Category Archives: 1970s

‘The Caterpillar’ episode airs on ‘Night Gallery’ 40 years ago this hour (1972)

1970s, Television 1970s

(Wednesday, March 1, 1972, 10:00 p.m. ET) — A bored colonial on a Malaysian plantation employs an exotic accomplice–an earwig–in his gruesome plot to assassinate a romantic rival on tonight’s episode of the NBC-TV anthology series Night Gallery.

‘Who Won?’ episode airs on ‘Adam-12’ 40 years ago this hour (1972)

1970s, Television 1970s

(Wednesday, March 1, 8:00 p.m. ET) — Malloy and Reed try to curb a chronic street racing problem by befriending the club leaders and working with a racing promoter to open a legitimate drag strip on tonight’s episode of the NBC-TV police drama Adam-12.

Nixons depart China, ending historic visit 40 years ago this hour (1972)

1970s, Cold War, U.S. Presidents


Video: Shanghai Communique comes together (at 3:44)

(Sunday, February 27, 1972, 9:12 p.m. EST) — U.S. President Richard M. Nixon departed China this morning (10:12 a.m. local time, Feb. 28, 1972) with a goodbye wave from a solemn Premier Chou En-lai in his gray tunic. Nixon and his wife Pat spent a week in China, an important step in formally normalizing relations between the United States and the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Taiwan jarred by Shanghai Communique 40 years ago this hour (1972)

1970s, Cold War, U.S. Presidents


Video: Shanghai Communique comes together (at 0:13)

(Sunday, February 27, 1972) — U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and Chinese Premier Chou En-lai issued the Shanghai Communique at the conclusion of Nixon’s historic visit to China, a step toward the eventual normalization of relations between the two countries.

California voids death penalty 40 years ago today (1972)

1970s


Video: Death penalty invalidated (at 9:14)

(Friday, February 18, 1972) — The California Supreme Court in the case of People v. Anderson invalidated the state’s death penalty today and commuted the sentences of all death row inmates, including members of the Charles Manson family, to life imprisonment.

‘I’ll Never Leave You – Ever’ episode airs on ‘Night Gallery’ 40 years ago this hour (1972)

1970s, Television 1970s

(Wednesday, February 16, 1972, 10:00 p.m. ET) — The wife of an elderly farmer who refuses to die decides to force nature’s hand with the help of an old crone skilled in the black arts on tonight’s episode of the NBC-TV anthology series Night Gallery.

‘Sub-Station’ episode airs on ‘Adam-12’ 40 years ago this hour (1972)

1970s, Television 1970s

(Wednesday, February 16, 8:00 p.m. ET) — On temporary assignment at LAX, Reed and Malloy have to save a stewardess who is taken hostage inside a lounge by a man desperately trying to get the attention of a television producer on tonight’s episode of the NBC-TV police drama Adam-12.

‘Cabaret’ opens in U.S. theaters 40 years ago today (1972)

1970s, Movies 1970s


Video: 'Cabaret' trailer

(Sunday February 13, 1972) — Cabaret, a musical film set in Berlin during the Weimar Republic in 1931, under the ominous presence of the growing National Socialist Party, opened today in the U.S. (including the Ziegfeld Theater in New York City).

Produced and directed by Bob Fosse and starring Liza Minnelli, Michael York and Joel Grey, the film is loosely based on the 1966 Broadway musical of the same name.

‘Where There’s Smoke, There’s Rhoda’ episode airs on ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’ 40 years ago this hour (1972)

1970s, Television 1970s

(Saturday, February 12, 1972, 9:30 p.m. ET) — When Rhoda’s apartment is destroyed by fire, she moves in with Mary. The two find that while they are best friends, they make awful roommates on tonight’s episode of the CBS-TV sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show.