Writer of Pop Culture

Undoubtably, Prince was a talented singer and performer, but was he a good actor? Some say yes, others say no. His first role was for Purple Rain, a movie where he stars as a version of himself despite Warner Bros.’ wishes.

1984 – Prince and His Fight to Star in ‘Purple Rain’

Purple Rain wasn’t just one of Prince’s best-selling singles, it was also a romantic musical movie and for the singer, a dream come true. Hot after the success of the album 1999 Prince had a desire to be in the movies. He told his manager, Robert Cavallo, that he would not renew his contract unless he was able to star in a feature film. This was a tough sell. Every studio that he met with had no desire to produce it.

Directed by Alvert Magnoli, Prince starred in Purple Rain despite studio executives’ attempts to replace him. (Supposedly, during the initial meeting at Warner Bros., an executive asked Cavallo if John Travolta could be the film’s lead.)

A Star is Born – Maybe

In his first acting role, Prince played a version of himself. “The Kid” escapes his abusive home life by performing at a night club going up against bands that were more seasoned and navigating a difficult romantic relationship. Prince had originally wanted the story to be darker in tone and have a more coherent storyline. Instead, many of the scenes that were shot were cut which gave more room for concert sequences. The movie also stars Apollonia Kotero, Morris Day, Olga Karlatos and Clarence Williams III.

The end result was a mixed bag. The movie was a financial success, but it got mixed reviews. The film’s namesake song won an Oscar for Best Original Song Score, but another song was nominated for Razzie. The movie soundtrack sold over 25 million copies worldwide.

When Prince died on April 21, 2016, both MTV and VHI showed edited versions of the movie as a tribute with screenings of the movie were shown in theaters the following week.

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OTHER EVENTS THAT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY:

1940 – Billboard Magazine Starts Its Charts

While Billboard Magazine started publication as early as 1894, it began taking a stronger interest in reporting about music in the 1930’s. On this day in 1940, the magazine printed its first “Chart Line” tracking the best-selling records of the day.

In 1944, a second chart for jukebox records, Music Box Machine charts were published as well. By 1987, the magazine supported eight music charts focusing on different genres and formats and that number exploded to 28 by 1994. By then, some were declaring that the publication was a “undisputed leader” in music industry news and is still respected today. Even Billboard themselves declared that they were the “bible” of the recording industry in 1990.

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1940 – The First Bugs Bunny Cartoon

While Porky’s Hare Hunt was the first Warner Bros. cartoon to feature a “Bugs Bunny-like” rabbit, A Wild Hare, directed by Tex Avery is widely considered to be the first official Bugs Bunny cartoon. It is the first film where Bugs is voiced by Mel Blanc (who would continue to voice the rabbit for many years) and the first for the hare to utter, “What’s Up Doc?” A huge success at the box office, the short also received an Academy Award nomination for Best Cartoon Short Subject.

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1979 – Country Music Fails on Broadway

St. James Theater on Broadway was the home of the ambitious seven-and-a-half-week run of the show Broadway Opry ’79: A Little Country in the Big City. The show featured a variety of country western music stars who would perform for a few days in the row and then switch out with other singers.

Though the show used the term “Opry”, it had no connection to Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry. In fact, none of the show’s producers had even seen a show there.

Opening night featured acts by Tanya Tucker, Floyd Cramer, Mickey Newbury and Don Gibson. Other acts to follow would have included Buck Owens, Conway Twitty, Dottie West, Roger Miller and more, but the show closed after just two shows. The theater was full, but that might have to do with the fact that the ticket prices were slashed from $19 to $12.

Broadway Opry ’79 just didn’t attract enough business to continue. David S. Fitzpatrick, a co-producer of the show told The New York Times, “Time was our enemy. We had only two months to put it together.

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2001: Burton’s ‘Apes’ Movie Confuses Audiences

In 1968, 20^th Century Fox began a successful franchise based on Pierre Boulle’s novel Planet of the Apes. The Apes were a big deal. Five theatrical movies were released from 1968 to 1973. The stories continued with a CBS TV series in 1974. NBC got into the act the next year with the animated Return to the Planet of the Apes for Saturday morning TV. Both shows ran for one season.

Talks of a revival of Planet of the Apes came about as early as 1988 when director Adam Rifkin came close to producing a new film but it was cancelled. Other Apes projects were pitched and planned by the likes of Oliver Stone, Sam Raimi, Chris Columbus and James Cameron, but nothing panned out until Tim Burton came onto the scene.

Burton didn’t want to replicate the first movie. He wanted to “reinvent” the story using elements from the novel and the original movie while adding new plotlines and characters. The movie starred Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Clarke, Kirs Kristofferson, Estella Warren and Paul Giamatti. Charlton Heston and Linda Harrison who appeared in the franchise’s first two movies, had cameo appearances as well.

The 2001 movie was praised for its visuals, makeup and characterizations and it made a lot of money too. Planet of the Apes grossed $25 million on its opening day and ultimately made over $362 million at the box office worldwide.

But people didn’t love Burton’s version of the story. Some critics thought that the movie looked good, but that wasn’t enough for it to be a good movie. Burton’s movie had a Rotten Tomatoes approval rating of 42-43% and it won three Golden Raspberry Awards including Worst Remake.

Audiences and critics alike complained about the movie’s ambiguous and confusing ending which differs from the original. To be fair, Burton has said that it was supposed to be confusing as it was set up as a cliffhanger.

Despite the movie’s financial success, 20^th Century Fox chose not to make a sequel. That didn’t bother Burton who said that he would “rather jump out of a window.” He even called the movie a creative misstep.

In 2011, 20^th Century Fox went out on a limb with Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The reboot was followed by Dawn of the Planet of the Apes in 2014, War for the Planet of the Apes in 2017, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes in 2024 and a fifth untitled film is reported to open in theaters on May 14, 2027.

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