This Day in Pop Culture for March 28

1963: ‘The Birds’ Attack Hollywood

In the early 1920’s Ub Iwerks worked with Walt Disney creating Laugh-O-Grams and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit shorts. In the early 1960’s, he recorded sounds of birds attacking at Walt Disney Studios for Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds which was released on this day in 1963. Based on the short story of the same name by Daphne du Maurier and partially inspired by a true event of a bird attack that happened in Capitola, California. Universal Pictures released the horror film about a few mysterious days when birds of all kinds began attacking the people Bodega Bay, California with no real explanation as to why. The Birds starred Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor, Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette and Veronica Cartwright.

Most of the birds featured in the movie (about 25,000 of them) were real, but there were some mechanical ones used as well. Hitchcock once said that the birds in the story rose up to punish humans for taking them for granted.

While Iwerks was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Special Effects and Hedren got a Golden Globe for New Star of the Year, the movie itself received mixed reviews from critics. Some thought the film was a lot of fun thrills while others though it was Hitchcock’s worst, but over time, appreciation of the film has grown. A made-for-TV sequel of sorts, The Birds II: Land’s End was made in 1994. However, the movie featured all-new characters and took place in a different seaside town. (Bodega Bay was mentioned, but only once). Hedren played a supporting role in the film, but as a different character. Apparently, the director of the film, Rick Rosenthal wasn’t thrilled with the movie. He used the pseudonym Alan Smithee in the credits.

A remake of The Birds was also in the works in 2007 which would have been directed by Martin Campbell and starred Naomi Watts, but it was cancelled. Then in 2010, the low-budget film, Birdemic: Shock and Terror was inspired by the Hitchcock tale. Despite its terrible reviews (some calling it one of the worst movies ever made) two sequels were released in 2013 and 2022. (Images: Wikipedia)

1881: Greatest Show on Earth

Entrepreneur P.T. Barnum became a natural salesman at the age of 12 selling lottery tickets and cherry rum to soldiers. Later, he tried out a variety of businesses, including newspaper publishing and running a boarding house. But he didn’t find his true calling until 1871. His new venture was called “P.T. Barnum’s Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan, and Circus: The Greatest Show on Earth” which was quite a mouthful. By this day in 1881, Barnum joined forces with James Bailey and James Hutchinson, and in 1887, the re-branded circus went by the name of “The Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth.” Barnum died on April 7, 1891 and his circus was bought by the rivaling Ringling Brothers in 1907. On May 21, 2017, the circus performed its last show in Uniondale, New York. (Image: Wikimedia)