To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the British Invasion, we're posting our weekly Universal News story a few days early! On this day, fifty years ago, the Beatles landed at Beatles landed at New York City’s recently renamed John F. Kennedy airport. Here's the report from Universal, complete with John, Paul, George, and Ringo's trademark charm, … Continue reading This Week in Universal News: The Beatles Come to America
Are you ready to stay in for two weeks to watch the skiing, figure skating, and curling that comprise the 2014 Olympics? To prepare, here's a story about the games held fifty years ago. The 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria opened January 29, 1964 and closed February 9th. http://youtu.be/tMtkJEnN1tE From the release sheet: WINTER … Continue reading This Week in Universal News: The 1964 Winter Olympics
On January 27, 1967, the first Apollo mission ended in disaster. Fire broke out during a launch rehearsal, killing pilots Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjEnIqcMQ3I From the release sheet: ASTRONAUT DISASTER Apollo astronauts Roger Chaffee, Edward White, and Gus Grissom are all killed in a flash-fire aboard their grounded space capsule. Investigators … Continue reading This Week in Universal News: Apollo 1 Disaster
On January 23, 1931, architects dressed up as the buildings they designed for the Beaux-Arts Ball in New York. In this week's featured story, they are pictured from left to right, A. Stewart Walker as the Fuller Building, Leonard Schultze as the Waldorf-Astoria, Ely Jacques Kahn as the Squibb Building, William Van Alen as the Chrysler Building, … Continue reading This Week in Universal News: Beaux-Arts Ball, 1931
This week’s Universal News features a story from 1934 about a model kitchen run by the Detroit Free Press It is a local story and was only shown in movie theaters in Detroit. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0dBIpfT28M From the release sheet: WIVES TAUGHT TO COOK IN NEW MODEL KITCHEN SET UP BY NEWSPAPER. Detroit Free Press runs a test … Continue reading This Week in Universal News: A Model Kitchen, 1934
This week's Universal News story dates from 1963 and features a chimpanzee ice skating in Germany. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHMEGatiKPM From the release sheet: SPORTS MONKEY SHINES! THIS CHIMP IS A GAY BLADE: Usually, summer is the whacky season, but this winter things aren't on an even keel in Germany. They've taught a Chimp to Skate and he's … Continue reading This Week in Universal News: Ice Skating Chimpanzee, 1963
This week in Universal News, the New Year is celebrated in the United States and Cuba. 1933 would be the year that Prohibition was repealed, although the festivities evident in this story certainly do not seem lacking. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbDXtoOXjSI&feature=youtu.be From the release sheet: BIG CITIES CELEBRATE AS 1932 PASSES OUT; GAILY WELCOME 1933 Unprecedented whoppee and … Continue reading This Week In Universal News: New Year’s Eve, 1932
Before the advent of televised network news programs and the 24 hour news cycle on cable and the internet, newsreels were one of the main sources people had for news. One of five major newsreel companies, Universal Studios produced and released newsreels which were shown in movie theaters, twice a week, from 1929 until 1967. Each release usually … Continue reading A Moving Image “Newspaper”: Universal Newsreels at the National Archives
This week, we’re excited to provide a sneak peek of a new series on our Media Matters blog. Starting in January, we’ll launch “This Week in Universal News”. Every Monday, archives technician Jim Konicek will feature a story from the National Archives’ Universal Newsreel Collection released that week in history. Today’s post features the iconic … Continue reading Ice Skating at Rockefeller Center, 1937
