On this day in movie history - Dark City (1950):

Dark City

directed by William Dieterle,

written by John Meredyth Lucas and Larry Marcus,

based on the story No Escape by Larry Marcus,

was released in the United States on October 6, 1950.
Music by Franz Waxman.

Cast:

Charlton Heston, Lizabeth Scott, Viveca Lindfors, Dean Jagger, Don DeFore, Jack Webb, Ed Begley, Harry Morgan, Walter Sande, Mark Keuning, Mike Mazurki.

On this day in television history - M*A*S*H (1972 – 1983):

M*A*S*H

developed by Larry Gelbart,

based on the novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors by Richard Hooker,

was originally aired in the United States on CBS and ran for eleven seasons,

from September 17, 1972 – February 28, 1983.
Theme music by Johnny Mandel.

Cast:

Alan Alda, Wayne Rogers, McLean Stevenson, Loretta Swit, Larry Linville, Gary Burghoff, Jamie Farr, William Christopher, Mike Farrell, Harry Morgan, David Ogden Stiers, G. W. Bailey, Kellye Nakahara, Jeff Maxwell, Johnny Haymer, Allan Arbus, Edward Winter.

On this day in movie history - Madame Bovary (1949):

Madame Bovary

directed by Vincente Minnelli,

written by Robert Ardrey,

based on the novel by Gustave Flaubert,

was released in the United States on August 25, 1949.
Music by Miklós Rózsa.

Cast:

Jennifer Jones, James Mason, Van Heflin, Louis Jourdan, Alf Kjellin, Gene Lockhart, Frank Allenby, Gladys Cooper, John Abbott, Harry Morgan, George Zucco, Ellen Corby, Eduard Franz, Henri Letondal, Esther Somers, Frederic Tozere, Paul Cavanagh, Vernon Steele, Dawn Kinney.

On this day in movie history - The Shootist (1976 movie & novel):

The Shootist

directed by Don Siegel,

written by Miles Hood Swarthout and Scott Hale,

based on the novel by Glendon Swarthout,

was released in the United States on July 21, 1976.
Music by Elmer Bernstein.

Cast:

John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, Ron Howard, James Stewart, Richard Boone, Hugh O'Brian, Bill McKinney, Harry Morgan, John Carradine, Sheree North, Rick Lenz, Scatman Crothers, Gregg Palmer, Alfred Dennis, Dick Winslow, Melody Thomas Scott, Kathleen O'Malley, Jack Berle, Johnny Crawford, Chuck Dawson, George Dunn, Duke Fishman, Christopher George, Jonathan Goldsmith, Leo Gordon, Charles G. Martin, Jim Michael, Ernesto Molinari, Ricky Nelson, James Nolan, Nick Raymond, Henry Slate, Bob Steele, Ralph Volkie, John Zimeas.

Recommended reading:

The Shootist

By Glendon Swarthout.

Introduction by Miles Swarthout.

Filmed as The Shootist (1976), directed by Don Siegel.

Published by Bison Books.

First published 1975.

ISBN-10: 0803238231

ISBN-13: 9780803238237

Description:

"Such style...such a strong central idea...the showdown is an unremitting as the build-up." – Sunday Times of London.

"This is an extremely well-written Western and gives the reader vivid insight into the workings of the mind of a wanderer and gunman." – Baton Rouge, Louisiana Sunday Advocate.

"The Shootist by Glendon Swarthout is the taleof the Old West's version of the modern 'hit man'. It is a splendid story, well-told and with a really satisfying ending." – Charleston, South Carolina Evening Post.

The Shootist is John Bernard Books, a man of principle and the only surviving gunfighter in a vanishing American West. He rides into El Paso in the year 1901, on the day Queen Victoria died, there to be told by a doctor that he must soon confront the greatest shootist of all: Death. In such a showdown, against such an antagonist, he cannot win. Most men may end their days in bed or take their own lives, but a man-killer has a 3rd option, one which Books decides to exercise. He may choose his own executioner.

As word spreads that the famous assassin has reached the end of his rope, an assortment of vultures gathers to feast upon his corpse--among them a gambler, a rustler, an undertaker, an old love, a reporter, even a boy. Books outwits them, however, by selecting the where, when, who, and why of his death, and writing in fire from a pair of Remingtons the last courageous act of his own legend. The climatic gunfight itself is an incredible performance by an incredible man, and by his creator, Glendon Swarthout.

The Shootist will rank with such classics as Shane and The Ox-Bow Incident, but it is much more than a Western. When, in the final afternoon of his life, J. B. Books crosses a street and enters a saloon to make something of his death, we cross, we enter, with him. He is us.

From a corner of the south window Gillom Rogers spied on the new lodger. The man unpacked his valise and put things in a drawer of the chiffonier, then hung his Price Albert coat in the closet. When he turned from the closet he was in shirt and vest. The boy's eyes rounded. Sewn to each side of the vest was a holster, reversed, and in each holster was a pistol, butt forward. As he watched, sucking in his breath, the man took the weapons out, revolved the cylinders, filled a chamber in one he had evidently fired, and replaced them before hanging the vest, too, in the closet. The pistols were a pair of nickel-plated, short-barreled, unsighted, single-action .44 Remingtons, obviously manufactured to order. The handle of one was black gutta-percha, the other pearl.

Gillom slipped away to take the horse to the livery, letting the breath of revelation out of his lungs. He was seventeen, and spent much of his time in saloons. He was not yet served, but he enjoyed himself and picked up a great deal of miscellaneous information, some of it true, some of it of doubtful authenticity. But the man in corner room was no stranger to him now. He had heard enough scalp-itch, blood-freeze tales to know that only one man carried a similar pair of guns in a similar manner...

On this day in movie history - Race Street (1948):

Race Street

directed by Edwin L. Marin,

written by Martin Rackin,

was released in the United States on June 22, 1948.
Based on the story Race Street by Maurice Davis,

originally published in Turf and Sport Digest (1945).
Music by Roy Webb.

Cast:

George Raft, William Bendix, Marilyn Maxwell, Frank Faylen, Harry Morgan, Gale Robbins, Cully Richards, Mack Gray, Russell Hicks, Tom Keene, William Forrest, James Nolan, George Turner, Richard Benedict, Dean White, Freddie Steele.

Born on this day – Harry Morgan:

Harry Morgan

Actor

Director

April 10, 1915 – December 7, 2011

Credits:

3rd Rock from the Sun (1996–1997); A Bell for Adano (1945); A Scrap of Paper (1943); About Mrs. Leslie (1954); Adam-12 (1969); AfterMASH (1983–1985); Against Her Will: An Incident in Baltimore (1992); Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1959); All My Sons (1948); Apache War Smoke (1952); Appointment with Danger (1950); Arena (1953); Backlash (1956); Backstairs at the White House (1979); Belle Le Grand (1951); Bend of the River (1952); Better Late Than Never (1979); Bicentennial Minutes (1975); Big Jim McLain (1952); Blacke's Magic (1986); Boots Malone (1952); But I Don't Want to Get Married! (1970); Cat Ballou (1971); Cavalcade of America (1953–1956); Champ for a Day (1953); Charley and the Angel (1973); Cimarron (1960); Confessions of the D.A. Man (1978); Crash Dive (1943); Crime Doctor's Man Hunt (1946); Crosswalk (1999); Dark City (1950); Dinah Shore in Dinah! (1975); Down to the Sea in Ships (1949); Dr. Kildare (1965); Dragnet (1987); Dragnet 1966 (1969); Dragnet 1967 (1967–1970); Dragonwyck (1946); December Bride (1954–1959); Ellery Queen: Don't Look Behind You (1971); Ensign O'Toole (1962); Entertainment Tonight / M*A*S*H (1983); Exo-Man (1977); Family Plan (1997); 14 Going on 30 (1988); Frankie and Johnny (1966); From This Day Forward (1946); Gentle Annie (1944); Going My Way (1962); Grace Under Fire (1996); Gunsmoke (1970–1975); Happy Land (1943); Have Gun - Will Travel (1958–1963); Hec Ramsey (1972–1974); Hello Out There (1949); Here's Hollywood (1961); High Noon (1952); Holiday Affair (1949); How the West Was Won (1962); Incident in a Small Town (1994); Inherit the Wind (1960); It Shouldn't Happen to a Dog (1946); It Started with a Kiss (1959); Jack Benny's Second Farewell Special (1974); John Goldfarb, Please Come Home! (1965); Johnny Comes Flying Home (1946); Kate Bliss and the Ticker Tape Kid (1978); Kelly's Kingdom (1966); Kentucky Jones (1964–1965); Love & Money (1999); Love, American Style / Love and the Motel (1970); M*A*S*H (1974–1983); 'M*A*S*H': 30th Anniversary Reunion (2002); Madame Bovary (1949); Making 'M*A*S*H' (1981); Maneaters Are Loose! (1978); Matinee Theatre (1958); McLaren's Riders (1977); Memories of M*A*S*H (1991); Moonrise (1948); More Wild Wild West (1980); Murder at the Mardi Gras (1978); Murder, She Wrote (1987); My Six Convicts (1952); Night Gallery / The Late Mr. Peddington (1972); Not as a Stranger (1955); Operation Teahouse (1956); Orchestra Wives (1942); Outside the Wall (1950); Pete and Gladys (1960–1962); Prisoner of War (1954); Race Street (1948); Red Light (1949); Rivkin: Bounty Hunter (1981); Roger Touhy, Gangster (1944); Roots: The Next Generations (1979); Roughnecks (1980); Scandal Sheet (1952); Scandalous John (1971); Scout's Honor (1980); Sidekicks (1974); Snowball Express (1972); Somewhere in the Night (1946); Sparkling Cyanide (1983); Star in the Dust (1956); Star Spangled Salesman (1968); State Fair (1945); Stop, You're Killing Me (1952); Strange Bargain (1949); Strategic Air Command (1955); Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971); Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969); Talking Film (1984); The 20th Century-Fox Hour (1957); The 30th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1978); The 31st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1979); The 32nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1980); The 33rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1981); The 34th Annual Directors Guild Awards (1982); The 34th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1982); The 35th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1983); The 6th People's Choice Awards (1980); The 8th Annual People's Choice Awards (1982); The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1964–1965); The Amazing Mr. Malone (1950–1951); The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975); The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again (1979); The Barefoot Executive (1971); The Bastard (1978); The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend (1949); The Big Clock (1948); The Blue Veil (1951); The Bottom of the Bottle (1956); The Cat from Outer Space (1978); The D.A. (1971); The Devil and John Q (1952); The Doctor (1952); The Eve of St. Mark (1944); The Far Country (1954); The Feminist and the Fuzz (1971); The Flight of Dragons (1982); The Flim-Flam Man (1967); The Forty-Niners (1954); The Gangster (1947); The Glenn Miller Story (1954); The Highwayman (1951); The Incident (1990); The Jeff Foxworthy Show (1995); The Jerry Lewis Show (1967–1968); The Last Day (1975); The Lone Wolf (1954); The Love Boat (1978–1985); The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe (1942); The Magnificent Magical Magnet of Santa Mesa (1977); The Merv Griffin Show (1968); The Mountain Road (1960); The Mouse Factory (1972); The Moviemakers (1984); The Omaha Trail (1942); The Ox-Bow Incident (1942); The Partridge Family (1970–1972); The Paul Lynde Comedy Hour (1978); The Richard Boone Show (1963–1964); The Saxon Charm (1948); The Shootist (1976); The Showdown (1950); The Simpsons (1995); The Teahouse of the August Moon (1956); The Twilight Zone (1988); The Untouchables (1962); The Virginian (1963); The Wackiest Ship in the Army (1965); The Wall to Wall War (1963); The Well (1951); The Wild Wild West Revisited (1979); Thunder Bay (1953); To the Shores of Tripoli (1942); Today (1967); Torch Song (1953); Toughest Man in Arizona (1952); Under Fire (1957); Unidentified Flying Objects: The True Story of Flying Saucers (1956); Viva Max (1969); What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (1966); What Price Glory (1952); When I Grow Up (1951); Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick (1995); Wing and a Prayer (1944); Yellow Sky (1948); You Can't Take It with You (1979–1988).