January 25, 1970 –
Robert Altman’s Oscar winning film starring Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould, MAS*H, premiered in NYC on this date.
The film’s famous theme song was intended to be the “stupidest song ever written“. After attempting to write the lyrics himself, Altman said he found it too difficult to write “dumb enough“, and instead gave to the task to his fourteen-year-old son. Mike Altman allegedly wrote the lyrics in five minutes, not even expecting to be paid, since he was the director’s son. Altman was paid $75,000 for directing, but his son eventually made about $2 million in song royalties, including the residuals from the TV series.
The Haus of Dcaligari 