprisingly light comedic touch is on full display in, To Catch A Thief, starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly, opened in NYC on this date.



John Robie mentions that as a youth he was in a trapeze group that traveled around Europe. In real life, Cary Grant was in an acrobatic troupe that toured around Europe (and eventually came to America) when he was young.


August 5, 1966 -
This was a big day in Beatles history:
The Beatles released their Revolver album in UK on this date.



and they also released Yellow Submarine and Eleanor Rigby as a double A single in UK. A lot of kids weekly allowance must have flown out the door on this date.


Today in History:
August 5, 1861
-
Folks, please note: The US government established the first income tax on US citizens on this date (Abraham Lincoln was president at the time.)  The Revenue Act of 1861 established a tax of 3 percent on incomes of more than $800 US Dollars.

The tax, which was used for financial aid during the Civil War, was rescinded in 1872.


August 5, 1884
The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty was laid on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor on this date.

Children and horses were kept indoors on that day for fear of offending their delicate nature.


August 5, 1914 -
The first electric traffic signal, based on a design by James Hoge, was installed on this date.



The system of red and green lights, indicating stop and go, was installed in Cleveland, Ohio, on the corner of East 105th Street and Euclid Avenue.  Lost in the miasma of time is the name of the person that first ran the red light.


August 5, 1926 -
Harry Houdini
stayed in a coffin, submerged in the swimming pool of New York's Hotel Shelton for one hour and a half, on this date.

Note: He currently has exceeded his own record substantially.


August 5, 1957 –
American Bandstand
, a local Philadelphia show dedicated to the teenage "baby-boomers" by playing the songs and showing popular dances of the time, hosted by Dick Clark,debuted nationally on the ABC television network on this date.



Please be careful,  Mr. Clark still doesn't realize that he's dead, and is roaming the nation in search of brains to feast upon.


August 5, 1962 -
52 years ago today, a very unhappy Marilyn Monroe (Norma J. Mortenson) died of natural causes, aggravated by sleeping pills, in her Brentwood home.



Unless she was murdered.



And so it goes.

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