Tennessee Williams' Pulitzer Prize winning play, A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Elia Kazan and starring Marion Brando, Vivien Leigh, and Kim Hunter, premiered in Los Angeles on this date.
Nine members of the original Broadway cast (Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, Karl Malden, Rudy Bond, Nick Dennis, Peg Hillias, Richard Garrick, Ann Dere and Edna Thomas) repeated their roles in the film, a highly unusual decision at the time and even today, when original casts of plays are often completely replaced for the film versions.
September 18, 1951 -
20th Century Fox premiered the science fiction classic, The Day the Earth Stood Still, directed by Robert Wise and starring Michael Rennie and Patricia Neal, in New York, on this date.
The Army refused to cooperate after reading the script. The studio then approached the National Guard, which had no qualms about seeing the Army depicted in a less-than-flattering light, and gladly offered their cooperation.
September 18, 1963 -
The show that taught elderly men, twin cousins might be lured into immoral acts with the purchase of grilled sausages - The Patty Duke Show, premiered on ABC-TV on this date.
Patty Duke was only sixteen when production began, and thus it was decided to film the show in New York City at the Chelsea Studios in Manhattan. New York's child labor laws were more liberal than California's--especially that state's Coogan Law (named after child actor Jackie Coogan), which regulated the working conditions of child actors. Filming in New York City allowed Duke to work more hours per day, an advantage since she pretty much carried the show. Duke turned eighteen during filming of the final season, and although the season started in New York City, the whole production was moved to Hollywood by season's end much to the chagrin of Duke, who wished to stay in New York City. Nevertheless, the setting of the series remained the same Brooklyn Heights neighborhood it had always been.
September 18, 1964 -
The most normal family's ever presented on US television, The Addams Family premiered on ABC-TV on this date.
Thing was usually a right hand. Ted Cassidy (Lurch) occasionally used his left hand just to see if anybody would notice. Thing also had an arm, which was seen when it reached outside for something while in its box.
September 18, 1965 -
Kleenex stock rose precipitously as I Dream of Jeannie premiered on this date.
Jeannie's diabolical look-alike sister, "Jeannie II," a brunette with a green harem dress, was created by a former Bewitched writer, James S. Henerson. He was fired from Bewitched when it was discovered he was writing for both shows at the same time.
September 18, 1965 -
Mel Brooks and Buck Henry started their fight to keep the world safe from KAOS when Get Smart premiered on NBC-TV on this date.
CONTROL and KAOS were supposed to be acronyms, but Mel Brooks and Buck Henry never came up with anything for them to stand for.
September 18, 1968 -
The film musical Funny Girl with Barbra Streisand premiered in NYC.
Barbra Streisand and Omar Sharif had an affair that lasted for the duration of the production. This would contribute to the end of her marriage to Elliott Gould. Director William Wyler, who knew about the affair, tried to channel their real-life chemistry into their performances.
September 18, 1978 -
We first started living on the air in Cincinnati when WKRP in Cincinnati, premiered on CBS-TV on this date.
Les wears a bandage on some part of his body in almost every episode. Eventually, he reveals that he has a very large dog at home. In real life, Richard Sanders was injured before taping the pilot episode, and had to wear a bandage on the air. He decided to make it Les' trademark.
September 18, 1987 -
Pet bunnies felt a cold breeze on their neck when Fatal Attraction, starring Michael Douglas and Glenn Close, opened on this date.
Kirstie Alley, who was under consideration for the lead role, provided a tape of a woman who had been stalking her husband, Parker Stevenson, in which she was begging him to be a part of his life. The woman's words were used verbatim for the film.
September 18, 1994 -
Ken Burn's series about America's favorite past time Baseball, premiered on PBS on this date.
The series is structured in baseball fashion: divided into "innings", each with a top and bottom half; opens with the national anthem; is given "play by play" by the narrator along with "color commentary" by various experts; eventually goes to extra innings; etc.
Another failed ACME product
Today in History:
ACME would like to issue a Trigger Warning - all children and those with delicate natures should turn away from their computer screens as we discuss the bizarre deviant sexual behavior on the part of our founding fathers:
On September 18, 1793, President George Washington laid the foundation stone for the U.S. Capitol. According to numerous sources, President Washington "laid the stone in a Masonic ceremony... preceded by a parade and followed by celebration and feasting."
September 18, 1851 -
The New York Times published its first edition on this date. The newspaper, initially called the New-York Daily Times, was founded by Henry Jarvis Raymond, a politician and journalist.
September 18, 1932 -
24-year-old starlet Peg Entwistle dived head first from the letter "H" of the HOLLYWOODLAND sign in Los Angeles. She is the first person to commit suicide at the landmark.
Her body was discovered in the brush at the base of the hill two days later, and pronounced dead. When police examined her belongings, in her purse they found a note that read:
"I am afraid, I am a coward. I am sorry for everything. If I had done this a long time ago, it would have saved a lot of pain. P.E."
Two days later, in an ironic twist, Entwistle's uncle opened a letter addressed to her from the Beverly Hills Playhouse; it was mailed the day before she jumped. In it was an offer for her to play the lead role in a stage production—in which her character would commit suicide in the final act.
September 18, 1961 -
Dag Hammarskjold, Secretary-General of the UN, was killed in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) on this date. He was flying to negotiate a cease-fire in the Congo.
Hammarskjold was the son of a former Swedish prime minister. In 1953, he was elected to the top UN post and in 1957 was reelected. During his second term, he initiated and directed the United Nation's vigorous role in the Belgian Congo.
Strangely enough, for many years, I worked in an office building that bears his name.
September 18, 1970 -
Jimi Hendrix died in his sleep, in London, from of a barbiturate overdose when chunks of his vomited tuna sandwich wound up in his lungs, causing him to choke, on this date. He was 27 years old.
At least his family could take comfort that he did not choke on someone else's vomit.
Once again I must remind you that Cass Elliot did not choke to death on a ham sandwich. It is an urban myth born out of a quickly discarded speculation by the coroner, who noted a part eaten ham sandwich and figured she may have choked to death. In fact, she died of heart failure.
So cut it out.
September 18, 1977 -
NASA's unmanned space probe Voyager 1 snapped the first photograph of the Moon and the Earth in the same frame while on its mission to study the Solar System and its boundaries. At the time, Voyager 1 was 7.25 million miles (11.66 million kilometers) from Earth.
September 18, 1981 -
The Guinness Book of World Records verified on this date, that the West Edmonton Mall parking lot, which can hold 20,000 cars, is the largest parking lot in the world.
September 18, 1992 -
Two weeks after being outed in the New York weekly QW, attorney John Schlafly admitted in an interview with the San Francisco Examiner that he enjoys the love that dare not speak it's name. This causes a certain amount of consternation for his mother, archconservative gay rights opponent Phyllis Schlafly.
September 18, 1994 -
Vitas Gerulaitis was killed in his sleep the previous night in the guest cottage of a friend's Long Island estate. His body was discovered on this date. The professional tennis player died from carbon monoxide poisoning, caused by a faulty propane swimming-pool heater.
And so it goes
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