Only the good die young...but that's probably because they're more likely to take lethal combinations of prescription drugs. It's hard to believe it's been three years since Anna Nicole Smith passed, and shit, we'd entirely forgotten that Ernest was dead as well (mostly because we watch his movies so dern much). For those, plus the anniversary of the most racist movie of all time, read on for This Week in Showbiz History...
2/8/15: Birth of a Nation premieres in L.A.
• There are racist movies and racist movies (that you didn't know were racist). And then there's D.W. Griffith's pro-Klu Klux Klan monstrosity Birth of a Nation, released 95 years ago this week. The film is credited with introducing various innovative camera techniques (deep-focus, jump cuts)—as well as resurrecting the popularity of the Klan. That it made $10 million ($200) when it was released is, sadly, not surprising. Neither is the fact that in 1992 the Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry, or that the American Film Institute named it the #44 best film of all time in 2007.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2/10/00: Jim Varney dies of lung cancer
• Rest in peace to one of the greats!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
• CLICK HERE FOR MORE COMPLEX MOVIE POSTS!
