SPECIAL HOLIDAYS APRIL 23
German Beer Day A day to celebrate German beers. The lagers, the dunkels, the hefeweizens and starkbiers, bocks (stronger than typical lager) and marzens (originally brewed in Spring..”March”). This day is when the “German Beer Purity Law” went into effect in 1516..it is the law that mandates beer in Germany only be brewed with four ingredients…water, hops, malt and yeast.
International Nose-Picking Day ….Disgusting but its true. A day to pick and flick. You can have a party play games and give Kleenex for prizes
National Picnic Day Picnics date back to the 17th Century. Picnic used to describe a group of people that would bring their own wine to dinner at a restaurant, eventually it meant a meal where everyone brought to contribute. You don’t have to be fancy cooking up some special food…just visit a bakery or supermarket on the way to a park….a chance to get some fresh air and relax.
ON THIS DAY…
April 27, 1951….The Thing From Another World released. Directed by Christian Nyby…music by Dimitri Tiomkin….starring Kenneth Tobey, James Arness…Time Magazine named this film the greatest 1950’s sci fi movie.
April 27, 1956….Godzilla, King of the Monsters released in US. Directed by Ishiro Honda…American version with Raymond Burr
NASA NELLIE…April 24,1964…Lonnie Zamora UFO Incident
BIRTHDAYS APRIL 23
Jack Nicholson…(April 22)….1937
American actor and filmmaker whose career of playing supporting roles, comic characters, romantic leads and villains has spanned for more than 60 years.
Jack was born in Neptune City, New Jersey to a 17 year old. She was unsure of the father so her parents agreed to raise Jack without revealing his true patronage and his Mother would act as his sister.
In High School Jack was voted Class Clown by the class of 1954. He was in detention every day for a whole school year.
At 17 years old he first came to Hollywood in 1954 and took a job as an office worker for animators Hanna and Barbara at the MGM cartoon studio. They offered him an entry level job as an animator but he declined as he wanted to become an actor.
He trained to be an actor in a group called the Players Ring Theatre and found small parts performing on stage and in TV soap operas. He made his film debut in The Cry Baby Killer in 1958 directed by Roger Corman and went on to make Little Shop of Horrors, The Raven, The Terror and The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and even two episodes of The Andy Griffith Show.
At one point Jack thought his acting career was going nowhere so he tried a career behind the camera as a writer and went on to write the screenplay for the 1967 film The Trip directed by Corman and co-starred Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper. His first big acting break came when he played an alcoholic lawyer in “Easy Rider” and received his first Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor. That role had been written for the actor Rip Torn who withdrew from the project after an argument with Hopper.
The film “Five Easy Pieces” in 1970 also brought Jack another Oscar nomination as he played Bobby the oil rig worker and Karen Black played his waitress girlfriend… he became the new American anti-hero! His career and income skyrocketed.
In “Carnal Knowledge” he co-starred with Art Garfunkel and Ann Margaret. He struck a lifelong friendship with Garfunkel, whenever he visited Los Angeles he would stay at Nicholson’s home. He also had been good friends with director Roman Polanski long before the murder of his wife Sharon Tate…he supported Polanski in the days following her death. After Tate’s death Nicholson slept with a hammer under his pillow and took breaks from work to attend the Manson trial.
He starred in the Polanski’s thriller “Chinatown” in 1974 which brought him a nomination for an Academy Award for Best actor as the role Jake Gittes, private detective. It was said of his performance that Nicholson created the persona of a man who had seen it all and was still capable of being wickedly amused.
One of the greatest successes was “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” in 1975. Nicholson was allowed to improvise throughout the film including most of the group therapy sequences. He performance was critiqued as…”Nicholson is everywhere, his energy propels the ward of loonies and makes of them an ensemble, a chorus of people caught in a bummer with nowhere else to go but still fighting for some frail sense of themselves.”
His part in “The Shining” (1980) remains one of his more significant roles. He was encouraged by director Stanley Kubrick to improvise as he did with the famous “Heeeere’s Johnny!” line as well as a scene when he unleashes his anger upon his wife while she interrupts his writing.
Regarding Jack’s portrayal of the Joker in Tim Burton’s Batman in 1989 he said that he was particularly proud as the Joker and “considered it as a piece of pop art”.
Jack starred in over 75 films
Academy Awards Won
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest…Won Best Actor
Terms of Endearment….Won Best Supporting Actor
As Good As It Gets….Won Best Actor
Movies..short list
The Shining 1980
One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest 1975
Batman 1989…directed Tim Burton
Chinatown 1974…directed Roman Polanski
Easy Rider 1969…directed Dennis Hopper
Mars Attacks 1996…directed Tim Burton
Five Easy Pieces 1970
Little Shop of Horrors 1960..directed by Corman
The Terror 1963
The Raven 1963…directed by Corman
The Trip 1967…directed Roger Corman
Tommy 1975…directed Ken Russell
The Departed…2006…directed by Martin Scorsese
Terms of Endearment…1983
Byron Haskin…(April 22) ..1899-1984
American film and television director…most known for War of the Worlds.
Byron was born in Oregon and graduated from University of California and was hired as a cinematographer in 1922. Early in his career he started out as a newspaper cartoonist and he was later hired as a special effects artist with Warner Bros. films and eventually becoming the head of the studio’s special effects department.
In the late 40’s he returned to directing…”I Walk Alone” with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas, and Disney’s “Treasure Island”. In the early 50’s he collaborated with George Pal and did “War of the Worlds”, “Conquest of Space” and “Robinson Crusoe on Mars”, with these films he also was an occasional visual effects artists, later came “From the Earth to the Moon”.
In his television career he directed 6 episodes of The Outer Limits.
Films
War of the Worlds..1953…won AA for Best Visual Effects. George Pal originally planned for the final third of the film to be shot in the new 3D process to enhance the Martians’ attack on Los Angeles.
Robinson Crusoe on Mars..1964…story by Daniel Defoe, starring Adam West
Long John Silver…1954
Conquest of Space…1955..The tagline for this film was “see how it will happen in your lifetime”. Werner Von Braun was technical advisor
From The Earth to the Moon…1958 starring Joseph Cotton and George Sanders
Treasure Island…1950
I Walk Alone…1947
Charles Mingus…(April 22)..1922-1979
American jazz basist pianist, composer and bandleader.
Charles was born in Arizona and largely raised in the Watts area of Los Angeles. He described his mother as the daughter of an English/Chinese man and a South-American woman and his father was the son of a black farm worker and a Swedish woman. He was raised as a white person until he was fourteen when his mother revealed to her family that the child’s true father was a black slave.
His mother allowed only church related music in the home. Mingus developed an early love for other music especially Duke Ellington. He studied the trombone, and later the cello. Young Mingus could not read musical notes which had a serious impact on his early musical career.
His first major professional job was playing with Barney Bigard and toured with Louis Armstrong in 1943. He later played with Lionel Hampton’s band in the 40’s, in the 50’s he played gigs with Charlie Parker. Mingus performed concerts in Germany and London over the years. He founded the Jazz Workshop which started as a music publishing company for young composers to have their works performed in concert and recorded. He often worked with 8 to 10 rotating members from the workshop in his ensembles on stage.
Charles had a temper and had been involved in brawls on stage…which at times were aimed at fellow musicians and even the audience..and …was nicknamed “The Angry Man of Jazz”. He reportedly destroyed a $20,000 bass in response to audience heckling at the Five Spot in NYC.
At the time of his death he was working with Joni Mitchell on an album titled “Mingus.”
Mingus recorded over 100 albums and wrote over 300 scores.
Travis Walton…April 23, 1957
Subject of one of the most controversial alleged UFO adbductions in US History.
Quote….”I realized I was definitely not in a hospital. I was looking square into the face of a horrible creature with huge luminous eyes the size of quarters. I looked frantically around me. There were three of them. Hysteria over came me instantly.”
Honorable Birthday mentions… April 23
Shirley Temple…1928-2014
Roy Orbison…1936-1988
Lee Majors…1939
Michael Moore…1954
Sandra Dee…1942-2005
SPECIAL HOLIDAYS APRIL 23
German Beer Day A day to celebrate German beers. The lagers, the dunkels, the hefeweizens and starkbiers, bocks (stronger than typical lager) and marzens (originally brewed in Spring..”March”). This day is when the “German Beer Purity Law” went into effect in 1516..it is the law that mandates beer in Germany only be brewed with four ingredients…water, hops, malt and yeast.
International Nose-Picking Day ….Disgusting but its true. A day to pick and flick. You can have a party play games and give Kleenex for prizes
National Picnic Day Picnics date back to the 17th Century. Picnic used to describe a group of people that would bring their own wine to dinner at a restaurant, eventually it meant a meal where everyone brought to contribute. You don’t have to be fancy cooking up some special food…just visit a bakery or supermarket on the way to a park….a chance to get some fresh air and relax.
ON THIS DAY…
April 27, 1951….The Thing From Another World released. Directed by Christian Nyby…music by Dimitri Tiomkin….starring Kenneth Tobey, James Arness…Time Magazine named this film the greatest 1950’s sci fi movie.
April 27, 1956….Godzilla, King of the Monsters released in US. Directed by Ishiro Honda…American version with Raymond Burr
NASA NELLIE…April 24,1964…Lonnie Zamora UFO Incident
