May 4, 1944: "Gaslight" and "No Exit" Premiere

Charles Boyer (left) and Ingrid Bergman

May 4, 1944: Gaslight premieres, directed by Alfred Hitchock, and based on the 1938 play by Patrick Hamilton. It stars Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer and Joseph Cotten.

That play introduced the term “gaslighting,” a form of psychological manipulation that seeks to sow seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or in members of a targeted group, making them question their own memory, perception, and sanity. Using persistent denial, misdirection, contradiction, and lying, it attempts to destabilize the victim and delegitimize the victim's belief.

On the same day, a play by Jean-Paul Sartre premieres at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in Paris. The title is Huis Clos, a translation of the legal term In Camera, meaning a private discussion behind closed doors. In English, it is known as No Exit.

This play is the source of Sartre's line, << L'enfer, c'est les autres >> -- "Hell is other people." It's been filmed in 1954, 1962 and 2006.

Sartre was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism, a family of philosophical views and inquiry that explore the human individual's struggle to lead an authentic life, despite the apparent absurdity or incomprehensibility of existence. He was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature, despite attempting to refuse it, saying that he always declined official honors and that, "A writer should not allow himself to be turned into an institution."

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May 4, 1944 was a Thursday. There were 4 games played in baseball that day:

* The New York Giants lost to the Boston Braves, 8-4 at Braves Field in Boston. Mel Ott went 1-for3 with a walk.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-3 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Stan Musial went 1-for-4.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 2-1 at League Park in Cleveland.

* And the St. Louis Browns beat the Detroit Tigers, 2-0 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Nelson "Nels" Potter pitched a 5-hit shutout. This was also the day that the Browns announced the racial desegregation of Sportsman's Park, which they owned and the Cardinals rented, forcing the Cardinals, MLB's southernmost team in both geography and style, to abide by it. I have a separate entry for that event.