A Brief History On January 24, 1940, The Grapes of Wrath, a drama film directed by John Ford, was released in theaters in the United States of America. The film was based on John Steinbeck’s 1939 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. The screenplay was written by Nunnally Johnson and the executive producer was Darryl F. Zanuck. The film tells the story of the Joads, an Oklahoma family, who, after losing their farm during the Great Depression in the 1930s, become migrant workers and end up in California. The motion picture details their arduous journey across the United States as…
Read More
A Brief History On November 1, 2017, we look back to last night when we got to see a pre-screening of the new Marvel major motion picture, Thor: Ragnarok. Although we will speak more about it, it is possible to sum up the movie in just a few words: Blockbuster, A Must See, Colorful, Stunning, Pure Entertainment, Action-Action-Action!, Eye Candy, and probably the biggest grossing movie of 2017 (our prediction). It is the 3rd in a series of Thor themed movies (Thor, from 2011, and Thor: The Dark World from 2013). The film follows 16 other Marvel Cinematic Universe films…
A Brief History On October 31, 1941, the United States Navy destroyer, USS Reuben James was sunk by a German U-boat with torpedoes, the first US Navy ship sunk in the European Theater of Operations during World War II, and over a month before the US was even in the war. Today we will tell you a little about the namesake of the fateful ship, and about 10 ships well known for having songs about them. (Apologies to “The Ballad of Gilligan’s Island” and the SS Minnow!) Digging Deeper 1. USS Reuben James. The ship also known as DD-245 was assigned…
A Brief History On October 30, 1974, the unlikely venue of Kinshasa, Zaire (Zaire is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) was the scene of one of the most memorable fights of all time. Muhammad Ali squared off against Big George Foreman in a fight billed as “The Rumble in the Jungle.” Today we honor those fighters brave enough to face the best and give as well as take with the hardest punchers in the world. Digging Deeper 1. Ali-Foreman, October 30, 1974. Known as “The Rumble in the Jungle,” the match pitted 25 year old reigning Heavyweight Champion “Big…
A Brief History On October 29, 1955, the Soviet battleship Novorossiysk struck a mine in Sevastopol Harbor and sank, taking the lives of 608 crewmen. Even when we think a war is over, the terrible price cannot yet be calculated, because wars have ways of continuing to kill past the date History claims ended the war. Here we list 8 of those sad ways wars continue to kill people beyond what seems to be their time frame. Digging Deeper 1. Anti-ship mines. As noted above, the former Italian battleship, Giulio Cesare, renamed by the Soviet Union the Novorossiysk after the USSR…