March 9, 1984: "Splash" Premieres

March 9, 1984: The horror film Children of the Corn, the sex comedy The Hotel New Hampshire, and Splash premiere. Tom Hanks was already a star, but Splash made a legend out of Daryl Hannah. Ron Howard directed, proving he was more than just Opie Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show and Richie Cunningham on Happy Days.

In 1964, Allen Bauer, 8 years old, is swimming off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and sees a girl about his own age, a mermaid. In the present day, he's a small businessman depressed over the latest of his many breakups. He returns to Cape Cod, falls out of his boat, but is rescued by the same mermaid. She finds his wallet, and tracks him down to New York.

She comes ashore at the Statue of Liberty, with her now-dry tail becoming human legs. But she's naked, and is arrested for indecent exposure. Looking at the wallet, the police track him down, and release her to him. She learns English from watching television, but can't say her real name in human language. She sees a street sign on Madison Avenue, and chooses the name Madison. She tells Allen she must return home within 7 days.

She gets exposed as a mermaid, and taken to a secret lab by government agents. Allen smuggles her out. She tells him that if they stay together, neither can ever return to their own home. He chooses to live in the sea with her.

Nipsey Russell, a comedian who specialized in poetry, once said:

Men fantasize about mermaids.

But I don’t know the reason why.

There’s not enough woman to make love to

and too much fish to fry.

*

March 9, 1984 was a Friday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There were 7 games played in the NBA:

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Detroit Pistons, 122-118 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 92-84 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Atlanta Hawks, 104-101 at The Omni in Atlanta. Dominique Wilkins scored 36 points in defeat for the Hawks.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Dallas Mavericks, 121-120 in double overtime at the Reunion Arena in Dallas. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored 32, Magic Johnson 30, and Mark Aguirre 38 in defeat for the Mavs.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 129-128 in double overtime at the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena. Larry Bird scored 30, while Marques Johnson scored 36 in defeat for the Bucks.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Indiana Pacers, 130-110 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

* And the San Diego Clippers beat the Denver Nuggets, 134-126 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena). Kiki Vandeweghe, in defeat, led all scorers on the night with 39 points.

And there were 4 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Winnipeg Jets, 6-5 at the Winnipeg Arena. Mark Osborne scored the winning goal, 53 seconds into overtime.

* The Washington Capitals beat the Quebec Nordiques, 5-3 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Los Angeles Kings, 7-3 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 4-3 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver. Rick Lanz scored the winning goal, with 2:42 left in overtime.