August 23, 1940 -
Preston Sturges' Oscar winning satire on political corruption, The Great McGinty, premiered on this date.
Brian Donlevy and Akim Tamiroff reprised their roles as Governor McGinty and The Boss in Preston Sturges's The Miracle of Morgan's Creek. In the film, McGinty and The Boss provide a retroactive marriage license for Betty Hutton and Eddie Bracken.
August 23, 1957 -
20th Century Fox released its film adaptation of the Ernest Hemingway novel, The Sun Also Rises, on this date.
Jennifer Jones was initially cast as Lady Brett, but was forced to drop out, so Ava Gardner was cast. Gardner then dropped out, and Susan Hayward was cast. However, Ernest Hemingway was insistent that Gardner be cast as Lady Brett, so she was, once again, cast in the role.
August 23, 1969 -
The Rolling Stones hit, Honky Tonk Women reached number one on the pop-singles charts on this date.
The single was given away to all the fans who helped clean up after The Stones free concert in Hyde Park on July 5, 1969. This was the first concert Mick Taylor played with the band. A life-size cutout of Brian Jones, who died three days earlier, was kept on stage and the show was dedicated to him.
August 23, 1985 -
The Toho Studio and New World Pictures released the heavily re-edited American version of The Return of Godzilla (a sequel of the original Gojira movie), Godzilla 1985 (a sequel of the American Godzilla, King of the Monsters) starring the great Raymond Burr, Ken Tanaka, and Yasuko Sawaguchi, on this date.
Raymond Burr reprised his character as the journalist Steve Martin for the American version of this film. However, since Steve Martin was the name of a popular comedian, he is referred to on screen as "Steve" or "Mr. Martin."
August 23, 1985 -
Atlantic Releasing Corp releases the comedy film Teen Wolf, directed by Rod Daniel and starred Michael J. Fox, on this date.
Michael J. Fox and Jeff Glosser couldn't eat solid food while in make-up. They had milkshakes and soup.
August 23, 1996 -
One of the most bizarre films ever made (starring Marlon Brando) The Island of Dr. Moreau, was released on this date.
Richard Stanley was offered his full fee if he left the production quietly and did not speak about his sacking. His disappearance caused consternation at New Line, who feared he might try to sabotage the film. It also sent shock waves through the cast and crew. An outraged Fairuza Balk stormed off the set after a heated exchange with the New Line executives, then reportedly had a production assistant drive her 2500 km Cairns to Sydney in a rented limousine. By her own account, Balk's agent warned her bluntly that the studio would ruin her, and that she would never work in films again if she broke her contract, so she soon returned to the set.
Word of the Day
Today in History:
August 23, 1305 -
Scottish patriot William Wallace (Mel Gibson) was persuaded to take an early retirement on this date.
According to one eyewitness: "He was hung in a noose, and afterwards let down half-living; next his genitals were cut off and his bowels torn out and burned in a fire; then and not till then his head was cut off and his trunk cut into four pieces. At this point he was given a gold watch, and a humorous card that we had all signed."
August 23, 1912 –
Any man who looks like a sissy while dancing is just a lousy dancer.
Eugene Curran, dancer, actor, singer, film director, producer and choreographer was born on this date.
August 23, 1914 -
Japan declared war on Germany on this date.
August 23, 1926 -
Rudolph Valentino died from peritonitis and severe pleurisy, on this date, following an emergency appendectomy. His death caused a worldwide frenzy among his fans, sales of the Sheik condoms soared.
Thing is, he probably would have survived if the surgeons weren’t so freaked out by the fact that "Valentino" was their patient. They were so terrified of operating on such a world famous person, that they procrastinated for several hours, dramatically worsening his condition.
Sometime it sucked to be Valentino.
August 23, 1927 -
Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, convicted of murder in 1921, were executed in Boston in spite of worldwide protests, on this date.
Their guilt is still disputed.
August 23, 1939 -
Joachim von Ribbentrop and Josef Stalin signed a non-aggression pact, allowing Germany to attack Poland and the USSR to invade Finland without fears of reprisal on this date. Three years later, the Battle of Stalingrad began. (The Battle of Stalingrad was fought by Germans and Russians, in case the irony was lost on you.)
Moral: secret wartime pacts with evil conquering bastards aren't any more reliable in the real world than they are in a game of Risk.
August 23, 1942 -
The Battle of Stalingrad began on this date, which many historians think of as the turning point of World War II. Hitler had already conquered all of Europe except for England, Switzerland and Monaco and he began the invasion of Russia in the summer of 1941 with an army of four million men. The Germans reached Stalingrad on this day in 1942 and flew more than 2,000 bombing raids in just the first day of the battle. They hit oil storage tanks that flowed into the river and caught fire and laid siege to the city. It went on for months.
It's been called the most terrible battle the world has ever known, and in the end the Russians won, thanks to the approach of winter. The German troops were not prepared for fighting in below zero weather.
By February of 1943, all the German soldiers had surrendered or been killed, the first defeat of Hitler's army.
August 23, 1944 -
At 10.30 am on this date, an American Liberator Bomber 42-50291 took off from Warton on a routine test flight. A huge explosion, thought to have been sparked by a bolt of lightning, tore the huge plane apart and parts of the fuselage hit the Holy Trinity Church of England School in Freckleton, England.
August 23, 1944 -
Romanian Prime Minister Ion Antonescu was dismissed by King Michael (another cousin of both Queen Elizabeth and her late itinerant sailor husband Philip Mountbatten), paving the way for Romania to abandon the Axis in favor of the Allies.
King Michael organized a coup against the pro-Nazi dictator, Marshal Ion Antonescu, but was double-crossed by Joseph Stalin and betrayed by the Allies who ceded the country to the Russians at the Yalta summit in 1945.
August 23, 1966 -
Once again ... No, no, don't leave. There's a beautiful Earth out tonight.
August 23, 1968 -
The Youth International Party designated Pigasus as their choice of candidate for U.S. President on this date. The boar hog was introduced at a press conference outside the Chicago Civic Center, with the slogan "They nominate a President and he eats the people. We nominate a President and the people eat him."
The gathering is broken up shortly thereafter when the Chicago PD took into custody the Yippie organizers and their pig.
August 23, 2012 -
An 80 something grandmother, Cecilia Gimenez, took it upon herself to restore a fresco of Jesus called Ecce Homo painted by Elias Garcia Martinez at the Sanctuary of Mercy Church near Zaragoza, Spain.
Unfortunately her attempt at restoration did not turn out the way she hoped and the fresco was turned into an image almost resembling a hairy monkey. The woman hoped that it could be further restored by professionals and had gone into it with good intentions.
And you all know what is paved with good intentions.
And so it goes.
1 comment:
he was given a gold watch, and a humorous card that we had all signed, indeed
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