9 random things that happened on this day, January 24th, in showbiz history...
Jeanne Moreau, Marcello Mastroianni, and Monica Vitti in "La Notte"
1936 Anything Goes, the musical comedy hits movie theaters with Bing Crosby and Ethel Merman in the classic roles of Billy Crocker and Reno Sweeney.
1961 Michelangelo Antonioni's star-laden classic La Notte has its world premiere in Milan...
It will later win the top prize at Berlinale and become Italy's sixth Oscar submission in the still new Best Foreign-Language Film category . Sadly, it ended up breaking Italy's 100% streak of Oscar nominations (they'd already nabbed five noms, 2 wins and 3 honoraries by then).
1971 It's the 50th anniversary of Ken Russell's The Music Lovers (1971) which premiered on this day and which we've always wanted to see. Maybe today is the day?
1976 The 33rd Golden Globes are held with One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and The Sunshine Boys winning for film (we were just discussing Cuckoo's Nest substantial awards haul) and Kojak and Barney Miller taking the TV prizes.
1986 The 43rd annual Golden Globes are held with Out of Africa and Prizzi's Honor taking the top film prizes. The most interesting piece of this night historically is that not a single one of their acting winners (Jon Voight, Whoopi Goldberg, Jack Nicholson, Kathleen Turner, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Meg Tilly) repeated at the Oscars!!!
1997 Fierce Creatures opens in theaters, reuniting the cast of A Fish Called Wanda which had been such a sleeper smash in 1988. Lightning did not strike twice, though, and the film has been largely forgotten.
1999 The 56th annual Golden Globes are held with Saving Private Ryan and Shakespeare in Love taking the Best Film prizes and both Cate Blanchett and Gwyneth Paltrow won Best Actress, setting up those infamous battles at the Oscars that followed. David E Kelley, aka Mr Michelle Pfeiffer, was king of TV with his shows The Practice (drama) and Ally McBeal (comedy) both winning.
2006 Disney announces its buying Pixar for $7.4 billion
2014 I, Frankenstein is released with Aaron Eckhart as the very handsome creature (but for those pesky prosthetic scars). Remember that one? His co-star Yvonne Strahovski would later find much more success getting evil for The Handmaid's Tale.
Today's Birthday Suit
Canadian British-Filipino cult star "Haji" (real name "Barbarella" if you can believe it!!!) was born on this day in 1946. She co-starred in multiple Russ Meyer cult classics including Motorpsycho and Faster Pussycat Kill Kill... and even worked on a Cassavettes picture (Killing of a Chinese Bookie). Sadly all the streaming sites ignore her whole era and genre of filmmaking. We've never seen her Meyers pictures even though we've recognized the pop culture homages over the years. None of them seem to be available to rent except for the more mainstream Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. We were actually going to do Faster Pussycat Kill Kill for our old series "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" but couldn't ever find it.
Other showbiz birthdays today: Carrie Coon (Gone Girl, The Nest), Daveed Diggs (Blindspotting, Hamilton), Kristen Schaal (Bob's Burgrs, Flight of the Conchords), Spain's Belén Cuesta (The Endless Trench, The People Upstairs), French wonder Daniel Auteuil (Jean de Florette, Caché), French funny lady Karin Viard (Potiche, Delicatessen), Ed Helms (The Office, The Hangover), Matthew Lillard (Scream, Descendants), Sharon Tate (Valley of the Dolls, The Wrecking Crew), Mischa Barton (Lawn Dogs, The OC), Oscar winner Ernest Borgnine (Marty), Nastassja Kinski (Tess, Cat People), John Belushi (SNL, Animal House), actor/director Justin Baldoni (Jane the Virgin, Five Feet Apart), Stephen Huszar (Letterkenny, Christmas in the Rockies), Ann Todd (The Paradine Affair, The Sound Barrier), Belgium's Veerle Baetans (Broken Circle Breakdown, The Loft), Julia Dreyfus (Kill Bill, Inglorious Basterds), Michael Ontkean (Twin Peaks, Making Love), and singer Neil Diamond