Today's 5: Carrie, Snatched, Blowup, and more...
Friday, May 12, 2017 at 8:00AM 
Today's 5 mood boosting assignments from showbiz history...
2017 oh wait that's today! New in movie theaters today: Goldie Hawn returns to the cinema in the Amy Schumer comedy Snatched; Uneven but sometimes really exciting director Doug Liman unveils the sniper drama The Wall (starring Brit Aaron Taylor-Johnson with a twangy accent); Guy Ritchie anachronistically Ritchifies the King Arthur legend with Charlie Hunnam and Jude Law; Demian Bichir stars in Lowriders; and Diane Lane takes a road trip with Arnaud Viard in Paris Can Wait when her husband Alec Baldwin bails on her for business.
In their honor: Go see a movie this weekend. Pick a title any title. If you don't want to see one of those catch up with The Lovers or Lost City of Z. Both are good flicks.
1988 The infamous stage musical version of horror classic Carrie opens. It will close five days later. The off Broadway revival in 2012 did significantly better but still closed at a loss
Marin Mazzie and Molly Ranson in the 2012 Off Broadway revival
In its honor today: Whatever you do don't listen to multiple Broadway diva's renditions of "When There's No One" for a solid hour like I did a few days ago
1967 Michelangelo Antonioni's brilliant Blowup wins the Palme d'Or at Cannes
In its honor today: stare at a photo you love and try to find a new telling detail.
1959 Liz Taylor marries Eddie Fisher leaving close friend Debbie Reynolds a divorcee with two tiny kids (Carrie & Todd) in one of the biggest scandals of the 1950s.
In honor of this anniversary today: watch or read Carrie Fisher's "Year of Wishful Drinking
1956 Homer Simpson born! No really. That's his (fictional) birthday in Springfield. Which makes him 61 today.
In his honor: eat a donut and shout "D'OH!" at least once.
OTHER BIRTHDAYS
Brilliant writer Frank Pierson (Dog Day Afternoon, Cool Hand Luke), almost EGOT-ing composer Burt Bacharach (he's only missing a Tony...but he's 89 today!), legend Katharine Hepburn, Actors Domnhall Gleeson, Emilio Estevez, Emily VanCamp, Ving Rhames, Gabriel Byrne, Deborah Kara Unger, and TV stars Rami Malek and Bruce Boxleitner, all share May 12th as a birthday.
WHERE'S HER BIOPIC?
In which we celebrate women and minorities who deserve biopics.
⇱ Next year's May 12th marks the centennial of Texas businesswoman Mary Kay Ash, one of the most famous and honored entrepeneurs of all time. She sold books door-to-door as a young mother with three kids during World War II. In the early 60s she founded Mary Kay Cosmetics at 45 years of age just one month after her second husband died with an investment of only $5000. She also started a charity to help victims of domestic violence, wrote multiple best selling books, and didnt ever really retire, remaining active in her company until her death in 2001.
OTHER ANNIVERSARIES
Oscar art direction winner and Tyrone Power picture This Above All (1942), Sonny & Cher's only movie together Good Times (1967), alien comedy Earth Girls are Easy (1989) starring an early career Jim Carrey and then couple Geene Davis and Jeff Goldblum, blockbuster Crimson Tide (1995), and the romcom Just My Luck (2006) starring Lindsay Lohan and Chris Pine all opened in theaters on this day in history
Reader Comments (10)
I believe MacLaine played Mary Kay in a TV-Movie with Parker Posey.
Nat: Well, ONE of Homer Simpson's birthdays. The Simpsons now operates on a sliding timescale. So put him as 1968/1956.
Frank Pierson wrote that BRILLIANT Mad Men episode, Signal 30, in which Pete Campbell character gets eviscerated.
It's a shame that Diane Lane couldn't (or didn't) parlay her Oscar-nominated turn in Unfaithful into more esteemed career opportunities. I can't imagine that she only had that one great performance in her.
Troy H-
I loved her in Under the Tuscan Sun, she is so underused!!
There was a Carrie stage musical?
Always learning (wonderful) strange things every day....
No really, I didn't know this.
The photo of Mary Kay Ash looks like a scene from a William Castle horror movie
PARIS CAN WAIT has the cute distinction of being the narrative feature directorial debut of Eleanor Coppola. She famously co-directed the HEART OF DARKNESS documentary, but at 80 years old she's finally leapt into a feature. Shame it's one that looks like such a cliched yawn.
When I learned that Ving Rhames real first name is Irving, it just endeared him to me more.
Sonja, not only was there a Carrie musical, it's god-fucking-awful. Truly the worst theatre-going experience of my life. Irredeemable show.