Video: 'Wake Island' trailer
(Tuesday, August 11, 1942) — Wake Island, a film about the United States military garrison on Wake Island and the onslaught by the Japanese following the attack on Pearl Harbor, opened today in the U.S.
Directed by John Farrow, the film stars Brian Donlevy, Robert Preston and William Bendix.
Video: '1962: Vostok 3 and 4 (USSR)'
(Saturday, August 11, 1962, 4:24 a.m. EDT) — Andrian Nikolayev today became the Soviet Union’s third cosmonaut to fly in space as Vostok 3 lifted off from Gagarin’s Start at Baikonur Cosmodrome at atop a Vostok 8K72K rocket.
Video: 'Herbert Hoover at the Dedication of the Hoover Presidential Library - Museum'
(Friday, August 10, 1962) — The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum was dedicated today in West Branch, Iowa, on the 88th birthday of the former president, who attended the ceremony along with former President Harry S Truman.
Video: 'Spider-Man August 1962 - July 1967 - Comic History Part I'
(Friday, August 10, 1962) — Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man, created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko, made his debut today in issue 15 of Amazing Fantasy with a cover price of 12 cents.
Video: 'Horse Feathers' trailer
(Wednesday, August 10, 1932) — Horse Feathers, a Marx Brothers film comedy about a college president who mistakenly recruits two loonies to beef up his school’s football team, premiered tonight at the Rialto Theatre in New York City.
Directed by Norman Z. McLeod, the film stars Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Zeppo Marx, Thelma Todd and Reginald Barlow.
Video: Churchill in Egypt Aug. 9, 1942 (at 0:24)
(Sunday, August 9, 1942, part of Western Desert Campaign of World War II) — Cheering troops lined the road today to welcome British Prime Minister Winston Churchill during his tour of armoured units at Tel-El-Kebir, Egypt, about two weeks after the First Battle of El Alamein ended.
(Sunday, August 9, 1942) — British officials imprisoned Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi and all his principal collaborators in the Indian National Congress party today, hoping to suppress a civil disobedience program intended to free India from colonial rule. Continue reading Gandhi’s arrest sparks “Quit India” movement 70 years ago today (1942)
Video: 'The Coronation of King Edward VII (1902)'
(Saturday, August 9, 1902) — Edward VII, 60, was crowned king of Britain today following the death of his mother, Queen Victoria, on Jan. 22, 1901. Edward’s coronation had originally been scheduled for June 26, 1902, but two days before, Edward was diagnosed with appendicitis.
Video: Monroe's funeral (at 6:04)
(Wednesday, August 8, 1962, 1:00 PDT) — A brief, simple funeral service, arranged by her second husband Joe DiMaggio and attended by only 31 close family and friends, was held today for film legend Marilyn Monroe at the small Westwood Village Funeral Chapel in Hollywood. Monroe’s acting coach, Lee Strasberg, delivered her eulogy. Continue reading Marilyn Monroe funeral held in Hollywood 50 years ago this hour (1962)
Video: 'UVic Legacy Awards - Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey -- Alumni Legacy Award' (JFK awards Kelsey at 1:57)
(Tuesday, August 7, 1962) — U.S. President John F. Kennedy awarded Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official Dr. Frances O. Kelsey the Distinguished Federal Civilian Service Medal today for her diligence in blocking approval of thalidomide, a sedative found to cause severe birth defects.
