March 1

Events

1971 - A story that just had to be filmed - The Luchino Visconti directed film of Thomas Mann's famous novella, Death In Venice was released on this date. The film tells the story of the middle-aged Aschenbach, who travels to a Venetian seaside resort in search of repose after a period of artistic and personal stress. But he finds no peace there, for he soon develops a strong attraction to an adolescent boy, Tadzio, on vacation with his family. The story was inspired by Mann's own personal experience of falling for Wladyslaw Moes, an 11-year-old sailor-suited boy he saw in Venice in 1911. The film starred Björn Andrésen as the youth, who strikes many memorable statuesque erotic poses for both the audience and for Aschenbach.

1981 - Taking the concept of researching a role to extremes - The made-for-TV film Elvis and the Beauty Queen originally aired on this date. The title refers to Elvis and his wife, Priscilla, who was only 14 when she began dating the King. The role of Elvis was played by Don Johnson, who started living with his first wife, Melanie Griffith, when she was only 14-years-old. Both marriages ended in divorce.

1986 - How about calling it Touched By An Angel? No? - Another made-for-TV movie, Betrayed By Innocence, was first broadcast on this date. The film told the story of a married commercial filmmaker played by Barry Bostwick who is charged with statutory rape when it is revealed that his lover is only 16. Apparently the movie needed a bit of help selling when it was released on video, so it was retitled Jailbait: Betrayed by Innocence. I guess if you hit people over the head with the real goods, it sells better.

2000 - WWF Grooms teens for oral sex? - Audiences at 17 movie theaters across Canada got more than they paid for on this date when the scene of a woman performing oral sex on a man appeared on screen following the live WWF "No Way Out" wrestling event. "It was a horrid technical glitch," Joan Fraser of Famous Players Theaters' Toronto head office said. "Bell ExpressVu was supplying us the event via satellite and someone at their master control flicked the wrong switch. We were totally shocked. We've done wrestling shows before and we didn't think anything like this could possibly happen." A man who attended the screening with his 14-year-old son told the newspaper, "The porn scene was all he talked about on the way home. And the minute we got in the door, he yelled, 'Mom, let me tell you what I saw at the wrestling show.'"

2002 - Even the cops know that vigilantes are just plain nuts - A news story was published on this date about trailer park mother Julie Posey, who spent much of her time online posing as a teen in order to try to entice unsuspecting pedos. The article reported that Posey had helped entrap and arrest over 20 pedos in five years. It reported that law enforcement, for the most part, viewed the Internet activists as attention-seeking busybodies. The FBI had ordered a handful of vigilantes to stop and police arrested others for downloading illegal pornography, which is against the law whatever the motive. "We really want the public's help, but not to do this," FBI Special Agent Peter A. Gulotta said. "After all, we certainly don't expect people to go out on the street and do drug buys for us." Privacy rights advocates were also cited as worrying that crusaders entice people into fantasy play only to report them to police. The article reported that Posey spent about 40 hours a week trolling the Net. Posey's father said, "I guess it's a kind of obsession." No shit!