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?