Saturday, September 6, 2014
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
1936 - Sing Sing Sing by Benny Goodman
“Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)” is a 1936 song written and composed by Luigi (Louis) Prima, who first recorded it with the New Orleans Gang and released it in March 1936 as a 78, Brunswick 7628, with "It's Been So Long" as the B side. It is strongly identified with the Big Band and Swing eras. Though it has lyrics, which Prima wrote, it was covered as an instrumental by Fletcher Henderson and, most famously, by Benny Goodman.
1936 Bette Davis in "Dangerous"
Bette Davis initially turned down the script, but Warner Bros. studio production chief Hal B. Wallis convinced her she could make something special out of the character, who had been inspired by one of Davis' idols, actress Jeanne Eagels. She was determined to look like an actress on the skids, and insisted Orry-Kelly design costumes appropriate for a woman who had seen better days. It was for this film Perc Westmore styled her hair in the bob cut she would favor for the rest of her life.
1936 Clark Gable in "Mutiny on the Bounty"
The film was one of the biggest hits of its time. Although its historical accuracy has been questioned. Film critics consider this adaptation to be the best cinematic work inspired by the mutiny.
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Cheek to Cheek Ffrom "Top Hat" Music and Lyrics by rving Berlin
"Cheek to Cheek" is a song written by Irving Berlin for the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers movie Top Hat. In the movie, Astaire sings the song to Rogers as they dance. The song was nominated for the Best Song Academy Award for 1936, which it lost to "Lullaby of Broadway". Astaire's recording of the song spent five weeks at #1 on Your Hit Parade.
The song is probably most famous for its opening lines, "Heaven, I'm in heaven, and my heart beats so that I can hardly speak..." and quickly became a standard of the Great American Songbook.
1936 The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Debuts World's First Television Service
At 3pm on 2 November 1936 the BBC began the world's first regular hi-definition television service, from specially constructed studios at Alexandra Palace in North London. As part of this, two different technical systems were being tested on alternate weeks for six months: John Logie Baird's mechanical system producing pictures of 240 lines, and the EMI-Marconi electronic system, which produced images of 405 lines. On the toss of a coin, Baird's system inaugurated the service, followed by EMI-Marconi's. The latter was to prove the winning system.
The formal opening ceremony was followed by a Movietone newsreel and then a variety show, featuring Adele Dixon and the BBC Television Orchestra. A short documentary, Television Comes to London, revealed the preparations leading up to the launch. In all, the service was on the air for two hours on its first day.
BBC Director General John Reith did not like the new medium, and in later life said he never watched television. However, he was in a minority as television became the dominant medium of the twentieth century. The term hi-definition as used in 1936 was defined as a minimum of 240 lines, and was applied in contrast to Baird's earlier system which used only 30. Today, standard definition at 625 lines is being replaced by digital hi-definition, which offers picture resolution of 1080 lines.
1936 Olympics - Berlin
At the Big Ten Track and Field Championships of 1935, Ohio State's Jesse Owens equaled or set world records in four events: the 100 and 220-yard dashes, 200-yard low hurdles and the long jump. He was also credited with world marks in the 200-meter run and 200-meter hurdles. That's six world records in one afternoon, and he did it all in 45 minutes.
The following year, he swept the 100 and 200 meters and long jump at the Olympic Trials and headed for Germany favored to win all three.
In Berlin, dictator Adolf Hitler and his Nazi followers felt sure that the Olympics would be the ideal venue to demonstrate Germany's oft-stated racial superiority. He directed that $25 million be spent on the finest facilities, the cleanest streets and the temporary withdrawal of all outward signs of the state-run anti-Jewish campaign. By the time over 4,000 athletes from 49 countries arrived for the Games, the stage was set.
Then Owens, a black sharecropper's son from Alabama, stole the show–winning his three individual events and adding a fourth gold medal in the 4x100-meter relay. The fact that four other American blacks also won did little to please Herr Hitler, but the applause from the German crowds, especially for Owens, was thunderous. As it was for New Zealander Jack Lovelock's thrilling win over Glenn Cunningham and defending champ Luigi Beccali in the 1,500 meters.
Germany won only five combined gold medals in men's and women's track and field, but saved face for the “master race” in the overall medal count with an 89-56 margin over the United States.
The top female performers in Berlin were 17-year-old Dutch swimmer Rie Mastenbroek, who won three gold medals, and 18-year-old American runner Helen Stephens, who captured the 100 meters and anchored the winning 4x100-meter relay team.
Basketball also made its debut as a medal sport and was played outdoors. The U.S. men easily won the first gold medal championship game with a 19-8 victory over Canada in the rain.
1936 Stats
1936 Stats
FDR wins a second term.
Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind published.
Alexis Carrel and Charles Lindbergh develop the first artificial heart.
The Boulder Dam is completed.
The first successful helicopter flight is made.
Monday, September 1, 2014
Extreme - More Than Words
More Than Words by Extreme (1990)
"More Than Words" is a ballad written and originally performed by the rock band Extreme. It is built around acoustic guitar work by Nuno Bettencourt and the vocals of Gary Cherone (with harmony vocals from Bettencourt). Released in 1990 on the album Extreme II: Pornograffiti, the song marked a departure from the funk metal that had permeated the band's style previous to its release.
The song was described by Bettencourt as a song warning that the phrase "I love you" was becoming meaningless: "People use it so easily and so lightly that they think you can say that and fix everything, or you can say that and everything's OK. Sometimes you have to do more and you have to show it—there's other ways to say 'I love you.'" The song's music video was filmed in black and white.
On March 23, 1991, "More Than Words" entered the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 at number 81 and soon after reached number one. It also reached number two in the United Kingdom, where the group had success before its American breakthrough. Though they had made a few European charts before, this brought the band to their first mainstream success in the United States.
Extreme followed "More Than Words" with another power ballad, "Hole Hearted", which was slightly faster paced than "More Than Words", but nevertheless topped at number four in the United States and number three in Canada.
The Simpsons - 1990
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening. The series is a satirical depiction of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. The show is set in the fictional town of Springfield and parodies American culture, society, television, and many aspects of the human condition.
The family was conceived by Groening shortly before a solicitation for a series of animated shorts with the producer James L. Brooks. Groening created a dysfunctional family and named the characters after members of his own family, substituting Bart for his own name. The shorts became a part of The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987. After a three-season run, the sketch was developed into a half-hour prime time show and was an early hit for Fox, becoming the network's first series to land in the Top 30 ratings in a season (1989–1990).
Since its debut on December 17, 1989, the show has broadcast 552 episodes and the 25th season began on September 30, 2013. The Simpsons is the longest-running American sitcom, the longest-running American animated program, and in 2009 it surpassed Gunsmoke as the longest-running American scripted primetime television series. The Simpsons Movie, a feature-length film, was released in theaters worldwide on July 26 and 27, 2007, and grossed over $527 million.
The Simpsons is widely considered to be one of the greatest television series of all time. Time magazine's December 31, 1999, issue named it the 20th century's best television series, and on January 14, 2000, the Simpson family was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It has won dozens of awards since it debuted as a series, including 31 Primetime Emmy Awards, 30 Annie Awards and a Peabody Award. Homer's exclamatory catchphrase "D'oh!" has been adopted into the English language, while The Simpsons has influenced many adult-oriented animated sitcoms.
Entertainment Weekly - Feb. 16, 1990 Issue #1
Created by Jeff Jarvis and founded by Michael Klingensmith, who served as publisher until October 1996, the magazine's original television advertising soliciting pre-publication subscribers portrayed it as a consumer guide to popular culture, including movies, music, and book reviews, sometimes with video game and stage reviews, too.
The first issue was published on February 16, 1990, and featured singer k.d. lang on its cover. The title word entertainment was not capitalized on the cover until mid-1992 and has remained so since. By 2003, the magazine's weekly circulation averaged 1.7 million copies per week.
GoodFellas
Goodfellas is a 1990 American crime film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a film adaptation of the 1986 non-fiction book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scorsese. The film follows the rise and fall of the Lucchese crime family associate Henry Hill and his friends over a period from 1955 to 1980.
Scorsese initially named the film Wise Guy, but postponed it, and later he and Pileggi changed the name to Goodfellas. To prepare for their roles in the film, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Ray Liotta often spoke with Pileggi, who shared research material left over from writing the book. According to Pesci, improvisation and ad-libbing came out of rehearsals where Scorsese gave the actors freedom to do whatever they wanted. The director made transcripts of these sessions, took the lines he liked best, and put them into a revised script the cast worked from during principal filming.
Nelson Mandela Released From Prison
On February 11, 1990, Nelson Mandela, leader of the movement to end South African apartheid, is released from prison after 27 years.
In 1944, Mandela, a lawyer, joined the African National Congress (ANC), the oldest black political organization in South Africa, where he became a leader of Johannesburg's youth wing of the ANC. In 1952, he became deputy national president of the ANC, advocating nonviolent resistance to apartheid--South Africa's institutionalized system of white supremacy and racial segregation. However, after the massacre of peaceful black demonstrators at Sharpeville in 1960, Nelson helped organize a paramilitary branch of the ANC to engage in guerrilla warfare against the white minority government.
In 1961, he was arrested for treason, and although acquitted he was arrested again in 1962 for illegally leaving the country. Convicted and sentenced to five years at Robben Island Prison, he was put on trial again in 1964 on charges of sabotage. In June 1964, he was convicted along with several other ANC leaders and sentenced to life in prison.
Mandela spent the first 18 of his 27 years in jail at the brutal Robben Island Prison. Confined to a small cell without a bed or plumbing, he was forced to do hard labor in a quarry. He could write and receive a letter once every six months, and once a year he was allowed to meet with a visitor for 30 minutes. However, Mandela's resolve remained unbroken, and while remaining the symbolic leader of the anti-apartheid movement, he led a movement of civil disobedience at the prison that coerced South African officials into drastically improving conditions on Robben Island. He was later moved to another location, where he lived under house arrest.
In 1989, F.W. de Klerk became South African president and set about dismantling apartheid. De Klerk lifted the ban on the ANC, suspended executions, and in February 1990 ordered the release of Nelson Mandela.
Mandela subsequently led the ANC in its negotiations with the minority government for an end to apartheid and the establishment of a multiracial government. In 1993, Mandela and de Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. One year later, the ANC won an electoral majority in the country's first free elections, and Mandela was elected South Africa's president.
Mandela retired from politics in 1999, but remained a global advocate for peace and social justice until his death in December 2013.
Maybelline
Wasserstein Perella paid $300 Million for Maybelline in 1990, replacing Linda Carter with Christy Turlington and adding the tag line, Maybe She's Born with it, Maybe it's Maybelline
Kate Moss Calvin Klein's Obsession Campaign
Heroin chic was a look popularized in 1990s fashion and characterized by pale skin, dark circles underneath the eyes and angular bone structure. The look, characterised by emaciated features and androgyny, was a reaction against the "healthy" and vibrant look of models such as Cindy Crawford and Claudia Schiffer.
This waifish, emaciated, and drug-addicted look was the basis of the 1990s advertising campaign of Calvin Klein featuring Kate Moss. Film director and actor Vincent Gallo contributed to the development of the image through his Calvin Klein fashion shoots.
The trend eventually faded, in part due to the drug-related death of prominent fashion photographer Davide Sorrenti. Sorrenti fell in love with teenage model and heroin addict Jaime King, and began abusing substances himself. Vulnerable due to a lifelong blood disorder, Sorrenti died in 1997 after an injection of an amount that was "not normally considered unusual". In 1999 Vogue dubbed Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen "The Return of the Sexy Model" and the beginning of a new era.
1990 Stats
1990 Stats
Median Household Income: $29,943
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.25
The X rating is replaced by NC-17 (no children under 17).
The Hubble Space Telescope is launched (Apr. 25).
Ninety-nine percent of U.S. households have at least one radio, with the average owning five.
Euro dance band Milli Vanilli admits to lip-synching hits such as "Girl You Know Its True," and has their Grammy award revoked.
Seinfeld debuts on NBC.
Academy Award 1990
Best Picture: Driving Miss Daisy
Grammys awarded in 1990
Record of the Year: "Wind Beneath My Wings," Bette Midler
Song of the Year: "Wind Beneath My Wings," Larry Henley and Jeff Silbar, songwriters
Album of the Year: Nick of Time, Bonnie Raitt (Capitol)
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