Author Archives: dcaligari

May 4, 1959 –François Truffaut’s seminal New Wave film, The 400 Blows, starring Jean-Pierre Léaud, opened at the Cannes Film Festival on this date. The title of the film comes from the French idiom “faire les quatre cents coups“, meaning “to raise hell“.

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. Anthony Michael Hall and Molly Ringwald initially disliked each other, so John Hughes took them to a record store and they bonded after they foundContinue reading “John Hughes’ obsession with teenagers first came into view”

May 4th is known as Star Wars Day. You get it – May the Fourth be with you. Oh, never mind.

May 3, 1958 –David Seville’s (Ross Bagdasarian Sr.) novelty single, Witch Doctor, unexpected went to No. 1 on the Billboard Charts, on this date. Bagdasarian was first cousin to the novelist and playwright William Saroyan. Seville got the vocal effect by recording his voice into a tape recorder that was slowed to half speed andContinue reading “Witch Doctor topped the charts”

May 3, 1947 – Sylvester tried to have Tweety Bird for lunch for the first time in the Looney Tunes cartoon, Tweetie Pie, which premiered on this date (Yeah, yeah, I know Sylvester is called Thomas but it’s Sylvester just the same. In 1948, with the cartoon Scaredy Cat, his name was changed to Sylvester,Continue reading “The first pairing of Sylvester and Tweety”

May 3, 1964 –Gerry and the Pacemakers make their US TV debut, performing Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying on The Ed Sullivan Show on this date. Gerry & the Pacemakers were the second group be signed by manager Brian Epstein (after The Beatles). They were part of the Merseybeat sound emanating from Liverpool,Continue reading “The night’s the time for all your tears …”

May 3, 1966 –Johnny Carson played the new party game Twister with Eva Gabor on the Tonight Show on this date. Gabor and Carson got tied up in knots, the studio audience went hysterical and Twister went on to sell more than three million copies over the next year.

May 2, 1936 –Sergei Prokofiev was commissioned by The Central Children’s Theatre of Moscow to create a symphonic tale for children. Peter and the Wolf had its world premiere in Moscow on this date. Prokofiev felt, in his own words, the work had an inauspicious opening at best: “…[attendance] was poor and failed to attractContinue reading “Impress your friends with your knowledge of classical music”

May 2, 1932 – Walt Disney released another animated-cartoon, Mickey’s Revue, on this date. Some animation of the audience in Mickey’s Revue was reused from the 1929 Mickey Mouse Cartoon The Opry House.

There’s no ego when you’re a ukulele player. Today is Play Your Ukulele Day!