Today is the first day of Summer, also known as the Summer Solstice. It's the longest day of the year (and the shortest night).
The actual moment of the solstice occurred at about 11:54 a.m. EDT, while the sun sat directly above the Pacific Ocean to the west of Hawaii. Don't brag about the good weather tomorrow; remember that it's the beginning of Winter in Australia. (The naked run is optional - please.)
June 21,1955 -
The David Lean movie, Summertime starring Katharine Hepburn and Rossano Brazzi premiered in New York on this date.
Despite being set in summer, as its title suggests, some of the scenes were shot in winter. This is particularly clear during Katharine Hepburn's visit to San Marco's Square: whilst watching the clock tower, she sees a parade of wooden statues coming up of the clock and marching around it; those statues are actually the Three Wise Men, and they appear only once every year, on January 6th.
June 21, 1977 -
Martin Scorsese's homage to movie musicals - New York, New York, premiered on this date.
Originally four and a half hours long. Director Martin Scorsese cut it to two hours and thirty-three minutes, then to two hours and sixteen minutes. In 1981, some material (mainly the "Happy Endings" sequence) was restored, and the film became two hours and forty-three minutes long.
June 21, 1985 -
Walt Disney released the only directorial effort by film editor Walter Murch, Return to Oz, starring Nicol Williamson, Jean Marsh, Piper Laurie, and Fairuza Balk, on this date.
Fairuza Balk actually performed most of the film barefoot, as she found her black shoes uncomfortable, and the ruby slippers were very fragile and easily damaged. Thus, the actress only wore shoes when they would be visible on camera.
June 21, 1988 -
Robert Zemeckis' incredible advance in animation, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, opened in NYC on this date.
Bob Hoskins said that, for two weeks after seeing the movie, his young son wouldn't talk to him. When finally asked why, his son said he couldn't believe his father would work with cartoon characters such as Bugs Bunny and not let him meet them.
Something to thing about when 5pm rolls around
Today in History:
June 21, 1877 -
The Molly Maguires, ten Irish immigrants who were labor activists, are hanged at Carbon County Prison in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania.
Author and Judge John P. Lavelle of Carbon County said of this, "The Molly Maguire trials were a surrender of state sovereignty...A private corporation initiated the investigation through a private detective agency. A private police force arrested the alleged defenders, and private attorneys for the coal companies prosecuted them. The state provided only the courtroom and the gallows."
June 21, 1893 -
The first Ferris Wheel debuted at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, on this date. The Ferris Wheel was designed by George W. Ferris, a bridge-builder from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The exposition commemorate the 400th anniversary of Columbus's landing in America. The Chicago Fair's organizers wanted something that would rival the Eiffel Tower. Gustave Eiffel had built the tower for the Paris World's Fair of 1889, which honored the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution.
June 21, 1905 -
It would have been the 114th birthday of Jean-Paul Sartre today.
But what the hell does he care; he's dead and it doesn't mean anything anyway.
June 21, 1913 -
Georgia 'Tiny' Broadwick was the first woman to make a successful paracgute jump from an aircraft on this date. Glenn L Martin flew her up to 2000 feet above Griffith Park in Los Angeles, CA.
In 1914, she demonstrated parachutes to the U.S. Army, which at the time had a small, hazard-prone fleet of aircraft. The Army, reluctant at first to adopt the parachute, watched as Tiny dropped from the sky. On one of her demonstration jumps, the static line became entangled in the tail assembly of the aircraft, so for her next jump she cut off the static line and deployed her chute manually, thus becoming the first person to jump free-fall.
June 21, 1982 -
Using an innovative Jodie Foster defense, John Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity for the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan, on this date.
June 21, 1989 -
The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Texas v. Johnson that flag burning is indeed protected speech under the Constitution,
prompting Congress to put forth an endless series of amendments to ban the activity.
And so it goes.
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For a thorough history of the Columbian Exposition and some rather chilling goings-on nearby, I recommend "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson. Especially if you're interested in architecture. Or serial killers.
ReplyDeleteA very good book indeed. Very surprized that it has been been made into a film.
ReplyDelete