May 4, 1934: With a show-stopping performance of “Baby Take a Bow” in Fox’s Stand Up and Cheer, 4-year-old Shirley Temple is attracting a lot of attention.
April 30, 1938: An early rendition of what is to become the character of Bugs Bunny first appears in Warner Bros.’ Porky’s Hare Hunt.
May 1, 1941: Denied a playdate at Radio City Music Hall, Orson Welles’ much-talked-about Citizen Kane opens at the RKO Palace in New York City.
April 29, 1944: The 221st and final Our Gang comedy short, Dancing Romeo, is released by MGM. Television will reignite interest in the years to come.
May 1, 1945: Radio City Music Hall officials deem newsreel footage of the liberation of German concentration camps “too gruesome” for exhibition.
May 1, 1949: MGM removes Judy Garland from the title role in Annie Get Your Gun and replaces her with Betty Hutton.
May 4, 1949: Re-teaming for the first time in a decade, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers have their last dance together in The Barkleys of Broadway.
May 2, 1957: A new (and bloodier) era in screen horror is launched by England’s Hammer Films’ Curse of Frankenstein, with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.
April 28, 1972: Ralph Bakshi‘s Fritz the Cat, based on Robert Crumb’s comic and the world’s first X-rated cartoon feature, debuts in New York.
May 4, 1975: Moe Howard, sole survivor of the original Three Stooges, dies at the age of 78.
April 29, 1980: Master of screen suspense Alfred Hitchcock dies at the age of 80, three months after being knighted by the British monarchy.