The machine worked by using negatively charged silicone to catch positively charged snowflakes, which created a static electric effect that was then harvested.
September 30, 1938 -
RKO Studios released the eighth Marx Brothers film, Room Service, on this date.
The original play was adapted into a Marx Brothers screenplay by Morrie Ryskind, who co-wrote the stage and screen versions of The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers and also co-wrote A Night at the Opera. Much of the original play's strong language had to be toned down for the screen, into milder expletives such as "Jumping Butterballs!"
September 30, 1948 -
Howard Hawks released his iconic western, Red River, starring John Wayne and Montgomery Clift on this date.
Montgomery Clift had learned to ride horses while at military prep school, but it was a different kind of riding than he was required to do in this role. He asked experienced Western actor Noah Beery Jr.. for help and worked hard to become convincing on screen. Beery later said, "The thing he enjoyed most was becoming a hell of a good cowboy and horseman." Howard Hawks always had high praise for how hard Clift worked on the picture.
September 30, 1952 -
The motion picture process Cinerama -- which employed three cameras, three projectors and a deeply curved viewing screen -- made its debut with the premiere of This Is Cinerama at the Broadway Theater in New York City on this date.
The rollercoaster ride on Playland's Atom Smasher was filmed several times using "short ends" and the complete circuit contains two skilfully edited takes. It was directed by Michael Todd Jr.. At the time, Todd was a 21-year-old college student on vacation from Amherst. Apart from salaries, the sequence cost $33 (rental of a station wagon and the cost of bolts to affix the cameras to the rollercoaster). Todd Jr. also directed most of the European footage.
September 30, 1958 -
The first network series to be filmed entirely in New York City, the police drama, Naked City debuted on ABC-TV on this date.
Numerous stars made their first major television appearances on this show, including Sandy Dennis, Peter Fonda, Dustin Hoffman, James Caan, Jon Voight, and Robert Duvall.
September 30, 1960 -
The first prime-time animated series aimed at adults, The Flintstones, premiered on ABC-TV on this date.
William Hanna wanted to do a family-style series, but he and Joseph Barbera couldn't agree on the setting or the costuming. Suddenly, Hanna exclaimed, "Let's do it in a caveman setting! They won't wear clothes, they'll just wear animal skins!" After that great idea everything from then on "perfectly fell into its place."
September 30, 1965 -
Gerry Anderson's supermarionation take on The Tracy family business, Thunderbirds premiered on this date in the UK.
The five Tracy brothers were named after astronauts from the Mercury programme:
Scott Tracy after Scott Carpenter.
Virgil Tracy after Gus Grissom whose real first name was Virgil.
Alan Tracy after Alan Shepard.
Gordon Tracy after Gordon Cooper.
John Tracy after John Glenn.
September 30, 1982 -
Cheers, the comedy television series that ran eleven seasons from 1982 to 1993, premiered on this date.
Cliff wasn't in the original script. John Ratzenberger auditioned for the part of Norm and wasn't thought suitable. He then asked the writers if they had a "bar know-it-all" and quickly improvised a character. This impressed the producers to the point that they created the part of Cliff Clavin for him.
September 30, 1984 -
The inhabitants of Cabot Cove, Maine started dropping like flies when CBS premiered the series, Murder She Wrote, starring Angela Landsbury on this date.
Angela Lansbury was not the first choice to play Jessica Fletcher. Jean Stapleton was offered the part, but turned it down, as did Doris Day.
September 30, 1995 -
Mariah Carey's megahit Fantasy went to No. 1 and stayed there for several months on this date.
This was Mariah's 9th #1 hit in the US. It was also only the second single to debut at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The first was You Are Not Alone by Michael Jackson.
Another failed ACME product
Today in History:
September 30, 1452 -
It's the anniversary of the printing of the Gutenberg Bible in Mainz, Germany on this date. It was the first book ever printed with movable type. What made Gutenberg's invention revolutionary was not that it allowed you to print letters on paper, but that you could print an infinite number of different pages from a small number of letter blocks simply by rearranging them.
The first section of the Bible came out on this day. He printed 180 copies on expensive Italian paper. It was designed to be used for public reading in the dining halls of monasteries. But within three decades there were print shops all over Europe, and Gutenberg's invention launched a revolution in education.
Today about four dozen copies of the Gutenberg Bible survive. One of the most recent copies to come on the market was auctioned in New York in 1987 and sold for more than $5 million.
September 30, 1630 -
Pilgrim John Billington, who arrived on the Mayflower, was hanged at Plymouth for killing John Newcomen with a musket, on this date.
Billington was the first Englishman executed in New England.
September 30, 1846 -
On this evening in 1846, Mr. Eben Frost, suffering from a violent toothache, called upon Dr. William Thomas Green Morton. Dr. Morton administered ether and extracted the tooth.
Thus ether was used for the first time as an anesthetic on this date.
September 30, 1927 -
Babe Ruth hit his 60th home run of the season, on this day.
(Mark McGwire was born on October 1, 1963, however, so this no longer matters to some. Although, the Bambino was only hopped up on booze.)
September 30, 1938 -
The Germans occupied the Sudetenland in late summer of 1938. This enraged the British and the English, who both feared for the loss of the Sudetenland's celebrated pea crops.
British Prime Minister flew to Germany to meet Hitler at Bertesgarden to discuss the situation, on this date.
Hitler assured him that there would be plenty of peas to go around, and Chamberlain returned to England with the famous proclamation of Peas in Our Time. World War II was therefore avoided and did not break out until some time later.
September 30, 1955 -
Teen idol James Dean was killed in a car accident that probably could have been avoided if he had had his car inspected and tuned up regularly, obeyed all posted highway signs, and driven only when alert and sober on this date.
(Remember kids, if you are going to drink til you drop - And don't drive. Also watch your own PSAs.)
And so it goes.
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