August 10 in Nerd History

Here are 5 things that happened on August 10th for those of us who still think of Christian Bale as that kid from Newsies.

I.

Birthdays of honor: Antonio Banderas (1960), Jimmy Dean (1928), Leo Fender (1909), Ralph Simpson (1949).

II.

In 1984, the first movie to carry a PG-13 rating was released: Red Dawn. Apparently, Soviet (and their allies) invaders killing a bunch of high school kids was just a tad above PG but not quite an R back in 1984.

Beyond depicting a WWIII in Soviet-occupied Colorado, Red Dawn had one hell of a cast, with Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson, and Jennifer Grey making up the core teen squad, aka The Wolverines.

That movie did much better than Cloak & Dagger, released on the exact same day, despite the fact that it featured E.T.’s Henry Thomas AND Dabney Coleman. Maybe that’s because it had already been seen by some audiences as a double feature with The Last Starfighter a month earlier.

III.

In 1977 the man who would eventually become known as Hulk Hogan made his pro wrestling debut for Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) in Fort Myers. He went up against Brian Blair, who himself would eventually appear in the WWF as part of The Killer Bees tag team.

Following his debut, he threw a mask on and called himself “The Super Destroyer”, a character that actually preceded him and would continue after Hogan played the part. Following a bit of a hiatus from wrestling, Hogan would make his WWF debut in 1979, but it wasn’t until 1983 that Hulkamania would truly rise.

IV.

Prank shows feel like they started with Ashton Kutcher “punking” fellow celebrities, but they actually have a long and storied history. Or at least long. On this day in 1948, Candid Camera made its TV debut — after an already successful run on radio as Candid Microphone.

V.

Today marks the exact moment that Britpop peaked, as Oasis played the first of two shows at Knebworth, England, in 1996 — to over 125,000 people per night. Take that, Blur.