Arts
Frank Sinatra: Boxing Photographer
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Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier’s ‘Fight of the Century’ at Madison Square Garden on 8th March, 1971 had the attention of the world – including multiple celebrities. But the photographer LIFE magazine had hired for the event was, nevertheless, a coup: Frank Sinatra. “I’m so mad I could chew nails and spit tax”, wrote former …
Eva Tanguay: Cyclonic Comedienne
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Eva Tanguay, vaudeville megastar, was arrested in Louisville, Kentucky on 1st March, 1910 after stabbing a stagehand three times with a hat pin. At the police station, she reportedly produced a roll of bills and cried, “take it all. And let me go, for it’s now my dinner time.” It was neither the first violent …
The Ancients v The Moderns
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Modern art was controversially celebrated on 27th January, 1687, when Charles Perrault read his poem ‘The Century of Louis The Great’ at the Académie Française – railing against the prevailing wisdom that believed literature should follow the strict classical templates laid down by the likes of Homer and Aristotle. The subsequent debate between rival factions …
Rebooting ‘The Rivals’
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The first night of Richard Sheridan’s classic comedy ‘The Rivals’ did not go according to plan. Critics thought it was too long, the Irish gentry in the audience were insulted, and an actor was pelted with rotten fruit. It closed after one performance on 17th January, 1775. But then… after eleven days of rewrites, recasting …
New York meets Snow White
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Disney’s long-awaited feature ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ was rapturously received at Radio City, New York, inspiring three-hour queues for tickets. The reviews that America woke up to on 14th January 1938 were euphoric: a masterpiece had landed. “It is a classic as important cinematically as The Birth Of A Nation”, Frank Nugent wrote …
The Night Before The Night Before Christmas
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Before becoming the most valuable poem in American Literature, ‘A Visit From St. Nicholas’ was published anonymously in the Troy Sentinel on 23rd December, 1823 – its author remaining a secret for fourteen years. The work, commonly known as ‘The Night Before Christmas’, was eventually revealed to be written by philosopher and lecturer Clement Clark …
William Tell’s Apple Adventures
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Switzerland’s most famous archer shot fruit off his own son’s head on 18th November, 1307. Or did he? ‘Chronicon Helveticum’ by Aegidius Tschudi, from which the date comes, claims to be a serious historical account, but was written roughly 200 years later – and not published until nearly 200 years after that. And the myth bears remarkable …
When Space Mountain Saved EuroDisney
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Disneyland Paris, now Europe’s most popular theme park, initially haemorrhaged money – at an estimated rate of $1 million per day. But, after three years, it finally returned its first profit on 16th November, 1995. This change in the park’s fortunes can be attributed to the popularity of two trains: the opening of the Eurostar …
The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze
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Jules Leotard first somersaulted off a trapeze at Cirque Napoléon in Paris on 12th November, 1859. His act inspired gymnasts and circus performers the world over – although Leotard is now best remembered as the inventor of the skin-tight outfits he wore on stage. Leotard had abandoned his studies as a lawyer to perfect his …