May 4th is known as Star Wars Day.
You get it - May the Fourth be with you.
Oh, never mind.
May 4, 1943 -
Billy Wilder's under-rated wartime drama, Five Graves to Cairo, starring Franchot Tone, Anne Baxter, Akim Tamiroff, and Erich von Stroheim, premiered in Los Angeles, on this date.
On the first day director Billy Wilder's hero, Erich von Stroheim, arrived on set, Wilder ran to the wardrobe department to welcome him. He said, "This is a very big moment in my life . . . that I should now be directing the great Stroheim. Your problem, I guess, was that you were ten years ahead of your time." Von Stroheim replied, "Twenty."
May 4, 1944 -
George Cukor's atmospheric thriller, Gaslight, starring Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, and an 18-year-old Angela Lansbury (in her film debut,) premiered in the US on this date.
Screenwriter John Van Druten suggested that George Cukor should offer screentests to some of Moyna MacGill's daughters for a role in this movie. MacGill was a well-known English actress who had become a refugee during World War II. Angela Lansbury was the first of MacGill's daughters that Cukor auditioned. Lansbury had never acted in any capacity before her screen test, but she wowed Cukor with her natural talent and professionalism. Cukor recalled that from the first day on-set, Lansbury was perfectly at ease and at home, even though she had no experience acting. He called her a natural-born actress.
May 4, 1949 -
The tenth pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, The Barkleys of Broadway, premiered on this date.
Fred Astaire's wife Phyllis was widely rumored to have forbidden Fred to kiss Ginger Rogers in their first nine films together. To end the gossip, in The Barkleys of Broadway Fred and Ginger combined to perform a kiss that was the longest recorded on a Hollywood film to that date.
May 4, 1959 -
Originally called the Gramophone awards, the first Grammys were handed out on this date, to honor the musical accomplishments by performers for the year 1958. The ceremony was hosted by comedian Mort Sahl and held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. At the same time, Recording Academy members convened for a simultaneous function at the Park Sheraton Hotel in New York City.
Ella Fitzgerald along with Count Basie became the first African American singers to win Grammy Awards at the first annual ceremony. The very first Grammy Awards for Record of the Year went to Domenico Modugno's Nel Blu, Dipinto di Blu (Volare) and Henry Mancini's The Music From Peter Gunn soundtrack winning Album of the Year. The Champs' Tequila, for some reason, takes home Best Rhythm and Blues Performance.
May 4, 1959 -
François Truffaut's seminal New Wave film, The 400 Blows, starring Jean-Pierre Léaud, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on this date.
Jean-Pierre Léaud's answers to the questions given to him by the psychologist at the camp near the end of the film were not scripted. Francois Truffaut told Leaud in advance about the scene for what to expect to a certain extent, and did provide some minor coaching when Leaud answered the question in between takes as to what was working and what was not, but at large, Leaud's answers are unscripted and ad-libbed, per Truffaut's wishes, who wanted the scene to feel spontaneous and believable.
May 4, 1973 -
Bruce Jay Friedman's Off-Broadway play, Steambath debuted on PBS, on this date.
Valerie Perrine became the first woman to display (on purpose) her nipples on American network television. Perrine is also seen taking a shower from the side and her butt was in full view. Only 24 PBS stations were adventurous enough to carry the program.
May 4, 1984 -
Universal Pictures released John Hughes' directorial debut, Sixteen Candles, starring Molly Ringwald (her first film), Paul Dooley, Justin Henry, and Anthony Michael Hall, premiered on this date.
The movie's costume designer begged Molly Ringwald not to wear the hat she wore in the beginning of the movie. Ringwald insisted. After the movie was released, teenage girls started wearing their hats tilted back like that.
Another ACME Safety Film
Today in History:
May 4, 1626 -
Dutch explorer Peter Minuit landed on what is now Manhattan island, where a little settlement had been established on the southern tip by the Dutch East India Company, called New Amsterdam.
While the Indians have been pissed off even since then, there are some in Congress are investigating whether or not they can sell NYC back to the Indians.
May 4 1854 -
Joseph Tussaud returned to London with the well-used blade of the guillotine he purchased from Clement Sanson, the last in a line of Sansons who held the office of Executioner of Paris for over 150 years.
May 4, 1886 -
At Haymarket Square in Chicago, a labor demonstration for an 8-hour workday turned into a riot when a bomb exploded. Seven policemen were killed and some 60 others injured. Only one policeman was killed in the strike.
Three labor leaders were executed November 10, 1887, for the bombing. The Haymarket Affair is generally considered to have been an important influence on the origin of International May Day observances for workers.
May 4, 1891 -
Noted apiarist and amateur detective, Sherlock Holmes reportedly 'died' during a fight with master criminal (and his one time math tutor) Professor James Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls on this date.
Mr. Holmes re-appears three years later next to discuss his 'disappearance'. It has been speculated that his friend and chronicler, Dr. John H. Watson, attempted to cure Holmes of his life long addiction to cocaine and morphine during this time period.
May 4, 1954 -
An Old Man goes fishing. It was a good day to fish. He catches a fish. It was a big fish. It was a good day for the fish to die. Sharks, big sharks eat the big fish before the old man gets back to shore. The Old Man goes home to his shack and falls asleep. It was a deep sleep. He dreams about lions in Africa. They are big lions.
Ernest Hemingway won the Pulitzer Prize on this date.
So class, either Santiago is a defeated hero or an undefeated hero. Throw in references to Jesus Christ, Joe DiMaggio, the sin of pride and greed and "A man can be destroyed but not defeated" and you have your Master's Thesis.
May 4, 1970 -
28 Ohio National Guardsmen read protesting students of Kent State the riot act, but the students, as was their wont, did not disperse. So they shot them.
The Guardsmen killed four students and wounded nine others at Kent State University on this date. Neil Young later memorialized the sad incident in the song Ohio. A very odd bit of trivia: this tragic event in American history led to the formation of Devo, as Mark Mothersbaugh and Jerry Casale were both on campus and horrified by the events.
May 4, 1979 -
Margaret Thatcher was sworn in as (the first female) prime minister (PM) in Britain, on this date, and was known as the Iron Lady for her tough rhetoric.
She also served the longest continuous term in office as PM, with three consecutive terms.
May 4, 1991 -
To celebrate his father's birthday the previous day, Bing Crosby's son Dennis Crosby put a shotgun to his head, ending his life in a boarding house in California. A younger brother, Lindsay, had also killed himself with a shotgun two years earlier.
Once again, Bing must have been a lovely person.
May 4, 2001 -
After dinner at Vitello's in Studio City, film and television actor Robert Blake remembers that he left something at the restaurant. When he returns to the car, he discovers his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley Paulakis Gawron Moon Besly Brooksher Webber Telufson Wolfe Ray Blake (yes, she was married to nine other men before Blake), slumped over in the passenger seat. She had been shot in the head by person or persons unknown. Bakley later died of her injury.
One year later, Blake was charged with the murder. To the astonishment of some, he was later acquitted of the charges. It was actually suggested during the trial, by the defense, that a list of people with possible motives to kill Bonnie Lee would be longer than the Los Angeles Phone Directory. (Bakley's three children filed a civil suit against Blake asserting that he was responsible for their mother's death. On November 18, 2005, the jury found Blake liable for the wrongful death of his wife and ordered him to pay $30 million.)
And so it goes.
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