Showbiz History: Shrinking Women, Sundance Hits, and City Lights
Saturday, January 30, 2021 at 9:00AM 7 random things that happened on this day, January 30th, in showbiz history
1931 City Lights premieres in Los Angeles. Albert Einstein, pictured above with Chaplin, was the guest of honor. It was a silent film released well past the point when that was fashionable (sound took over very quickly in one of Hollywood's most titanic upheavals) but it proved a success in theaters...
1933 Lone Ranger launches on the radio and will stay popular for two decades. Remember when they tried to make that franchise happen again with Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer?
1981 The Incredible Shrinking Woman starring Lily Tomlin hits theaters to mostly negative reviews but the box office was decent.
1982 The 39th Golden Globe Awards are held honoring the films and television of 1981. On Golden Pond (drama) and Arthur (comedy) would reign for the movies while Hill Street Blues (drama) and MASH (comedy) were the TV champs. Both of the nomination leaders, epic period dramas Ragtime and Reds, didn't fare well but Reds at least won Best Director.
1987 It was a good weekend at the movies. The hilarious Outrageous Fortune and Woody Allen's warm and actressy Radio Days both opened on this day.
2000 The 16th Sundance Film Festival wraps with Girlfight and You Can Count on Me tying for the Grand Jury Prize
2015 The Sundance Film Festival wrapped up -- we were there that year! -- with their annual awards ceremony but arguably none of the big hits that year (The Wolfpack, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Slow West, The Stanford Prison Experiment, Meru, Dope) with the exception of The Diary of a Teenage Girl's strong Spirit Awards showing, crossed over to major awards success once they were released though some found devoted fans. One of the winners (for Directing US Dramatic), new horror classic The Witch, took over a year to arrive in movie theaters but we loved it in our own 2016 awards right here!
Today's Birthday Suit
Happy 31st birthday to Eiza González (Baby Driver, Hobbs & Shaw). It might be a big year for the Mexican beauty. Next up: co-starring with Rosamund Pike in I Care A Lot February 19th on Netflix and one of the humans struggling with all those kaiju in Godzilla vs Kong March 31st in theaters and on HBOMax.
Other showbiz birthdays today: Oscar winner Christian Bale (The Fighter, American Pyscho, Batman Begins), Oscar winner Olivia Colman (The Favourite, Broadchurch), Oscar winner Gene Hackman (The French Connection, The Royal Tenenbaums), Oscar winner Vanessa Redgrave (Julia, Coriolanus), Oscar winning screenwriter Steven Zaillian (Schindler's List, The Irishman), Oscar winning director Delbert Mann (Marty, Separate Tables), Emmy winner Ann Dowd (The Handmaid's Tale, Compliance), Eliza González (Baby Driver), Charles S Dutton (A Time to Kill, Alien3), Oscar nominated Director Michael Anderson (Logan's Run, Around the World in 80 Days), Tony winner Norbert Leo Butz (Fosse/Verdon, Bloodline), Wilmer Valderrama (That 70s Show), Kylie Bunbury (When They See Us, Big Sky), Tony winner Lena Hall (Snowpiercer, Hedwig and the Angry Inch), Tony winner Tammy Grimes (High Art, Can't Stop the Music), Brett Butler (Grace Under Fire), Kid Cudi (Bill & Ted Face the Music, James White), Broadway regular John Marriott (The Little Foxes, Dog Day Afternoon), Oscar nominee John Ireland (Red River, All the Kings Men), Dick Martin (Laugh-In), and rock star Phil Collins.
Reader Comments (5)
... and Oscar Winner rock star Phill Collins.
In that top image with Einstein, Charlie Chaplin looks like David Beckham with aging makeup, or Baz Luhrmann a few years ago.
Golden Globe 1981 is also the Pia Zadora’s affair edition. Pity HFPA is not absolute proud of that controversial choice and so it’s impossible to see Pia collecting her trophy, defeating Kathleen Turner or Elizabeth McGovern
@Mirko-And this is why no one takes the Golden Globes seriously as the HFPA are a bunch of assholes, pedophiles, drug dealers, and sleaze bags that should be in prison right now.
I know it was hell to make and that Bette and Shelley didn't hit it off but that tension fed into their chemistry to make Outrageous Fortune a delightful Mutt and Jeff comedy that is still funny today.