OTD: Yul Marries, Macy Screams, Fellini Premieres

on this day in showbiz-related history...

1944 Yul Brynner marries his first wife, actress Virginia Gilmore, in Los Angeles. They're both in their mid 20s. She's already made 15 movies but he's just starting out with two Broadway shows under his belt. Their marriage will last 16 years and they will have one child together. Rock Brynner (their son) will go on to write a book about his dad and their family history.

1954 Federico Fellini's La Strada premieres at the Venice Film Festival and goes on to win the Best Foreign Film Oscar. Fellini will go on to completely own that category, winning thrice more with The Nights of Cabiria (1957), 8½ (1963), and Amarcord (1974)

Macy Gray, The King's Speech, and more after the jump...

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OTD: Madonna Mania and a Dangerous Release Date

On this day (Sept 2nd) in showbiz-related history...

31 BC Cleopatra loses the Battle of Actium to Octavian's troops in the final war of the Roman Republic. Liz is very upset but it turns out Dick is still alive and he leaves his men to drown to catch up with her and work on his thigh tan! Not great, Bob.

Madonna mania, September 1st movie releases and more after the jump...

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OTD: Vera Drake and Lily Tomlin

On this day (Sept 1st) in showbiz history...

1934 Metro Goldwyn Mayer releases their first animated short, The Discontented Canary. It wasn't Oscar nominated but they soon begin to crash Walt Disney's stranglehold on that particular category back then, with nearly annual nominations (for a time) beginning in 1939 (Peace on Earth) and regular wins in the 1940s thanks largely to the Tom & Jerry series. 

1952 Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea is first published. It wins the Pulitzer and gets adapted to the movies twice, the first time as a feature in 1958 with Spencer Tracy and the second time as an Oscar winning Russian animated short in 1999 which was painted on glass. 

1977 Blondie signed their first major record company contract. Whatever happened to that Debbie Harry biopic we were supposed to get? Wasn't it going to star Kiki Dunst or was that just our TFE fantasy?

2004 Mike Leigh's marvelously humane and potent Vera Drake wins the Golden Lion in Venice. The film is nominated for 3 Oscars including a surprise Best Director bid. Imelda Staunton goes on to lose the Oscar to a far inferior performance. We've been demanding a recount ever since.

Happy Birthday to Them
Oscar Nominees: Lily Tomlin (Nashville), Rachid Bouchareb (Foreign Film nominations for Algeria: Outside the Law and Days of Glory)
In Demand: Zendaya (Spider-Man: Homecoming), Boyd Holbrook (Logan, Narcos)
Other Famous Types: Gloria Estefan
Foreign Stars: Fengyi Zhang (Chinese movie star), Lhumnita Gheorghiu (brilliant Romanian actress), Mohammed Assaf (Palestinian pop star) 

OTD: Who's "Bad"?

on this day (August 31st) in history as it relates to showbiz

1897 Thomas Edison patents his movie camera the "kinetograph"

1987 Michael Jackson's video "Bad" directed by none other than the master Martin Scorsese premieres. It is 18 minutes long (!) because Martin Scorsese never saw a lengthy running time that didn't make him salivate. The short gave Wesley Snipes one of his earliest gigs prompting the short's switch from black and white to color as Wesley riles Michael up with a "you ain't bad!" burn.

Princess Diana, Brokeback Mountain and more after the jump...

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A steamy day in movie history

on this day (August 28th) in showbiz-related history, things get sweaty and hot hot hot... time to rub lemons all over our bare bodies.

1980 The 37th annual Venice Film Festival kicks off. The Golden Lion that year will prove to be a tie (!) with Atlantic City, starring Susan Sarandon and her lemons, and Gloria  splitting the top prize. Atlantic City will go on to five Oscar nominations including Best Picture

1981 Kathleen Turner and William Hurt do filthy things to each other in the window smashingly erotic Body Heat brand new in theaters on this day.

1987 Dennis Quaid fingers Ellen Barkin in The Big Easy  new in theaters. The orgasm is so explosive it rockets both careers to the next level instanteously.

1998 54, legendarily butchered in the editing room, attempts to chart the bisexual opportunist antics of Ryan Phillipe in his twink god years.

2009 Taking Woodstock opens in theaters with Emile Hirsch in his naked hippie mode and an early screen appearance by Jonathan Groff's crazy seductive bedroom eyes.

2014 Blake Lively attacked by bees!

Happy Birthday to Them!
Oscar Nominees: David Fincher, Quvenzhané Wallis
More Shiny Talents: Armie Hammer, Jennifer Coolidge, Jack Black, Jason Priestley, Daniel Stern, Luis Guzman, Billy Boyd, and Ai Weiwei
Les Chanteuses: Florence Welch, Shania Twain, LeAnn Rimes
Departed but Amazing: Artist Jack Kirby (how proud would he be of the Marvel Cinematic Universe?), genius cinematographer James Wong Howe, author Leo Tolstoy, actor Ben Gazzara, actress Helen Hayes, actor Vladimir Ivashov (BAFTA nominated star of a great Russian film Ballad of a Soldier)