Showbiz History: "The Story of Us" Hits Theaters, "You Light Up My Life" Tops the Charts

10 random things that happened on this day, October 15th, in showbiz history

1888 A letter written "From Hell" was postmarked on this day for the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee. Was it actually from Jack the Ripper? The letter is now lost and the murders were forever unsolved. The story has fascinated Hollywood forever. Anyone remember the movie From Hell (2001) with Johnny Depp and Heather Graham?

1917 Exotic dancer Mata Hari is executed in France for espionage. Many films have been made about her.

More after the jump including Joan Crawford, Penny Marshall, Michelle Pfeiffer, a missing hunk, and "You Light Up My Life"...

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Ladies Love Cool De Palma

by Jason Adams

It's the 78th birthday of the director slash living legend Brian De Palma today. Did everybody watch Noah Baumbach & Jake Paltrow's 2015 documentary aka an excuse to listen to Brian De Palma tell movie stories for two hours? I've watched it four times now and I'm still nowhere near sick of it - I wish they'd just release the hundreds of hours of raw footage they took so I can just wade in there and never come back again.

Anyway I decided that the best way to celebrate one of my favorite movie-makers today (as he prepares to maybe make a Harvey Weinstein movie next, a real tighrope of a proposition there) is to celebrate a few of the great roles he's given actresses over the years. Here are five favorites (well technically six but you can't make me choose between the first two) -- feel free to add your own in the comments!

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If only voodoo dolls were real...

Michelle Pfeiffer as the sorceress "Lamia" in Stardust... think of all the practical applications during this particular precipice in human history. 

Lukewarm off the Presses: Little Waspy Wonder Women

by Nathaniel R

Look at this lucky so and so getting a selfie with La Pfeiff!

Running so late! Three topics worth blogging about that slipped us by this past week. Michelle & pfans, Wonder Woman 1984 images, and Greta Gerwig's next project. That's a lot. Ready. Let's go...

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1994 Q&A: Frankenstein, Weaver, Past Glories, Future Nominations.

Okay, our last dive into 1994! I recently asked readers to send in their '94 related questions (other questions will still be answered but that's for the next Q&A). So here's our final pontifying for that year. You asked, I answer. 

JAMES: 1994 was the year of Frankenstein, the movie that led to Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh splitting up, due to his affair with HBC. Thoughts on Thompson & Branagh’s (professional) partnership? What projects would they have excelled at if they stayed together?

"IT'S ALIVE!" Or, rather. "IT'S DEAD!" Emma and Kenneth. Kenneth and Emma. Sigh. Insert broken heart emoji. Young Nathaniel was so sad when they split. They were the Definitive Early 90s 'It Couple: UK Edition. That was such an awesome cinematic partnership. I adored their over-the-top genre mashup and reincarnation chutzpah in Dead Again and their luminous Shakespearean comedy in Much Ado About Nothing.

If you think about it Frankenstein, with its pulp grotesqueries, and bodice-ripped lustiness is absolutely the work of the same guy who made Dead Again. I miss that Branagh, still...

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