And speaking of the Grinch, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” made its debut on tonight on CBS in 1966. CBS aired it annually in December until 1987, when it moved to the Turner Networks. The moral of the story is that the only way to appreciate the true meaning of Christ’s birth is to have someone steal all your stuff.
A little more of a highbrow entertainment debuted tonight in 1892 in the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. Tchaikovsky’s ballet, “The Nutcracker” got a mediocre reaction the first night, but has also become a Christmas classic. The moral of the story is that if you stay up way too late drinking, weird stuff will start to happen.
And to think that the old AOL voice was charming and a part of all of our lives way back in the olden days. “You’ve Got Mail” came out today in 1998. The moral of the story was that it doesn’t matter how outdated your dream job is, whether it be cobbler, maker of popcorn balls, or owner of a boutique book store… well, you’ll probably fail, but if you’re cute enough a rich guy will scoop you up and you’ll laugh about your failed business at some Upper East Side Christmas party and you’ll lie to people and even work up a tear or two when you tell them you were actually friends with Nora Ephron and not just a character in one of her movies.
Eleven years earlier on this date saw the debut of “Overboard.” Very simple moral in this one: If you’re Kurt Russell, you can get anyone.
Our third classic December 18th movie came out way back in 1957. “The Bridge on the River Kwai” won seven Academy Awards including Best Picture. The moral is that war is bad.
Happy Birthdays to two movie icons: Steven Spielberg (66) and Brad Pitt (49).
Spielberg’s top 10:
1. Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. E.T.
3. Schindler’s List
4. Saving Private Ryan
5. Jaws
6. Lincoln
7. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
8. Jurassic Park
9. Munich
10. Catch Me If You Can
— Bill Hubbell
Such a great day. “Outdated dream job?” asks the newspaper reporter, curiously
For whatever reason, my mom adored the movie “Overboard” (still could, I suppose) so it was one of those movies that oddly dominated the VHS era of my childhood. Was on dozens of times, maybe more. Glad/frightened to see it still exists in someone else’s frame of reference.
To see Lincoln at 6, reminds me it’s criminal I haven’t seen it yet. Catch Me If You Can is, other than a list like this, very underappreciated. It gave Pan Am the perfect old-school nod, long before “Pan Am” did.