1944
1944 Events
August 9 - The United States Forest Service and the Wartime Advertising Council release posters featuring Smokey the Bear for the first time.
.December 26 - The play The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams was first publicly performed.
Born in 1944
January 6 Bonnie Franklin, American actress
January 9 - Jimmy Page, English guitarist (Led Zeppelin)
January 12 - Joe Frazier, American boxer
January 19 - Shelley Fabares, American actress and singer
February 5 - Al Kooper, American musician (Blood, Sweat, and Tears)
February 23 - Johnny Winter, American musician
March 1 - Roger Daltrey, English musician (The Who)
March 17 - John Sebastian, American singer and songwriter (The Lovin' Spoonful)
March 26 - Diana Ross, American singer (The Supremes)
April 3 - Tony Orlando, American musician
April 13 - Jack Casady, American musician (Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna)
May 14 - George Lucas, American film director and producer
May 20 - Joe Cocker, British singer
May 28 - Gladys Knight, American singer
June 24 - Jeff Beck, British musician
June 29 - Gary Busey, American actor
September 12 - Barry White, American singer (d. 2003)
October 9 - John Entwistle, English musician (The Who) (d. 2002)
October 9 - Peter Tosh, Jamaican singer and musician (d. 1987)
November 17 - Tom Seaver, baseball player
Died in 1944
January 23 - Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter (b. 1863)
February 1 - Piet Mondriaan, Dutch painter (b. 1872)
December 13 - Wassily Kandinsky, Russian-born artist (b. 1866)
Movie Land in 1944
Top grossing films
1. Going My Way, starring Bing Crosby
2. Meet Me in St. Louis, starring Judy Garland
3. Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
4. Hollywood Canteen
5. A Guy Named Joe
6. The White Cliffs of Dover
Academy Awards:
Best Picture: Going My Way - Paramount
Best Director: Leo McCarey - Going My Way
Best Actor: Bing Crosby - Going My Way
Best Actress: Ingrid Bergman - Gaslight
Best Supporting Actor: Barry Fitzgerald - Going My Way
Best Supporting Actress: Ethel Barrymore - None but the Lonely Heart
Golden Globe Awards:
Best Picture: Going My Way
Best Director: Leo McCarey, Going My Way
Best Actor: Alexander Knox - Wilson
Best Actress: Ingrid Bergman - Gaslight
Films released in 1944
Between Two Worlds
A Canterbury Tale, written and directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
Cry of the Werewolf
Double Indemnity, starring Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson
The Fighting Seabees
Gaslight, the Hollywood remake, with Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer
Going My Way
Henry V, directed by and starring Laurence Olivier
Hollywood Canteen - (film only mentioned in article)
House of Frankenstein
In Society, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
Ivan the Terrible, by director Sergei Eisenstein
The Keys of the Kingdom, starring Gregory Peck, Cedric Hardwicke, Vincent Price, and Roddy McDowall
Lady, Let's Dance, ice skating musical starring Belita and comedy ice team Frick & Frack
Laura
Lost in a Harem, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello
Meet Me in St. Louis
National Velvet
None but the Lonely Heart
The Return of the Vampire
Since You Went Away
Thirty Seconds over Tokyo
The Way Ahead, directed by Carol Reed
The White Cliffs of Dover
Wilson, biographical film about President Woodrow Wilson, starring Charles Coburn
Serials
The Tiger Woman, starring Linda Stirling
Captain America, starring Dick Purcell
Haunted Harbor, starring Kane Richmond
Zorro's Black Whip, starring Linda Stirling
The Desert Hawk, starring Gilbert Roland and Charles Middleton
Black Arrow
Short film series
Our Gang (1922-1944)
Animated short film series
Mickey Mouse (1928-1953)
Looney Tunes (1930-1969)
Terrytoons (1930-1964)
Merrie Melodies (1931-1969)
Scrappy (1931-1941)
Popeye (1933-1957)
Color Rhapsodies (1934-1949)
Donald Duck (1937-1956)
Goofy (1939-1955)
Andy Panda (1939-1949)
Tom and Jerry (MGM) (1940-1958)
Woody Woodpecker (1941-1949)
Swing Symphonies (1941-1945)
The Fox and the Crow (1941-1950)
Red Hot Riding Hood (1943-1949)
Droopy (1943-1958)
Screwball Squirrel (1944-1946)
Music Events of 1944
Jo Stafford launches her solo career
Frank Sinatra begins his film career with the musical Higher And Higher
Frankie Laine cuts his first singles for the Beltone and Atlas labels
January 18 - The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City for the first time hosts a jazz concert; the performers are Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw, Roy Eldridge and Jack Teagarden.
August 19 - Italian singers Lucia Mannucci and Virgilio Savona get married.
December 15 - Glenn Miller is reported missing. The official explanation is that his plane went down somewhere over the English Channel, although many alternate theories have been suggested.
Top hit records of 1944
"Amor" by Andy Russell
"And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine" by Stan Kenton
"Artistry In Rhythm" by Stan Kenton
"Besame Mucho" performed by
Jimmy Dorsey
Andy Russell
"Cherry" by Harry James
"Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me" by Duke Ellington
"Don't Fence Me In" by Bing Crosby & the Andrews Sisters
"Don't Sweetheart Me" by Lawrence Welk
"G.I. Jive" by Louis Jordan
"Goodnight Irene" by Leadbelly
"A Hot Time In the Town of Berlin" by Bing Crosby & the Andrews Sisters
"I Love You" by Bing Crosby
"I'll Be Seeing You" by Bing Crosby
"I'll Get By" by Harry James
"Long Ago" performed by
Dick Haymes and Helen Forrest
Bing Crosby
Jo Stafford
Perry Como
"Is You Is or Is You Ain't" by The Andrews Sisters
"It Could Happen To You" by Jo Stafford
"It Had To Be You" by Dick Haymes and Helen Forrest
"It's Love, Love, Love by Guy Lombardo
"Long Ago" by Dick Haymes and Helen Forrest
"Mairzy Doats" by Merry Macs
"My Heart Tells Me" by The Casa Loma Orchestra
"San Fernando Valley" by Bing Crosby
"Shoo-Shoo Baby" by The Andrews Sisters
"Speak Low" by Guy Lombardo
"Straighten Up and Fly Right" by Nat King Cole
"Swinging On a Star" by Bing Crosby
"(There'll Be A) Hot Time in the Town of Berlin" by The Andrews Sisters
"The Trolley Song" by Judy Garland
"Time Waits For No One" by Helen Forrest
"You Always Hurt the One You Love" by The Mills Brothers
1944 Top Ten Musical Hits
Swinging On a Star- Bing Crosby
Shoo-Shoo Baby-Andrews Sisters
Don'T Fence Me In-Bing Crosby & the Andrews Sisters
Besame Mucho-Jimmy Dorsey
I'LL Get By-Harry James
A Hot Time In the Town of Berlin-Bing Crosby & the Andrews Sisters
You Always Hurt the One You Love-Mills Brothers
Mairzy Doats-Merry Macs
I Love You-Bing Crosby
San Fernando Valley-Bing Crosby
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