August 12
CAST OF THOUSANDS DAY
Important Hollywood film innovations -- the first use of indoor lighting on an actor, the first film to publicize its stars’ names, the sneak preview, the concept of different versions of the same movie -- were the creations of moviedom’s Cecil B. (Blount) DeMille.
DeMille, born on this day in 1881 in Ashfield, Massachusetts is, however, better known for producing the film spectacular. On that large scale were over seventy films including The Crusades, The Sign of the Cross, King of Kings, Cleopatra, The Plainsman, Reap the Wild Wind, The Buccaneer, and his Academy Award-winner, The Greatest Show on Earth [1952].
Cecil B. DeMille’s all-time greatest show was The Ten Commandments. His first production of this biblical story was in 1923. Then, in 1956, he presented a new epic version (which is shown annually on TV) with the famous cast of thousands.
Those Were the Days, the Today in History service from 440 International
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