June 19, 1963: "Jason and the Argonauts" Premieres

June 19, 1963: The film Jason and the Argonauts premieres. Directed by Don Chaffey, it received a musical score by Bernard Herrmann, and special effects from the master of stop-motion photography, Ray Harryhausen. Herrmann, best known for his work on the films of Alfred Hitchcock, had previously teamed with Harryhausen on The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, The 3 Worlds of Gulliver, and Mysterious Island.

Set around 1300 BC, in the Mycenaean Age of Greece, over a century before the Trojan War, and perhaps around the time of the Biblical Exodus, it is based on The Argonautica, an epic poem written by Apollonius Rhodius in the 3rd Century BC. Pelias (played by Douglas Wilmer) usurps the throne of Thessaly, in what is now northern Greece, killing King Aristo. A prophecy states that one of Aristo's children will avenge him. Aristo's infant son Jason is spirited away by a soldier. Pelias, thinking it will eliminate a possible answer to the prophecy, slays one of Aristo's daughters after she seeks sanctuary in the temple of the goddess Hera (Honor Blackman). Because the murder has profaned her temple, Hera becomes Jason's protector. She warns Pelias to beware of "a one-sandaled man."

Twenty years later, Jason (played as an adult by Todd Armstrong) saves Pelias from drowning, an "accident" orchestrated by Hera, losing his sandal in the process. Pelias recognizes his enemy. Not knowing who he has saved, Jason intends to seek the legendary Golden Fleece, to rally support against Pelias. The Golden Fleece is wool from Chrysomallos, a winged ram, and a symbol of authority and kingship. Hoping Jason will die on the quest, thus eliminating another threat, Pelias encourages him to set forth.

Hermes (Michael Gwynn), messenger of the Greek gods, takes Jason to Mount Olympus, their home, where Zeus (Niall MacGinnis) rules over all, with his wife, Hera, by his side. (The film, with the Hays Code still in effect, doesn't mention the part of Greek mythology that says that Zeus frequently cheated on Hera, with goddesses and mortal women alike.) Zeus decrees that Hera can help him only five times, the same number of times that Jason's murdered sister called on her for protection.

He has a ship built, by Argus (Laurence Naismith). In his honor, Jason names the ship the Argo, and calls his crew the Argonauts. and recruits a crew. Among them are Hercules (Nigel Green), the son of Zeus and a mortal woman, and thus said to be the strongest man in the world. Hephaestus, the blacksmith of the gods, has made armor for the Argonauts.

En route to finding the Fleece, the Argonauts have several adventures, including the rescue of Medea (Nancy Kovack), high priestess of the goddess Hecate. She falls in love with Jason. Jason faces the Hydra, a multiheaded beast, where if one head is cut off three more rise in its place. He prevents this by burning the stumps, until they were all gone.

In the film's most familiar scene, seven armed skeletons charge the Argonauts. Jason, Phalerus (Andrew Faulds) and Castor (Ferdinando Poggi) fight the skeletons long enough for Medea and Argus to take the Fleece and get back in the Argo. Phalerus and Castor are killed by the skeletons, but Jason gets away, back to the Argo, and the remaining Argonauts sail home.

There, the film ends. But the myth goes on. The Argonauts -- including Peleus (not to be confused with Pelias, and he does not appear in the film), King of Phthia, who turns out to be the father of Trojan War hero Achilles; and Laertes, King of Cephalonia, who turns out to be the father of Trojan War hero Ulysses, a.k.a. Odysseus -- make it home safely, and Pelias ends up killed not by Jason, or any other child of Aristo, but by his own daughters, who are nonetheless inspired by Jason and Medea, thus sort-of fulfilling the prophecy. But because of this, Jason is told he cannot become King of Thessaly.

He and Medea settle in Corinth, becoming that city's King and Queen. They are together for 10 years, after which Jason betrays Medea by announcing he will divorce her and marry Glauce, daughter of King Creon. According to the tragedy written by Euripides, Medea, daughter of the sorceress Circe and thus granddaughter of the Sun god Helios, uses her magic to kill Creon, Glauce, and even the children she had with Jason.

The most successful team in the Canadian Football League was named the Toronto Argonauts, in honor of the myth. In the Hercules/Xena media franchise, Jeffrey Thomas played Jason, and his friendship with fellow Argonauts Hercules (Kevin Sorbo) and Iolaus (a character created for the TV series, played by Michael Hurst) is alluded to a few times. In the Argonauts' honor, Xena (Lucy Lawless) named her horse Argo.

In 2000, NBC remade the story as a miniseries, with Jason London as Jason, Jolene Blalock as Medea, and an all-star cast that also included Frank Langella, Natasha Henstridge, Derek Jacobi, Olivia Williams, Angus Macfadyen, Dennis Hopper and Ciarán Hinds.

*

June 19, 1963 was a Wednesday. These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Washington Senators, 3-2 at Yankee Stadium. Jim Bouton outpitched Claude Osteen. Mickey Mantle was injured, and did not play. Roger Maris did, and hit a home run. Other than that, the Yankees only had 4 hits, and Bobby Richardson had 3 of them.

* The New York Mets lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 9-4 at the 1st Busch Stadium (formerly the last Sportsman's Park) in St. Louis. Bill White hit a home run for the Cards. Stan Musial, in his last season, went 2-for-3 with a walk. Duke Snider drew a pinch-hit walk for the Mets.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 9-2 at Fenway Park in Boston. Carl Yastrzemski went 3-for-4 with 2 home runs and 4 RBIs. Al Kaline went 0-for-4.

* A doubleheader was split at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The Cleveland Indians won the opener, 5-4. The Baltimore Orioles won the nightcap, 6-2. Brooks Robinson went 0-for-4, then 2-for-5 with 2 RBIs.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-5 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Leo Cárdenas singled Frank Robinson home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning. Robinson had walked in the inning, but otherwise went 0-for-4. Rooke Pete Rose went 1-for-5.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Houston Colt .45s, 9-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Ernie Banks went 3-for-4 with a home run and 4 RBIs. The Colts became the Houston Astros in 1965.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Milwaukee Braves 6-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Roberto Clemente went 3-for-5. Hank Aaron hit his 328th career home run.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 12-4 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Harmon Killebrew hit a home run.

* A doubleheader was split at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, where the Los Angeles Angels were groundsharing until their stadiumin Anaheim could be built. The Angels won the 1st game, 4-2. The Kansas City Athletics won the 2nd game, 4-3.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 8-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Juan Marichal outpitched Don Drysdale, and went 1-for-3 in his own cause. Willie Mays did not play, but Willie McCovey and Chuck Hiller hit home runs.

March 9, 2007: The Film “300” Premieres

I'm not sure anything could properly prepare a viewer for this film.

March 9, 2007: The film 300 premieres, based on the 1998 graphic novel by Frank Miller, and directed by Zack Snyder -- who should have been thrown over a cliff, because his style is sickly.

In 490 BC, the Persian Empire invaded Greece under King Darius I, but an Athens-led force beat them at the Battle of Marathon. Ten years later, Darius' son, King Xerxes I, brought 120,000 soldiers to try again. Athenian general Themistocles suggested that the pass of Thermopylae by land, and the Straits of Artemisium by sea, both be blocked.

Contrary to legend, it wasn't just 300 soldiers from Sparta, whose strict military culture gave us the adjective "spartan," facing off against thousands upon thousands of Spartans in a suicide mission. King Leonidas I of Sparta had his 300, but commanded an All-Greek army of about 7,000. It was, indeed, a last stand for them, 7 days of heroism ending with their annihilation on September 10, 480 BC. But the actions at Thermopylae and Artimisium made possible the victory at the Battle of Salamis on September 29, and the Persians had to go back home all over again.

There had previously been the film The 300 Spartans, in 1962, filmed on location in Greece. Snyder's 300 was focused not on the available historical facts -- which, given a gap of over 2,500 years, aren't as many as history buffs would like -- but on making the film look like the graphic novel, with chroma-key superimposition.

In this version, Gerard Butler played Leonidas, who epitomized Spartan courage by fighting and dying with his troops. Lena Headey played his wife, Gorgo, a far nobler queen than she later played on Game of Thrones. The film is typical Snyder: Full of death, and very long. It runs just under 2 hours, so, to paraphrase Gorgo, while you might enjoy this, it will not be over quickly.

The film helped deepen the image of the Spartans as ultimate warriors, not caring if they die as long as the war is won. Edith Hamilton, who wrote extensively on ancient societies, and the mythology and other literature they produced, said that this made them unusual among Greeks: "The Romans thought it was a great thing to die for your country. The Greeks didn't think it was a good thing to die for anything."

In 2008, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, who specialized in parodies, having already done Spy Hard, Scary Movie, Date Movie and Epic Movie, released Meet the Spartans. It was trash. But then, so was the movie it was lampooning. In 2014, 300: Rise of an Empire premiered, serving as both prequel, telling of the Battle of Marathon, and sequel, telling of the Battle of Salamis. Headey returned as Gorgo, and Rodrigo Santoro returned as Xerxes.

The battlefield of Marathon is slightly more than the 26.2 miles, to the northeast, from downtown Athens than the modern marathon race is. The battlefield of Thermopylae is about 120 miles to the northwest of Athens. The monument for Salamis is just 15 miles to the west.

*

March 9, 2007 was a Friday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There were 8 games in the NBA:

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Houston Rockets, 112-91 at the Toyota Center in Houston. Tracy McGrady scored 34 points.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 118-103 at the TD Banknorth Garden (now the TD Garden) in Boston.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 108-92 at the Wachovia Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 106-105 at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in Atlanta.

* The Miami Heat beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 105-91 at the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami. Shaquille O'Neal scored 32 points for the Heat.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Denver Nuggets, 95-82 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets, 104-103 at the US Airways Center (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix.

* And the Golden State Warriors beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 99-89 at the Oracle Arena (as the Oakland Coliseum Arena was then known).

And there were 6 games in the NHL:

* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Washington Capitals, 3-0 at the Verizon Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington.

* The Minnesota Wild beat the Buffalo Sabres, 5-1 at the HSBC Arena (now the KeyBank Center) in Buffalo.

* The Dallas Stars beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 3-0 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Los Angeles Kings, 3-2 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. Mikael Samuelsson scored the winning goal with 1:34 left in overtime.

* The Anaheim Ducks beat the Edmonton Oilers, 5-1 at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the San Jose Sharks, 2-1 at the HP Pavilion (now the SAP Center) in San Jose. Henrik Sedin scored the winning goal with 1:30 left in overtime.

January 26, 1968: ABC Airs "Alexander the Great" With William Shatner & Adam West

January 26, 1968: ABC airs Alexander the Great, which had been filmed as the pilot for an intended TV series -- in 1963. But it wasn't picked up.

So why broadcast it now? Because the actor they had cast as Alexander was well-known for Broadway, and had appeared in the 1961 film Judgement and Nuremberg, and in "Nick of Time," an episode of The Twilight Zone. He would appear in another Twilight Zone episode later in 1963, "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet." More importantly, he was now in the 2nd season of a popular NBC TV show, Star Trek, in which he played the lead role, Captain James T. Kirk. His name was William Shatner.

And, playing Cleander, one of Alexander's officers, was an actor who had appeared on several TV shows, but had also become the lead of a popular TV show in 1966, Batman. His name was William West Anderson, but was acting under the name of Adam West.

So ABC, which was broadcasting Batman, broadcast Alexander the Great, hoping people would watch it to see "Captain Kirk" commanding "Batman." Also of note: John Cassavetes, who played the villain of the piece, Karanos; veteran actor Joseph Cotten, as Antigonus; and Tanya Lemani, an Iranian-American dancer who would play a similar character, an ill-fated dancer in a society mirroring that of Earth's Middle East, on the Star Trek episode "Wolf in the Fold."

The plot is fairly simple: It's 330 BC, and Alexander is marching through the Persian Empire, in pursuit of King Darius III. But he has to face down opposition within his own ranks, led by Karanos.

The episode was not as successful as Alexander: It was shown once, didn't get good ratings, and has never been broadcast again, although it is available on YouTube. Shatner and West were not close, but they remained admirers of each other's work.

As for the real guy: He was born on July 20, 356 BC, in Pella, in what is now northern Greece. He was the son of King Philip II of Macedon. The Greek statesman Demosthenes frequently denounced Philip, resulting in the world "philippic." He died in 336 BC, making his son King Alexander III at age 20.

The following year, he conquered all of Greece, basically without breaking a sweat. The year after that, he decided to punish the Achaemenid Empire, formerly the Persian Empire, for its attempts to conquer Greece a century and a half earlier. Why did he still care? In 4 years, he conquered it, including the Siege of Halicarnassus in 334, the Sieges of Tyre and Gaza in 332, the Battle of Gaugamela (in present-day Iraq) in 331, and the Battle of the Persian Gate at Persepolis (in present-day Iran) in 330.

But he was a fair opponent. When he heard that King Darius III had been killed by his cousin, Bessus, Alexander moved his pursuit to Bessus, and when he was captured, Alexander ordered his execution. Would he have done that had Darius been captured alive? We'll never know. What we do know is that conquering this empire gave him the name that has followed him for over 2,300 years: Alexander the Great.

In 331 BC, he founded a city on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, naming it for himself: Alexandria. He used it to spread Greek culture throughout the Mediterranean and Middle East regions, including building the foremost library in the ancient world.

In 326 BC, he got as far as the Indus River, into present-day Pakistan, and thus Greek culture reached India, and he brought South Asian culture to the lands he conquered. He had conquered more territory than any human being before him.

And, unlike the one man who has since topped him, Genghis Khan, 1,500 years later, what he left behind stayed: All the knowledge of Greece, Rome, Egypt, Israel, Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, Persia and South Asia has remained, in each of those places and their former empires. Someone (I forget who) called Alexander "a two-thousand year man." He was a man who spread learning, and he was a general who never lost a battle.

But one thing he could not conquer was dissension in his own ranks. He turned back, got to Babylon (near present-day Hillah, Iraq, about 50 miles south of present-day Baghdad), and tried to settle things there, and rule from there. He had planned to invade Arabia, but he died on June 10, 323 BC, in the palace that had been built by King Nebuchadnezzar II, at the age of 33. The cause is still debated: It could have been a fever, it could have been an overdose of alcohol, it could have been poison.

The men among whom he left divisions of his empire couldn't hold it together, and lost their holdings due to their civil wars. While Alexandria still stands, and is the 2nd-largest city in Egypt after Cairo, both the library he built there and the tomb where he was laid to rest no longer exist. The current whereabouts of his remains are unknown. But the Hellenistic culture he founded survives, and Greek became a major language of the world, including in the Byzantine Empire, based in present-day Turkey, until its collapse in 1453.

But for all he achieved, there have been few films about Alexander the Great. Besides the Shatner pilot, he has been played by Richard Burton in Alexander the Great in 1956, and Colin Farrell in Alexander in 2004.

Twice, in Star Trek, to Shatner as Captain Kirk -- once by Leonard Nimoy as Spock, in "Patterns of Force," and one by Steve Ihnat as Captain Garth, excuse me, Lord Garth, in "Whom Gods Destroy," Alexander was listed alongside Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, Adolf Hitler and Lee Kuan as would-be conquerors of Earth. Spock added Pharoah Ramses II; Garth added Krotus. (Both Lee Kuan and Krotus were characters created for Star Trek, but neither has ever been canonically explained beyond the mentions of their names.) Neither of those examples mentioned Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalbán), but, in "Space Seed," Spock compared Khan to Alexander and Napoleon. And, in "Requiem for Methuselah," James Daly as the apparently immortal Flint told Kirk that he had been Alexander, among other historical figures.

In a 2016 episode of Epic Rap Battles of History, Zach Sherwin played him against "Nice" Peter Shukoff as Czar Ivan IV of Russia, a.k.a. Ivan the Terrible. It's a "battle royale" that also includes "Epic" Lloyd Ahlquist as King Frederick II of Prussia, a.k.a. Frederick the Great; Mike Betette as Roman general Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, a.k.a. Pompey the Great; and Meghan Tonjes as Empress Catherine II of Russia, a.k.a. Catherine the Great.

*

January 26, 1968 was a Friday. Baseball and football were out of season. The NHL had no games scheduled. But there were 4 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the St. Louis Hawks, 103-94 at the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis. Cazzie Russell scored 31 points in defeat for the Knicks.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Boston Celtics, 118-112 at the Boston Garden. Elgin Baylor scored 33. But the Celtics went on to beat the Lakers in the NBA Finals.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Cincinnati Royals, 123-113 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. Hal Greer scored 36, Wilt Chamberlain 22. For the Royals, Connie Dierking scored 33, and Oscar Robertson 29.

* And the Baltimore Bullets beat the San Francisco Warriors, 125-110 at the Cow Palace outside San Francisco in Daly City, California. Earl Monroe scored 35

And there were 4 games in the American Basketball Association:

* The Pittsburgh Pipers beat the Minnesota Muskies, 115-107 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh. Art Heyman scored 31 for the Pipers.

* The Denver Rockets beat the New Orleans Buccaneers, 104-97 at the Loyola Field House, at Loyola University in New Orleans. Larry Jones scored 34 for the Nuggets.

* The Dallas Chaparrals beat the Houston Mavericks, 122-96 at the Dallas Memorial Auditorium.

* And the Kentucky Colonels beat the Anaheim Amigos, 96-93 at the Anaheim Convention Center.