4th                1944
Charles Chaplin was found not guilty of violating the Mann Act by taking underage Joan Barry over the state line but he was found to be the father of her baby!

5th                1958
Police, called to the home of Lana Turner, found the body of her lover, mobster Johnny Stompanato dead of a stab wound inflicted by her teenage daughter.

7th                1952
Marilyn Monroe adorned the cover of LIFE magazine for the first time.

15th              1936
Hollywood citizenry began paying income taxes to the State of California. Studios asked that actors and extras alike mark the forms “Paid Under Protest”.

17th              1931
Metro merged with Goldwyn Pictures and then bought out Louis B. Mayer Productions to become MGM.

20th              1903
A federal court ruled that a film could be copyrighted in its entirety, not just one frame at a time.

22nd             1949
In Italy filming “Stromboli”, Ingrid Bergman received a letter from Joseph Breen, head of the Production Code Office threatening the end of her career if she didn’t leaveRoberto Rossellini and return home to her husband and daughter.

23rd              1951
John Garfield appeared before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee (HUAC) and answered all their questions. However, they sent his testimony to the FBI for further investigation and his career went into free fall.

4th                1935
Junior Durkin, 19, a child star of the early 20’s and 30’s, was killed in an auto accident during an outing with fellow child actor Jackie Coogan. Coogan survived but his father and another passenger were also killed.

6th                1875
Rodolfo Alfonzo Raffaelo Pierre Filibert Guglielmi di Valentina d’ Antonguolla was born in Castellaneta, Italy. But his name wouldn’t fit on a marquee so….he changed it to Rudolph Valentino!

7th                1951
Warner Baxter, who won an Academy Award for his role as the Cisco Kid in “In Old Arizona” (1929), died of pneumonia following a lobotomy for arthritic pain.

9th                1947
Doris Day signed with Warner Brothers.

13th               1956
Montgomery Clift suffered severe facial wounds from an automobile accident. Leaving a dinner party at Elizabeth Taylor’s home, his car crashed into a tree on a winding road. Taylor saved his life by pulling out two teeth lodged in his throat choking him.

16th               1927
The first Oscar banquet was held in the Blossom Room of Hollywood’s Roosevelt Hotel. A special award was given to Warner Brothers Studio for producing the first talking picture “The Jazz Singer”.

20th               1922
Rudolph Valentino was arrested for bigamy. His marriage to Natasha Rambova occurred before his divorce from Jean Acker was final. All charges were later dropped.

21st                1952
Unemployed John Garfield died of an apparent heart attack just one year and one month after his appearance at the HUAC. Friends and family laid the blame at their door.

22nd               1952
Howard Da Silva and Gale Sondergaard appeared before the HUAC. They were blacklisted.

23rd                1949
The film “Casablanca” opened in France 5 years after its release in the USA.

24th                1883
The Brooklyn Bridge opened to traffic 118 years before Hugh Jackman decided to use it for time travel In “Kate and Leopold” (2001).

31st                 1971
The body of most decorated war hero and actor Audie Murphy was discovered in the wreckage of his plane.