Showbiz History: King Kong, Sound of Music, Daniel Craig, Jennifer Jones
Tuesday, March 2, 2021 at 10:26AM 4 random things that happened on this day, March 2nd, in showbiz history...
1933 King Kong opened in NYC, where the film begins and ends, on this day. It played in two gigantic theaters (one of which is still standing, Radio City Music Hall) and was preceded by a stage show calld "Jungle Rhythms". The highest ticket price was 75¢ or $14 in today's prices -- imagine getting a stage performance + movie for that price today...
[Tangent for Nerds: Here's an Oscar trivia conundrum. IMDb's bio for Willis O'Brien claims he received a special Oscar for his work on the film but the IMDb awards page has no such honor. Meanwhile the Wikipedia page says Kong only received a special achievement award for the "the development of the translucent acetate/cellulose rear screen" which went to two different people (not O'Brien) but IMDb lists no such award either... and I don't see any info about either of those on the official Academy site but maybe I'm looking in the wrong place. / Tangent]
Jennifer Jones had an exciting 25th birthday with the biggest stars of Hollywood celebrating
1944 The 16th Academy Awards are held honoring the films of 1943 are held. Casablanca takes Best Picture and The Song of Bernadette wins the most Oscars (4) including Best Actress for Jennifer Jones (on her 25th birthday!). We covered this year in the Smackdown series.
1965 The Sound of Music opens in movie theaters. It becomes a colossal hit and wins 5 Oscars including Best Picture. If you adjust for inflation its still the 3rd highest grossing film of all time.
2014 The 86th Academy Awards are held honoring the films of 2013. 12 Years a Slave wins Best Picture but it was probably a tight race since Gravity wins 7 Oscars from its 10 nominations. Remember that intense Supporting Actress race?
Today's Birthday Suit
Happy 53rd to our current 007 Daniel Craig who we loved long before his days as Bond thanks to Road to Perdition, The Mother, Layer Cake, Tomb Raider, and above all else the queer Francis Bacon bio Love is the Devil (pictured below)
click to uncensor
In some ways we haven't minded the long long wait for No Time To Die because we don't really want to say goodbye to the best Bond since Connery.
Bonus Bollywood Birthday Fun
Love this number from War (2019) starring Hrithik Roshan and today's birthday boy Tiger Shroff. Happy 31st, Tiger!
In unrelated news, I once paid full price to see a Hrithik Roshan movie in theaters assuming there'd be an elaborate dance scene and they had cut out all but like 60 seconds of dancing for the US release. This is why we can't have nice things. I would have seen this one in theaters if I'd known there was a gargantuan colorful dance number but with the film's title I assumed it'd be stingy on the joyful dancing.
Other showbiz birthdays today: Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World, The Village), Kofi Siriboe (Queen Sugar, Girls Trip), South Korea's Lee Sun-kyun (Parasite, A Hard Day), Jake Picking (Hollywood, Top Gun Maverick), Denmark's Pilou Asbæk (Ghost in the Shell, A War), Broadway's John Cullum (1776, Northern Exposure), Rebel Wilson (Pitch Perfect, Isnt It Romantic) Nathalie Emmanuel (Furious 7, Game of Thrones), France's Valérie Donzelli (Declaration of War, Notre Dame), Norway's Ingrid Bolsø Berdal (Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Hercules), Israel's Ziva Rodann (Adam & Eve, The Story of Mankind), Laraine Newman (SNL, Perfect), Oscar winner and novelist John Irving (Cider House Rules, World According to Garp), comedian Blake Anderson, rock stars Jon Bon Jovi and Chris Martin, and singer Becky G
and late greats including... Jennifer Jones (Song of Bernadette, Since You Went Away), Desi Arnaz (I Love Lucy), Director Martin Ritt (Hud, Cross Creek), Jon Finch (Frenzy, Macbeth) and immortals like Dr. Seuss, Lou Reed, and Karen Carpenter.
Reader Comments (14)
That fun picture of Lupita and Jennifer makes me want to see a fun film with both of them.
Daniel Craig is a great action star and intensely attractive. However, with Bond done I hope we get him in a broader range of films. His work In Love is the Devil, and Road to Perdition especially, were great Oscar-worthy turns. I’d also love to see him in more stuff like Logan Lucky too.
Did they give special effects Oscars in 1933?
O'brien did finally win one for his work on "Might Joe Young"
nathaniel, thank you for posting that number from War. we don't spend enough time celebrating India for demanding their young actors to be so damn hunky! can you imagine two Hollywood actors who look like that participating in a dance-off with all that elaborate choreography? i'm now realizing why i didn't like Trial of the Chicago 7: no dance number.
What I found about Willis O'brien Oscar history:
Mighty Joe Young won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects; the only other nominee that year was the film Tulsa (1949), directed by Stuart Heisler and starring Susan Hayward. At the time, the rules of the Academy dictated that the producer of the winning film receive the Oscar. However, in recognition of his work on this picture and on King Kong, producer Merian C. Cooper presented the award to Willis O'Brien. Willis O'Brien, was the supervisor of the film's stop-motion animation special effects. So, technically, according to the rules of the Academy of the time, he is not the winner of the award, or even a competitor.
After the release and critical and public success, producer David O. Selznick, then production head at RKO Studios, petitioned unsuccessfully the Academy Board of Governors to recognize the work of animator Willis O'Brien for his groundbreaking work on 1933's King Kong.
Best visual effects was one of those categories that appeared and disappeared over the years and changed its name and with ever-changing rules until it became regular and one of the most popular.
Prajhan -- thank you for the clarification. Interesting stuff. It's weird how the Academy deems some major achievements as not worthy of honors but other times they're like "here's a random 'special' Oscar" even if you're winning a regular one.
@ Nathaniel
Are you doing an article about the Vanity Fair Hollywood issue? The interview with Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins about Silence of the Lambs 30th anniversary could not be better timed for their Oscar campaigns...
Jennifer Jones was competing against Ingrid Bergman, who was nominated not for Casablanca but For Whom the Bell Tolls. Both thought the other gave the better performance. After she won, Jones apologized but Bergman said "Your Bernadette was better then my Maria." Jones got to present Bergman her Oscar next year.
King Kong - one of my favourite movies, and has been ever since I first saw it at something like the age of seven. In my opinion it deserved Oscars and nominations but it got nothing. But it has stood the test of time as a breathless adventure movie and tragedy.
Thankfully, The Sound of Music did win Oscars! Though, as we discussed her a few months ago, not for Eleanor Parker as the Baroness. (Let it go, Edward, let it go...)
And Nathaniel, while I agree that we don't want to let Daniel Craig go, I have found waiting for the new Bond film to be a supreme test of patience. Less than seven months to go!
King Kong was the last movie I saw before everything fell apart. One of those Fathom events. It was AWESOME on the big screen.
Thanks for that Daniel Craig picture. I, too, will miss him as James Bond.
You couldn't resist putting Jennifer Jones and Jennifer Lawrence in the same post again. I had to dig this up:
http://thefilmexperience.net/blog/2016/1/14/new-oscar-records-an-evolving-list.html
In the minority in saying that Craig is the worst bond ever. Too much physicality, and brooding and not any charm, wittiness, clever banter or cleverness. Bond is supposed to outbox the baddie not just overpower them with brute strength.
Jennifer Jones a star like no other.
Jennifer Jones: ethereal, luminous, hypnotic, enigmatic, lustrous, eternal.
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