Showbiz History: Quiz Show scandal, a Golden Globe twist, and Turning Red tease

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

1958 Charles Van Doren loses on the game show "Twenty-One" an event that causes a huge scandal when the public realizes it was a fix. This event is detailed in the 1994 Best Picture nominee Quiz Show with Ralph Fiennes as Charles Van Doren.

1964 The 21st Golden Globes were held honoring the films of 1963...

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Showbiz History: Fargo, La Femme Nikita, Captain Marvel, and more...

7 random things that happened on this day, March 8th, in showbiz history

1935 The Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy musical Naughty Marietta opens in theaters. It will go on the receive two Oscar nominations: Best Picture and Best Sound Recording. This is one of the first really old movies I ever saw in movie theaters as my parents occassionally took us to the local repertory theater (just a five minute drive away). The only memory I have of it is Jeanette MacDonald singing "Sweet Mystery of Life".  When I finally saw Young Frankenstein on cable or DVD many years later (I was very late to that movie) I laughed so hard at Madeline Kahn busting that song out while having sex with the Frankenstein monster. The scene is hilarious even without context, of course, but I had loved the song as a child which made the scene twice as funny. Mel Brooks was 9 years old when Naughty Marietta came out. Maybe his parents also took him to see it? 

1985 Mask, starring Cher, opens in theaters, one of that year's best films...

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Showbiz History: Emmys repeating Oscars, Divine's passing, Bigelow's win.

6 random things that happened on this day, March 7th, in showbiz history

Loretta Young, the first actress to chase an Oscar with an Emmy.

1946 The 18th Academy Awards are held honoring the films of 1945 with The Lost Weekend taking Best Picture. We'll discuss this Oscar night later today given that it's the 75th anniversary. 

1955 The 7th annual Primetime Emmys are held. Loretta Young becomes the first Best Actress Oscar winner to then win a Best Actress Emmy prize for a continuing series. Only one other actress ever did this with Shirley Booth following her the next decade (Sally Field would make this a three person list except she actually won an Emmy before her Oscars and subsequent Best Actress Drama series Emmy). In those days TV and Movies were very separate showbiz forms and once you started doing television on the regular, the movie offers dried up. It's different nowadays though not completely; almost everyone who wins the Oscar first and then an Emmy wins the latter for a miniseries or one-off appearance of some kind...

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Showbiz History: La Traviata, plus Sandra Bullock "Best" and "Worst" simultaneously

On this day, March 6th, in showbiz history...

1853 La Traviata, Verdi's popular opera premieres in Venice. Have you ever seen the 1982 film version by Franco Zeffirelli? My parents took us, if I recall correctly. I wasn't sure what was going on but I remember it being quite beautiful. Oscar voters thought so too nominating in 'the Moulin Rouge! categories' (Costume Design + Art Direction) 

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Today in Oscar History: Mrs Miniver, Shape of Water, John Garfield

On this day, March 4th, in Oscar history only...

1937 The 9th Academy Awards are held honoring the best of 1936. Historical epic Anthony Adverse wins the most Oscars (4) but showbiz biopic The Great Ziegfeld takes Best Picture. Some interesting things about this Oscar year: This was the first ceremony with the Supporting acting categories; My Man Godfrey became the first film nominated in all four acting categories and it remains the only film to achieve that without a parallel Best Picture nomination; The Story of Louis Pasteur earned the very weird now impossible distinction of being named both "Best Original Story" AND "Best Adaptation"... the "Best Original Screenplay" category was not yet invented and it did not technically replace "Best Story" as they ran parallel for the first 16 years of Best Original Screenplay...

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