September 1, 1902: A milestone in the evolution of the cinema is marked with the release of George Melies’ fantastic Voyage to the Moon.
August 28, 1912: “King of Comedy” Mack Sennett leaves Biograph and forms Keystone Film Company with two former bookies.
August 27, 1917: The first feature to be directed by John Ford, the Harry Carey–Hoot Gibson western Straight Shooting, opens.
September 1, 1919: The first United Artists film, His Majesty, the American with Douglas Fairbanks, opens in New York.
September 1, 1920: After co-starring with “Fatty” Arbuckle for three years, Buster Keaton makes his solo starring debut with the short One Week.
August 28, 1927: Though they had worked together as far back as 1917, With Love and Hisses marks the debut of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy as a comedy team.
September 1, 1928: Animator Paul Terry’s Dinner Time, the first all-talking cartoon short, premieres in New York.
August 26, 1930: The silent cinema loses one of its greatest stars when “man of a thousand faces” Lon Chaney succumbs to bronchial cancer at the age of 47.
August 31, 1939: An all-distaff cast drives the witty goings-on in director George Cukor‘s filming of the hit Broadway play The Women.
August 28, 1948: Alfred Hitchcock‘s Rope, with all the action taking place over continuous ten-minute takes and seamless cuts to the next scene, opens.
August 27, 1953: Audrey Hepburn captivates audiences with her Hollywood debut as the runaway princess in Roman Holiday, for which she’ll win an Academy Award.
August 31, 1973: John Ford, the maverick director of Stagecoach and The Quiet Man, dies in Palm Desert, California, at the age of 78.
August 26, 1980: Master of outlandish cartoon mayhem Frederick “Tex” Avery, who gave Bugs Bunny his “What’s up, Doc?” catchphrase, dies at 72.
August 28, 1987: Famed director John Huston passes away from emphysema at 81, days before the premiere of his final film, The Dead.