Sunday, October 6, 2024

Born on this day – Mitchell Leisen:


Mitchell Leisen


Director

Art director

Costume designer

October 6, 1898 – October 28, 1972

Credits:

Spree (1967); The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. (1966–1967); Adventures in Paradise (1961–1962); Follow the Sun (1961); Wagon Train (1961); Open Windows (1960); General Electric Theater (1955–1960); Thriller (1960); Markham (1960); The Twilight Zone (1959–1960); Shirley Temple's Storybook (1958); The Girl Most Likely (1957); Bedevilled (1955); Tonight We Sing (1953); Young Man with Ideas (1952); Darling, How Could You! (1951); The Mating Season (1951); No Man of Her Own (1950); Captain Carey, U.S.A. (1949); Song of Surrender (1949); Bride of Vengeance (1949); Dream Girl (1948); Golden Earrings (1947); Suddenly It's Spring (1947); To Each His Own (1946); Masquerade in Mexico (1945); Kitty (1945); Practically Yours (1944); Frenchman's Creek (1944); Lady in the Dark (1944); No Time for Love (1943); Take a Letter, Darling (1942); The Lady Is Willing (1942); Hold Back the Dawn (1941); I Wanted Wings (1941); Arise, My Love (1940); Remember the Night (1939); Midnight (1939); Artist and Models (1937); The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938); Easy Living (1937); Swing High, Swing Low (1937); The Big Broadcast of 1937 (1936); 13 Hours by Air (1936); Hands Across the Table (1935); Four Hours to Kill! (1935); Behold My Wife! (1934); Murder at the Vanities (1934); Death Takes a Holiday (1934); Bolero (1934); Cradle Song (1933); The Eagle and the Hawk (1933).

Born on this day – Benjamin Stoloff:


Benjamin Stoloff


Director

Producer

Production Manager

October 6, 1895 – September 8, 1960

Credits:

Home Run Derby (1960); Footlight Varieties (1951); It's a Joke, Son! (1947); Johnny Comes Flying Home (1946); Take It or Leave It (1944); Bermuda Mystery (1944); The Mysterious Doctor (1943); The Hidden Hand (1942); Secret Enemies (1942); Three Sons o' Guns (1941); The Great Mr. Nobody (1941); The Marines Fly High (1940); The Lady and the Mob (1939); The Affairs of Annabel (1938); Radio City Revels (1938); Fight for Your Lady (1937); Super-Sleuth (1937); Sea Devils (1937); Don't Turn 'em Loose (1936); Two in the Dark (1936); To Beat the Band (1935); Swellhead (1935); Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round (1934); Palooka (1934); Night of Terror (1933); Obey the Law (1933); The Devil Is Driving (1932); The Night Mayor (1932); By Whose Hand? (1932); Destry Rides Again (1932); Just Pals (1932); Perfect Control (1932); Slide, Babe, Slide (1932); Goldie (1931); Not Exactly Gentlemen (1931); Soup to Nuts (1930); Rough Romance (1930); New Movietone Follies of 1930 (1930); The Girl from Havana (1929); Happy Days (1929); Protection (1929); Speakeasy (1929); Mind Your Business (1928); The Bath Between (1928); Plastered in Paris (1928); Horseman of the Plains (1928); Silver Valley (1927); The Gay Retreat (1927); The Circus Ace (1927); The Canyon of Light (1926); It's a Pipe (1926); A1 Society (1926); Matrimony Blues (1926); The Mad Racer (1926); Pawnshop Politics (1926); The Fighting Tailor (1926); East Side, West Side (1925); The Heart Breaker (1925); Love and Lions (1925); Sweet Marie (1925); On the Go (1925); A High Jinx (1925); Papa's Darling (1925); Say It with Flour (1925); Help Yourself! (1925); The House of Flickers (1925); Lion Love (1925); Grief in Bagdad (1925); Roaring Lions at Home (1924); Stolen Sweeties (1924); In-Bad the Sailor (1924); Stretching the Truth (1924); When Wise Ducks Meet (1924); On the Job (1924); Be Yourself (1924); Highly Recommended (1924); Slow and Sure (1923); Full Speed Ahead (1923); Play Ball with Babe Ruth (1920).

Recommended reading - To Die For (1992):


To Die For

By Joyce Maynard.

First published 1992.
Published by Open Road Media.
Paperback.
ISBN-10: 1497643821
ISBN-13: 978-1497643826

Description:

“That’s the beauty of television. It’s like an eye that’s on you all the time…. Kind of like God, if you want to get heavy.”

Local weather reporter Suzanne Maretto craves nothing more than to transcend life at her suburban cable television news station and follow in the footsteps of her idol: Barbara Walters. When she concludes that her unglamorous husband is getting in the way of her dream of stardom, the solution seems obvious: Get rid of him. She seduces a fifteen-year-old admirer, Jimmy, and persuades him to do her dirty work. Mission accomplished, Suzanne takes to the airwaves in her new role as grieving widow, in search of a TV deal. If that means selling Jimmy down the river, she’s ready.

Maynard’s brilliant, funny, and groundbreaking novel – adapted by Gus Van Sant into the cult classic movie of the same name, starring Nicole Kidman – was first published in 1992 before the era of manufactured stardom and the phenomenon of televised murder trials as entertainment. The book still stands as a razor-sharp satire of celebrity-fixated culture and the American obsession with TV – a novel that imagined the phenomenon of reality television before its creation, with alternately bone-chilling and hilarious accuracy.

“A seductive page turner.” – The New York Times Book Review.

“A triumph.” – The Boston Globe.

“A powerful novel of murder and sexual obsession. . . .  Chilling.” – The Star-Ledger.

Jean Craighead George, on books:


Be you writer or reader, it is very pleasant to run away in a book.

- Jean Craighead George.

Saturday, October 5, 2024

On this day in movie history - Spielberg (2017):


Spielberg

a documentary on director Steven Spielberg,
directed by Susan Lacy,
was released at the New York Film Festival in the United States on October 5, 2017.

Cast:

Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Richard Dreyfuss, Bill Butler, John Williams, David Edelstein, Michael Phillips, Nancy Spielberg, Anne Spielberg, Janet Maslin, Sue Spielberg, Leah Adler, Arnold Spielberg, J.J. Abrams, Sid Sheinberg, James Brolin, David Geffen, Roger Ernest, Steven Bochco, George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Vilmos Zsigmond, Brian De Palma, Tony Kushner, Bob Balaban, Tom Hanks, Drew Barrymore, Peter Coyote, Melissa Mathison, Leonardo DiCaprio, A.O. Scott, Kathleen Kennedy, Harrison Ford, Tom Stoppard, Walter F. Parkes, Oprah Winfrey, J. Hoberman, Frank Marshall, Christian Bale, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Janusz Kaminski, Michael Kahn, Annette Insdorf, Dennis Muren, David Koepp, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Rick Carter, Robert Zemeckis, Ron Meyer, Laurie MacDonald, Cate Blanchett, Holly Hunter, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Dustin Hoffman, Lawrence Kasdan, Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Todd McCarthy, Tom Cruise, Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Adam Somner, Joanna Johnston, Alan Alda, Karen Allen, William Atherton, Richard Attenborough, Dan Aykroyd, Ned Beatty, John Belushi, Ed Bradley, Tom Brokaw, Jessica Capshaw, Kate Capshaw, Dana Carvey, Bill Clinton, Sean Connery, Joan Crawford, Hugh Downs, Denholm Elliott, Peter Falk, Paul Freeman, Teri Garr, Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg, Cary Guffey, Goldie Hawn, Alfred Hitchcock, Norman Howell, Amy Irving, Ben Johnson, Wayne Knight, Shia LaBeouf, Marcia Lucas, K.C. Martel, Mike Myers, George Negus, Al Pacino, Fievel Posner, Dan Rather, John Rhys-Davies, Terry Richards, Oliver Robins, Mark Rylance, Roy Scheider, Gene Shalit, Robert Shaw, Dinah Shore, Tom Snyder, Rebecca Spielberg, Sasha Spielberg, Theo Spielberg, David Strathairn, Henry Thomas, François Truffaut, Dennis Weaver, Robert Young, Margaret Avery, Ruby Barnhill, Marlon Brando, Edward Burns, John Candy, David Costabile, Melinda Dillon, Dakota Fanning, Morgan Freeman, Adam Goldberg, Alec Guinness, Mark Hamill, Hal Holbrook, Anthony Hopkins, Djimon Hounsou, Byron Jennings, Tommy Lee Jones, Charlie Korsmo, Ronald Lacey, Maurice LaMarche, Lee Majors, Joseph Mazzello, Samantha Morton, Sam Neill, Frances O'Connor, Kevin J. O'Connor, Peter O'Toole, Haley Joel Osment, Barry Pepper, Giovanni Ribisi, Ariana Richards, Miranda Richardson, Pat Roach, Geoffrey Rush, Amy Ryan, Omar Sharif, Martin Short, Tom Sizemore, Robert Stack, Christopher Walken, Dee Wallace, Robin Williams.

On this day in music history - Nightbook, by Ludovico Einaudi (2009):

The album Nightbook,
by Ludovico Einaudi,
was released on October 5, 2009.

On this day in music history - Hidden Sky, by Jami Sieber (2004):

The album Hidden Sky,
by Jami Sieber,
was released on October 5, 2004.