Almanac: "It Happened One Night"
And now a page from our "Sunday Morning" Almanac.
It happened one February 22nd . . . in 1934 to be exact, 81 years ago today -- the day the movie "It Happened One Night" premiered in New York.
The film stars Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable, forced by circumstance to travel unwillingly together across Depression-era America.
The scene in which they chastely share a tourist cabin has become a classic:
Gable: "Now I have a method all my own. If you'll notice, the coat came [off] first, then the tie, then the shirt."
Reports that underwear shirt sales plunged after that scene may or may not be true, but there's no doubt what ultimately happened to "It Happened One Night."
It became the first movie to win all five top Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director (for Frank Capra), Best Actor (for Gable), Best Actress (for Colbert) -- presented by Shirley Temple, no less -- and a Best Screenplay award for Robert Riskin.
In all the years since, a so-called Grand Slam has happened only two more times, with the 1975 film, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," and 1991's "The Silence of the Lambs."
Someday we may see another Oscar Grand Slam. But with not a single picture nominated in all five categories this year, we can safely predict that it WON'T happen tonight.
For more info:
- "It Happened One Night" - On Blu-ray and DVD from the Criterion Collection
- Complete list of 2015 Academy Award nominations
- Downloadable Oscar Ballot (pdf) - For your Oscar party or office pool
- Complete CBSNews.com coverage: The Academy Awards