Today in 1966, the official release of "Incubus," the only Esperanto-language movie starring a pre-Star Trek William Shatner. The movie had such bad fortune some people actually thought it was cursed. Plus: a guy buys an airplane, and though he's never flown before, he taxis it down the runway, takes off and has to figure out how to land.
Today in 1934, Paramount Pictures released the movie “Belle of the Nineties,” starring Mae West. And, for some reason, the studio trained several dozen parrots to learn to say the title of the movie so they could appear at theaters and wow the moviegoing public. There was just one problem with the plan, though. Plus: on this World Peace Day, the guy who tried to make the world a more peaceful place by walking backwards.
Web developer/creator/artist Lynn Fisher's new project is NestFlix, a website that looks like a streaming service but features the fictional shows and movies that are within real world ones. Plus: the Potato Photographer of the Year gives us some unforgettable images. No small fries in this group.
UCLA did the research: at least 65 different animal species apart from humans exhibit vocal play sounds that are similar to laughter. So what kind of jokes should we be telling them? Plus: how an acclaimed 1972 movie might have been lost forever, if the man hunting for the original copy had shown up a week later.
Today is the anniversary of the release in 1954 of the classic monster movie “Creature From The Black Lagoon.” The woman who designed the creature, Milicent Patrick, was almost forgotten, but film lovers and fans have been working to make sure her story is told. Plus: for those who find working from home isn't really working, Japan has a solution that's increasingly popular: an office-in-a-box known as a Telecube.
It was on this day in 1954 that one of the most important monster movies most people have never heard of was released: "Them!" (note the exclamation mark in the title) featured giant irradiated ants, James Arness, the Wilhelm Scream, Fess Parker, Leonard Nimoy and more! Plus: science has determined how to give the perfect hug, so start practicing.
They're back. And they're... hiring
We've got a little bit of everything today.
The new film “Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project" tells the story of a Philadelphia librarian and activist who spent decades recording every TV program she possibly could. She left 70,000 videocassettes in all, which is now being digitized to help us fill in some fascinating gaps in mass media history.
Your favorite blaxploitation movie?
