2008

1/20-26: Did you know that the first movie theatre was built in 1905 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania by Harry Davis. The first film shown was "The Great Train Robbery" (1903), directed by Edwin Porter?

1/27- 2/2: Did you know that Clint Eastwod's 2000 film "Space Cowboys" was the first Hollywood feature film to use high definition television technology?

2/3-2/9: Did you know that "The Turning Point" (1977) and "The Color Purple" (1985) have the most Oscar nominations without winning a single award? Each film garnered 11 Academy Award nominations.

2/10-2/16: Did you know that Sam Peckinpah's 1973 film "Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid" was the first feature film to have its entire film score written by a popular artist? Bob Dylan wrote the score for the film. He also had an acting role in it.

2/17-2/23: Did you know that Meryl Streep is the most nominated Academy Award actor/actress of all-time with fourteen nominations, dating back to 1978?

2/24-3/1: Did you know that with twelve nominations that Jack Nicholson is the most nominated actor in Academy Award history?

3/2-3/8: Did you know that with his recent win for Best Actor in There Will Be Blood that Daniel Day-Lewis has joined a prestigious group of actors tied for the most Best Actor awards with two each? The other 2-time Best Actor winners are: Fredric March, Spencer Tracy, Gary Cooper, Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman and Tom Hanks.

4/20-4/26: Did you know that "Cabaret" (1973) has the most Oscar nominations, 10, without winning the Best Picture Award?

4/27-5/3: Did you know that both Cary Grant and James Stewart each appeared in four Alfred Hitchcock films?

5/4-5/10: Did you know that acting legend James Stewart passed away one day after another acting legend Robert Mitchum? Mitchum died on July 1, 1997, Stewart on July 2.

5/18-24: Did you know Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro, Patrick Stewart, Jeremy Irons, John Hurt, Robert Duvall and Louis Gossett Jr. were all considered for the role of Dr. Hannibal Lecter in "The Silence of the Lambs" before Anthony Hopkins received the role?

5/25-5/31: Did you know that in his 1988 film "Eight Men Out" director John Sayles chose to play the part of journalist Ring Lardner because he bared such a stunning resemblance to the real Lardner?

6/1-6/7: Did you know that John Ford's 1948 film "Fort Apache", starring John Wayne & Henry Fonda was loosely based on General George Custer's Last Stand?

6/15-6/21: Did you know that "The Night of the Hunter" director Charles Laughton was so disappointed in the critical response to his film that he never directed another one?

6/22-6/28: Did you know that the Martin Scorsese films "Goodfellas", "Casino", & "The Departed" all include the famous Rolling Stones song "Gimme Shelter"?

6/29-7/5: Did you know that director Mel Brooks was married to Oscar winning Best Actress Anne Bancroft for over forty years until her death in 2005?

7/6-7/12: Did you know that Franklin J. Schaffner's 1968 film "Planet of the Apes" was co-written by "The Twilight Zone" creator Rod Serling?

7/13-7/20: Did you know that Lee Harvey Oswald supposedly watched the 1954 film "Suddenly," starring Frank Sinatra, as a man who attempts to assassinate the President just days before President John F. Kennedy was assassinated?

7/21-7/27: Did you know that Robert Duvall did his own singing as country musician Mac Sledge in his Academy Award Best Actor winning performance in 1983's "Tender Mercies?"

8/3-8/10: Did you know that in 1962's "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" that James Stewart played a character just out of college, though the actor himself was in his mid-50s?

8-11/8-18: Did you know that "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951), directed by Robert Wise, is widely considered the first science fiction film?

9/7-9/12: Did you know that "Groundhog Day" wasn't actually filmed in Punxsutawney, Pa, but rather in Woodstock, Ill?

9/13-9/20: Did you know that when adjusted for inflation that "Gone with the Wind" is the highest grossing film of all-time at the box office?

9/21-9/27: Did you know that if you start "The Wizard of Oz" (1939) and Pink Floyd's 1973 album "The Dark Side of the Moon" at the same time and mute "The Wizard of Oz" that both supposedly sync up perfectly? This is often known as "The Dark Side of the Rainbow."

9/28-10/4: Did you know that James Stewart stood 6 foot 4 inches tall, though when referring to the invisible rabbit in the 1950 film "Harvey" as being 6 foot 3 and a half inches Stewart's character always looks up at the invisible rabbit?

10/5-10/11: Did you know that the late Paul Newman was the oldest driver to be a part of a winning team in a major sanctioned race when his team won the 1995 24 hours of Daytona race? He was 70. Not bad for an old actor.

10/12-10/18: Did you know that "Midnight Cowboy" (1969) was the first and only X rated film to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards?

10/19-10/25: Did you know that the first major motion picture Ron Howard ever directed was 1977's "Grand Theft Auto" when he was in his early 20's?