October 13, 1950: "All About Eve" Premieres

Left to right: Anne Baxter, Bette Davis,

Marilyn Monroe and George Sanders

October 13, 1950: All About Eve premieres, based on the 1946 short story "The Wisdom of Eve" by Mary Orr. Bette Davis plays Margo Channing, an aging Broadway star. Anne Baxter plays Eve Harrington, a fan who works her way into Margo's friendship, then into stardom of her own. George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Thelma Ritter, Gary Merrill and Hugh Marlowe also star, and it includes one of the earliest big roles for Marilyn Monroe.

The film was nominated for 14 Academy Awards, a record at the time, and won 6, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay for Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and Best Supporting Actor for Sanders. Davis and Baxter were both nominated for Best Actress, and Holm and Ritter were both nominated for Best Supporting Actress. All About Eve remains the only film with 4 actresses nominated for Oscars.

Monroe died in 1962, Ritter in 1969, Sanders in 1972, Marlowe in 1982, Baxter in 1985, Davis in 1989, Merrill in 1990, Holm in 2012.

I never saw this movie until I was 51 years old. I can understand why lots of people like it. I came away impressed, but not satisfied. But I've seen many a sporting event where I could have delivered Bette Davis' iconic line, "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night." This is often incorrectly given as "a bumpy ride."

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October 13, 1950 was a Friday -- a Friday the 13th. The baseball season ended 4 days earlier, with the New York Yankees' sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series. The NBA season didn't start for another 18 days. The NHL season had started, but no games were scheduled. There we ere no games played in the NFL, but there were 6 college football games:

* Fordham beat Boston College, 26-6 at Alumni Field, just outside Boston in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

* George Washington University beat Virginia Tech, 42-7 at Griffith Stadium in Washington.

* Alabama beat Furman, 34-0 at Denny Stadium (now Bryant-Denny Stadium) in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

* Marquette beat the University of Detroit, 27-13 at University of Detroit Stadium. Marquette dropped its football program after the 1960 season, UD after 1964. In 1990, UD merged with the all-women's Mercy College of Detroit, forming the University of Detroit Mercy. Neither school has ever restarted its football program.

* Illinois beat UCLA, 14-6 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* And Loyola Marymount beat San Jose State, 14-7 at Spartan Stadium (now CEFCU Stadium) in San Jose.