King Kong premieres in New York

March 2, 1933

THE landmark black-and-white monster film King Kong opened in New York City to rave reviews. This movie about a gigantic gorilla who was captured from a remote lost prehistoric island and brought to civilisation against his will, went on to become one of the most iconic movies in the history of cinema. Directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, it starred Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong and Bruce Cabot.

Hula-Hoop patented

Mar 5, 1963

ON this day, hula-hoop, the famous toy twirled around the waist, limbs or neck became a patent of Wham-O Company. The toy became a big fad across America and an estimated 25 million hula-hoops were sold in its first four months of production alone. Two friends and founders of the Wham-O toy company, Arthur Melin and Richard Knerr, got the inspiration for hula hoop after they saw a wooden hoop that Australian children twirled around their waists during gym class. Wham-O began producing a plastic version of the hoop, dubbed ‘Hula’ after the hip-gyrating Hawaiian dance of the same name, and demonstrating it on Southern California playgrounds.

Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone

Mar 7, 1876

ON this day Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for his revolutionary new invention — the telephone.The Scottish-born Bell became very interested in the possibility of transmitting speech over wires and wanted to improve on the earliest invention of ‘telegraph’ in 1844 by Samuel F.B. Morse which had made instant communication possible between two distant points. However, it still needed hand-delivery of messages between telegraph stations and recipients.

Bell started working on creating a ‘harmonic telegraph,’ a device that combined aspects of the telegraph and record player to allow individuals to speak to each other from a distance. With the help of Thomas A. Watson, a Boston machine shop employee, Bell developed a prototype and he transmitted actual speech by speaking into the phone from one room to his assistant in another room, saying the famous words: “Mr Watson, come here. I need you.”

Sources: bbc.co.uk; history.com; historyorb.com