We appear back on track, so once again record stores on six continents are set to celebrate Record Store Day,
Click here to see which albums are being released exclusively for Record Store Day.
April 23, 1896 -
Thomas Edison presented the first publically-projected Vitascope motion picture (with hand-tinting) in the US to a paying American audience on a screen, at Koster and Bial's Music Hall in New York City (at 34th Street and Broadway), with his latest invention - the projecting kinetoscope or Vitascope.
Customers watched the Edison Company's Vitascope project a ballet sequence in an amusement arcade during a vaudeville act.
April 23, 1931 -
William A. Wellman pre-code crime drama masterpiece, The Public Enemy, starring James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Mae Clarke, Edward Woods, Donald Cook, and Joan Blondell premiered in the NYC on this date.
Edward Woods was originally hired for the lead role of Tom Powers and James Cagney was hired to play Matt Doyle, his friend. However, once director William A. Wellman got to know both of them and saw Cagney in rehearsals, he realized that Cagney would be far more effective in the star role than Woods, so he switched them.
April 23, 1947 -
Carol Reed's IRA drama Odd Man Out starring James Mason, Robert Newton, and Cyril Cusack premiered in the US on this date.
The Crown Bar in the center of Belfast has long been associated with the movie, although in fact, contrary to popular opinion, it was not actually used in the filming. Instead a copy was made on set in England. It shows all the familiar ornate features of the real thing, but was more spacious and laid out in a different way.
April 23, 1953 -
George Stevens iconic western, Shane, starring Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin, Brandon De Wilde, and Jack Palance, premiered in New York City on this date.
The film was completed in 1951 but George Stevens' editing process was so rigorous that it wasn't released until 1953. This drove up the costs of what should have been a simple, straightforward Western; in fact, they spiraled so much that Paramount approached Howard Hughes about taking on the property, but he declined. He changed his mind when he saw a rough cut and offered to buy the film on the spot. This made Paramount rethink its strategy--originally it was going to release it as a "B" picture but then decided it should be one of the studio's flagship films of the year. This proved to be a good decision, as the film was a major success and easily recouped its inflated budget.
April 23, 1958 -
Orson Welles' noir thriller Touch of Evil, starring Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh, was released on this date.
Orson Welles said that this was the most fun he'd ever had filming a picture, unlike most of his Hollywood films, because he wasn't troubled by studio interference (until after he completed the picture, anyway). He was given a healthy budget, and he was working with some of his favorite actors on a script that didn't involve as much symbolism and all-out cinematic trickery as something like Citizen Kane .
April 23, 1971 -
The Rolling Stones, released their 9th British (and 11th American) studio album, Sticky Fingers on their brand new label, Rolling Stones Records, on this date.
The album cover was designed by Andy Warhol. It was a close-up photo of a man wearing tight jeans, and contained a real zipper. (It was rumored that the man wearing the tight jeans was Mick Jagger. It actual was Joe Dallesandro, one of Warhol's Superstars.) This caused considerable problems in shipping, but was the kind of added value that made the album much more desirable (you don't get this kind of stuff with CDs or downloads). Sticky Fingers also marked the first appearance of the famous tongue and lips logo, which was printed on the inner sleeve. The logo was designed by John Pasche, who was fresh out of art school (the Royal College of Art in London).
April 23, 1977 -
Please get ready to shake your groove thang - Thelma Houston's remake of the song, Don’t Leave Me This Way reached no.1 on the Billboard charts on this date.
This song was originally recorded by Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes with a soulful lead vocal by Teddy Pendergrass. Released on their 1975 album Wake Up Everybody, it wasn't issued as a single in America.
April 23, 1988 -
... And I am not frightened of dying. Any time will do, I don't mind. Why should I be frightened of dying? There's no reason for it – you've got to go sometime....
Pink Floyd's album Dark Side Of The Moon, after spending the record total of 741 consecutive weeks (over 14 years) on the Billboard 200, left the charts for its first time ever.
How did they ever make ends meet?
April 23, 2001 -
Fatboy Slim releases single Weapon of Choice, music video directed by Spike Jonze starring Christopher Walken dancing.
The video was shot over two days in the lobby of a Marriott Hotel in Los Angeles shortly before Christmas in 2000. The video won six MTV Video Music awards: Breakthrough Video, Best Direction, Best Choreography, Best Art Direction, Best Editing, and Best Cinematography.
Don't forget to tune in to The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour today.
Today in History:
April 23, 303 -
St George, the future patron saint of England, literally lost his head when he annoyed the Emperor Diocletian so much that the emperor had him separated from his head.
According to legend, George, saved a Libyan king's daughter (Cleodolinda) from a fiery dragon.
You'd think people would be more patient with a local dragon slayer.
William Shakespeare was born on this date in 1564 and wrote a lot of plays then died in the end—on April 23, 1616.
His accomplishments are all the more remarkable when you consider that he died on the same day. he’d been born.
April 23, 1616 -
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra died the very same day as Shakespeare. Mr. Cervantes was a brilliant Spanish humorist, best known for his novel Don Quixote, in which an old man suffering from acute mental illness rides around the Spanish countryside hallucinating, then dies.
Sometimes that's all there is.
April 23, 1867 -
The Zoetrope was patented (#64,117) by William E. Lincoln of Providence, Rhode Island on this date. The device was the first animated picture machine.
It provided an animation sequence of pictures lining the inside wall of a shallow cylinder, with vertical slits between the images. By spinning the cylinder and looking through the slits, a repeating loop of a moving image could be viewed .
April 23, 1899 -
Complacency is a state of mind that exists only in retrospective: it has to be shattered before being ascertained.
(This is some kind of trifecta for writers.) Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov, writer and avid butterfly collector, was born in Saint Petersburg on this date. His work included Lolita, Pnin and Pale Fire.
April 23, 1936 -
I may be a living legend, but that sure don't help when I've got to change a flat tire..
Roy Orbison, the coolest singer in sunglasses,was born on this date. (Luxuriate in the voluptuousness of despair.)
April 23, 1940 -
A fire broke out in the Rhythm Night Club in Natchez, Mississippi on this date. More than 200 people died, making it one of the worst fires in US history at the time.
News of the tragedy reverberated throughout the country, especially among the African American community, and blues performers have recorded memorial songs such as The Natchez Burning and The Mighty Fire ever since.
April 23, 1967 -
The USSR launched Soyuz One on this date.
The next day, forced to return to earth, cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov became the first casualty of space flight when his capsule's parachute opened improperly.
Oops.
April 23, 1985 -
Coca-Cola changed its classic formula and released New Coke on this date.
The response was overwhelmingly negative, and the real thing was back on the market in less than three months. If only the public had the same response when they removed the cocaine from the formula!
April 23, 2005 -
The first video uploaded to YouTube, entitled Me at the zoo, made its online debut on this date. The 19-second video was shot by Yakov Lapitsky and shows YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo.
It racked up 19 million views in its first ten years online. It currently has over 90 million views.
Before you go - Summer begins in just 59 day -
Plan accordingly
And so it goes.
he died on the same day. he’d been born. Indeed
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