ON THIS DAY in 1927, Babe Ruth hit his 60th home run of the season, establishing a Major League Baseball record that was held until 1961. In 1948, Ruth’s feat was portrayed by William Bendix in THE BABE RUTH STORY.
Reel History
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ON THIS DAY in 1966, General Motors introduced the Chevrolet Camaro “pony car”–a competing model to the Ford Mustang. A first-generation Chevy Camaro was featured prominently in the 1976 film, EAT MY DUST!, starring Ron Howard.
ON THIS DAY in 1939, the city of Warsaw, Poland, surrendered to the forces of Nazi Germany. This event was portrayed in THE PIANIST, a 2002 film directed by Roman Polanski and starring Adrien Brody.
ON THIS DAY in 1930, Bobby Jones completed the “Grand Slam of golf” upon winning the U.S. Amateur Championship. The event was dramatized in the 2004 biographical film, BOBBY JONES: A STROKE OF GENIUS, starring Jim Caviezel.
ON THIS DAY in 1960, Cuban leader Fidel Castro announced his country’s support of the Soviet Union. The 2001 film, FIDEL: THE UNTOLD STORY, directed by Estela Bravo, documents this and other events in Castro’s life.
ON THIS DAY in 1996, the last of Ireland’s scandalous Magdalene asylums was permanently closed. In 2002, THE MAGDALENE SISTERS dramatized the stories of several of the institution’s inmates.
ON THIS DAY in 1896, author F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. Fitzgerald was portrayed by Tom Hiddleston in Woody Allen’s 2011 film, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, starring Owen Wilson.
ON THIS DAY in 1909, the publication of Gaston Leroux’s Le Fantôme de l’Opéra (The Phantom of the Opera), began, as a serial, in the French newspaper Le Gaulois. In 1925, the first of several film adaptations of Leroux’s novel premiered– THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, starring Lon Chaney.
ON THIS DAY in 1957, François “Papa Doc” Duvalier was elected president of Haiti on a populist and Black Nationalist platform. THE COMEDIANS, a 1967 film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, and based on a Graham Greene novel, was set in Haiti during the Duvalier regime.
ON THIS DAY in 1897, author J. R. R. Tolkien published his novel, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again. In 1978, Tolkien’s book was adapted for the Rankin-Bass animated film, THE HOBBIT, narrated by John Huston.
ON THIS DAY in 1973, Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in “The Battle of the Sexes” tennis match at the Houston Astrodome. The 2001 made-for-TV movie, WHEN BILLIE BEAT BOBBY, with Holly Hunter and Ron Silver, documented this event.
ON THIS DAY in 1952, Charlie Chaplin’s re-entry permit to the United States was revoked as a result of arrangements between FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and the Immigration and Naturalization Service. This part of Chaplin’s life was dramatized in the 1992 biographical film, CHAPLIN, starring Robert Downey Jr.
ON THIS DAY in 1975, heiress, kidnap victim and Symbionese Liberation Army member Patty Hearst was arrested by the FBI in San Francisco. In 1988, director Paul Schrader’s film, PATTY HEARST, dramatized the events leading to Hearst’s arrest.
ON THIS DAY in 1849, American abolitionist Harriet Tubman and her two brothers escaped from slavery. Tubman’s escape was depicted in the 1978 made-for-TV movie, A WOMAN CALLED MOSES, starring Cicely Tyson and narrated by Orson Welles.
ON THIS DAY in 1955, Juan Perón was ousted as President of Argentina when a nationalist Catholic group led the Revolución Libertadora. Perón’s tenure as President was dramatized in the 1996 film, EVITA, with Jonathan Pryce and Madonna.
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