Showbiz History: Giant 1956, Best Actor 1972, and Quentin Tarantino's birthday

Today, March 27th, in Oscar history only...

Quinn, Malone, Brynner, and Grant (subbing in for absent Ingrid Bergman) at the 56 Oscars

1957 The 29th Academy Awards are held honoring the best of 1956. Very strange Oscar year in which the brilliant epic Giant loses Best Picture to the disposable travelogue Around the World in 80 Days. The King and I ties 80 days for most Oscars won with 5 that night. This year is also notable for making James Dean the only actor to have ever received two posthumous Oscar nominations. Though he died in 1955 before completing Giant the film was in post-production for a full year. We've discussed this year just for fun before. 

1973 The 45th Academy Awards are held with their very historic face off between Cabaret (10 noms / 8 wins) and The Godfather (10 noms / 3 wins including Best Picture. We've discussed this race countless times as total freaks for Cabaret. But here's one aspect I don't think we've ever touched on: Best Actor of 1972...

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Showbiz History: Swanson, John & Yoko, and Freddie Krueger

6 random things that happened on this day, November 9th, in showbiz history...

1931 Diva movie star Gloria Swanson divorces aristocrat Henri de la Falaise and marries Michael Farmer on the same day! (She and Farmer had married three months prior only to realize her divorce hadn't been final... so they had to to it again by which time she was four months pregnant) She was 33 years old and it was her fourth (of six) marriages.

1939 "Garbo Laughs!" Ninotchka has its world premiere in NYC...

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Blueprints: "Sunset Boulevard"

Happy almost New Year, everyone! In these times of personal transformation, Jorge dives into one of the greatest screenplays ever written.

The all time classic Sunset Boulevard contains a multitude of scenes, and moments, and quotables to pick from and analyze in the page. But since we're close to a new year, let’s take a look at precisely that time in the film, when Joe Gillis decides to finally let go of his old baggage and step fresh into new things. Even if that old baggage is a possessive fading movie starlet...

 

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"Sunset Boulevard" Rumors... Again.

by Nathaniel R

She's baaaa-aaack. It's AS IF WE NEVER SAID GOODBYE

You may have heard that plans are afoot (again) to bring Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard musical to the big screen. It will be a Paramount Pictures production. For giggles, I was attempting to find an old article from the last time rumors spread that Glenn Close was going to transfer her Tony success to the big screen and republish it nearly intact "As If We Never Said Goodbye" to this rumor (haha. I'm here all week.) Alas, the article hid itself though I remember writing it. But what year to even search for such a thing? This rumor is perennial...

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Beauty Break: Happy 90th Birthday to the Grauman's Chinese!

One of my favorite places in Hollywood turned 90 years old today. The Grauman's Chinese Theater, which often houses premieres and events, opened on this day in 1927, so its centennial is just ten years away. It's currently known as the TCL Theater and was called the Mann Theater before that but it's still popularly known as Grauman's. You can rename something as perks for modern corporations but sometimes the original name hangs around (as well as it should). Don't even get me started on beautiful Broadway theaters chucking their iconic stage giant names for "American Airlines Theater" or whatnot. DO NOT GET ME STARTED. 

The Grauman's most familiar pop culture aspect is its large collection of cement tiles out front bearing the handprints of movie stars from all eras. So it's time for a Beauty Break. Which of these ceremonies after the jump do you most wish you had been at? 

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