On August 10, 1939, The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland
and featuring words and music by E.Y. “Yip” Harburg and
Harold Arlen, received its world premiere in Green Bay,
Wisconsin. It opened widely in U.S. theaters some two
weeks later.
On August 10, 1984, the action thriller Red Dawn, starring
Patrick Swayze, opened in theaters as the first movie to
be released with a PG-13 rating.
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which
oversees the movie rating system, had announced the new
PG-13 category in July of that same year.
Founded in 1922 as a trade group for the American film
industry, the MPAA introduced its first-ever movie rating
system in November 1968.
Marilyn Monroe (June 1, 1926 – August 4, 1962)
(born Norma Jeane Mortenson)
Note: One of the last few photos of Marilyn Monroe taken
weeks before her death.
On August 5, 1962, movie actress Marilyn Monroe is found dead
in her home in Los Angeles. She was discovered lying nude on
her bed, face down, with a telephone receiver in one hand.
Empty bottles of pills, prescribed to treat her depression, were
littered around the room. After a brief investigation, Los Angeles
police concluded that her death was “caused by a self-administered overdose of sedative drugs and that the mode of death is probable suicide.”
Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971)
Louis Armstrong was born and raised in New Orleans,
Louisiana. He was.a trumpeter and vocalist who was
among the most influential figures in jazz.
His career spanned five decades and several eras in
the history of jazz. Armstrong received numerous
accolades including the Grammy Award for Best
Male Vocal Performance for Hello, Dolly! in 1965, as
well as a posthumous win for the Grammy Lifetime
Achievement Award in 1972.
His influence crossed musical genres, with inductions
into the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame, the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame, and the National Rhythm & Blues
Hall of Fame, among others.
PT-109 was a US Navy patrol torpedo boat commanded by
Lieutenant (junior grade) John F. Kennedy during World War
II in the Solomon Islands.
The boat was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer on
August 2, 1943.Two crewmen were, in fact, killed, but 11
survived, including Lt. John F. Kennedy.
His actions in rescuing his crew after the sinking earned him
a Navy and Marine Corps Medal and contributed to his later
political career.
PT-109, a film dramatizing this story, starring Cliff
Robertson as Kennedy, opened in 1963.
