December 26, 1951: "The African Queen" Premieres

Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart

December 26, 1951: The African Queen premieres, based on the 1935 novel by C.S. Forester, and directed by John Huston. It stars Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn.

The film is set in August 1914, in German East Africa (now the nations of Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania). Samuel Sayer (Robert Morley) and his sister Rose (Hepburn) are British missionaries. They are occasionally supplied by the steamboat African Queen, piloted by Charlie Allnut, not exactly a missionary's kind of guy. (He was a Cockney in the book, but Bogart didn't think he could do the accent, so the character was rewritten as a Canadian, so he was still a citizen of the British Empire.)

Charlie tells them that war has broken out (the one that would later be known as World War I), and that they should get out of German territory. They refuse, but German colonial troops burn down the village, and Samuel is killed. Charlie helps Rose bury him, and takes her upriver.

Charlie says the British are unable to attack the Germans because of the presence of a large gunboat, the Königin Luise (Queen Louise, named for the wife of King Frederick William III of Prussia), patrolling a large lake downriver. Rose comes up with a plan to convert the African Queen into a torpedo boat, and sink the Königin Luise. After first thinking that she's nuts, Charlie goes along with the plan.

The Königin Luise returns, and Charlie and Rose steam the African Queen out onto the lake in darkness, intending to set her on a collision course. A strong storm strikes, causing water to pour into the African Queen through the torpedo holes. Eventually the boat capsizes, throwing Charlie and Rose into the water. Charlie loses sight of Rose in the storm.

Charlie is captured and taken aboard the Königin Luise, where he is interrogated by German officers. Believing that Rose has drowned, he makes no attempt to defend himself against accusations of spying, and the German captain sentences him to death by hanging. Rose is brought aboard the ship just after Charlie's sentence is pronounced. The captain questions her, and Rose proudly confesses the plot to sink the Königin Luise, deciding that they have nothing to lose. The captain sentences her to be executed with Charlie, both as British spies.

Charlie asks the German captain to marry them before they are executed, as is allowed by the law of most countries. The captain agrees, and after conducting the briefest of marriage ceremonies, is about to carry out the execution when the Königin Luise is rocked by a series of explosions, quickly capsizing. The ship has struck the overturned submerged hull of the African Queen and detonated the torpedoes. The newly married couple is able to escape the sinking ship and swim to safety together.

Much of the film was shot on location in Uganda and the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). This was unusual for that era, especially for a color film that used large, cumbersome "Three-Strip" cameras. The cast and crew endured sickness and spartan living conditions during their time on location, and Huston used his off-time to do a lot of hunting. This led to Clint Eastwood directing and starring in the thinly-disguised 1990 film White Hunter Black Heart.

Hepburn got sick. Bogart later said that he and Huston were the only members of the cast and crew who didn't, because they were drinking whiskey, not the local water. Given Bogie's well-known proclivities, I believe him.

The film was nominated for 4 Academy Awards: Bogart for Best Actor, Hepburn for Best Actress, Huston for Best Director, and Huston and James Agee for Best Screenplay. Only Bogart won. It was his only win.

The small steamboat used to depict the African Queen was contemporary to the time, built in 1912 in Britain, for service in Africa. At one time it was owned by actor Fess Parker, best known for playing Davy Crockett. The boat was restored, and is now on display in another location connected with Bogart: Key Largo, Florida.

In 1977, CBS aired a TV-movie with the same title, but as a sequel to the original film, with Warren Oates as Charlie and Mariette Hartley as Rose. The film was meant as the pilot for a series, but it was not picked up.

In 1999, Shakespeare in Love won the Academy Award for Best Picture. In that film, Judi Dench played Queen Elizabeth I. The ceremony was hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, who came out in costume as Elizabeth I, complete with whiteface makeup, and said, "I am the African Queen!"

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December 26, 1951 was a Wednesday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 3 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Milwaukee Hawks, 78-76 at the Baltimore Coliseum. This was the 1st half of a doubleheader. The Knicks had reached the NBA Finals the previous year, and would again, while the Hawks were a lousy team, and moved to St. Louis in 1955, and then to Atlanta in 1968. Nevertheless, the Hawks won this game.

* In the nightcap, the Baltimore Bullets beat the Philadelphia Warriors, 103-99 in triple overtime. So fans could pay for 48 minutes of basketball, and ended up getting 111 minutes.

* And the Fort Wayne Pistons beat the Boston Celtics, 94-86 at North Side High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana. As late as 1952, an NBA team was playing its home games in a high school gymnasium.

There were 2 games played in the NHL. The New York Rangers beat the Detroit Red Wings, 1-0 at the old Madison Square Garden. And the Montreal Canadiens beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. The Boston Bruins and the Chicago Black Hawks were not scheduled.

And in English soccer, at a time when teams played back-to-back, home-and-home games on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, North London team Arsenal had beaten Hampshire team Portsmouth 4-1 the day before, but Portsmouth gained a 1-1 draw on this day, at Fratton Park.

July 4, 1976: The Raid On Entebbe

July 4, 1976: Israeli commandos launch a raid on Entebbe International Airport, in Kampala, the capital of the African nation of Uganda. It becomes the stuff of legend.

On June 27, Air France Flight 139, an Airbus A300B4-203, took of from Ben-Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, intending to land at Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris, France. A crew of 12 was flying 246 passengers, most of them Jewish, and most of those citizens of Israel. The plane landed in Athens, Greece, to pick up 58 new passengers. But 4 of them were hijackers.

They took off from Paris at 12:30 PM, and were subsequently hijacked by 2 operatives of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - External Operations (PFLP-EO), and 2 operatives of the Revolutionary Cells, a terrorist group operating out of West Germany. The flight was diverted to Benghazi, in the Palestinian-friendly country of Libya. It was held on the ground for 7 hours, to refuel. At 3:15 PM on June 28, it arrived at Entebbe.

Idi Amin, dictator of Uganda, sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, allowed the plane to land. 

A PFLP-EO hijacker issued a declaration and formulated their demands. In addition to a ransom of US $5 million ($25.7 million in 2022 money) for the release of the airplane, they demanded the release of 53 Palestinian and pro-Palestinian militants, 40 of whom were prisoners in Israel. They threatened that if these demands were not met, they would begin to kill hostages on July 1.

On July 30, the hijackers released most of the non-Jewish hostages, leaving 83 Jews, mostly Israeli citizens, and 20 others who stayed aboard in solidarity with them. Negotiations got underway, not just between Israel and the hijackers, but between Israel and Amin. In contrast with his usual bombastic image, Amin convinced the hijackers to extend the deadline.

Representatives within the Israeli government initially debated over whether to concede or respond by force, as the hijackers had threatened to kill the hostages if the specified prisoners were not released. Acting on intelligence provided by Mossad, the decision was made by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to have the Israeli military undertake a rescue operation. The Israeli plans included preparation for an armed confrontation with Amin's Uganda Army. This extension of the hostage deadline proved crucial to providing Israeli forces enough time to get to Entebbe. Brigadier General Dan Shomron, who presented it, was named its overall commander.

Initiating the operation at nightfall on July 4, Israeli transport planes flew 100 commandos over 2,500 miles to Uganda for the rescue effort. Over the course of 90 minutes, 102 of the hostages were rescued successfully, with 3 having been killed. The Israeli military suffered 5 wounded and 1 killed. His name was Yonatan Netanyahu. He was 30 years old, held the rank of Sgan aluf, equivalent in the U.S. Army to that of Lieutenant Colonel, and commanded a reconnaissance unit named Sayeret Matkal. 

Yonatan was the older brother of Benjamin Netanyahu, who would later become Prime Minister. While "Bibi" was born in Tel Aviv, "Yoni" was born in New York City. They had spent their teenage years in the suburbs of Philadelphia, and went to Cheltenham High School. Yonatan graduated in the Class of 1964, along with baseball legend Reggie Jackson, who recalled having many Jewish friends at the time.

The Israeli commandos killed all of the hijackers and 45 Ugandan soldiers, and 11 of Uganda's Soviet-built MiG-17s and MiG-21s were destroyed. Over the course of the operation in Uganda, Israel received support from neighboring Kenya.

Amin subsequently issued orders for the Ugandan military to kill all Kenyans living in Uganda, leading to the deaths of 245 Kenyan-Ugandans, and the exodus of around 3,000 Kenyans. Since Kenya was still in the British Commonwealth, the United Kingdom broke diplomatic relations with Uganda the following year. Amin declared that he had defeated the British and added "CBE" to his title, for "Conqueror of the British Empire," instead of its usual "Commander of the Order of the British Empire." He also proclaimed himself to be the King of Scotland.

On December 13, 1976, just 5 months after the raid, ABC aired the film Victory at Entebbe, starring Anthony Hopkins, Burt Lancaster, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Dreyfuss, and Julius Harris as Amin. A month later, on January 9, 1977, NBC aired their version, Raid on Entebbe, with Horst Buchholz, Charles Bronson, James Woods, Yaphet Kotto as Amin, and Peter Finch as Rabin. It was Finch's last role: He died 5 days after the premiere, and soon won a posthumous Academy Award for Best Actor, for his role in Network.

But such are the natures of democracy and dictatorship that Rabin lost power through an election, replaced by Menachem Begin in 1977, before Amin lost power through a coup. And Amin outlived Rabin. On the other hand, Rabin did make a comeback, regaining the Premiership in 1992, dying in office through assassination in 1995, while Amin lived out his life in exile, dying in 2003.

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July 4, 1976 was a Sunday. It was the Bicentennial, the 200th Anniversary, of American independence, and there were celebrations all over the United States. I have a separate entry for that collection of events.

It was the off-season for the NFL, the NBA and the NHL. But a full slate of Major League Baseball games was played, including some of what had been a tradition, the holiday doubleheader: 

* The New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians, 4-3 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Despite giving up 2 home runs to Rico Carty, Dock Ellis was the winning pitcher. The Yankee runs scored on RBI singles by Willie Randolph and Jim Mason in the 2nd inning, and a sacrifice fly by Graig Nettles in the 6th. After giving up Carty's 2nd homer in the bottom of the 9th, Ellis was removed by manager Billy Martin, who brought Sparky Lyle in to slam the door.

* The New York Mets split a doubleheader with the Chicago Cubs at Shea Stadium. The Metropolitans won the opener, 9-4. The Cubbies won the nightcap, 4-2.

* Perhaps oddly, or perhaps wisely, depending on how you look at it, the Philadelphia Phillies were away from home on Bicentennial Day. They split a doubleheader with the Pittsburgh Pirates at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. The Phils won the 1st game 10-5, and the Bucs won the 2nd game 7-1.

* The defending, and soon to be back-to-back, World Champion Cincinnati Reds beat the Houston Astros, 7-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-4 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

* In the day's only extra-inning game, the Chicago White Sox beat the Texas Rangers, 7-6. Before the game, White Sox owner Bill Veeck played the wounded fife player alongside two drummers, re-creating the famous Spirit of '76 painting by Archibald Willard, as they walked around the field at Comiskey Park.

Jorge Orta singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 12th. Right before the next season started, the Yankees, unhappy with the lack of production from shortstops Mason and Fred Stanley, traded for the player who scored the winning run in this game: Bucky Dent.

This was the opener of a doubleheader. In the 2nd game, the Rangers won, 3-2.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 3-1 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Hank Aaron, in his final major league season, did not play for the Brewers.

* A doubleheader was split at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. The California Angels won the opener, 5-3. The Minnesota Twins won the nightcap, 9-5.

* The only team then in the major leagues representing a city outside the United States, the Montreal Expos, was within the United States, beating the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-3 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Kansas City Royals, 6-0 at Royals (now Kauffman) Stadium in Kansas City. Mike Norris pitched a 3-hit shutout.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-2 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.