May!
Monday, May 1, 2017 at 7:00AM 
And you... and you... and you... you're gonna love May! 🎵
That's my promise to you readers. We're planning to work our asses off this month for you after a slow April. When you feel energy comin' off the blog, given back in the form of comments, shares, donations, good vibes, or subscriptions, won'cha?
May is the month of the Virgin Mary, emerald birthstones, Tauruses and Geminis, and all sorts of ultra specific things you can celebrate on this very day if you're feeling festive.
10 things work celebrating on this day in history (May 1st) after the jump including Batman and our third living 100 year-old movie star...
1852 Frontier woman Calamity Jane born in Princeton Missouri. She later gets a movie starring Doris Day and a Oscar winning theme song "Secret Love," which was totally embraced by the gays in the '50s if I remember my Celluloid Closet documentary factoids correctly. She got another screen version in the 21st century via Robin Weigert's performance on Deadwood (2004-2006)
1905 German director Henry Koster, who wisely fled Germany after his first couple of features in the early 30s when he saw anti-Semitism rising, had a big career in Hollywood. His most famous films include: Three Smart Girls, The Bishop's Wife (Oscar nomination), The Inspector General, The Robe, Harvey, Flower Drum Song, and The Singing Nun.
1917 French movie star Danielle Darrieux was born 100 years ago on this very day. She joins Olivia de Havilland and Kirk Douglas as the only three living movie stars who are currently 100+. She made her screen debut very young in the musical Le Bal (1931) and she worked for over 80 years thereafter! which is surely one of the longest careers in motion picture history. She appeared intermittently in Hollywood pictures for an 18 year stretch from 1938's Rage of Paris through 1956's Alexander the Great but kept racing back to Paris, where she was clearly happier. Contemporary audiences know her best as the grandmothers of 8 Women (2002) and Persepolis (2006) but her all time most important classic is surely The Earrings of Madame de... (1953). Other key credits include Rich Young and Pretty (1951... which airs on TCM tomorrow morning at 5 am!) 5 Fingers (1952), Lady Chatterley's Lover (1955) and The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967)
1931 The Empire State Building officially opens in NYC. Becomes Burial monument to King Kong just two years later. Spoiler alert: twas beauty that killed the beast. Until he was resurrected multiple times for movie studios to make more money.
1939/1940 Exact dates vary for this "spring of 1940" but usually cross over between April and May so let's say May 1st. In 1939 with a "May" cover date, Batman is introduced in Detective Comics. Almost exactly a year later with a "Spring" cover date, Batman gets his own comic. In the first issue The Joker and The Cat (later renamed Catwoman), are introduced. All three characters are still very embedded in the public consciousness 77 years later with many actors having played them in screen versions over the years.
1941 Citizen Kane has its world premiere in New York City (premieres in Chicago and Los Angeles follow that same month) and then the Orson Welles classic, long considered one of the greatest films ever made, gets a proper release on Sept 5th and goes on to 9 Oscar nominations (but famously loses all but Original Screenplay... the category that has gained quite a reputation over the years for honoring enduring classics that aren't as warmly greeted in other categories.
1946 Celebrated Hong Kong action auteur John Woo born (Mission: Impossible, Face/Off, Hard Boiled, Red Cliff). Fond of slo-mo before everyone else way too fond of it.
1969 Writer/Director Wes Anderson born in Houston. Isn't it impossibly nutty to remember that The Grand Budapest Hotel was a major Oscar player. Fun embraces of stylized comedy aren't so common with Oscar! His next film is Isle of Dogs (due April 20th, 2018), which will be his second stop motion animated feature. That's quite exciting given how good his first, The Fantastic Mr Fox, was.
1998 Uma & Ethan are married, for a brief time one of the power couples of Hollywood. Remember them as a unit? A curious note: on the exact day of their wedding Uma's new movie Les Miserables (no, not the musical version) opens in movie theaters.
2000 Gladiator premieres in Los Angeles and opens in movie theaters across America four days later. It goes on to win the Best Picture Oscar despite (mostly) formidable competition. Contrary to popular belief summer movies can win Best Picture Oscars. Crash (2005) and The Hurt Locker (2009) are two other examples in this young century.
Which of these are you most likely to celebrate today and how?
Reader Comments (12)
Really? No facts in the last 17 years? LOL
Very cool that we now have three Golden Age stars who have made it to the century mark and that they all appear to be doing well.
I'm not extremely well-versed in Darrieux's filmography. I've seen several of her English language films, Madame de, Young Girls of Rochefort, La Ronde and 8 Women and she's certainly an enchanting onscreen presence. TCM is showing a nice assortment of her films this evening, they're splitting the day between Glenn Ford who was also born on this day and she.
There was also a decent TV movie in the 80's about Calamity Jane that starred Jane Alexander in the title role.
mario -- i decided to pick only 10 things to focus on on these posts because they're way too long but i still like doing 'em.
The past 12 months have been quite generous in terms of movie star centenarians, giving us no fewer than three really big ones. There is a drought ahead, though, as I don't see any name quite as big as de Havilland, Douglas or Darrieux to turn 100 in the next few years - the next big centenarian movie star is probably going to be Carol Channing, who is a mere 96 years old today and won't turn 100 until January 2021 - or is there any big name I'm overlooking? (Betty White, Carl Reiner and Doris Day are all a wee 95 years old.)
No, you're not missing anyone since i did weeks of research for that "200 oldest living list"... CAROL CHANNING is the next super famous one and DORIS DAY is the next real movie star approaching 100 and they're both still a handful of years away.
some other biggies that we hope make it but they're only in the earlyish 90s
GLYNIS JOHNS
DICK VAN DYKE
SIDNEY POITIER
CICELY TYSON
EVA MARIE SAINT
HARRY BELAFONTE
ANGELA LANSBURY
Wow, I had no idea Danielle Darrieux was still alive! I just saw The Young Girls of Rochefort again last week. I believe she is the only one in the cast who did her own singing. Even Gene Kelly and George Chakiris were dubbed I believe (but no doubt because of the French, not because of ability).
Speaking of And I Am Telling You...did you see Amber Riley perform it at the Olivier's? Absolutely one of the best renditions I've ever heard! (Even Oscar Winner Jennifer Hudson's, in my opinion.)
@Nathaniel Maybe one per decade since the 1900s?
Koster also directed a personal favorite of mine--Good Morning, Miss Dove, starring the incomparable Jennifer Jones.
Oh, The Bishop's Wife (Henry Koster). I remember loving that film. Must revisit!
Bushwick - I thought Amber Riley seemed a bit tired and sore (of voice) at the Oliviers. But when she debuted at the Royal Variety Show 2016?
She goes toe-to-toe with Jennifer Holliday's definitive version and royally shows up Jennifer Hudson's lack of emotional connection to the material.
Broadway is in for a treat when the show inevitably transfers...
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