On this day in movie and book history - The Bishop Murder Case (1929)

The Bishop Murder Case

directed by David Burton and Nick Grinde,

written by S.S. Van Dine and Lenore J. Coffee,

based on the novel by S.S. Van Dine,

was released in the United States on December 31, 1929.

Music by William Axt.

Cast:

Basil Rathbone, Leila Hyams, Roland Young, Alec B. Francis, George F. Marion, Zelda Sears, Bodil Rosing, Carroll Nye, Charles Quatermaine, James Donlan, Sidney Bracey, Clarence Geldart, Delmer Daves, Nellie Bly Baker.

Recommended reading - The Bishop Murder Case

The Bishop Murder Case

by S.S. Van Dine.
 
# 4 in the Philo Vance mystery series.
 
Published by Scribners.
First published 1929.
Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0684179776
ISBN-13: 978-0684179773
 
Description:
 

Master sleuth Philo Vance is baffled by a series of grisly murders committed by the sinister “Bishop,” who uses Mother Goose rhymes for inspiration. The killings are the handiwork of genius gone awry, and the suspects are all distinguished intellectuals of the highest order: a physicist, a mathematician, an astronomer, a chess master. Set against the rich tapestry of New York City in the gilded 1920s, this is a brilliant mystery featuring the debonaire, aristocratic sleuth who was America’s first classic detective.

 

“So Philo Vance will be darting around again. Good!” – Rex Stout.
 
“A nightmarish shocker, a dazzling deductive work… Vance’s greatest triumph.” – Chris Steinbrunner.
 

On this day in television history - Johnny Staccato (1959)

Johnny Staccato
Season 1. Episode 16.

Episode entitled: Collector’s Item.

Released December 31, 1959.

Directed by John Brahm.

Written by Richard Carr, Stanford Whitmore.

Music by Elmer Bernstein.

Cast:

John Cassavetes, Eduardo Ciannelli, Ann Henry, Juano Hernandez, Frank London, Rupert Crosse, Linné Ahlstrand, Paul Cristo, Shep Houghton, Murray Pollack, Frieda Rentie, Edwin Rochelle, Dennis Sallas.

On this day in the Star Trek universe - Discovery (2020)

Star Trek: Discovery
Season 3. Episode 12.

Episode entitled: There Is a Tide.

Released December 31, 2020.

Directed by Jonathan Frakes.

Created by Bryan Fuller, Alex Kurtzman.

Written by Kenneth Lin, Sean Cochran, Anthony Maranville, Chris Silvestri, Brandon Schultz.

Based on Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry.

Music by Jeff Russo.

Cast:

Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Anthony Rapp, Mary Wiseman, David Ajala, Oded Fehr, Noah Averbach-Katz, Janet Kidder, Kenneth Mitchell, Annabelle Wallis, Jake Weber, Emily Coutts, Patrick Kwok-Choon, Oyin Oladejo, Ronnie Rowe, Brendan Beiser, Lisa Berry, Avaah Blackwell, Nicole Dickinson, Vanessa Jackson, Lamont James, Dorren Lee, Alexander Mandra, Fabio Tassone, Roy Samuelson.

On this day in music history - Cecilia & Bryn at Glyndebourne (1999)

Cecilia & Bryn at Glyndebourne

directed by Brian Large,

released in the United Kingdom on December 31, 1999.

Cast: Cecilia Bartoli, Bryn Terfel, Myung-Whun Chung.

Plato, on books:

A house that has a library in it has a soul.

- Plato.

Recommended reading – Swag

 

Swag

by Elmore Leonard.
 
a.k.a. Ryan's Rules.
 
Published by Mariner Books.
First published 1976.
Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0062227866
ISBN-13: 978-0062227867
 
Description:
 

The smallest of small-time criminals, Ernest Stickley Jr. figures his luck's about to change when Detroit used car salesman Frank Ryan catches him trying to boost a ride from Ryan's lot. Frank's got some surefire schemes for getting rich quick – all of them involving guns – and all Stickley has to do is follow "Ryan's Rules" to share the wealth. But sometimes rules need to be bent, maybe even broken, if one is to succeed in the world of crime, especially if the "brains" of the operation knows less than nothing.

Born on this day – Rudyard Kipling:

Rudyard Kipling

Writer

December 30, 1865 – January 18, 1936

Credits:

Books:

Puck of Pook’s Hill (1906); Rewards and Fairies (1910); The Jungle Book (1893); The Second Jungle Book (1895); The Light That Failed (1890); The Naulahka - A Story Of East And West (1892); Captains Courageous (1897); The Story of the Gadsbys (1899); Under The Deodars (1899); Kim (1901); They (1905); With the Night Mail (1909); The Man Who Would Be King (1888); The Return of Imray (1891); The Cat That Walked by Himself (1902); Plain Tales from the Hills (1888); The Phantom Rickshaw and Other Stories (1888); Life’s Handicap (1891); Barrack-Room Ballads (1893); Many Inventions (1893); Soldiers Three (1899); Indian Tales (1899); Just So Stories (1902); The Five Nations (1903); Traffics and Discoveries (1904); Kipling Poems (1907); The Day’s Work (1908); Actions and Reactions (1909); Sea Warfare (1916); A Diversity of Creatures (1917); The Eyes of Asia (1919); Rudyard Kipling’s Verse (1923); The Man Who Was (1924); Debits And Credits (1926); Limits And Renewals (1932); All The Mowgli Stories (1933); Phantoms and Fantasies (1965); Complete Verse (1972); Kiplings Science Fiction (1987); The Complete Supernatural Stories of Rudyard Kipling (1987); Kipling’s Fantasy Stories (1992); The Science Fiction Stories of Rudyard Kipling (1994); Selected Stories of Rudyard Kipling (1999); The Mark of the Beast and Other Horror Tales (2000); The Elephant, The Hare And The Black Cobra (2003); Victorian Short Stories of Troubled Marriages (2005); Rudyard Kipling’s Tales of Horror and Fantasy (2008); Ten Stories (2017); The Adventures of Mowgli: Stories from the Jungle Book (2018); The Elephant’s Child (1900); Letters of Marque (2009); Red Riding Hood (2008); Cinderella (2008); Jack and the Beanstalk (2008); Hansel and Gretel (2008); Beauty and the Beast (2008); Snow White (2009); Rumpelstiltskin (2009); Sleeping Beauty (2009); The Three Little Pigs (2009); Rapunzel: The Graphic Novel (2009); The Ugly Duckling (2009); The Princess and the Pea (2009); The Emperor’s New Clothes (2009); Thumbelina (2009); The Tall Tale of Paul Bunyan (2010); John Henry, Hammerin’ Hero (2010); Pecos Bill, Colossal Cowboy (2010); The Legend of Johnny Appleseed (2010); The Bremen Town Musicians (2011); The Golden Goose (2011); Tom Thumb (2011); The Elves and the Shoemaker (2011); How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin (2012); How the Leopard Got His Spots (2012); How the Camel Got His Hump (2012); How the Elephant Got His Trunk (2012); Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Comics (2013); Tall (2014); A Cat of a Different Color (2020); A Cat of Perfect Taste (2020); A Cat of Disdainful Looks (2020); A Cat of Strange Lands (2020); A Cat of Cozy Situations (2020); A Cat of Heroic Heart (2020); A Cat of Artistic Sensibilities (2021); A Cat of Fantastic Whims (2021); A Cat of Feral Instincts (2021); 50 Great Short Stories (1952); A St. Nicholas Anthology (1969); The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories (1984); Famous and Curious Animal Stories (1989); A Separate Star: A Tribute to Rudyard Kipling (1989); Tales of the Occult (1989); The Amis Story Anthology (1992); H.P. Lovecraft’s Book of Horror (1993); 100 Hair-Raising Little Horror Stories (1993); Fantasy Stories (1994); The Anthology of Love and Romance (1994); Spellbound (1995); World War One British Poets: Brooke, Owen, Sassoon, Rosenberg and Others (1997); Detection by Gaslight: 14 Victorian Detective Stories (1997); Time Machines (1997); A Treasury of Five-Minute Stories (2000); Dark (2000); On Glorious Wings (2003); The World’s Greatest Horror Stories (2004); The Little Big Book of California (2005); H. P. Lovecraft’s Book of the Supernatural (2006); Rotten English: A Literary Anthology (2007); Empire Tales (2008); Tales Before Narnia: The Roots of Modern Fantasy and Science Fiction (2008); Stories to Get You Through the Night (2010); 50 Classic Novellas (2011); The Most Dangerous Game and Other Stories of Adventure (2011); The Phantom Coach (2014); That Glimpse of Truth (2014); Red Sky (2014); The Dover Anthology of Cat Stories (2015); Writers: Their Lives and Works (2018); The Occult Fiction Collection (2019); 30 Occult & Supernatural Masterpieces You Have to Read Before You Die (2019); A Cat of Disdainful Looks (2020); Classic Cat Stories (2020); Hungry for Blood – Ultimate Halloween Collection (2023).

Movies and television:

A Cruel Romance (1984); A Fool There Was (1915 / 1922); A Hedgehog Plus a Turtle (1981); A Little Elephant (1967); A Maid of Mandalay (1913); A Poem (2019); Abel Classics (2023); American Playhouse (1983); Anansi Storytime (2018); Brave Sailor (1936); Captains Courageous (1937 / 1977 / 1996); Cherry Season (2015); Childhood (1974); Children of the Mist (1993); China Seas (1935); Christmas Glory 2000 (2000); Cineficción Radio (2020); Classical Baby: The Lullaby Show (2017); Creative Reader: The Jungle Book (1995); Dad's Army (1970); Das kommt davon (1976); Deadly Tales (1998); Dieu a choisi Paris (1969); Elephant Boy (1937–1973); Elephant's Child (1987); Everybody Does It (1949); Exorcism of Fleete Marish (2022); Fireside Reading of the Jungle Book (2022); Grande Teatro Tupi (1963); Gunga Din (1911 / 1939); Histoires comme ça (Série 1) (2009); Hollywood Insider (2021); How the Elephant Got His Trunk (1970 / 1985); How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin and How the Camel Got His Hump (1987); How the Whale Got His Throat (1970); It's pretty, but Is It Art? (2023); Jackanory (1966–1974); John Charles Thomas (1927); Jungelboka (1997); Jungle Cubs (1996–1998); Jungleboek (1992); Just So Stories (1979 / 1983 / 1991); Kak bylo napisano pervoe pismo (1984); Kim (1950 / 1955 / 1984); Kipling's Poem (2010); Kom skal vi lese! (1991); La bestia umana (1916); La luce che si spegne (1915); Må vi få en historie? (1965); Man Without a Saddle (2015); Mark of the Beast (2012); Mauglí (2013); Megi (1989); Merry-Go-Round (1964–1965); Metro Movietone Revue (1929); Metropolitan (1935); MJ's WORLD: The Mannii Show on YouTube Series (2023); Mowgli. Kidnapping (1968); Mowgli. Raksha (1967); Mowgli. Return to the People (1971); Mowgli. The Battle (1970); Mowgli. The Last Hunt of Akela (1969); Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018); Mowgli: The New Adventures of the Jungle Book (1998); Mowgli's Brothers (1976); My Mowgli Boy (2019); Pack Up Your Troubles (1929); Puck of Pook's Hill (1951); Rabbit Ears: How the Leopard Got His Spots (1989); Rendez-vous au zoo (1952); Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (1965 / 1975 / 1976); Road to Mandalay (1991); Scape (2010); Selecciones de Cineficción Radio (2024); Sergeants 3 (1962); Shirley Temple's Storybook (1960); Smilin' Through (1941); Soldiers Three (1951); Stalky & Co. (1982); Studio One (1949–1953); Suspense (1950); Television Theater (2017); The Adventures of Mowgli (1973); The Adventures of the Maltese Cat (1991); The Ballad of Fisher's Boarding House (1922); The Cat That Walked by Himself (1968); The Cat Who Walked by Herself (1988); The Choir: Military Wives (2011); The City of Terrible Night (1915); The Ed Sullivan Show (1949–1951); The Encounter: Jungle Book Remake (2016); The Eye of Allah (1960); The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo (1964); The Fool (1913); The Frank Sinatra Show (1958); The Indian Tales of Rudyard Kipling (1964); The Jungle Book (1942 / 1967 / 1990 / 1992 / 1994 / 1995 / 2014 / 2016); The Jungle Book / TV series (2010–2019); The Jungle Book 2 (2003); The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story (1998); The Jungle Book: The Adventures of Mowgli (1989); The Jungle Book: The Movie (2012); The Jungle Book: The Mowgli Stories (2021); The Jungle Book: The New Adventures of Mowgli (1995); The King Crab (2015); The Light That Failed (1916 / 1923 / 1939 / 1961); The Man Who Would Be King (1975); The Muppet Show (1980); The Naulahka (1918); The Second Jungle Book: Mowgli & Baloo (1997); The Sun's Tear (2022); The Unforgiving Minute (2010); The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (1973); The Vampire (1910); The White Seal (1975); They Met in Bombay (1941); Vampire of the Desert (1913); Viidakkokirja (2005); Voices from a Locked Room (1995); Watch Your Stern (1960); Wee Willie Winkie (1937); When the Clouds Clear (2016); Wife, Husband and Friend (1939); Without Benefit of Clergy (1921); Words for Battle (1941); You Said a Mouthful (1932); Your Favorite Story (1953).