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July 8, 1932 – Tod Browning’s groundbreaking shockfest Freaks, featuring genuine carnival sideshow performers, premieres at the Rialto theater in New York on this date. F. Scott Fitzgerald was a member of the MGM writing department at the time the movie was in production. It is said that one day, as he came into theContinue reading “One of Us”

July 8, 1964 –Probably Jerry Lewis‘ most self-reflexive film about film making, The Patsy, premiered on this date. (This was Peter Lorre’s last film; he died four days after completing his role. Lorre hated the experience and death must have seems a welcome release.) In the opening scene when Lewis makes his entrance he’s wearingContinue reading “The Patsy opened”

July 8, 1958 –The center of the Hollywood Universe was born today in 1958. Remember even you are only a few degrees away from Kevin Bacon.

July 8th was a Sunday in 1881, so when a hot young man entered Edward Berner’s drugstore in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, and ordered an ice-cream soda, his request was denied. Ice-cream sodas could not be served on the Sabbath owing to the ancient Mosaic injunction against them. The hot young man pleaded his case soContinue reading “What all the screaming was about”

July 7, 1984 –The single Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood became Britain’s all-time best-selling single (at the time) on this date. In America, any sexual innuendo contained in this song got little attention, but it caused plenty of controversy in the UK. The song entered the UK singles chart at #77 on November 12,Continue reading “Relax hit big”

July 7, 1960 –Universal Pictures releases the horror film The Brides of Dracula, directed by Terence Fisher and starring Peter Cushing, in the UK on this date. In an early draft of the screenplay, Count Dracula was meant to have returned from the dead at the film’s beginning. He was then to have taken centerContinue reading “The Brides of Dracula premiered”

July 7, 1939 – Jean Renior’s prescient masterpiece, Rules of the Game, starring Marcel Dalio, Nora Gregor, and Paulette Dubost, opened in Paris, France on this date (because of World War II, the film did not officially open in the US until 1950.) Despite being considered by historians to be one of the best filmsContinue reading “La Règle Du Jeu premiered”

Today is Chocolate Day (If you’re a chocoholic, then you have two more chocolate days to celebrate! World Chocolate Day is on September 4 and National Chocolate Day is on October 28.) The date commemorates the introduction of Hershey’s Kisses on this date in 1907 and the introduction of chocolate in Europe in 1550. RememberContinue reading “It’s a Hodge Podge of Holidays”

July 7, 2005 –19 years ago on this date, four bomb explosions struck London’s transport system during the morning rush. Three Underground trains were hit within half an hour, and a double-decker bus joined the toll, thirty minutes later. A group calling itself “The Secret Organization of al-Qaida in Europe” posted a claim of responsibility,Continue reading “London’s 7/7”

July 6, 1979 –The B-52s, a New Wave band based in Athens, Georgia, released Planet Claire on this date. The song samples the Peter Gunn Theme, which Henry Mancini wrote for the 1958 TV series. Mancini has a writer credit on Planet Claire along with every member of The B-52s.