Birthdays: Ethan Allen, Marshal Michel Ney, Frank James -Jesse's brother, Francois Poulenc, Ray Bolger (the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz), Stephen Ambrose, Sherrill Milnes, Pat Benatar, Sal Mineo, Jim Croce, Rod Stewart, Walter Hill, George Foreman, Linda Lovelace, Roy E Disney Jr, Jermaine Clement of Flight of the Concords is 49
1924- Columbia Pictures created, ruled by Harry Cohn, whose motto was "I don't get ulcers, I give them!"
1927- Fritz Lang’s silent Metropolis premiered. Screenplay by his wife/collaborator Thea von Harbou. Despite the opinion of H.G. Wells in the Times, “ Foolishness, cliche’, platitude and muddlement.” It is considered a classic of film science fiction.
1929- Herge’s comic character Tin Tin first appeared in a Belgian newspaper XXe Siecle.
1939- Science fiction writer Isaac Asimov sold his first story to Amazing Stories Magazine "Marooned off Vesta".
1941- The comedy play ARSENIC AND OLD LACE opened on Broadway. Playwright Joseph Kesselring originally wrote it as a drama based on true events, until he was advised - and, wisely so - to turn it into a dark comedy instead, guaranteeing a larger audience. He made the title a joke on a popular turn of the century romance novel, Lavender and Old Lace. When someone joked that Mortimer’s evil brother looked like Boris Karloff, the character was indeed played by famous horror movie star Boris Karloff. He was an investor in the play. When buying the movie rights Warner Bros agreed to wait until the play ended its theatrical run. They thought plays usually are done in a few months so they had Frank Capra make it into a classic screwball comedy with Cary Grant and Raymond Massey. The play Arsenic and Old Lace ran on Broadway for three years, until 1944. Then Warner Bros could finally release the movie.
1947- Returned WWII veteran Ed Lowe was working at his dad’s sand and gravel pit in Michigan. This day a neighbor asked if she could borrow some sand for her cat to do his business in. This gave Lowe an idea to use a clay mineral mixture called Fuller’s Earth. It absorbs twice its weight in water and is odorless. He invented Kitty Litter, and made millions.
1949- For years the recording industry had been working on ways to improve the 78 RPM record –RPM means Rotations Per Minute. RCA records announced the invention of the 45 RPM record. Columbia (CBS) had announced the LP (Long Playing) 33 rpm record and originally offered to share the technology but RCA (NBC) was having none of it. But the 33 stored more music and could use old 78 rpm turntables adapted so the 45 soon became a vehicle for hit singles.
1958- Jerry Lee Lewis single "Great Balls of Fire" topped the pop charts.
1961- Writer Dashell Hammett died.
1971-Stanford Calderwood, the president of WGBH Boston, got a good reaction for a season of a British drama he ran on American TV called The Forsythe Saga. He soon returned from a trip to England having purchased a bushel of BBC dramas. Period pieces, Called “Frock Dramas”. This day Masterpiece Theater debuted on US TV with host Alastair Cooke. The first show was the BBC series The First Churchills. I Claudius, Poldark and Upstairs Downstairs followed. These shows were so popular that for awhile people thought PBS meant Preferably British Shows.
1999- HBO’s The Sopranos premiered. Howyadoin..?
2000- AOL and Time Warner announced a $165 billion dollar merger that made it the world’s largest media company. Considered now one of the worst business deals in history, the company lost $80 billion in one year. The deal almost sank both companies, uprooted both chairmen, and they detached permanently in 2009.
2004- NY based Writer and actor Spaulding Gray spent the day taking his kids to the movies. They saw Tim Burton’s movie Big Fish. Gray put his kids into a taxi home and from the Staten Island Ferry Terminal, called his wife to say he would be home soon and that he loved her. Then he took the ferry, jumped into the harbor and drowned himself in New York Harbor. How He had waged a long battle with depression and his mother had commit suicide. His body did not resurface until March 9.
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