12/20 - What '90s Actress Played Her Own Real-Life Grandma?
Plus trivia on Heart, Father of the Bride, The Iron Sheik, and more
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved, forgot, or never knew existed
December 20th, 2024 • Issue 235
Be Kind, Rewind
What happened on this day in the ‘80s and ‘90s — plus lots of bonus trivia
December 20th
1985 - The Color Purple and Out of Africa hit theaters.
1987 - The Bangles’ single Walk Like an Egyptian hit number one.
1989 - The U.S. invaded Panama.
1989 - Born on the Fourth of July hit theaters.
1991 - Father of the Bride hit theaters.
Disney didn’t want Diane Keaton in Father of the Bride because another parent-titled movie she made for them had just bombed.
Diane Keaton’s latest movie prior to when production started on Father of the Bride was called The Good Mother. It was also by Disney, and it was a major box office failure.
So the team behind Father of the Bride had to beg Disney to let them cast Keaton in one of their lead roles — since the studio had completely soured on her.
1991 - JFK hit theaters.
1995 - LL Cool J’s single Doin’ It was released.
1996 - Beavis and Butt-Head Do America hit theaters.
1996 - Apple purchased Steve Jobs’s NeXT.
1996 - Scream hit theaters.
1999 - The Vermont Supreme Court ruled same-sex couples were entitled to the same benefits as opposite sex couples.
2003 - Joe Namath tried to kiss Suzy Kolber during a sideline interview.
December 21st
1985 - Lionel Richie’s single Say You, Say Me hit number one.
1985 - Heart’s self-titled album hit number one.
Nancy Wilson had a cold when she recorded the vocals for These Dreams — leading to her acclaimed extra-raspy vocals.
Normally Ann Wilson handled lead vocals for Heart but on These Dreams, her sister Nancy was the lead.
The day they recorded, Nancy had a cold. That led to a raspier-than-usual sound to her voice.
Which people loved — as These Dreams became Heart’s first-ever number one single.
1988 - Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Scotland.
1988 - Working Girl, Beaches, and Dangerous Liaisons hit theaters.
1989 - The U.S. sent troops to Panama.
1989 - Vice President Dan Quayle sent out his Christmas card containing a typo (“beakon of hope”).
1991 - Mr. Big’s single To Be With You was released.
1993 - Ace of Base’s single The Sign was released.
1993 - Shaquille O’Neal’s single (I Know I Got) Skillz was certified gold.
1994 - Little Women, Richie Rich, and Mixed Nuts all hit theaters.
December 22nd
1979 - Rupert Holmes’ single Escape (The Pina Colada Song) became the final number one song of the decade.
1984 - Bernie Goetz shot four Black teenagers on the New York subway when they may or may not have been attempting to rob him.
1989 - Tango & Cash, Born on the Fourth of July, and Roger & Me hit theaters.
1989 - Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse was released.
1990 - Kindergarten Cop hit theaters.
1993 - Philadelphia hit theaters.
1995 - Waiting to Exhale and Grumpier Old Men hit theaters.
1995 - The series finale aired of Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?
1997 - The FDA approved Propecia.
1999 - Any Given Sunday hit theaters.
The phrase “any given Sunday” comes from a throwaway quote by the NFL commissioner in 1952.
“Any given Sunday” is part of a motivational speech in the movie Any Given Sunday and has been a ubiquitous football cliche for decades.
Turns out the phrase itself dates back to 1952, when then-NFL commissioner Bert Bell was bragging about the league’s parity during an interview with the Associated Press.
One of his quotes was: “The teams are so closely matched that on any given Sunday, any one team can beat any other team.”
1999 - Man on the Moon hit theaters.
1999 - The final game was played on the parquet floor at the Boston Garden.
2000 - Cast Away and O Brother Where Art Thou? hit theaters.
December 23rd
1987 - Good Morning, Vietnam hit theaters.
DJ Adrian Cronauer, who Robin Williams portrays as subversive and anti-war in Good Morning, Vietnam, was not that way in real life — and even worked on the Bush-Cheney campaign many years later.
Cronauer says he was not anti-war at all, and the movie was only “about 45% accurate.”
In fact he says he was a “lifelong card-carrying Republican.”
Many years after his career as an American Forces Network DJ, he had roles in Bob Dole’s 1996 presidential campaign and George Bush’s 2004 re-election campaign.
1987 - Gerald Ford attempted assassin Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme escaped from prison.
1992 - Scent of a Woman hit theaters.
1994 - Street Fighter hit theaters.
1994 - Legends of the Fall hit theaters.
1994 - Whitey Bulger escaped from Boston to begin 16 years on the run.
1997 - As Good As It Gets hit theaters.
2000 - ECW held its final event at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia.
December 24th
1955 - NORAD began tracking Santa.
1988 - Poison’s single Every Rose Has Its Thorn hit number one.
1990 - Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman got married.
Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman got married less than a year after they met.
They met on the set of Days of Thunder in early 1990 and were married by the end of the year.
1993 - Tombstone hit theaters.
1997 - Woody Allen married Soon-Yi Previn.
2001 - Time magazine named Rudy Giuliani its Person of the Year. Woof.
December 25th
1990 - The Godfather: Part III hit theaters.
1992 - Chaplin hit theaters.
Charlie Chaplin’s daughter played her own grandmother in Chaplin.
Charlie Chaplin’s daughter, Geraldine Chapman, played her grandmother (and Charlie’s mother), Hannah, in the movie.
Geraldine was 48 years old when the movie was filmed and received a Golden Globe nomination for her performance.
1992 - Hoffa hit theaters.
1993 - Mariah Carey’s single Hero hit number one.
1994 - The Jungle Book hit theaters.
1994 - IQ and Ready to Wear hit theaters.
1996 - JonBenet Ramsey was killed.
1996 - The People vs. Larry Flynt and Evita hit theaters.
1997 - Jackie Brown and Wag the Dog hit theaters.
1998 - The Faculty hit theaters.
1998 - Patch Adams hit theaters.
1998 - Richard Branson bailed on his attempt to sail a hot-air balloon around the world after seven days.
1999 - Galaxy Quest and The Talented Mr. Ripley hit theaters.
December 26th
1982 - Time magazine named the personal computer its Man of the Year.
1983 - The Iron Sheik defeated Bob Backlund to end Backlund’s six-year WWF World Championship reign.
The Iron Sheik held the WWF title for less than a month and lost it to wrestling’s newest up-and-coming star: Hulk Hogan.
The WWF wanted to get their championship on their new star, Hulk Hogan, whose popularity was exploding.
The problem: Their long-time champion in 1983 was Bob Backlund, the ultimate rule-following goody-two-shoes. In that era, good guys never faced each other, so Hulk couldn’t exactly beat Backlund for the title.
The Iron Sheik was the perfect transitional champion.
He beat Backlund, which set up a classic pro wrestling “foreign menace” character to be defeated by Hulk Hogan — for Hogan’s first-ever title win.
That match took place on January 23rd, 1984, in Madison Square Garden.
1990 - The series finale of Cop Rock aired.
1992 - Wreckx-n-Effect’s one hit, Rump Shaker, peaked at number two.
1997 - Spice World premiered in the U.K.
What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?
A look at the reboots, revivals, throwbacks, retro insights, and nostalgia in the news
The trailer is out for Karate Kid Legends, starring Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan.
Some ‘80s and ‘90s “culturally, historically, or aesthetically” important movies are among the new entries to the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry: Beverly Hills Cop, Dirty Dancing, Common Threads: Stories From the Quilt, and My Own Private Idaho.
The last two Sam Goody stores in the country are both set to close next year. One is in St. Clairsville, Ohio, and the other is in Medford, Oregon.
Jamie Lee Curtis is rumored to be the pick to star in a Murder, She Wrote movie reboot.
Macaulay Culkin says Joe Pesci was “trying to scare” him during Home Alone rehearsals — including once accidentally biting one of Culkin’s fingers.
Sarah Michelle Gellar has reversed her previous stance and now says she’s open to bringing back Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Whoopi Goldberg tried to get the film rights to Wicked in the late ‘90s. The movie would’ve starred her or Demi More, with Robert Zemeckis directing.
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Have a great week!
-Sam