October 9, 1968 –
The musical film, Finian’s Rainbow, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Fred Astaire, Petula Clark, and Tommy Steele, opened on this date.
Because of its satire on racism, this popular 1947 Broadway musical was considered such a hot potato in Hollywood that studios would not touch it unless they were allowed to change the story. Its original creators, E.Y. Harburg, Burton Lane, and Fred Saidy held out, and by 1968 it was able to be filmed with very few changes.
