Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!
So, yes, Star Wars opened on this day in history, some thirty-six years ago! It has obviously enjoyed some incredible success since (I count myself as a big fan). They are preparing the latest batch of movies for release within a few years, which would mean that the Star Wars franchise would have had movie installments in each of the last five decades straight. Incredible success (although there were some notable failures along the way, such as Jar-Jar Binks).
In any case, that is certainly not the only even that transpired in history on this day. The Edict of Worms came on this day in history. A new outbreak of the plague continued to kill people in southern France. America received it's first insurance agent. The Constitutional convention opened in Philadelphia, with Washington presiding. Argentina gained it's independence from Spain, conveniently using Napoleon's occupation of the mother country as the pretext. There was a rebellion against British rule in Canada, particularly strong in Quebec province. The Mexican Revolution overthrew the President there. The British House of Commons voted in favor of home rule in Ireland. A teacher in the United States was convicted for teaching Darwin's Theory of Evolution. Jesse Owens had a historical, record-smashing day in the Olympics in Berlin. Jordan gained independence. The Chinese Red Army took over Shanghai. "Hands Across America" was on this day, something that I actually remember from my own childhood. Bangladesh was struck by a storm that took 11,000 lives. Poland adopted a constitution eliminating all traces of communism. Relatively early in the days of the second Bush Administration, Enron officials were convicted. All of this, and plenty more, occurred on this day in history:
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/star-wars-opens
May 25, 1977: Star Wars opens
On this day in 1977, Memorial Day weekend opens with an intergalactic bang as the first of George Lucas' blockbuster Star Wars movies hits American theaters.
The incredible success of Star Wars--it received seven Oscars, and earned $461 million in U.S. ticket sales and a gross of close to $800 million worldwide--began with an extensive, coordinated marketing push by Lucas and his studio, 20th Century Fox, months before the movie's release date. "It wasn't like a movie opening," actress Carrie Fisher, who played rebel leader Princess Leia, later told Time magazine. "It was like an earthquake." Beginning with--in Fisher's words--"a new order of geeks, enthusiastic young people with sleeping bags," the anticipation of a revolutionary movie-watching experience spread like wildfire, causing long lines in front of movie theaters across the country and around the world.
With its groundbreaking special effects, Star Wars leaped off screens and immersed audiences in "a galaxy far, far away." By now everyone knows the story, which followed the baby-faced Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) as he enlisted a team of allies--including hunky Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and the robots C3PO and R2D2--on his mission to rescue the kidnapped Princess Leia from an Evil Empire governed by Darth Vader. The film made all three of its lead actors overnight stars, turning Fisher into an object of adoration for millions of young male fans and launching Ford's now-legendary career as an action-hero heartthrob.
Star Wars was soon a bona-fide pop culture phenomenon. Over the years it has spawned five more feature films, five TV series and an entire industry's worth of comic books, toys, video games and other products. Two big-screen sequels, The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and The Return of the Jedi (1983), featured much of the original cast and enjoyed the same success--both critical and commercial--as the first film. In 1999, Lucas stretched back in time for the fourth installment, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, chronologically a prequel to the original movie. Two other prequels, Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005) followed.
The latter Star Wars movies featured a new cast--including Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson, Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen--and have generally failed to earn the same amount of critical praise as the first three films. They continue to score at the box office, however, with Revenge of the Sith becoming the top-grossing film of 2005 in the United States and the second worldwide.
585 BC - The first known prediction of a solar eclipse was made in Greece.
1085 - King Alfonso VI of Castily/Leon took and occupied Toled on Moreno, in Spain, from Muslems.
1241 - 1st attack on Jewish community of Frankfort-on-the-Main Germany
1420 - Henry the Navigator is appointed governor of the Order of Christ.
1521 - Edict of Worms outlaws Martin Luther & his followers
1522 - Emperor Karel I returns to Spain
1632 - Albrecht von Wallenstein recaptures Prague on Saksen
1659 - Richard Cromwell resigns as English Lord Protector
1660 - English King Charles II lands in Dover
1720 - "Le Grand St Antoine" reaches Marseille, plague kills 80,000
1721 - John Copson becomes America's 1st insurance agent
1738 - A treaty between Pennsylvania and Maryland ends the Conojocular War with settlement of a boundary dispute and exchange of prisoners.
1784 - Jews are expelled from Warsaw by Marshall Mniszek
1787 - The Constitutional convention opened in Philadelphia with George Washington presiding.
1793 - Father Stephen Theodore Badin is 1st US Roman Catholic priest ordained
1810 - Argentina declared independence from Napoleonic Spain. The Primera Junta (local government) is established in Argentina
1810 - In the May Revolution, citizens of Buenos Aires expel the Spanish Viceroy Cisneros during Semana de Mayo.
1825 - American Unitarian Association founded
1837 - The Patriots of Lower Canada (Quebec) rebel against the British for freedom.
1844 - The gasoline engine was patented by Stuart Perry.
1844 - The first telegraphed news dispatch, sent from Washington, DC, to Baltimore, MD, appeared in the Baltimore "Patriot."
1861 - John Merryman is arrested under suspension of writ of habeas corpus it later sparks a supreme court decision protecting writ
1862 - Battle of Winchester VA
1864 - Battle of New Hope Church, GA
1868 - Australian Aboriginal Cricket tour of England begins v Surrey Gentlemen
1870 - Irish Fenians raid Eccles Hill, Quebec
1876 - First tie in NL history (Athletics & Louisville, 2-2 in 14)
1876 - 4th Preakness: G Barbee aboard Shirley wins in 2:44.75
1878 - Gilbert/Sullivans opera "HMS Pinafore," premieres in London
1887 - Gas lamp at Paris Opera catches fire; 200 die
1895 - 20th Preakness: Fred Taral aboard Belmar wins in 1:50.5
1895 - The Republic of Formosa is formed, with Tang Ching-sung as the president.
1895 - Oscar Wilde, a playwright, poet and novelist, was convicted of a morals charge and sentenced to two years hard labor in prison in London as a sodomite.
1895 - James P. Lee first published "Gold in America -- A Practical Manual."
1898 - First US troop transport to Manila leaves SF
1899 - 33rd Belmont: R Clawson aboard Jean Beraud wins in 2:23
1900 - Eyre M Shaw, 78, becomes oldest gold medalist in Olympics
1904 - 38th Belmont: George Odom aboard Delhi wins in 2:06.6
1906 - After 20 straight wins, Boston Pilgrims lose to Chicago White Sox 3-0
1911 - Revolution in Mexico overthrows President Jose Porfolio Diaz, who was forced to resign his office.
1914 - British House of Commons passes Irish Home Rule
1915 - 2nd Battle of Ypres ends with 105,000 casualties
1915 - Chicago Claude Hendrix no-hits Pitts (Federal League), 10-0
1919 - Casey Stengel releases a sparrow from under his baseball cap
1922 - Babe Ruth suspended 1 day and fined $200 for throwing dirt on an ump
1923 - Britain recognizes Transjordan with Abdullah as its leader
1925 - John Scopes was indicted for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution.
1926 - Sholom Schwartzbard assassinates Symon Petliura, the head of the Paris-based government-in-exile of Ukrainian People's Republic.
1927 - Ford Motor Company announced that the Model A would replace the Model T.
1927 - The "Movietone News" was shown for the first time at the Sam Harris Theatre in New York City.
1932 - Goofy, aka Dippy Dawg, first appears in 'Mickey's Revue' by Walt Disney
1934 - Béla Bartòk's "Enchanted Deer," premieres
1935 - Babe Ruth hits his last 3 home runs, Boston Braves vs Pirates
1935 - Jesse Owens equals or breaks 6 world records in one hour
1935 - Babe Ruth hit his final 3 homeruns, his 714th, and set a record that would stand for 39 years, in a game between the Boston Braves and the Pirates. His record stood until Hank Aaron broke it in 1974.
1935 - Jesse Owens equals or breaks 6 world records in one hour. He tied the world record for the 100-yard dash, running it in 9.4 seconds. He also broke three other world track records.
1936 - The Remington Rand strike, led by the American Federation of Labor, begins.
1937 - First airmail letter to circle globe returns to NY
1938 - Spanish Civil War: The bombing of Alicante takes place, with 313 deaths.
1939 - Carl Storck becomes 2nd NFL president
1940 - German troops conquer Boulogne
1940 - Golden Gate Intl Expo reopens
1941 - 5,000 drown in a storm at Ganges Delta region in India
1941 - Ted Williams raises his batting avg over .400 for 1st time in 1941
1943 - Riot at Mobile Ala shipyard over upgrading 12 black workers
1943 - Trident conference in Wash DC (operation plan '43 against Japan)
1944 - Partisan leader Tito escapes Germans surrounding Bosnia
1945 - Arthur C Clark proposes relay satellites in geosynchronous orbit
1946 - Abdullah ibn Hussein becomes king of Jordan
1946 - Jordan gains independence from Britain (Natl Day)
1947 - Coal dust explosion rocks Centralia Coal Co's Mine #5 killing 111
1948 - SF receives its 1st telecast
1949 - Chinese Red army occupies Shanghai
1950 - Bkln-Battery Tunnel opens in NYC
1951 - NY Giant Willie Mays 1st major league game (goes 0 for 5)
1953 - First atomic cannon electronically fired, Frenchman Flat, Nevada
1953 - First non-commercial educational television station-Houston, Texas
1953 - Braves Max Surkont strikes out record 8 Reds in a row
1953 - In Nevada, the first atomic cannon was fired.
1955 - Series of 19 twisters destroy Udall Kansas & most of Blackwell Okla
1956 - Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Haurietis aquas
1957 - "Shinbone Alley" closes at Broadway Theater NYC after 49 performances
1959 - Khrushchev visits Angola
1959 - Supreme ct rules La prohibiting black-white boxing unconstitutional
1960 - George Crowe's record 11th pinch-hit HR
1961 - NASA civilian pilot Joseph A Walker takes X-15 to 32,770 m
1961 - U.S. President John F. Kennedy asked America to work toward putting a man on the moon before the end of the decade.
1962 - Isley Brothers release "Twist & Shout"
1962 - US performs nuclear test at Christmas Island (atmospheric)
1962 - US unions AFL-CIO starts campaign for 35-hour work week
1963 - "Hot Spot" closes at Majestic Theater NYC after 43 performances
1963 - Early Wynn wins his 300th baseball game
1963 - Great Britain ends its amateur-professional classes in cricket
1963 - Organization for African Unity was founded in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and formed by Chad, Mauritania & Zambia
1964 - 16th Emmy Awards: Dick Van Dyke Show, Dick Van Dyke & Mary Tyler Moore
1964 - Frank Gilroy's "Subject is Roses," premieres in NYC
1964 - Ground is broken for a new stadium in St Louis
1964 - Supreme Court rules closing schools to avoid desegregation unconstitut
1965 - Dave Davies of Kinks stumbles & is knocked unconscious on stage
1965 - India & Pakistan border fights
1965 - Muhammad Ali knocked Sonny Liston out cold in the first round, after 1 minute and 56 seconds, for the world heavyweight title. (infamous phantom punch)
1965 - Roel van Duyn, Martijn Ananar & Rob Faado align in Provo
1966 - Peru & Argentina soccer fans fight in Lima; 248 die
1967 - Celtic wins 12th Europe Cup 1 in Lisbon
1967 - John Lennon takes delivery of his psychedelic painted Rolls Royce
1968 - BPAA All-Star Bowling Tournament won by Jim Stefanich
1968 - BPAA US Women's Bowling Open won by Dotty Fothergill
1968 - The Gateway Arch, part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, MO, was dedicated.
1968 - Rolling Stones release "Jumping Jack Flash"
1968 - Unicorn by The Irish Rovers hits #7
1969 - "Midnight Cowboy" released with an X rating. It is the only x-rated film to win a best picture Oscar.
1969 - Sudanese government is overthrown in a military coup
1968 - The Gateway Arch, part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, MO, was dedicated.
1970 - Boeing Computer Services was founded.
1970 - 3rd ABA Championship: Indiana Pacers beat LA Stars, 4 games to 2
1971 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1972 - Heavyweight Joe Frazier KOs Ron Stander
1972 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1973 - Argentine Peronist Hector Campora installed as president
1973 - Borussia Minchengladbach wins 2nd UEFA Cup at Enschede
1973 - George Harrison releases "Give Me Love" in UK
1973 - US launches 1st Skylab crew Kerwin, Conrad, Weitz
1975 - 29th NBA Championship: Golden Warriors sweep Wash Bullets in 4 games
1975 - Cleveland's Dennis Eckersley, debuts shuting out the A's 6-0
1977 - "Beatles Live! At Star-Club in Hamburg Germany" released
1977 - "Brady Bunch Hour," last airs on ABC-TV
1977 - Dutch social democratic party wins parliamentary election
1977 - Liverpool wins 22nd Europe Cup 1 in Rome
1977 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1977 - Original "Star Wars" movie released "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope" opened and became the largest grossing film to date.
1977 - An opinion piece by Vietnam verteran Jan Scruggs appeared in "The Washington Post." The article called for a national memorial to "remind an ungrateful nation of what it has done to its sons" that had served in the Vietnam War.
1978 - Stanley Cup: Montreal Canadiens beat Boston Bruins, 4 games to 2
1979 - An American Airlines DC-10 crashed during takeoff at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. 275 people were killed. It is the worst airplane disaster in history excluding September 11th.
1979 - Israel begins to return Sinai to Egypt
1979 - Raul Gonzales of Mexico completes 50,000 m walk in record 3:41:38.4
1980 - "Musical Chairs" closes at Rialto Theater NYC after 15 performances
1980 - Jacek Wszoka of Poland sets high jump record (7'8")
1981 - Bobby Unser becomes 1st Indy 500 winner to be disqualified
1981 - Carl Yastrzemski is 4th to get 3,000 hits (Cobb, Musial & Aaron)
1981 - Daredevil Daniel Goodwin scaled Chicago's Sears Tower, while wearing a "Spiderman" costume, in 7 1/2 hours.
1981 - Rangers' Bill Stein sets AL record with 7 consecutive pinch hits
1982 - Ferguson Jenkins becomes 7th pitcher to strike out 3,000 batters
1982 - Iranian troops reconquer Khorramshar
1982 - STS-4 vehicle moves to launch pad
1983 - "The Return of the Jedi" opened nationwide. It set a new record in opening day box office sales. The gross was $6,219,629.
1983 - First National Missing Children's Day is proclaimed
1983 - Fire in Nassermeer Egypt kills 357
1983 - France performs nuclear test
1983 - Kirk Gibson (Tigers) & Jorge Orta (Blue Jays) hit inside park HRs
1984 - Det Tigers lose to Seattle 7-3, ending record tying 17 consecutive wins
1984 - Red Sox trade pitcher Dennis Eckersley to Cubs for Bill Buckner
1985 - Allan Border scores 4th successive 1st class 100 (v Derbyshire)
1985 - Bangladesh was hit with a hurricane and tidal wave that killed more than 11,000 people.
1986 - 30,000,000 watch "Live Aid," a massive benefit concert
1986 - Approximately 7,000,000 Americans participate in "Hands Across America"
1986 - 95-year-old woman scores a hole-in-one in Florida
1986 - Ferry boat Shamia sinks on Maghna River Bangladesh, 600 killed
1986 - Hands Across America - 6 million people hold hands from California to NY
1986 - KC Royal George Brett gets his 2,000th hit
1986 - Virgilio Barco elected president of Colombia
1988 - PSV wins Europe Cup
1989 - Eastern Airlines graduates it 1st class of non-union pilots
1989 - Mariners trade Mark Langston to Montreal for Randy Johnson
1989 - Mikhail Gorbachev elected Executive President in the Soviet Union
1989 - Stanley Cup: Calgary Flames beat Montreal Canadiens, 4 games to 2, to win their first ever Stanley Cup
1989 - Weird Al Yankovic records "She Drives Like Crazy"
1991 - "People Are Still Having Sex," by LaTour hits #35
1991 - Israel evacuates 14,000 Ethiopian Jews
1991 - Stanley Cup: Pittsburgh Penguins beat Minn North Star, 4 games to 2
1992 - Jay Leno debuted as the new permanent host of NBC's "Tonight Show."
1992 - NY Yankees score 9 runs before 1st out in 8th inn, beat Brewers 13-7
1992 - Oscar Luigi Scalfaro elected president of Italy
1994 - Emmy 21st Daytime Award presentation - Susan Lucci not nominated
1995 - The Bosnian Serb Army kills 72 youngsters in the Bosnian city of Tuzla.
1996 - In Nimes, France, Christina Sanchez became the first woman to achieve the rank of matadore in Europe.
1997 - U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond became the longest-serving senator in U.S. history (41 years and 10 months).
1997 - Poland adopted a constitution that removed all traces of communism.
1997 - Minnesota Twins retire Kirby Puckett's uniform #
1997 - Todd and Mel Stottlemyre become first father and son to win 100 games
1997 - A military coup in Sierra Leone replaces popularly elected President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah with Major Johnny Paul Koromah.
1999 - A report by the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on U.S. National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of China concluded in the Cox Report that China had "stolen design information on the U.S. most-advanced thermonuclear weapons" and that China's penetration of U.S. weapons laboratories "spans at least the past several decades and almost certainly continues today."
2000 - The Walt Disney Co. and Time Warner Inc. signed a long-term deal that ended a dispute over the airing policies of Time Warner. Time Warner had blacked out Disney programs for a 39 hour period the previous month due to the lack of an agreement. Disney movies, music and books
2000 - Liberation Day of Lebanon. Israel withdraws its army from most of the Lebanese territory after 22 years of its first invasion in 1978.
2001 - 32-year-old Erik Weihenmayer, of Boulder, Colorado, becomes the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
2001 - Sherman Bull, 64, of New Canaan, CT, became the oldest climber to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
2002 - A train crash in Tenga, Mozambique kills 197 people.
2002 - China Airlines Flight 611: A Boeing 747-200 breaks apart in mid-air and plunges into the Taiwan Strait killing 225 people.
2003 - Néstor Kirchner becomes President of Argentina after defeating Carlos Menem. He is the first elected President since the economic crisis.
2006 - In Houston, former Enron Corp. chiefs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skillinng were convicted of conspiracy and fraud for the downfall of Enron.
2007 - The Ostankino Tower in Moscow catches fire for the second time.
2008 - NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander landed in the arctic plains of Mars.
2009 - North Korea announced that it had conducted a second successful nuclear test in the province of North Hamgyong. Following the nuclear test, Pyongyang also conducted several missile tests bulding tensions in the international community. The United Nations Security Council condemned the reported test.
2011 - Oprah Winfrey airs her last show, ending her twenty five year run of The Oprah Winfrey Show.
2012 - Up to 116 people are massacred, including women and children, by the Syrian army in Houla, in the Homs province
2012 - A SpaceX Dragon becomes the first commercial spacecraft to dock at the International Space Station
These are the web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:
http://www.historyorb.com/day/may/25
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/star-wars-opens
http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/may25.htm
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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