Showbiz History: Jane & Tom, Elizabeth Taylor shouting "Gladiator!"

6 random things that happened on this day, January 21st, in showbiz history

1973 Jane Fonda marries activist Tom Hayden (they were already pregnant with son Troy Garity, who followed his mom into the acting profession). Hayden is played by Eddie Redmayne in the Best Picture hopeful Trial of the Chicago 7 which takes place from 1968 through 1970. The couple divorced in 1990.  

1978 The soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever hits #1 on the Billboard 200 Album chart (where it will stay for an incredible six months). One week later the film will lose all of its categories at the Golden Globes even Best Song "How Deep Is Your Love" which loses to "You Light Up My Life"...

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Showbiz History: Carole Lombard, Donny & Marie, Marwen Kenzari

6 random things that happened on this day in showbiz history...

1942 Movie star Carole Lombard, then married to the "King of Hollywood" Clark Gable, tragically dies in a plane crash on the way home from a war bond rally. She was just 33 but thankfully left behind stone cold comedy classics like Nothing Sacred, My Man Godfrey, and her last film, released posthumously, To Be Or Not To Be...

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Showbiz History: The Globes that weren't Golden, and Shelley Winter's death-bed wedding

5 random things that happened on this day, January 13th, in showbiz history

1939 Son of Frankenstein, the third in Universal's Frankenstein franchise and the last to star Boris Karloff, opens in theaters. It was successful but given the lack of James Whale behind the camera, not as well remembered as its predecessors

1989 It was an odd January dump on this Friday the 13th...

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Showbiz History: Founding of the Academy and two Golden Globe nights

7 random things that happened on this day, January 11th, in showbiz history

Hattie McDaniel in her younger years. Not sure what year in this photo, though.

1911  Hattie McDaniel, then just 17 years-old, marries her first husband. She was already a performer, and worked in carnivals, minstrel shows, and radio before hitting the movies in the early 1930s. She famously became the first African-American to be nominated for or to win an Oscar. There is, finally, a biopic happening and it will star Raven Goodwin (The Station Agent, Being Mary Jane). 

1927 The creation of AMPAS came (arguably) on this day at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles...

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Showbiz History: DGA's prophecies, In Old Chicago's run, and Beckinsale's franchise

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...

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