When we think of Cecil B. DeMille it's hard not to imagine wide panoramas and swelling music as the action develops, but of the 70 films he produced and directed fully 52 were silent. There have been other directors with long careers, DeMille stands out by being successful in all five decades of his career, from the "teens" to the fifties. He met his highest critical acclaim with The Ten Commandments in 1923, the critics largely dismissed his predictability and commercialism or detested him for his strong anti-Communist stance but the public flocked to his epics. The Academy didn't reward his output either, he was nominated for Best Director only once (for The Greatest Show on Earth) and the Oscar went to John Ford. The 1956 version of The Ten Commandments was nominated for seven awards, was awarded only one for Best Special Effects - Best Picture went to Around the World in 80 Days.
When an 11-year-old boy in England was run over by a cart in 1865, it may have been just his parent's desperation that brought him to Joseph Lister. At the time a compound fracture, with the bones exposed and dirt forced into the wound, meant amputation and probable death. The first surgical operation in which sterility was even attempted allowed for a full recovery.
Ever since Benjamin Franklin became the first US postmaster in 1790 the mail was delivered by the federal government, but effective with the Postal Reorganization Act the mail would be carried by an independent, although government owned, corporation and the postmaster general lost his cabinet seat. Mail service seems to have improved.
We also have the founding of the first police department in America, the first "car trip with the kids," the integration of the schools in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Queen Sirikit's birthday in Thailand.
1658 - The first police force in America was formed at New Amsterdam, now New York City.
1865 - Dr Joseph Lister performed the first surgery using disinfectants on an 11-year-old boy who had been run over by a cart. After cleaning the wound and setting the compound fracture he used dressings soaked in carbolic acid. The concentration was too high and caused localized burns, but the patient made a full recovery.
1888 - To demonstrate the reliability of her husband's new "patent motor car," but without his knowledge, Bertha Benz took her two sons and her husband's three-wheel horseless carriage 180 km from Mannheim to Pforzheim. On arrival she sent him a telegram.
1959 - After being closed the previous year to avoid integration, Little Rock, Arkansas high schools open a month early with six black students attending two schools. About 250 segregationists march on Central High, 21 are arrested and the rest are dispersed with fire hoses.
1960 - Experimental communications satellite Echo 1A was launched from Cape Canaveral. The Echo satellites were metalized Mylar balloons, 100 feet in diameter, that simply reflected microwaves beamed toward them. (Echo 1 was launched on 13 May but attitude control of the second stage failed and the satellite didn't reach orbit.)
1970 - US president Richard Nixon signed the Postal Reorganization Act, ending 180 years of operation as a government department.
Queen's Birthday, Thailand - Her Majesty Queen Sirikit is regarded as Mother of the Populace and her birthday is also celebrated as National Mothers Day.
1881
- Cecil Blount DeMille, US filmmaker - Born at Ashfield, Massachusetts
to a clergyman and the headmistress of a girls' school, educated at Pennsylvania
Military College. Inspired by older brother William Churchill DeMille
he attended New York Academy of Dramatic Arts, first played on Broadway
in 1900, modest success acting, managing, and writing with William for
12 years. Formed the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company in 1914 with
Lasky, a vaudeville musician, and a glove salesman named Samuel Goldfish
who later changed his name to Goldwyn. Moved to Hollywood and rented a
barn, directed The Squaw Man - the first film made in Hollywood. Kept
budgets down by working with then-unknown actors. The Lasky company merged
in 1916 with Adolf Zukor's Famous Players, the nucleus that later became
Paramount, DeMille formed his own production company in 1921 but worked
for Paramount until 1925 whn a film was given to another director at the
last minute. Worked as an independent for five years, spent a year with
MGM shooting three unsuccessful sound films before returning to Paramount
in 1931. Both produced and directed all 70 of his films, except for Billy
Wilder's Sunset Boulevard in which DeMille played DeMille in his only
film appearance. Received a special Academy Award in 1949, Best Picture
in 1952 for The Greatest Show on Earth, and won the Irving Thalberg Award
in 1953. Died at Hollywood, California on 21 January 1959.
I've gone into hundreds of [fortune-tellers' parlors], and have been
told thousands of things, but nobody ever told me I was a policewoman
getting ready to arrest her.
- New York City detective
You only lie to two people; your girlfriend and the police. Everyone
else you tell the truth to.
- Jack Nicholson
Please pack it carefully, there's probably not much you can do to damage
a heavy duty unit, but I'm sure the Postal Service could figure out a
way.
- Roger Pundt
First, God made idiots. This was for practice. Then He created school
boards.
- Mark Twain
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