9 random things that happened on this day, January 6th, in showbiz history
1938 In Old Chicago released in movie theaters. The 20th Century Fox Tyrone Power and Alice Faye drama was big at the box office and at the Oscars... its relevant at the moment because it competed for the 1937 Oscars even though it was released in January of 1938 (with no qualifying run in '37). Why? Well, that year had a longer than the calendar year eligibility period which is what we're going through right now again. Films released through February 2021 will be eligible for the Oscars honoring the films of 2020 this time around. We prefer the clean lines of the calendar year but you can't always (or even often) get what you want.
1943 Hitler's Children, an American propaganda film is released, depicting the brutalities of the Hitler Youth. Bonita Granville co-starred...
1961 The Marriage Go-Round starring Susan Hayward, James Mason, and Julie Newmar hits movie theaters.
1974 the John Wayne neo-noir McQ opens in Seattle (where it takes place) before its limited release in other markets in February. Similarities to Dirty Harry, a role that Wayne had turned down, were noticed.
1975 the longest running syndicated game show Wheel of Fortune premieres
1993 Nancy Kerrigan is attacked outside a Detroit ice rank. I Tonya recently revisited this scandal that took up enormous amounts of media and Olympic coverage time in 1993.
2005 The DGA nominates Scorsese (The Aviator), Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby), Payne (Sideways), Hackford (Ray), and Marc Forster (Finding Neverland) for Best Director. Oscar later doesn't totally agree -- replacing Forster with Mike Leigh (Vera Drake) BUT this year is a perfect example of the once-commonly-discussed-but-soon-to-be-forgotten-stat (especially given all the rule changes and the expanded lineup) that the DGA choices each year were the best predictor, not for the parallel Best Director Oscar list, but for the five-wide Best Picture list. Directors that did strong work that year that awards bodies were a bit too dense or stuffy to notice? (sigh) Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine), Quentin Tarantino (Kill Bill Vol 2), Richard Linklater (Before Sunset), Zhang Yimou (Hero and House of Flying Daggers both released in the US in 2004), and Sam Raimi (Spider-Man 2) among them.
2017 Underworld: Blood Wars opens, the last in the vampire vs werewolves franchise. They've threatened to continue it but the long-time headliner Kate Beckinsale has stated that they'll have to do it without her.
2019 The 76th Golden Globe Awards are held with Green Book and Bohemian Rhapsody emerging as the film winners and The Americans and The Kominksy Method winning for television. The Oscars co-sign both movie enthusiasms (with 7 Oscar wins between them 🤮 ) but the Emmys don't agree with either tv champ.
Today's Birthday Suit
Happy 40th to the reliably watchable and underrated Belgian star Jérémie Renier, pictured here (twice over) in the very raunchy François Ozon thriller Double Lover
Other celebrities with birthdays today: The always wonderful Cara Seymour (who so kindly guest starred here at TFE some years back), Oscar winner Loretta Young (The Farmer's Daughter), Oscar winning composer A.R. Rahman (Slumdog Millionaire), Oscar nominee Rinko Kikuchi (Babel), Tom Mix (Destry Rides Again), Kate McKinnon (Ghostbusters), Eliza Scanlen (Babyteeth, Little Women), Norman Reedus (Mimic, The Walking Dead), Courtney Eaton (Mad Max Fury Road), Genevieve O'Reilly (Rogue One), Sylvia Sims (The Queen), Frankie Sivero (Goodfellas, The Godfather Part II), Director Edoardo Ponti (son of Sophia Loren), the late director John Singleton (Boyz n the Hood), TV star Nigella Lawson, the late director Anthony Minghella (The Talented Mr Ripley), and Rowan Atkinson (Mr Bean)