This Day in History

In 1919, four of the leading figures in Hollywood—Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, D.W. Griffith, and Douglas Fairbanks—decided to form their own film studio to better control their own work. Though initially successful, United Artists foundered as films became more expensive to produce. It was taken over in the 1950s and began to thrive again until the 80s, when it was bought by the studio MGM. What famous actor announced plans to resurrect United Artists in 2006 as part owner of the company? Discuss

Parachutes at the dawn of the aviation age were bulky and, inconveniently, had to be pre-opened. Among those trying to improve upon their design was French tailor Franz Reichelt. He had some success testing his designs on dummies, but he had no evidence that his parachute would work with a real person when he jumped from the Eiffel Tower before a crowd of spectators and reporters. The chute failed to open, and he plummeted to his death. How had he convinced the authorities to allow the jump?

Relations between Italy and the US were strained in 1998 when a US military plane, flying too low and too fast through a valley near the Italian town of Cavalese, clipped an aerial tramway cable. The cable car fell, killing all 20 people on board. The pilot and navigator were acquitted of homicide in a US military court, sparking outrage in Italy, but were later convicted of obstruction of justice for destroying a video of the incident. How did the US attempt to repair relations with Italy?