Showbiz History: The Miracle Worker, Moonlighting, and the original Platinum Blonde
Wednesday, March 3, 2021 at 9:00AM 6 random things that happened on this day, March 3rd, in showbiz history...
1887 Anne Sullivan begins teaching the deaf and blind Helen Keller, a success story which becames even more wll known due to the hit play turned hit movie The Miracle Worker...
1985 Moonlighting premieres on ABC TV, a midseason replacement that becomes a major watercooler hit. The Globes immediately bite (as they are prone to do) and the Emmys get on board for season 2. The show makes Bruce Willis a star, running five seasons. Willis quickly simultaneously jumps to a major big screen career proving his bonafides three years later with Die Hard.
1989 Madonna drops her new single "Like a Prayer," an instant classic that remains one of her all time best. Maybe even the best single of her astonishing hit-heavy career.
2006 16 Blocks starring Bruce Willis and Mos Def opens in movie theaters as does the excellent musical documentary Dave Chappelle's Block Party. Remember that one?
2010 Eyesore in Wonderland, excuse me Alice in Wonderland, opens in movie theaters, quickly becoming the biggest hit of Tim Burton's career. That shoddy 3D spectacle, however hideous, arriving just after Avatar re-popularized 3D, proves to be perfect timing.
2017 Logan opens, marking the end of Hugh Jackman's long reign as Wolverine. It later becomes the first and only superhero film to be nominated for a writing Oscar... though four other comic-book related films have been nominated for writing (Ghost World, American Splendor, A History of Violence, and Joker).
Today's Birthday Suit
It's the 110th anniversary of the birth of Pre-Code sensation Jean Harlow the original "Platinum Blonde" or Blonde "Bombshell" (yes, those were two of her earliest star vehicles).
She made her official film debut in Howard Hughes' Hell's Angel (1930) -- you might recall she was played by Gwen Stefani in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator -- If you've never seen the very sexy Red Dust (1932) or the very funny Dinner at Eight (1933), you must. She tragically died in 1937 of kidney failure at just 26 years of age.
Other showbiz birthdays today Oscar winning auteur George Miller (Mad Max Fury Road, Happy Feet), Oscar nominee Miranda Richardson (Damage, Dance with a Stranger), Laura Harring (Mulholland Dr, The Shield), Katherine Waterson (World to Come, Inherent Vice), Emmy winnre Julie Bowen (Modern Family), Jessica Biel (Sinner, 7th Heaven), China's Tiger Chen (Man of Tai Chi, Triple Threat), Aarti Mann (Never Have I Ever, Big Bang Theory), Thomas Barbusca (The Mick, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp), South Korea's Cho Jin-woong (The Handmaiden, A Hard Day), Sandy Martin (Three Billboards, Napoleon Dynamite), Eric DaRe (Twin Peaks, Starship Troopers), Gloria Hendry (Live and Let Die, Black Belt Jones), Suraj Partha (Master of None, Ender's Game), personal trainer and Britney's boyfriend Sam Asghari, and singer Camila Cabello.
And other late greats like international beauty Gia Scala (Guns of Navarone, The Tunnel of Love), Star Trek's James Doohan, child star Bobby Driscoll (Treasure Island, Peter Pan)
Reader Comments (16)
I know Bette Davis would have made a very worthy winner for her work in Baby Jane and probably would have if not for Joan Crawford's industrious undermining of her but ultimate winner Anne Bancroft's performance can't be faulted. She is vivid and amazing as is costar (and category fraud winner) Patty Duke in The Miracle Worker.
The first couple of seasons of Moonlighting are such a delight but the infighting between Cybill and Bruce was almost as entertaining and far more infamous than the show.
Jean Harlow's films are a variable lot, which is to be expected considering that in the six years between Hell's Angels and her death she made 21 features!, but does contain some real gems.
Beside the two mentioned (Red Dust is one steamy hothouse of barely contained sex-Gable nearly drips testosterone) other worthwhile ones to track down include Wife vs. Secretary, Red-Headed Woman, China Seas and particularly Libeled Lady which contains what is probably her best performance and costars Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy and William Powell.
Looking through those notables born today a surprising number of them died at an early age, 50 or younger.
Jean Harlow-26
Bobby Driscoll-31
Gia Scala-38
Diana Barrymore-38
Canada Lee-45
Mayo Methot-47
Cathy Downs-50
Joker(2019), a comic book film, was nominated for an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. ;-)
The fact that George Miller has an Oscar and it's for Happy Feet always makes me chuckle
Those first 20 episodes of Moonlighting were excellent as I recall. It just couldn't sustain itself and the whole thing fell apart. Is it streaming anywhere?
And I agree with Joel6 in that I think Libeled Lady is the Jean Harlow movie I've gone back to the most. It sure would have been interesting to follow her career. She probably would have been great in Film Noir after Screwball Comedy dried up.
I DO remember Dave Chappelle's Block party. I remember loving it at the time and hoped it would keep the Michel Gonry momentum going after Eternal Sunshine but he just.. made a few small indies and movies in his native French and nothing really mainstream again.
Alice in 3Dland is one of the most unpleasant experiences I’ve had on big screen. But I still like the costume design.
Agree with others who love Libeled Lady, such a great cast and Dunn movie.
LOL you went from 1887 to 1985, almost skipped a century.
How I wish Hugh Jackman had promote more his performance in Logan than in The Greatest Showman. If there has to be a first superhero movie nominated for best picture, this should have been that one. Am I the only one who thinks Logan is far superior than Black Panther?
A lot of Madonna's music (or visual imagery) relies on blatant cultural appropriation and "Like a Prayer" is one example. It's a great track, to be sure, but the idea of Madonna leading a gospel choir is ludicrous at best. (See also: "Vogue," "La Isla Bonita," "Take a Bow," "Frozen," "Medellín" and more.)
Was in college during "Moonlighting"'s years, and, not that we needed an excuse, but we had a party when David and Maddie finally "did it". Good times. Good times.
Moonlighting, my 1980s favorite tv show among Many favorites.
Dave Chappelle's Block Party is an awesome film and a lot of fun as it served as a creative break for both Chappelle and Michel Gondry to do something simpler and low-key.
It was said of Jean Harlow that she toted a breast the way a gangster toted a gun. There is so much side boob action in Dinner at Eight that even now local programming channels would have to censor it. She was so unabashedly sexy that I don't know how her career would survive the Hayes Code Years of Hollywood.
I just thought about how it would be much more age appropriate and a late career boost if Cybill Shepherd had played the mother character in Pieces of a Woman.
Only 14 comments so far. I see Nathaniel's savvy side;mention Madonna or Meryl, no matter if a throwaway remark, and you're bound to hit 50 comments!
I remember seeing both 16 Blocks and Dave Chappelle's Block Party in I think back-to-back weekends and really enjoying both of them. Here's hoping Chappelle find another documentary film for his "summer camp" shows in Ohio.