I wish I had gotten to this earlier

The wonderful actor Bruno Ganz passed away last Friday.







Bunkies, please remember he was Swiss, not German


February 20, 1932 -
Tod Browning's incredible film, Freaks, about sideshow performers, was released on this date.



In the United States, this film was banned in a number of states and cities. Although no longer enforced, some of the laws were never officially repealed. Therefore, it is still technically illegal for this film to be shown in some areas of the USA. The film was rejected for UK cinema showing in 1932 and again in 1952. It was finally passed for cinema with an uncut X rating in May 1963, making it one of the longest bans in UK film history.


February 20, 1936 -
United Artists  released one of the early science fiction classics H.G. Wells The Shape of Things to Come directed by William Cameron Menzies on this date.



Despite H.G. Wells' dislike of Fritz Lang, and Wells' request that William Cameron Menzies avoid patterning his movie after Metropolis, Menzies nonetheless drew a great deal of inspiration from the movie. Menzies admitted that the lengthy montage depicting the transition of the war-torn nineteenth century Everytown to the progressive and rational futuristic city, in particular, owed a huge debt to Metropolis.


February 20, 1952 -
John Huston's excuse for big game hunting, The African Queen, starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn, opened in general release at Capitol Theater in NYC on this date.



According to cameraman Jack Cardiff, Katharine Hepburn was so sick with dysentery during shooting of the church scene that a bucket was placed off camera because she vomited constantly between takes. Cardiff called her "a real trooper."


February 20, 1956 -
The wonderfully evil comedy, The Ladykillers, starring Alec Guinness and Peter Sellars, opened in New York on this date.



The producers originally rejected director Alexander Mackendrick's choice of Katie Johnson for the role of Mrs. Wilberforce on the grounds that she might be too frail for the project, and so they cast a younger actress who died before filming began.


Another failed ACME product


Today in History:
February 20 is just one many dates on which Francois-Marie Arouet may have been born in 1694.

Francois-Marie was a supremely intelligent, fiercely independent man and was therefore instructed to leave Paris.



Each time he was kicked out, however, he simply came back, said something witty, and was kicked out yet again.

Eventually the French invented reverse psychology. They invited Francois-Marie back from his latest exile and threw a big party for him. The shock of his reception killed him and Paris has mourned his loss ever since.

Except now they call him Voltaire.


February 20, 1703 -
The Mount Gay Estate opened in Barbados, on this date.



It is the oldest existing brand of rum in the world.


February 20, 1829 -
The Yuengling Brewery opened in Pottsville Pennsylvania, on this date.



It is the oldest brewery still operating in the U.S.


February 20, 1872 -
The Metropolitan Museum of Art opened its doors to the public for the first time. The Museum first was housed at the Dodworth Building at 681 Fifth Avenue between 53rd and 54th Streets.

The Museum remained in its first home until 1873, when it moved to larger quarters in the Douglas Mansion on West 14th Street. In 1880, the Metropolitan opened its first building at its current location in Central Park. Currently, its permanent collection contains more than two million works and most of it you can see on-line. (That's a lot of art to dust.)


February 20, 1907 -
Pres. Theodore Roosevelt signed an immigration act which excluded "idiots, imbeciles, feebleminded persons, epileptics, and insane persons" from being admitted to the US on this date.

I've said it before: Certain political operatives in this country should rejoice that there is not a 'sanity clause' for the native born citizen.


February 20, 1935 -
Although the Antarctic had been discovered almost 200 years before, Caroline Mikkelsen became the first woman to set foot on the continent on this day.

She was part of a Danish expedition along with her husband Captain Klarius Mikkelsen. A mountain in Antarctica was named in her honor.


February 20, 1947 -
A chemical mistake at the O'Connor Electro-Plating Co. in Los Angeles caused a blast that destroyed/damaged more than 55 structures in a 300-foot radius, killing 15 people and injuring 150 more.

The incident resulted in the city's first ordinance stipulating regulations for the storage, transportation, production, processing, and use of hazardous chemicals and led to one of the first Hazmat Dictionarys in the U.S.

Oops.


February 20, 1962 -
... Godspeed John Glenn.



While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn orbited the earth three times in 4 hours, 55 minutes, becoming the first American to orbit the Earth. Remember, NASA hadn't invented the astronaut diaper yet; I bet he had to pee something wicked.


February 20, 1967 -
If you die you're completely happy and your soul somewhere lives on. I'm not afraid of dying. Total peace after death, becoming someone else is the best hope I've got.



Kurt Cobain, musician and lead guitarist of seminal grunge band Nirvana, was born on this date.


February 20, 1971 -
An erroneous warning is emitted on the Emergency Broadcast System causing a number of stations to go off the air, and others to completely ignore the alert (thus pointing out that many key stations would not react to any emergency broadcast over the system.)



So remember (as they have proven in Hawaii) this just a test, unless it's not.


February 20, 1980 -
After some heavy drinking, Bon Scott, vocalist for heavy metal band AC/DC, was found in a friend's automobile - he apparently choked to death on his own vomit.



His family was comforted in the knowledge that he hadn't choked to death on someone else vomit.


February 20, 1984 -
You'll never get to heaven if you break my heart!!!

Ballerina Julia Pak married Heung Jin Moon, son of Sun Myung Moon, religious icon, on this date. The ceremony was a tasteful affair save one small detail - Heung Jin Moon was prevented from attending the service in person; he had died in an auto accident the previous December.

As adult Moonies are only allowed to enter Heaven once they are married; there was a dire need for this awkward necro-ceremony.

Don't forget, the traditional gift given for the 35th zombie wedding anniversary is Jade.



And so it goes.


701


Before you go - We haven't checked into the website Burger Fiction in a while and I just saw that they have a very good mash-up  of every Academy Award Best Picture winner from 1927 until the present (including this year's nominees.)  You should absolutely find some time to check out their video



They have a few more for some of the other categories - I may post some more in the upcoming days.  Remember that the Oscars are on February 24 on ABC.