The Jokes:
Les Miserables is opening on Broadway next year. Anyone else tired of these damn musicals based on movies.
Apple, Jeep, Burger King and Facebook have all been hacked recently. Lucky no one knows this site exits or else we’d be next.
And The Award Goes To…
Here we go, every best picture ever and something stupid to know about it:
1928 – Wings
The first movie to show two men kiss.
1929 – The Broadway Melody
Even though this was the first film MGM made with all talking, many theaters showed a silent version because they had not yet have audio equipment.
1930- All Quiet On The Western Front
This film was banned by the Nazi party. However neighboring countries played the film to packed houses of Germans who traveled to see it.
1931 – Cimarron
This movie cost 1.4 million to make, but only made $900,000, making it the only Best Picture film to have lost money during it’s initial release. It also stars a guy named Dick Dix.
1932 – Grand Hotel
Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford never appear together in the film because it was feared they might upstage each other.
1933 – Cavalcade
The only Best Picture winner to have not been released on DVD.
1934 – It Happened One Night
Rober Montgomery turned down the chance to play the male lead because he said the script was the worse thing he ever read.
1935 – Mutiny on The Bounty
Clark Gable, Charles Laughton, and Franchot Tone were all nominated for Best Actor. Because of this the Academy would introduce the award for best supporting actor the following year.
1936 – The Great Ziegfeld
Even though she received second billing, Myrna Loy does not appear in the film until over 2 hours in.
1937 – The Life of Emile Zola
In the film Zola burns some books to warm his apartment. When Cezanne goes to open a window to let out the smoke Zola asks him not to. In real life Zola dies due to Carbon Monoxide poisoning due to a stuffed chimney.
1938 – You Can’t Take It With You
Lionel Barrymore lost the use of his legs shortly before filming. The script was altered so that his character had a sprained ankle and used crutches.
1939 – Gone With The Wind
Gary Cooper turned down the role of Rhett Butler. He insisted that the film would be a huge flop and remarked, “I’m just glad it’ll be Clark Gable who’s falling on his face and not Gary Cooper.”
1940 – Rebecca
The film was so popular in Spain , that they still refer to the type of jacket worn in the film as “Rebeccas”.
1941 – How Green Was My Valley
The film was shot in black and white because the color of flowers in Southern California did not match those found in Wales.
1942 – Mrs. Miniver
Winston Churchill said this film did more for the war effort than a fleet of destroyers.
1943 – Casablanca
The scene at the airport used a mini version of a plane made out of cardboard. To make it look full sized they used midgets to pretend to service the plane.
1944 – Going My Way
Was banned in several Latin American countries because a priest wore a white shirt.
1945 – The Lost Weekend
The liquor industry reportedly offered Paramount 5 million dollars to not realease this film.
1946 – The Beat Years Of Our Lives
The first film recorded in stereo.
1947 – Gentlemen’s Agreement
The movie mentions three real people well-known for their racism and anti-Semitism at the time: Mississippi Sen. Theodore Bilbo, who advocated sending all African-Americans back to Africa; Mississippi Rep. John Rankin, who called columnist Walter Winchell “the little kike” on the floor of the House of Representatives; and Christian Nationalist Crusade leader Gerald L.K. Smith, who tried legal means to prevent Twentieth Century-Fox from showing the movie in Tulsa.
1948 – Hamlet
Laurence Oliver became the first person to direct themselves to a Best Actor award. Only Robert Benigni would repeat this for Life Is Beautiful.
1949 – All The King’s Men
Nobody in the cast was given a script. They would be allowed to read it once and then had it taken away from them.
1950 – All About Eve
Zsa Zsa Gabor would frequently show up on set because she was jealous of her husband George Sanders in his scenes with Marilyn Monroe.
1951 – An American in Paris
The 17 minute dance sequence at the end of the film took a month to film and cost half a million dollars to make.
1952 – The Greatest Show On Earth
This was the first film Steven Spielburg ever saw. His dad took him at the age of 4 promising him a trip to the circus.
1953 – From Here To Eternity
Rumors persist that some of George Reeve’s scenes were cut because people recognized him as Superman. This is untrue, all scenes he filmed are in the movie.
1954 – On The Waterfront
The director forgot to acquire rear projector equipment. This is why the cab has blinds in the rear window.
1955 – Marty
This was the first film shown in Russia since World War II. Although they didn’t get it until 1959.
1956 – Around the World in Eighty Days
The term cameo was popularized due to the many cameos in this film.
1957 – The Bridge or Rive Kwai
David Lean wanted the soldiers to sing “Hitler’s only got one ball” but the censor prevailed, so they just whistled instead.
1958 – Gigi
Gigi is the shortest title of a film to ever win Best Picture. The day after the Oscars, operators at MGM were instructed to answer the phone “M-Gigi-M”.
1959 – Ben-Hur
The water holding the boat wasn’t blue enough so the studio dyed it. At one point an extra fell in and turned blue. He was kept on the studio payroll until his blueness wore off.
1960 – The Apartment
This was the last Black and White film to win Best Picture until the Artist in 2011.
1961 – West Side Story
Natalie Wood wears a bracelet on her left wrist to hide an injury she got while filming The Green Promise.
1962 – Lawrence of Arabia
At 227 minutes long, this is the longest movie to not have any females with a speaking role.
1963 – Tom Jones
The scene where the horse falls on Hugh Griffith was not planned, but a result of him being drunk the entire time the film was being made.
1964 – My Fair Lady
Audrey Hepburn’s sining voice was dubbed by Marni Nixon, who also dubbed in the sining for Natalie Wood in 1961 Best Picture West Side Story.
1965 – The Sound of Music
Debbie Turner, who played Marta, kept losing her baby teeth during filming. They replaced them with false ones.
1966 – A Man for All Seasons
A truckload of Styrofoam was ordered to simulate snow. As soon as it arrived it began snowing for real.
1967 – In the Heat of the Night
Norman Jewison chewed through 263 packs of gum through filming.
1968 – Oliver!
So far, this is the last G Rated Film to win Best Picture.
1969 – Midnight Cowboy
Dustin Hoffman kept pebbles in his shoe to keep his limp. During a one of his character’s coughing fits he went overboard and wound up vomiting.
1970 – Patton!
This was Rick=hard Nixon’s favorite film. He had his own print and would often watch it in the White House before making important military decisions.
1971 and beyond will come tomorrow!
