Author Archives: dcaligari

August 22, 1972 – The movie that introduced Monty Python and its seminal brand of comedy to American audiences, And Now for Something Completely Different, premiered in the U.S. on this date. This was the debut theatrical feature film directed by television Director Ian MacNaughton, who was also later credited for “filmed sequences” for MontyContinue reading “My hovercraft is full of eels.”

August 22, 1981 – Duran Duran had their breakthrough hit in Britain when their single Girls On Film, hits #5 in the UK, on this date. It does not chart on its US release, but surges in popularity after its music video goes into heavy rotation on MTV. (Kids, ask your folks if you’re allowedContinue reading “Girls on Film”

August 22, 1986 –Rob Reiner adaptation of the novella by Stephen King, Stand By Me, starring Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O’Connell, and Kiefer Sutherland opened in US Theatres on this date. River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Wil Wheaton and Jerry O’Connell got into a lot of mischief in the hotel they were stayingContinue reading “Stand By Me premiered”

August 22, 1946 –The last of Alfred Hitchcock’s wartime thrillers, Notorious, opened in Los Angeles, California, on this date. The legendary on-again, off-again kiss between Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman was designed to skirt the Hayes Code that restricted kisses to no more than three seconds each.

August 22, 1893 –If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy. Dorothy Parker was born in New York City, toContinue reading “Dorothy Parker”

August 22, 1989 –Nolan Ryan’s fifth inning strike out of Rickey Henderson, on this date, made him the first Major League Baseball pitcher to record 5,000 strikeouts. His 5,714 career strikeouts rank first in baseball history by a significant margin.

August 21, 1911 –Pablo Picasso was having a very bad day. His so called friend, French poet Guillaume Apollinaire, who had once called for the Louvre to be “burnt down,” came under suspicion when the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Lourve on this day; he was arrested and put in jail. Apollinaire, as allContinue reading “The Mona Lisa was stolen”

August 21, 1965 –The third British and fourth American studio album by the Rolling Stones, Out of Our Heads, went No. 1 on the Billboard Charts on this date. In America, London Records released the first version of Out Of Our Heads on July 30, 1965. The UK version, issued by Decca Records, came outContinue reading “Out of Our Heads topped the charts”

August 21, 1991 –The Coen Brothers take on 30s Hollywood, Barton Fink, starring John Turturro, John Goodman, Judy Davis, Michael Lerner, John Mahoney, and Jon Polito went into general release on this date. John Turturro took classes at a secretarial school to learn how to use a typewriter for the role. Between takes, he wroteContinue reading “Barton Fink opened”

August 21, 1987 –The low-budget film, directed by Emile Ardolino, Dirty Dancing, starring Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey, Cynthia Rhodes, and Jerry Orbach, premiered in the US on this date. While the exteriors and cabin scenes were filmed at Mountain Lake in Virginia, the lake scene was filmed at Lake Lure in North Carolina in October.Continue reading “Nobody puts Baby in the corner”