The Opening of the 46th Academy Awards: 1974 Oscars

The opening of the 46th Academy Awards in 1974, featuring a performance by Liza Minnelli, an introduction by Academy President Walter Mirisch, welcoming remarks from host Burt Reynolds, and appearances by Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Diana Ross, Vincent Gardenia, Angie Dickinson, Burt Bacharach, Jack Lemmon, Paul and Linda McCartney, Walter Matthau, Charles Bronson, Jill Ireland, Raquel Welch, Groucho Marx, Dinah Shore, Joel Gray, Peter Falk, William Friedkin, Sherry Lansing, Marcel Marceau, Timothy Bottoms, Victoria Principal and Pam Grier. Billy Dee Williams and Linda Blair present the Oscar® for Animated Short Subject to Frank Mouris for "Frank Film" and for Live Action Short Subject to Allan Miller and William Fertik for "The Bolero."

Magazine Cover of the Week

BASEBALL DIGEST

NOVEMBER 1974

WORLD CHAMPION OAKLAND A's 

Reggie Jackson (OF), Bert Campaneris (SS) and Sal Bando (3B)

"The Mad, Mad World of the Oakland A's"

Magazine Cover of the Week

October 5th 1974

"Sanford and Son" 

Season 4 of the NBC, aired at 8pm on Friday nights.  

Ranked as the #2 show of the season behind "All in the Family". 

Sports Illustrated Cover of the Week

Evel Knievel

September 2nd 1974

WE LOVE THE 70s!

"Cher Goes Ape"

From "The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour" on CBS in 1974 to promote the upcoming CBS series "Planet of the Apes", which aired from September to December 1974. 

Magazine Cover of the Week

TV Guide 

November 2nd-8th

1974

The Cast of M*A*S*H

Sports Illustrated Cover of the Week

July 15th 1974

Wimbledon Champions and then a couple, Jimmy Connors and Chris Evert

WE LOVE THE 70s

Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves

Baseball Digest 

April 1974

1974 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year

Muhammad Ali

1974 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year

Sports Illustrated Cover of the Week

Celebrating the 40th anniversary of Hank Aaron breaking Babe Ruth's home run record 

April 7th 1974

Dr. J (Julius Erving)

The short lived but much loved and colorful ABA (American Basketball Association) gave us one of if not the best basketball player ever.  The Doctor, Dr. J, Julius Erving literally jumped on to the American sport scene with his never before seen high flying dunks and big hair along with grace, skill and his off the chart shooting ability.

(winning his 2nd MVP trophy in 1975)

His ABA career started with the Virginia Squires but he soon landed in New York with the New York Nets and became the face of ABA and winning the ABA MVP Award 3 consecutive years: 1974, 1975 and 1976. 
 He did share the award in 1975 with George "Big Mac" McGinnis of the Indiana Pacers.

Classic Movie Poster of the Day

Released December 1973

The 12th highest grossing movie of 1974

Al Pacino won his first Golden Globe for his portrayal of Frank Serpico

Amanda Blake Interview on The Mike Douglas Show 1974

Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

One of the most famous short stories of the 19th century was Ambrose Bierce's 1890 tale of the civil war hanging of confederate sympathizer Peyton Farquhar, Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.
In the 20th century this story was interpreted in both radio and television, during the Golden Age of Radio by Escape and Suspense to tremendous effect.
On television, first by Alfred Hitchcock Presents in the 5th season, episode 13 aired December 20th 1959.



Thanks to Buck Benny's OTR podcast he brought us this version
The radio adaptations began with Escape's airing on December 10th 1947, starring Harry Bartell as Peyton Farquhar.


Suspense gave us its adaptation in July 9th 1959 with Vincent Price as Farquhar.


Maybe the most famous adaptation on American television was the airing on The Twilight Zone (Season 5, episode 22, Feb 28 1964) of the french short film that won the award for Best Short Subject at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival and the 1963 Academy Awards.


Again on radio by the great OTR revival show CBS Radio Mystery Theater June 4th 1974, starring William Prince as Peyton Farquhar.

Aloha from Hawaii: Via Satellite

Today in 1973 - Elvis Presley drew the largest audience for a single TV show to that time -- an estimated one billion viewers in 40 countries. Elvis - Aloha From Hawaii, a live, worldwide concert from Honolulu International Center Arena (later known as the Neal S. Blaisdell Center Arena). Performed at 12:30 a.m. Hawaiian Time, it was beamed live via Globecam Satellite to Australia, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, the Philippines, South Vietnam and other countries, and was seen on a delayed basis in approximately 30 European countries. The first American airing was April 4th on NBC-TV. The show was also released as a two-record album, and became one of Elvis’s top-selling LPs

This was the last soundtrack (and last #1 album on the Billboard 200 for Elvis) released during Elvis lifetime, the last 2 were released after his death, Elvis in Concert (1977 TV Special) and This is Elvis in 1981.

Here is the complete show from 1973

Sanford and Son - Grady and His Lady

This episode of Sanford and Son aired on NBC Tv October 4th 1974
 (Season 4)

Fred fears wedding bells will break up his beautiful friendship after Grady announces he's engaged to Dolly, so Fred plots to puncture the romance