On December 28, 1895, the world’s first commercial movie
screening took place at the Grand Café in Paris. The film
was made by Louis and Auguste Lumiere, two French
brothers who developed a camera-projector called the
Cinematographe. The Lumiere brothers unveiled their
invention to the public in March 1895 with a brief film
showing workers leaving the Lumiere factory (above).

On December 28, the entrepreneurial siblings screened
a series of short scenes from everyday French life and
charged admission for the first time.

The  Garand Café in Paris.

The Lumiere Brothers

The Lumiere Cinematographe.

Radio City Music Hall, one of the world’s most celebrated and architecturally significant entertainment venues, opened in the
heart of midtown Manhattan amid great fanfare on this day in
history, Dec. 27, 1932.

The Radio City Rockettes, the iconic high-kicking dance
troupe that performs at the theater.

On December 25, 1962, To Kill a Mockingbird, a film based
on the 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name
by Harper Lee, 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same
name by Harper Lee, opened in theaters.

The Great Depression-era story of racial injustice and the
loss of childhood innocence is told from the perspective 
of a young Alabama girl named Scout Finch, played in the
film by Mary Badham, who lives with her older brother Jem
(Phillip Alford) and their widowed attorney father Atticus
(Gregory Peck). While Scout, Jem and their friend Dill
(John Megna) become fascinated by the mysterious shut-in
Boo Radley (Robert Duvall).

Atticus goes to court to defend a Black man falsely accused
of raping a white woman.  

To Kill a Mockingbird was nominated for eight Academy
Awards, including Best Picture, and won three Oscars,
including Best Actor (Gregory Peck).       

Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003)

        
 
        
        
        
        
        
        
       

On December 13, 1925, Dick Van Dyke, the actor who would
become known for his performances in such movie classics
as Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, as well as the
popular 1960s TV sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show, was born
in West Plains, Missouri.

Van Dyke, who was raised in Danville, Illinois, served in the 
Army Air Force during World War II and in the 1950s took
various acting jobs and hosted a series of TV game shows.

1964

Initially aired on CBS from October 3, 1961 to June 1, 1966.

Kirk Douglas
( Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020)

Kirk Douglas made his film debut in The Strange Love of Martha
Ivers (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. He was known for serious
dramas, including westerns and war films. During his career,
he appeared in more than 90 films and was known for his
explosive acting style. He was named by the American Film
Institute the17th-greatest male star of Classic Hollywood
cinema and was the highest-ranked living person on the list.

Kirk Douglas in the film "Spartacus" (1960)

The War Wagon (1967) a Western heist film with Kirk Douglas
and John Wayne.