March 4, 1968: Franco Zeffirelli's film version of William Shakespeare's play Romeo & Juliet premieres. It's a story of young people in love, and this version was meant to tap into the youth culture that was sweeping over the world.
Shakespeare appears to have first staged the play in 1597, based on an already-old story, possibly written by Matteo Bandello a few decades earlier, and written as The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet by Arthur Brooke in 1562.
There is a spoken introduction: "Two houses, both alike in dignity." Two families, or "houses," in Verona, in Veneto in present-day northern Italy. Juliet belongs to the House of Capulet, and Romeo belongs to the House of Montague. The families hate each other, and this is manifested in ongoing minor street brawls. Yet Shakespeare never gives the exact cause: Characters only refer to it as an "ancient grudge" or "an airy word."
By the standards of their time, approximately 1300, their ages were not considered problematic. But, by today's standards, it's a bit cringey: Juliet is explicitly stated to be approaching her 14th birthday, while Romeo's age is never stated, but most sources suggest he's 16 or 17 -- or, perhaps, to use the line of a song in The Sound of Music, "Sixteen Going On Seventeen."
In other words, not too young to have had the feelings of love, but too young to make their own decisions about them. They're not stupid, but they are terribly naïve, and unprepared for the consequences of their actions. Those actions ultimately lead to many deaths, including their own suicides.
And, as with Arthur Miller titling his most famous play Death of a Salesman, Shakespeare has a spoiler right at the beginning: The opening narration features alliteration, which Shakespeare loved, then the spoiler: "From forth the fatal loins of these two foes, a pair of star-crossed lovers take their life..."
Being "crossed" by the stars meant the heavens were working against them, making bad luck or a tragic end unavoidable. Calling Romeo and Juliet "star-crossed" told the audience right away that their love was doomed from the very start, by forces they could not control.
The play has been filmed many times, including in 1936, with Leslie Howard and Norma Shearer; and in 1996, by Baz Lurhmann, as William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, set in the present day, with Los Angeles standing in as "Verona Beach," and the families as organized crime families using guns instead of swords, and Leonardo DiCaprio and Clare Danes starring -- but with the dialogue exactly the same as it was 400 years earlier. In 2000, it was filmed as Romeo Must Die, with Jet Li as an Asian Romeo and, in her film debut, singer Aaliyah as an African-American Juliet.
And, of course, the best-known adaptation of Romeo & Juliet is West Side Story, in a 1957 Broadway musical and its subsequent 1961 film, with the action moved to present-day New York City, and the Montagues becoming the multi-ethnic but all-white gang the Jets, and the Capulets becoming the Puerto Rican gang the Sharks.
In 1969, after winning the Super Bowl with the New York Jets, Joe Namath got his own TV talk show. The moderator was author Dick Schaap. Schaap was an Ivy Leaguer, having gone to Cornell University. Namath barely got through the University of Alabama. At one point during the run of The Joe Namath Show, Schaap mentioned that he was going to see Romeo & Juliet as part of the Shakespeare in the Park series, and invited Namath. Namath said, "What's it about?" Schaap was shocked that Namath had never heard of it. So he said, "Did you ever see West Side Story?"
But among direct adaptations, it is Zeffirelli's 1968 version that seems to stand out. Stephen Orgel described it as being "full of beautiful young people, and the camera and the lush technicolour make the most of their sexual energy and good looks."
Zeffirelli's teenage leads, Leonard Whiting, 16 at the time of filming, and Olivia Hussey, 15, both English (though Hussey was born in Buenos Aires to an English mother and an Argentine father), had virtually no previous acting experience, but were said to have performed capably and with great maturity. Zeffirelli has been particularly praised for his presentation of the duel scene as bravado getting out-of-control. But the film courted controversy by including a nude wedding-night scene.
Henry Mancini conducted a version of the film's "Love Theme," composed by Nino Rota (who would later compose the music for The Godfather) that, despite being a classical instrumental in the era of psychedelic rock music, hit Number 1 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 in the Summer of 1969.
In 1964, a doo-wop group from Detroit called The Reflections reached Number 6 on the Hot 100 with "(Just Like) Romeo and Juliet." The 1st 2 versions are about how the guy is going to get a job that's going to make him enough money to impress his girl. The 3rd is about how, if he doesn't get the job, "our love is going to be destroyed, such a tragedy, just like Romeo and Juliet." Well, not just like them.
Nino Rota died in 1979, Henry Mancini in 1994, Franco Zeffirelli in 2019. As of March 4, 2022, Leonard Whiting Whiting and Olivia Hussey are still alive.
UPDATE: Hussey died in 2024.
In a 2014 episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History, "Nice" Peter Shukoff played Romeo, and comedian Grace Helbig played Juliet, against YouTuber Hannah Hart as Bonnie Parker, and "Epic" Lloyd Ahlquist as Clyde Barrow. Bonnie & Clyde have often been compared to Romeo & Juliet, but pretty much the only things they had in common was their youth, their stupidity, and their early end. In their case, by ambush rather than suicide.
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March 4, 1968 was a Monday. Actress Patsy Kensit was born.
Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. No games were played in the NBA or the NHL. There were 3 in the American Basketball Association:
* The New Orleans Buccaneers beat the Indiana Pacers, 128-118 at the Indiana State Fair Coliseum (now the Corteva
Coliseum) in Indianapolis.
* The Houston Mavericks beat the Oakland Oaks, 130-120 at the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston. Willie Somerset led all scorers on the night with 41 points.
* And the Denver Rockets beat the Dallas Chaparrals, 108-98 at the Denver Auditorium Arena.
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