December 18, 1974: "The Missiles of October" Premieres On ABC

William Devane as JFK

December 18, 1974: The TV-movie The Missiles of October airs on ABC. William Devane plays President John F. Kennedy, and Martin Sheen plays his brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. The film is based on Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis, written by RFK but not published until 1969, after his assassination.

The film also stars Howard Da Silva as Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, and Ralph Bellamy as U.N. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson.

In 1979, Sheen starred in Blind Ambition, based on the memoir of John Dean, counselor to President Richard Nixon and defendant/informant in the Watergate case. In 1983, he starred in the NBC miniseries Kennedy, making him, as far as I know, to this day, the only actor ever to play both Jack and Bobby Kennedy. That same year, in The Dead Zone, he played a Senate candidate who, in a vision of the future by Johnny Smith (Christopher Walken), becomes a President who starts World War III.

In 2003, playing fictional President Jed Bartlet on The West Wing, Sheen was reunited with Devane, who played Secretary of State Lewis Berryhill. In 2007, he provided the voice of George Washington for the documentary Searching for George Washington.

Devane has also played fictional Presidents on Stargate SG-1 and 24, and in The Dark Knight Rises. In 1991, in the NBC film A Woman Named Jackie, he played Jack Bouvier, father of Jacqueline Kennedy.

Bellamy had played Franklin D. Roosevelt in Sunrise at Campobello in 1960, telling of FDR's initial struggle with polio before becoming President. He played FDR as President in the 1984 ABC miniseries The Winds of War and its 1988 sequel War and Remembrance, based on the World War II novels of Herman Wouk.

Da Silva, the original Jud Fry in Oklahoma! in 1943, played Benjamin Franklin in the 1969 Broadway musical 1776 and its 1972 film version. And he played FDR in the 1977 film The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover.

In 2000, a theatrical release about the Crisis was released, taking the Thirteen Days name from RFK's book, but based on another book about the Crisis, based on information declassified long after The Missiles of October aired.

*

December 18, 1974 was a Wednesday. Pro Bowl linebacker Peter Boulware was born.

Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 3 games in the NBA:

* The Boston Celtics beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 131-99 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Washington Bullets beat the New Orleans Jazz, 113-90 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Detroit Pistons, 100-97 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit. Fred Brown scored 34 for the Sonics.

There were 4 games in the American Basketball Association:

* The Virginia Squires beat the Memphis Sounds, 112-86 at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the San Antonio Spurs, 128-122 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. George McGinnis led all scorers on the night with 45.

* The Kentucky Colonels beat the Spirits of St. Louis, 110-94 at the St. Louis Arena. Artis Gilmore scored 36 for the Colonels.

* And the San Diego Conquistadors beat the Utah Stars, 113-99 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena).

There were 6 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Minnesota North Stars, 7-0 at Madison Square Garden. Former Boston Bruins star Derek Sanders scored 3 goals and had an assist for the Rangers.

* The New York Islanders lost to the Buffalo Sabres, 3-2 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-4 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Chicago Black Hawks beat their arch-rivals, the Detroit Red Wings, 7-5 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Kansas City Scouts, 6-0 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City.

* And the Montreal Canadiens beat the California Golden Seals, 4-3 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

And there were 2 games in the World Hockey Association. The Quebec Nordiques beat the Winnipeg Jets, 5-1 at the Colisée de Québec. And the Phoenix Roadrunners beat the Vancouver Blazers, 5-3 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

June 8, 1983: "Trading Places" Premieres

Left to right: Eddie Murphy, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dan Aykroyd

June 8, 1983: Trading Places premieres, directed by John Landis. Why would a movie clearly filmed at Christmastime be released in June, instead of waiting until the following Christmas season? Probably to take advantage of the fact that Eddie Murphy had become, along with Michael Jackson, the biggest thing in show business that year. And there are some great shots of Philadelphia landmarks, including the spectacular main room of 30th Street Station.

Murphy plays Billy Ray Valentine, a street-level con artist. Dan Aykroyd plays Louis Winthorpe III, a different kind of con artist: A commodities broker with Duke & Duke. Specifically, Randolph Duke (Ralph Bellamy) and Mortimer Duke (Don Ameche), 2 very elderly, very conservative, and very bigoted brothers -- who, apparently, have neither wives to complain to nor children to leave the very lucrative business to, so they're still at it. (Landis originally wanted Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder, who previously co-starred in Silver Streak and Stir Crazy, for Trading Places, but neither was available.)

One thing leads to another, and Billy Ray ends up being arrested inside Duke & Duke headquarters. Randolph believes that "nurture" is more important than "nature." Mortimer is sure that people don't really change. So they make a bet: Randolph can make an executive out of Billy Ray, and a criminal out of Louis. To make a long story short, with the assistance of security expert Clarence Beeks (Paul Gleeson), and Lewis' far less willing butler Coleman (Denholm Elliott), they pull off the switcheroo to a T.

But, during the office Christmas party Billy Ray overhears the brothers settling the bet, and talking about their plan, after the New Year, to corner the market on frozen concentrated orange juice (FCOJ), with help from Beeks' chicanery. He also overhears that they're going to dump him, without restoring Louis.

On Christmas Eve, with no hope left, Louis overdoses on sleeping pills at the apartment of Ophelia (Jamie Lee Curtis), a prostitute who has been helping him get by as he tries in vain to restore his place. Billy Ray had followed him, to tell him what the Dukes had done. Billy Ray calls Coleman, who calls a doctor. When Louis recovers on Christmas morning, Coleman and Billy Ray tell him the whole thing.

Louis swears revenge, and he knows how to get it. He and Billy Ray stop Beeks, get the fake crop report, and replace it with an expert forgery saying the opposite. Coleman gives them his life savings, and Ophelia gives them the money she's saved up from hooking, to stake them for their plan.

On the 1st trading day of the New Year, at the New York Commodities Exchange, part of the World Trade Center complex -- making this movie a little harder to watch after 2001 -- Louis announces a sale of shares of FCOJ that he doesn't actually have. This sends the price back down after the Dukes had driven it up.

When the crop report is announced -- Florida had a good orange crop, meaning fresh oranges will be plentiful, meaning FCOJ will have less demand -- the price of FCOJ crashes, and Louis and Billy Ray buy everybody's shares cheaply, enough to not only cover the sales of what they didn't have, but enough to make themselves fabulously wealthy, and to cost the Dukes $394 million -- about $1.15 billion in 2022 money. They don't have the cash on hand, their assets are (ironically) frozen, and they are ruined. (Note: Louis' scheme is now illegal, although it's known as the Eddie Murphy Rule, not the Dan Aykroyd Rule.)

The movie ends with Louis and Ophelia on a yacht, just off a Caribbean island, where Billy Ray has a new girlfriend, and Coleman has his own butler.

Bellamy died in 1991, Elliott in 1992, Ameche in 1993. As of June 8, 2022, Landis, Aykroyd, Murphy and Curtis are still alive.

*

June 8, 1983 was a Wednesday. Tennis star Kim Clijsters was born.

The USFL season was in progress, but was in midweek. The NBA title was decided 8 days earlier, when the Philadelphia 76ers swept the Los Angeles Lakers. The Stanley Cup was decided 22 days earlier, when the New York Islanders swept the Edmonton Oilers.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians, 6-5 at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees led 5-2 after 7 innings, but Rudy May blew a nice start by usually-a-reliever Jay Howell, and the Indians tied it in the top of the 9th. In the bottom of the 9th, Dave Winfield doubled, and Lou Piniella singled him home with the winning run, to make a winning pitcher out of Goose Gossage.

* The New York Mets lost to the Chicago Cubs, 2-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Mookie Wilson broke up a scoreless duel between Mike Torrez and Steve Trout with an RBI double in the top of the 8th. But Ryne Sandberg tied it in the bottom of the 9th, Leon Durham drew a walk, Torrez threw a wild pitch, and Keith Moreland singled Durham home with the winning run, to make a winning pitcher out of Lee Smith.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-4 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. Carl Yastrzemski, in his final season, went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-4 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Mike Schmidt went 2-for-5 with an RBI. Pete Rose got a hit as a pinch-hitter. Tony Pérez went 2-for-4 with a home run, a walk and 4 RBIs. Garry Maddox also hit a home run.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-3 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. The O's scored 5 runs in the 8th to win it. Eddie Murray went 1-for-3 with a walk. Cal Ripken went 1-for4 with a home run and 2 RBIs. Robin Yount went 0-for-3 with a walk. Paul Molitor went 3-for-5.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves, 11-5 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-3 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Johnny Bench, in his last season, went 0-for-2 with 2 walks. Tony Gwynn did not play.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins, 9-2 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett did not play.

* The Houston Astros beat the San Francisco Giants, 1-0 at the Astrodome in Houston. Joe Niekro pitched 10 shutout innings, allowing 10 hits, before Bill Dawley became the winning pitcher. Andy McGaffigan pitched 9 shutout innings, allowed 4 hits, before Gary Lavelle gave up a single to Phil Garner, scoring Omar Moreno with the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning.

* The California Angels beat the Chicago White Sox, 7-4 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Reggie Jackson went 1-for-3 with 2 walks. Rod Carew went 1-for-5.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Oakland Athletics, 5-2 at the Oakland Coliseum. Rickey Henderson went 0-for-3.

* And the Texas Rangers beat the Seattle Mariners, 1-0 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Mike Smithson allowed 9 hits, and needed Odell Jones to get the last out to finish the shutout.