August 17 holds the rather dubious distinction of being the day the largest number of floral wreaths was delivered to a single location. The place was Graceland, and the reason was, it happened to be the day after Elvis Presley died.
On August 17, 1939, a much happier event took place -- The Wizard of Oz premiered in New York. Going by records of the time, around 15,000 people waited in line for tickets to the first seven shows. More than 37,000 tickets were sold on the first day itself! The stars Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney performed at the premiere, which was obviously a huge attraction.
Considering we now live in a time when premieres are staid events featuring well-dressed stars posing for assembled media, maybe we ought to bring back the grand old premiere. Our stars could do with a bit of old-fashioned Hollywood finesse.
Photograph: Judy Garland in Paris, circa 1960. (Getty Images)
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