Author Archives: dcaligari

October 21, 1964 – Possibly the most fully realized movie musical, My Fair Lady first opened at the Criterion Theater in New York, on this date. When Rex Harrison accepted his Academy Award for this movie, he dedicated it to his “two fair ladies,“ Audrey Hepburn and Julie Andrews, both of whom had played ElizaContinue reading “My Fair Lady premiered”

October 20, 1985 –The first of two reunion films, I Dream of Jeannie: 15 Years Later, starring Barbara Eden, Wayne Rogers, and Bill Daly aired on NBC on this date. Larry Hagman was unavailable to reprise his role as Tony Nelson reportedly because he was too busy filming his CBS series Dallas at the time.Continue reading “This must be a lucky day for Jeannie”

October 20, 1939 –The ninth Marx Brothers film, At the Circus, debuted on this date. Buster Keaton worked on the film as a gag man. His career was on the downside, and he was forced to work for scale. His complex and sometimes belabored gags did not work well with The Marx Brothers’ brand ofContinue reading “At the Circus premiered”

October 20, 1980 –U2 released their debut album, Boy, produced by Steve Lillywhite, on this date. It doesn’t yield any hits but I Will Follow becomes one of their most popular songs.

October 19, 1973 –David Bowie released his seventh album Pin Ups, which features supermodel Twiggy on the front cover, is released on this date. The album is a collection of cover versions of some of the singer’s favourite songs, including tracks by Pink Floyd, The Pretty Things, The Who, The Yardbirds and The Kinks.

October 19, 1984 –One of the greatest concert movies, the Talking Heads film Stop Making Sense, directed by Jonathon Demme opens in the US on this date. Jonathan Demme wanted to shoot additional performance footage on a soundstage made to recreate the Pantages Theater. The band vetoed this idea because they thought the lack ofContinue reading “Stop Making Sense premiered”

October 19, 1966 –The first pairing of Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau (they went on to work together in 11 additional films), The Fortune Cookie, opened on this date. Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau bonded early in the production process, finding a connection in their mutual love of football. They would remain friends the restContinue reading “The Fortune Cookie premiered”

Several sources, including the eponymously named Facebook page, lists today as International Gin and Tonic Day. Some cite April 9th as the date, although that is usually seen as National Gin and Tonic Day. I’m up for celebrating on both dates. (But don’t confuse it with World Gin Day which always falls on the secondContinue reading “Never drink anything stronger than gin before breakfast.”

The third Friday in October has been set aside to celebrate Global Champagne Awareness Day (or International Champagne Day) and boy, oh boy, do I need to celebrate something. Most champagne-lovers will already know that, in order for the sparkling nectar to be classified as “champagne“, the wine must come from the Champagne province inContinue reading “In victory, you deserve Champagne; in defeat, you need it.”

October 18, 1957 –Given almost complete control of the program, the eponymously named The Frank Sinatra Show, a variety/drama anthology series, debuted on ABC on this date. Sinatra wanted to do a dramatic television series, while the ABC television network wanted him to host a variety show. The star and the network compromised – 13Continue reading “The Frank Sinatra Show premiered”