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August 22, 1946 –The last of Alfred Hitchcock’s wartime thrillers, Notorious, premiered on this date. Alfred Hitchcock got the shot where Ingrid Bergman is in the background and the coffee cup is in the foreground, with both in focus, by using a giant coffee cup placed farther away than it appears.

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. Debut theatrical feature film directed by television Director Ian MacNaughton, who was also later credited for “filmed sequences” for Monty Python’s later sketchContinue reading “Ah… my hovercraft is full of eels.”

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, 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 “The punishment of Frances was strictly forbidden”

August 21, 1994 –HBO aired a concert special, Barbra: The Concert, featuring Barbra Streisand on her first public concert in 27 years. (She apparently suffers from severe stage fright.) The special received a television audience of 11.2 million viewers, becoming the highest-rated musical event in HBO’s history.

August 20, 1988 –Steve Winwood’s single Roll With It when to No. 1 on the Billboard Charts on this date. The song was Winwood’s biggest solo hit in the US, spending four weeks at #1 and also topped the pop chart in his native Britain. The album of the same title also topped the USContinue reading “Roll With It topped the charts”

August 20, 1942 – An almost forgotten comedy from Columbia Pictures, Talk of The Town, directed by George Stevens starring Cary Grant, Jean Arthur and Ronald Colman, opened on this date. This was the first time since the silent era that Ronald Colman was billed below another male lead.

August 20, 1941 –William Wyler’s pitch-perfect adaptation of Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes, starring Bette Davis, opened on this date. Bette Davis was a contract player for Warner Brothers at the time, earning $3000 a week. When she heard how much Warners was receiving for her services she demanded a share of the payment.

August 20, 1920 –The first commercial radio station begins operating in Detroit, Michigan with call sign 8MK (Now WWJ (Newsradio 950) ). (8MK went on the air without a license on this date. I understand that KDKA went on the air in Pittsburgh as the world’s first commercially licensed station on November 2, 1920.) TheContinue reading “The listener absorbs everything”

August 20, 1896 –A patent application was filed (US Patent No. 597,062) by brothers John and Charles J. Erickson & Alexander E. Keith for the rotary dial telephone on this date. The dial telephone made it possible for people to dial phone numbers on their own thereby making the communication process easier and more efficient.Continue reading “We are old Bunkies”