December 31: Forrest Gump

December 31, 1971

Forrest and Lieutenant Dan's New Year's Eve celebration proves even more depressing than their Christmas.  Frankly, I'm of the opinion that any non-sporting celebration that involves television is depressing enough, even without dumb party hats and sour encounters with hookers.

December 25: Forrest Gump

December 25, 1971

Forrest and Lieutenant Dan spend one of the most depressing Christmases ever, with Bob Hope neglected on the tv.

Well, almost. Seems like they couldn't actually have seen the broadcast for another month or so. "The most memorable Bob Hope Christmas specials were, without a doubt, his 1970 and 1971 episodes. Filmed in front of military audiences at the height of the Vietnam War, these specials actually aired in January –after Hope was back in the United States— and were seen by more than sixty percent of television-viewing households in America. Like his other Christmas specials, the Vietnam shows were all about celebrating the traditional joy, peace and good cheer of the season. His use of humor, beautiful women and talented performers were a welcome respite from the horrors of the war itself." pressemeldungen.at

December 24: The Apartment

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring... nothin'... no action... dullsville!

December 21: Adaptation

The prosecutor then rose and read the state's charges - that on December 21, 1994, Laroche and his three Seminole assistants had illegally removed more than two hundred rare orchid and bromeliad plants from the Fakahatchee and were apprehended leaving the swamp in possession of four cotton pillowcases full of flowers."
The Orchid Thief, by Susan Orleans

December 20: Zodiac

First Zodiac letter (received August 1 1969) refers to December 20 1968 murder

Later article on 1968 Zodiac murder

Graysmith visits Leigh Allen in a Vallejo hardware store

(though the wall calendar is for February 1984, the encounter took place December 20, 1983)

December 19: Miracle At St. Anna

December 18: Zodiac

December 16: Man On Fire

December 15: State & Main

December 10: Zodiac

December 8: Forrest Gump

December 8, 1980

A few years after appearing on the Dick Cavett Show with John Lennon, "that nice young man from England was on his way home to see his little boy and was signing some autographs. For no particular reason at all, somebody shot him."

December 7: State & Main

December 6: The Lovely Bones

"I was 14 years old when I was murdered. On December sixth, 1973."

December 6: The Wind That Shakes The Barley

The Wind That Shakes The Barley

The Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed in London by representatives of the British government and envoys of the Irish Republic on December 6, 1921.

 

December 2: Casablanca

Five days before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

November 30: A Single Man

Friday November 30, 1962

shown on a bare screen at the end of the opening title sequence

the film includes JFK public announcements on radio or tv

concerning the Cuban missile crisis

curiously, the missile crisis concluded by October 28

perhaps the Kennedy speeches are in flashbacks?

November 29: Zodiac

November 25: North By Northwest

The date on the newspaper shown being read at the United States Intelligence Agency is shown as Tuesday November 25, 1958.

November 23: Across The Universe

November 23, 1967 – Thanksgiving

Jude: We don't have it in England. Is it a big deal?
Max: It's a heartwarming American tradition.
Lucy: It celebrates the time when the indians shared their food with the early settlers.

And how did we repay them? We slaughtered them in thousands and shipped them off to the shittiest bits of real estate.

November 22: Forrest Gump

November 22, 1963

"Sometime later, for no particular reason, somebody shot that nice young President when he was ridin' in his car. And a few years after that somebody shot his little brother, too, only he was in a hotel kitchen."

November 18: Zodiac

November 17: Forrest Gump

No telling what day it is when Forrest sits on the bus stop bench and tells his story, but that particular People magazine is dated November 17, 1980.

November 15: Godfather III

FINANCIAL TIMES

Wednesday November 15, 1979

"Building An Empire: Corleone Proposal for New Immobiliare"

also: "Car Bomb Kills British Finance Minister at H..."

00:43:08

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Wednesday November 15, 1979

"Immobiliare Takeover Appears Likely: Stock Soars"

00:43:23

November 11: Be Kind, Rewind

"Listen kids, I appreciate your creativity. But let's be realistic for a second. We will never hit that number, and the building will be gone."

Be Kind, Rewind
1:02:49

November 11: Me & Orson Welles

"Caesar" opened at The Mercury Theatre on November 11, 1937

"The death of Caesar as they will start doing it Thursday at the
newly christened Mercury Theatre, with Orson Welles, Martin Gabel,
George Coulouris, Joseph Holland herewith shown grim or recumbent."
The New York Times

Greta's response letter from The New Yorker 

November 10: Me & Orson Welles

"Who is it here so base that would be a bondsman?"

"We wait for Orson."

November 10: Me & Orson Welles

John Houseman: Orson, we positively have to commit to an opening date.

Orson Welles: Thursday. We let Tallulah open on Wednesday in her three million dollar Hindenburg of Antony and Cleopatra, then we open Thursday: a lean, brutal Caesar.

*

The New Yorker, Theatre listings

*

"Shakespeare Not Amused"
Brooks Atkinson, The New York Times

“...incompetently spoken, badly edited, this Anthony and Cleopatra" – Anthony with an “h,” Christ, Atkinson can’t even get the name of the play right – "Anthony And Cleopatra was a considerable trial of an audience’s patience and goodwill...”

*

The New Yorker, November 20, 1937

November 9: Me & Orson Welles

"Lloyd, the Cinna the poet scene's out. It never worked anyway. I'm making it a blackout and a musical interlude."

*

"Norman Lloyd’s career in entertainment has spanned more than seven decades. The scene of his murder (as Cinna the Poet) in Julius Caesar was the production’s coup de theatre, producing the play’s most chilling moment. He became a favourite of Alfred Hitchcock’s, appearing in Saboteur and Spellbound and being closely involved in the production of the television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. As a TV performer, he is probably best remembered as Dr Auschlander in 132 episodes of the hospital drama St Elsewhere. His films include Dead Poets Society and, most recently, In Her Shoes." zefron.com

November 8: Me & Orson Welles

English class

"Well Junior, it's Monday and we haven't had the Bad Luck Thing yet. I'm a little worried."

November 8: Me & Orson Welles

“Did you see these dinosaurs on the cover of Time? Look at this. The son-of-a-bitch Lunts. . . ." 

Time Magazine, November 8, 1937

"Let me tell you something. Before this year is over, I – we – will be on the cover of Time. This stage is where theatrical history is being written.”

Time Magazine, May 9, 1938