What Happened on May 28?

  • Da Vinci's "The Last Supper" went back on display. (1999) The famous painting had deteriorated extensively by the 1970s, and a restoration effort began in 1978. It lasted until 1999, when the painting went back on display with mixed reviews as to the quality and appropriateness of the restoration.

  • The first full sound-all color movie opened. (1929) On With the Show! was the first movie shown to be fully in color an fully in sound. It was the second movie produced by Warner Brothers, and kickstarted the Technicolor revolution.

  • The Dionne quintuplets were born. (1934) Born to Oliva and Elzire Dionne in Ontario, Canada, the Dionne quintuplets were the first quintuplets known to survive infancy. The quintuplets were a surprise to the parents, who thought they might be having twins, but had no idea that five babies were on the way.

  • Matthew Rust landed in Moscow. (1987) Rust was an amateur pilot from Germany, and flew his plane completely undetected into Red Square in Moscow. Though Rust said he had no political agenda, it was an intense embarrassment for the USSR's military, and Rust was arrested and imprisoned for 18 months for violating USSR airspace.

  • The Sierra Club was founded. (1892) Conservationist John Muir organized the club to help protect the Sierra Nevada mountains, and it quickly became a cause célèbre. Among other things, the Sierra Club lent its support to the creation of the National Parks Service.

  • The 54th Massachusetts Infantry left Boston. (1863) The 54th was the first official all African-American regiment in the US Army. It was one of the most active units in the Union army, and won several awards. The first African-American Medal of Honor winner William Harvey Carney won his medal for actions during his time with the 54th.

  • Volkswagen was founded. (1937) The People's Car Company, better known as Volkswagen, opened today as the national auto producer of Nazi Germany. The company would later become a US favorite with the iconic Volkswagen Beetle, which helped change the perception that a small car was necessarily a bad thing.

  • Neville Chamberlain became the Prime Minister of Britain. (1937) Though Chamberlain is often remembered as the pacifist PM who preceded Winston Churchill, in the beginning of his tenure he was extremely popular for those same pacifist tendencies, since most Britons were tired of war and wanted to avoid it at all costs.

  • Peter Benenson's article "The Forgotten Prisoners" was published. (1961) Many consider this the first Amnesty International letter, though the Benenson officially founded the now famous organization in July of that year.

  • Ian Fleming was born. (1908) Fleming is best known as the author of the James Bond books, though many don't know that the character of Bond was actually based on Fleming himself, who worked as a spy for the British government along with Christopher Lee, who later became a famous actor. Fleming also wrote the popular children's book Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Discussion Comments

Hazali

In relation to the second bullet point, I wonder what it took to make movies that had sound and color back then. After all, considering all the technical limitations at the time, I'm sure that it wasn't an easy task. However, regardless of the setbacks, "On With The Show" was a technical achievement, and definitely set the standard for what was to come in the movie industry.

Viranty

In my opinion, the last bullet point is the most interesting tidbit of information. I also like how it points out that most people don't know who James Bond was based on, as I'm one of them. Sure, there are a lot of people who love him, but even till this day, his origin remains a mystery to the unsuspecting viewer.

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