Author Archives: dcaligari

August 22, 1946 –The last of Alfred Hitchcock’s wartime thrillers, Notorious, opened on this date. After filming had ended, Cary Grant kept the famous UNICA key. A few years later he gave the key to his great friend and co-star Ingrid Bergman, saying that the key had given him luck and hoped it would doContinue reading “Notorious premiered”

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 movie was filmed between the first and second seasons of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. It contains several sketches that had been writtenContinue reading “THIS IS AN EX-PARROT!”

August 22, 1929 –Walt Disney released the animated short film The Skeleton Dance (The first of Disney’s Silly Symphony series,) animated by Ub Iwerks, on this date. Worried that he would be too dependent on Mickey, Walt Disney wanted to diversify. Carl W. Stalling came up with the idea of producing “musical novelties” (which wouldContinue reading “This cartoon inspired Joseph Barbera”

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. This song is best known for itsContinue reading “Kids, ask your folks if you’re allowed to watch this video”

August 22, 2007 –The Texas Rangers routed the Baltimore Orioles 30–3 on this date. The Rangers became the first and so far only team in MLB history to score 30 runs in a single game. They scored five runs in the fourth, nine in the sixth, 10 in the eighth, and six more in theContinue reading “Some day it just doesn’t pay to get up”

August 21, 1942 – Walt Disney decided too many children were sleeping too well and released the animated classic Bambi on this date. No matter how skilled the animator, the Disney cartoonists simply could not draw Bambi’s father’s antlers accurately. This was because of the very complicated perspectives required. To get around the problem, aContinue reading “Sweet dreams Bunkies”

August 21, 1987 – Columbia Pictures released the neo-noir film, The Big Easy, directed by Jim McBride, written by Daniel Petrie Jr, and starring Dennis Quaid, Ellen Barkin, John Goodman, and Ned Beatty, on this date. It was reported that Robert Redford had to literally dragged producer David Puttnam, who was the CEO of ColumbiaContinue reading “The Big Easy premiered”

August 21, 1979 –Gary Numan released his hit Cars from his album The Pleasure Principle, on this date. This was Numan’s only hit in the US, but he has had many others in England, where he has a large cult following. Numan specializes in electronic music, and was an influence on artists like Marilyn MansonContinue reading “Here in my car …”

August 21, 1911 –Pablo Picasso was having a very bad day. His so-called friend, French poet Guillaume Apollinaire—who had once declared that the Louvre should be “burned down”—came under suspicion when the Mona Lisa was stolen from the museum on this day. He was arrested and jailed. True to form, Apollinaire implicated his friend PabloContinue reading “The Greatest Art Heist”

August 20, 1977 –The Emotions hit #1 in the US with the single Best Of My Love for the first of five weeks, on this date. (Two years earlier, the Eagles hit #1 with a song with the same title.) Songwriter Maurice White sued Mariah Carey and C+C Music Factory for plagiarizing this song forContinue reading “Best of My Love topped the charts”