This Day in Pop Culture for November 8

1935 – ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ Comes to Theaters

OSCAR WINNER

The MGM movie, Mutiny on the Bounty sailed into theaters on this day in 1935. The movie was based on the novel of the same name (by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall) which was based on real-life events.

Directed by Frank Lloyd, the film starred Charles Laughton and Clark Gable and also featured James Cagney, David Niven and Dick Haymes in uncredited roles.

Although questioned for its historical accuracy, the film is considered one of Hollywood’s best. It was nominated for six Academy Awards but only one Oscar – Best Picture! The same could not be said for the 1962 remake that starred Marlon Brando, Trevor Howard and Richard Harris. That filmed was panned by critics and lost over $6 million.

1949 – All the King’s Men … Were Dramatic

Broderick Crawford in "All the King's Men" — Broderick Crawford in *All the King’s Men (Wikimedia Commons)*

Based on Robert Penn’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, All the King’s Men focused on the rise and fall of Willie Stark, an idealistic politician. The character’s name wasn’t the film’s only problem. Director Robert Rossen had a difficult time finding a leading man.

Initially, Rossen approached John Wayne for the role, but Wayne wasn’t interested. The studio, Columbia Pictures, suggested Spencer Tracy, but Rossen thought that Tracy wasn’t tough enough. Character actor Broderick Crawford ended up playing Willie despite his lack of star power. He really wanted the part too and took a cut in pay to prove it.

A number of changes were made from book to screen. Perhaps the most notable was the changing of the story’s narrator from Jack Burdern, a reporter to Willie. All the King’s Men also starred John Ireland, Mercedes McCambridge, and Joanne Dru.

Though the plot might sound like much, Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 97% rating. All the King’s Men was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won three Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor (Crawford – see it was a good choice!), and Best Supporting Actress (McCambridge). It movie won five Golden Globes too.

On September 22, 2006, Columbia Pictures hoped for lightning to strike twice with a remake of All the King’s Men. Steven Zaillian directed, Sean Penn took the role as Stark. Penn shared the screen with the likes of Jude Law, Kate Winslet, James Gandolfini, Patricia Clarkson, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Hopkins and Kathy Baker. Unfortunately, there was no lightning. The film failed to impress critics and audiences becoming a big dud.

OTHER EVENTS THAT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY:

1972 – The First Pay TV Channel Appears for the First Time

HBO logos — *(HBO via Wikimedia Commons)*

Today there are over 300 streaming services available to choose from, but on this day in 1972, the first and longest continuously operating pay TV service, Home Box Office (better known as HBO) began airing.

Originally just a working title, HBO’s first presentation was of the movie, Sometimes a Great Nation that starred Paul Newman and Henry Fonda. It was transmitted to 325 subscribers. Immediately following, HBO aired its first sports event, an NHL hockey game.

The network’s first special, Pennsylvania Polka Festival, aired on February 1973. For the first nine years, HBO only aired for nine hours each day. 24-hour programming began in 1981.

HBO’s first original movie, The Terry Fox Story premiered in 1983. In 2015, HBO became available on the Internet via the HBO Now streaming service and in May 2020 it was re-branded as HBO Max.

2019 – Go Wildcats!

The cast from "High School Musical the Series" — Dara Reneé as Kourtney, Matt Cornett as E.J., Larry Saperstein as Big Red, Olivia Rodrigo as Nini, Julia Rose Lester as Ashlyn, Joshua Bassett as Ricky, Frankie A. Rodriguez as Carlos, and Sofia Wylie as Gina from *High School Musical: The Musical: The Series* *(Disney+/Craig Sjodin)*

Inspired by Disney’s film series, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series for the Disney+ streaming service was identified as a mockumentary musical drama. It was set at East High School in Salt Lake Utah (where the original movie was filmed) and followed the school’s new drama teacher, Miss Jenn (Kate Reinders) and her desire to present a stage version of the first HSM movie.

The cast of characters include musical theater enthusiast Nini Salazar-Roberts (Olivia Rodrigo), guitarist, skateboarder and former flame of Nini Ricky Bowen (Joshua Bassett), E.J. Caswell (Matt Cornett) and jock theater enthusiast, transfers student Gina Porter (Sofia Wylie), Big Red (Larry Saperstein) the understudy stage manager, feminist Kourtney Greene (Dara Renee), choreographer Carlos Rodriguez (Frankie Rodriguez), STEM teacher Benjamin Mazzara (St. Cyr) and Seb Matthew-Smith (Serafini) who played the role of Sharpay in the first season.

1889 – Montana Becomes the 41st U.S. State

1980 – Fonzie and Friends Get Animated

Animated characters from Happy Days — *The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang (Warner Bros. via TVDB)*

Happy Days had been a hit show for ABC since 1974 but in 1980, it received a most unusual spin-off. Debuting on this day, The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang was an animated series which began airing on Saturday mornings also on ABC.

Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and Paramount Television, the cartoon’s premise was that Fonzie, Richie Cunningham and Ralph Malph helped out an alien teenager named Cupcake and somehow got stuck in time with her. During each episode, the group would travel from one era to another traveling in a time machine that resembled a phone booth. Because of this, some have considered the show a knock-off of Doctor Who, but in reality, that booth was the only similarity. Henry Winkler, Ron Howard and Donny Most reprised their roles in animated form along with Didi Conn who played Cupcake and Frank Welker who voiced Fonzie’s dog, Mr. Cool.