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April 14, 1969 –During the live broadcast of the 41st annual Academy Awards Ceremony, the first Oscar ceremony to be televised worldwide, it was announced Katherine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand tied for Best Actress Oscar on this date. Both Streisand and Hepburn received 3,030 votes each; it was the first exact tie in a principalContinue reading “A tie at the Oscars”

April 14, 1945 – Tex Avery retooled his Warner Brothers cartoon, Dangerous Dan McFoo, and remade it for MGM as The Shooting of Dan McGoo. It was released on this date. This is probably the better version, but what do I know.

April 14th, 1956 –The first professional quality videotape machine was introduced by Ampex at the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Chicago. Magnetic videotape recording had been introduced early in the 1950s, but were considered unfeasible to replace kinescopes for broadcasting. The machine was first used in a coast-to-coast network TV broadcast in the NovemberContinue reading “The AMPEX videotape machine was first demonstrated”

April 13, 1883 –Alferd Packer, one of the few people in the US ever to be jailed for cannibalism, having allegedly killed and eaten five of his traveling companions while trapped in the Rocky Mountains during fierce winter weather, was sentenced to death in Colorado. During the trial, the judge supposedly said: “Damn you, AlferdContinue reading “The sweetest meat you’ll probably never eat”

April 13, 1973 –The Wailers, led by Bob Marley, release their fifth studio album, Catch a Fire on this date. The first album on their new label, Island Records, it makes Marley and the Wailers international recording stars and brings reggae music to the forefront.

April 13, 1964 –Sidney Poitier became the first African-American male to win the Best Actor Academy Award for the 1963 film Lilies of the Field, on this date. However, whatever satisfaction Poitier felt winning this award was undercut by his concern that he won not because Hollywood had shown enlightened thinking, but rather he wasContinue reading “A first for the Oscars”

April 13, 1984 –Jonathan Demme’s look at the homefront during WW II, Swing Shift, starring, Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell, Christine Lahti, Fred Ward and Ed Harris, premiered in the US on this date. The film reportedly went through a major bout of re-shoots and editing; some say this was due to the tensions between GoldieContinue reading “Swing Shift opened”

April 12, 1934 –… Already he felt her absence from these skies: on the beach he could only remember the sun-torn flesh of her shoulder; at Tarmes he crushed out her footprints as he crossed the garden; and now the orchestra launching into the Nice Carnival Song, an echo of last year’s vanished gaieties, startedContinue reading “Tender Is the Night debuted”

April 12, 1989 –The 20th Century Fox Television police series 21 Jump Street starring Johnny Depp, Holly Robinson, Peter DeLuise, Dustin Nguyen, Richard Grieco, Michael DeLuise, and Frederic Forrest premiered on Fox TV on this date. Johnny Depp did not want to work on a television series, but agreed to a six-year contract, only becauseContinue reading “21 Jump Street premiered”

April 12, 1973 –The film, That’ll Be The Day, very loosely-based on John Lennon’s early years, featuring David Essex, Ringo Starr, Keith Moon, Billy Fury and Dave Edmunds, premiered in London, on this date. There are two big Beatles connections that bookend this film. Firstly, right at the start of the film where Jim goesContinue reading “That’ll Be The Day opened”