Five Life-hacking / mood-boosting / homework assignments -- whatever you want to call them -- pulled from showbiz history each day. Here are your assignments for May 11th!
2007 It's the tenth anniversary of Georgia Rule, which featured Lindsay Lohan as the wayward granddaughter of strict religious Jane Fonda, the last time Lindsay would lead a reputable mainstream film (whatever one may think of its actual quality). She was just 20 years old...
In its honor today: Remember that Jane Fonda tried to warn Lindsay Lohan that you only get so many golden opportunities. (She was costarring with legends like Streep, Tomlin, and Fonda at the time!) Lindsay was too f***ed up to listen, so don't be like her. Don't waste the opportunities that come your way today.
1985 "Crazy for You," from the movie Vision Quest goes #1. It's Madonna's second #1 (just six months after her first "Like a Virgin") and the first of many movie song classics she wrote which were then ignored by the Academy.
1989 "Dynasty" ends its 9 year decade-dominating blockbuster run on television with its 220th episode "Catch 22"
In its honor today: Playfully slap the Krystle to your Alexis (or vice/versa). Remember that all TV shows eventually end. (Oh wait, they don't now, do they? Will & Grace, American Idol, and Roseanne are all about to come back and they aren't even the first wave of the returns. Never mind)
Madonna and Calvin Klein with Martha Graham in her last public appearance 5 months before her death1894 WHERE'S HER BIOPIC? Martha Graham born in Pennsylvania. Inspired by Hidden Figures we like to highlight women and other minorities who deserve biopics. So it's worth noting that May 11th is the birthday of revolutionary modern dance icon Martha Graham, whose legend burned so bright that Time Magazine named her "Dancer of the Century" after her death, people understand punchlines about her work like that choreography scene in The Birdcage (1996) and Madonna's enthusiasms and photoshoot tributes were not obscure cultural references.
In her honor today: in your mirror before going out today/tonight..
You do an eclectic celebration of the dance! You do Fosse, Fosse, Fosse! You do Martha Graham, Martha Graham, Martha Graham! Or Twyla, Twyla, Twyla! Or Michael Kidd, Michael Kidd, Michael Kidd, Michael Kidd! Or Madonna, Madonna, Madonna!... but you keep it all inside.
1888 Irving Berlin, one of the greatest songwriters of all time, born in Imperial Russia. He immigrates to the US at age 5 and has his first international hit "Alexander's Ragtime Band" by the time he's 23. Curiously he only won one Oscar (for "White Christmas" from Holiday Inn, 1942) despite his constant presence in movie musicals
In his honor today: Sing yourself any one of his classics, you probably know the words without even realizing it. Will it be "What'll I Do?," White Christmas," "Puttin' on the Ritz," "God Bless America," "There's No Business Like Show Business," "I Love a Piano," "I"ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm," "Cheek to Cheek"? Your choices are veritably endless.
OTHER BIRTHDAYS
Surrealist Salvador Dali, Dame Margaret Rutherford (The VIPs), Handsome frencman Benoît Magimel, Frances Fisher, Oscar nominee and Emmy winner Shohreh Aghdashloo, the late Natasha Richardson, Jeffrey Donovan, and four time Tony winner and Broadway reliable Boyd Gaines (who came to fame as "Michael" in Fame, 1980) all share May 11th as birthday
OTHER ANNIVERSARIES
"Joyride" by Roxette hits #1 in 1991. Poet Robert Frost won the Pulitzer in 1924. Dark Shadows (2012) with Depp & Pfeiffer, 28 Weeks Later (2007), A Knight's Tale (2001), Firestarter (1984), The Natural (1984), and a 1979 movie I've never heard of called Winter Kills (which has a huge all star cast including Jeff Bridges, Anthony Perkins, Liz Taylor, Toshiro Mifune, Sterling Hayden, and Dorothy Malone... WTF ?!??) all opened on this day in movie theaters.