Charlotte Bronte, on writing:

You can write nothing of value unless you give yourself wholly to the theme -- and when you so give yourself -- you lose appetite and sleep -- it cannot be helped --

― Charlotte Brontë.

On this day in television history – Justified (2010 & 2011):

Justified

Season 1. Episode 8.
Episode entitled: Blowback.
Released May 4, 2010.
Directed by Jon Avnet.
Written by Graham Yost, Benjamin Cavell, Wendy Calhoun and Chris Provenzano.
Based on the short story Fire in the Hole by Elmore Leonard.
Music by Steve Porcaro.

Cast:

Timothy Olyphant, Nick Searcy, Joelle Carter, Jacob Pitts, Erica Tazel, Natalie Zea, W. Earl Brown, Jere Burns, M.C. Gainey, Rick Gomez, Fredric Lehne, William Ragsdale, Walton Goggins, David Haley, Chris Stacy, David Hill.

Justified

Season 2. Episode 13.
Episode entitled: Bloody Harlan.
Released May 4, 2011.
Directed by Michael Dinner.
Written by Graham Yost, Fred Golan, Benjamin Cavell and VJ Boyd.
Based on the short story Fire in the Hole by Elmore Leonard.
Music by Steve Porcaro.

Cast:

Timothy Olyphant, Nick Searcy, Joelle Carter, Jacob Pitts, Erica Tazel, Natalie Zea, Walton Goggins, Margo Martindale, Jeremy Davies, Kaitlyn Dever, James Le Gros, David Meunier, Peter Murnik, Kevin Rankin, Joseph Lyle Taylor, Raymond J. Barry, Randolph Adams, Mark Atteberry, Sean Donnellan, William Gregory Lee, Tonja Kahlens, Savannah McReynolds, Ryan Smith, Andrey Batt, Jeremy Timmins, Seth Yohnka.

On this day in the Star Trek universe:

Star Trek: The Next Generation (1991)

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Season 4. Episode 22.

Episode entitled: Half a Life.

Released May 4, 1991.

Directed by Les Landau.

Written by Peter Allan Fields, Ted Roberts, Ronald D. Moore, Joe Menosky, David Carren, J. Larry Carroll, Brannon Braga.

Created by Gene Roddenberry.

Music by Dennis McCarthy.

Cast: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, Majel Barrett, Michelle Forbes, Terrence E. McNally, Colm Meaney, Carel Struycken, David Ogden Stiers, Rachen Assapiomonwait, Thomas J. Booth, Michael Braveheart, Cameron, Tracee Cocco, Nyra Crenshaw, Debbie David, Jeremy Doyle, Melanie Hathorn, Randy James, Jeri McBride, Tim McCormack, Joyce Robinson, Georgina Shore, K. Uchizono, Guy Vardaman.

On this day in movie history - Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982):

Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid

directed by Carl Reiner,

written by Carl Reiner, George Gipe and Steve Martin,

was released in the United States on May 4, 1982.
Music by Miklós Rózsa and Steve Goodman.

Cast:

Steve Martin, Rachel Ward, Alan Ladd, Carl Reiner, Barbara Stanwyck, Ray Milland, Ava Gardner, Burt Lancaster, Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Veronica Lake, Bette Davis, Lana Turner, Edward Arnold, Kirk Douglas, Fred MacMurray, James Cagney, Joan Crawford, Reni Santoni, Charles Laughton, Vincent Price, George Gaynes, Francis X. McCarthy, Adrian Ricard, Charlie Picerni, Gene LeBell, George Sawaya, Britt Nilsson, Jean Beaudine, John Easton Stuart, Ronald Spivey, Bob Hevelone, Dieter Curt, Phillip Kearns, Kent Deigaard, Eugene Brezany, Brad Baird, William Conrad, Charles McGraw, Jeff Corey, John Miljan, Brian Donlevy, Norma Varden, Edmond O'Brien, Wally Brown, David LeBell, Cheryl Smith.

On this day in movie history - Yield to the Night (1956 movie & novel):

Yield to the Night

a.k.a. Blonde Sinner,

directed by J. Lee Thompson,

written by John Cresswell, Joan Henry,

based on the novel Yield to the Night by Joan Henry,

released at the Cannes Film Festival in France on May 4, 1956.

Music by Ray Martin.

Cast: Diana Dors, Yvonne Mitchell, Michael Craig, Marie Ney, Geoffrey Keen, Liam Redmond, Olga Lindo, Joan Miller, Marjorie Rhodes, Molly Urquhart, Mary Mackenzie, Harry Locke, Michael Ripper, Joyce Blair, Charles Clay, Athene Seyler, Peggy Livesey, Mona Washbourne, Alec Finter, Marianne Stone, Mercia Shaw, Charles Lloyd Pack, Dandy Nichols, John Charlesworth, Frank Hawkins, Shirley Anne Field, Fred Machon, Charles Rayford, Pat Ryan.

Recommended reading:

Yield to the Night

By Joan Henry.

Published by Doubleday.

Published 1954.

ISBN-10: 0856175862

ISBN-13: 9780856175862

On this day in movie history – Gaslight (1944 movie & play):

Gaslight

directed by George Cukor,

written by John Van Druten, Walter Reisch and John L. Balderston,

based on the play Gas Light by Patrick Hamilton,

was released in the United States on May 4, 1944.
Music by Bronislau Kaper.

Cast:

Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotton, May Whitty, Angela Lansbury, Barbara Everest, Emil Rameau, Edmund Breon, Halliwell Hobbes, Tom Stevenson, Heather Thatcher, Lawrence Grossmith, Jakob Gimpel, Harry Adams, Lassie Lou Ahern, John Ardizoni, Frank Baker, Wilson Benge, Arnold Bennett, Florence Benson, Arthur Blake, Lillian Bronson, Alec Craig, Antonio D'Amore, Wynne Davis, Frank Eldredge, Maude Fealy, Al Ferguson, Helen Flint, Gibson Gowland, Gary Gray, Roger Gray, Bobbie Hale, Joy Harington, Tom Hughes, Jack Kirk, Pat Malone, Al Masiello, Charles McNaughton, Terry Moore, Clive Morgan, Georgie Nokes, Joseph North, Tarquin Olivier, Elsie Prescott, Joseph Romantini, Syd Saylor, Arthur Stone, Alix Terry, Morgan Wallace, Eric Wilton, Eustace Wyatt, Katherine Yorke, Phyllis Yuse, Guy Zanette.

Recommended reading:

Gas Light

a play by Patrick Hamilton.

Filmed as:

Gaslight (1940), directed by Thorold Dickinson.

Gaslight (1944), directed by George Cukor.

Published by Constable and Company Ltd.

First published 1939.

ASIN: B0DSZRVND4

Paperback.

Description:

This classic Victorian thriller was first produced in 1935. Jack Manningham is slowly, deliberately driving his wife, Bella, insane. He has almost succeeded when help arrives in the form of a former detective, Rough, who believes Manningham to be a thief and murderer. Aided by Bella, Rough proves Manningham's true identity and finally Bella achieves a few moments of sweet revenge for the suffering inflicted on her.

On this day in movie history - Manhattan Melodrama (1934):

Manhattan Melodrama

directed by W.S. Van Dyke, Jack Conway and George Cukor,

written by Oliver H.P. Garrett and Joseph L. Mankiewicz,

based on a story by Arthur Caesar, Frank Dolan and Donald Ogden Stewart,

was released in the United States on May 4, 1934.
Music by William Axt.

Cast:

Clark Gable, William Powell, Myrna Loy, Leo Carrillo, Nat Pendleton, George Sidney, Isabel Jewell, Muriel Evans, Thomas E. Jackson, Isabelle Keith, Frank Conroy, Noel Madison, Jimmy Butler, Mickey Rooney, Shirley Ross.