Humpday for all your office drones. Need a distraction? Quick boost? Here are 5 anniversaries and a suggestion as to how to honor each. Try 'em out and see if they make the day go faster.
May 17th History
2013 Frances Ha finally opens in theaters after an excruciating wait from its rave reviews at festivals the fall prior. It was everything we hoped for and then some and did well in our annual awards right here.
In its honor today: dance and leap run like Frances, especially when you're on the way to the ATM...
1995 French oddity The City of Lost Children, about kidnapped children, circus performers, and dream-snatching directed by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet (who were promptly hired for Alien: Resurrection thereafter, Jeunet directing and Caro on the design team) opened the 48th annual Cannes film festival. Iconic actress Jeanne Moreau was the jury president with notables like cinematographer Philippe Rousselot and director John Waters on her team. The Palme d'Or eventually went to Emir Kusturica's Underground and zeitgeisty French sensation La Haine took best director for Mathieu Kassovitz though beyond that the prizes were a bit weird if you ask me. The Madness of King George took Best Actress for Helen Mirren, and dry drama Carrington won not one but two prizes. Two awesome movies -- Tim Burton's Ed Wood and Philip Haas's Angels & Insects -- got bupkis
In its honor today: Remember a weird childhood dream
1990 Homosexuality is removed from the list of mental illnesses by the World Health Organization. Starting in 2004, May 17th became the "International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia" as a result.
In honor of this day: Um, to paraphrase, be here, be queer, help people get used to it. Also watch Sense8 because it's like the unofficial mascot show for this very day
Ashman on the set of the original off broadway "Little Shop of Horrors" in 1987
1950 Howard Ashman born in Baltmore. The composer and lyricist gave us so many truly perfect songs in his short life before his death from AIDs complications in 1991.
In his honor today: Track down the great Disney documentary Waking Sleeping Beauty (which gives him and Alan Menken a lot of credit in their modern renaissance) or listen to any of Ashman's witty classics. Of his oeuvre I listen to Little Shop of Horrors most frequently but you really can't go wrong with his Disney films The Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast.
Marlene, Rudolf and their daughter Maria Riva in 1933
1924* Marlene Dietrich marries Rudolf Seiber who was a producer on one of her very first movies Love Tragedy (1923). (The year of their marriage is sometimes listed as 1923 on various sites but this is wrong. The NYT and Rudolf Seiber himself have both said "1924") epending on where you find the info online but it's always May 17th . She was only 21 or 22 at the time and both of their careers were just starting. They sure did marry young back in the day! He worked as an assistant director for a decade or so and in later life became a chicken farmer (!). Though Dietrich and Seiber only lived together for the first five years of their marriage and rumors of her affairs were rampant, they never divorced (from the modern perspective their's looks like a very genial open marriage or a lavender marriage of devoted friends). He actually introduced her to the director with whom she made many classics, Josef Von Sternberg. The rest is immortal film history!
* Some online sources say 1923 but this is incorrect. Rudolf Seiber himself reiterated 1924 in this very interesting interview he gave in 1960.
In their honor today: You never know where your big break is going to come from, so don't burn bridges and... uh... maybe flirt with your boss or coworker today?
The great Miriam MargolyesOTHER BIRTHDAYS
Actors: Leehom Wang, Dennis Hopper, Maureen O'Sullivan, Miriam Margolyes, Grace Zabriskie, Jean Gabin, David Eigenberg, Nikki Reed, Derek Hough, and Bill Paxton (recently RIP *sniffle*); Royalty: Albert, First Duke of Prussia, Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Austria, Queen Maxima of the Netherlands; Writers: RS Surtees; Sports: "Cool Papa" Bell of the Negro League; Musicians Enya and Trent Reznor (what a duet that would make, huh?)
OTHER ANNIVERSARIES
Norway's constitution is signed (1814) so today's their national holiday; The Supreme Court hands down a unanimous decision in Brown v Board of Education essentially ending segregation in schools, one major step in the long long road of the civil rights struggle (1954); The City of Lost Children (1995) premiered at Cannes; Films that opened in movie theaters on this day in history include What About Bob? (1991), About a Boy (2002), and Fast and Furious 6 (2013); The soundtrack to Disney's behemoth Frozen enjoys its last week at #1 on the album charts (2014)... ending the long "Let it Go" nightmare -- I kid I kid (mostly).