November 26, 1922 -
The Toll of the Sea, starring Anna Mae Wong, the second two-strip Technicolor feature (it was the first one able to be projected through a normal movie projector and consequently the first to be given a wide release) was released on this date.
The film's story is a variation of Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly, which premiered in 1904; except, the film takes place in China and the opera is set in Japan.
November 26, 1934 -
John M. Stahl's adaptation of Fannie Hurst's novel, Imitation of Life, starring Claudette Colbert, Warren William, Rochelle Hudson, Louise Beavers, and Fredi Washington, premiered on this date.
Although cast as the daughter of Louise Beavers (Delilah), Fredi Washington (Peola,) was in reality less than two years younger than her onscreen mother. She was, however, considerably slimmer than the matronly Beavers, which enabled the pair to "pass" as mother and daughter.
November 26, 1938 -
Michael Curtiz's crime drama, Angels with Dirty Faces, starring James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan, and The Dead End Kids, premiered on this date.
To play Rocky, James Cagney drew on his memories of growing up in New York's Yorkville, a tough ethnic neighborhood on the upper east side, just south of Spanish Harlem.. His main inspiration was a drug-addicted pimp who stood on a street corner all day hitching his trousers, twitching his neck, and repeating, "Whadda ya hear! Whadda ya say!"
November 26, 1942 -
It's the 76th anniversary of one of the classic films of the 40s - Casablanca premiered in NYC on this date.
Because the film was made during WWII the production was not allowed to film at an airport after dark for security reasons. Instead, it used a sound stage with a small cardboard cutout airplane and forced perspective. To give the illusion that the plane was full-sized, they used little people to portray the crew preparing the plane for take-off.
November 26, 1952 -
In Thrilling Color!
The film was based on the 1898 Tsavo Lion attacks during the construction of the Kenya-Uganda Railway that were also the basis of the 1996 film The Ghost and the Darkness.
November 26, 1953 -
MGM released the first musical in 3-D, Kiss Me Kate on this date.
Chorographer Hermes Pan makes an appearance as a sailor in the number Always True to You in My Fashion. Even though Hermes Pan is the credited choreographer on the film, the steamy duet between Bob Fosse and Carol Haney in From This Moment On (which includes Fosse doing a complete back-flip) was choreographed by Fosse himself, and lasts only 66 seconds. But it is the sequence that made critics take notice of the future award-winning choreographer and director.
Word of the Day
Today in History:
November 26, 1789 -
The first national Thanksgiving Day was observed in the United States in 1789, when recommended by President George Washington and approved by Congress on this date, but we spoke all about this the other day.
November 26, 1865 -
Oxford Don and nude child photographer, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, sends the manuscript for the psychedelic novel Alice in Wonderland to his 12 year old special friend Alice Liddell as an early Christmas present.
For some reason her parents did not notify the authorities.
November 26, 1965 –
Arlo Guthrie was arrested in Stockbridge, Mass., for dumping some trash following a Thanksgiving feast at a restaurant run by Alice Brock, on this date.
He wrote a song about the event that became a folk classic and was turned into a movie in 1969.
Yes kids, it really happened.
November 26, 1976 -
Anarchy in the UK, (as a single) by the Sex Pistols is released.
This was the Sex Pistols' first single, and it caused quite a stir in England with its lyrics advocating violence against the government. Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols was not released until a year later, partly because of distribution concerns: after hearing Anarchy In The UK, some organizations refused to ship the album.
And so it goes
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