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.

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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.

March 27, 1980: Silver Thursday

Herbert (left) and "Bunkie"

March 27, 1980: Nelson Bunker Hunt, William Herbert Hunt and Lamar Hunt -- sons of right-wing fanatic oil billionaire H.L. Hunt -- try to corner the silver market. A subsequent steep fall in silver prices leads to panic on the commodity and futures exchanges.

They used their family fortune, over $5 billion at the time their father died in 1974, to jack the price of silver up to $50 an ounce. There was a silver frenzy: People who had all-silver U.S. dimes, quarters, half-dollars and dollar coins minted up until 1964, before the switch to a silver-copper mix, sold them for far above their face value.

But the Federal Reserve then took an unusual step: It strongly encouraged banks to stop making loans for speculative activity. When it became clear that the government was after the Hunts' scalps, their credit dried up. Concerns that the Hunts might not be able to meet margins with new loans and would go under, pulling several brokerages and banks with them, put further downward pressure on the price of silver. The price dropped to $11 an ounce.

The economy, already hurt by high inflation and high interest rates, soon went into recession. The brothers lost nearly everything, although they were able to rebuild their fortunes. "Bunkie" Hunt later admitted, "A billion dollars ain't what it used to be."

Lamar -- yes, that's the Lamar Hunt who founded the AFL and the Kansas City Chiefs -- died in 2006, Bunkie in 2014. As of March 27, 2022, Herbert is still alive. (UPDATE: He died in 2024.)

This event, known as "Silver Thursday," inspired the scheme in the film Trading Places of the Duke brothers to try to corner the market for frozen concentrated orange juice. Sabotaged, they ended up losing $394 million, or about half of what the Hunt brothers lost. The $1.1 billion they lost in 1980 is worth about $3.95 billion in 2022 money. (The Duke brothers' $394 million loss in 1983? About $1.15 billion.)

It took until 2019 for the price of silver to get back to where it was in 1980.

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March 27, 1980 was, as stated, a Thursday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There were 6 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Philadelphia 76ers, 103-101 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Atlanta Hawks, 117-100 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Washington Bullets, 118-111 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Denver Nuggets, 143-95 at the Milwaukee Exposition & Convention Center Arena, a.k.a. The MECCA. (It's now the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.)

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Utah Jazz, 97-95 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the San Diego Clippers, 96-93 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena).

And there were 4 games in the NHL:

* The Boston Bruins beat the St. Louis Blues, 7-1 at the Boston Garden.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Quebec Nordiques, 5-2 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Detroit Red Wings, 10-1 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. Don Luce and Danny Gare each had 2 goals.

* And the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Los Angeles Kings played to a tie, 2-2 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.