Showbiz History: Sigourney's Wedding, Matthau's Centennial, and Johnny's First Guest

10 random things that happened on this day, October 1st, in showbiz history

1920 Walter Matthau born in New York. He goes on to become a Tony and Oscar winning film star with muliple hits spanning four decades in the 60s, 70s, and 90s including Charade, The Odd Couple, Cactus Flower, The Sunshine Boys, California Suite, Bad News Bears, and Grumpy Old Men  Happy Walter Matthau Centennial -- do you have a favourite of his?

1937 Madame X, starring Gladys George, is released in movie theaters. It's the fourth film adaptation of the play and there would be six more including the arguably most famous version in 1966 starring Lana Turner. 

1962 Johnny Carson hosts The Tonight Show for the first time. The legend Joan Crawford is his guest...

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May Retrospective: "A New Leaf" (1971)

by Cláudio Alves

A master comedian of immense historical importance, a Tony Award-winning stage actress, an Oscar-nominated screenwriter, and one of the greatest American directors of the 1970s. Those are portentous descriptors, each of them difficult to earn individually during a lifetime. For someone to deserve them all is astounding, but astounding is an ever-appropriate word to categorize Elaine May.

She remains a genius through-and-through and, despite her career as a movie director having been abruptly halted in the late 80s, many are devoted to the celebration of her directorial legacy to this day. If you need any proof that Hollywood has little respect for the talent of female directors, look no further than the example of Elaine May whose filmography we are here honoring. After all, what better time to sing the praises of May than during the merry month of May?

First up, we have 1971's A New Leaf…

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Podcast: Quarantined with "Emma" and "Cactus Flower"

with Nathaniel R and Murtada Elfadl

Everyone's a shut-in so we'll be watching the same movies at home.

Index (33 minutes)
00:01 Updates on health and the NYC self-quarantine 
04:20 Cactus Flower (1969) is a delight, though crazy sexist. We both fell hard for Ingrid Bergman and enjoyed Goldie Hawn's Oscar winning debut, too. It's streaming on Criterion Channel. We also talk briefly about our reader's choice series thus far and what's next.
17:38 The latest adaptation of Emma starring Anya Taylor-Joy. Murtada really loves Bill Nighy and Nathaniel loves the look but we both think it's not as strong as the 1996 Gwyneth Paltrow version. 
26:30 Bonus randomness - two perfect leading lady star vehicles: Rita Hayworth in Gilda and Cher in Moonstruck.
31:00 Wrap-up

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you? 

Cactus Flower, Emma, Quarantine