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By Times staff writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 31, 2000
IT HAPPENED ONE THURSDAY
In film, Thursday pops up as a date in titles, as a name for characters and as a dismissive reference.
Seven American films have included the day in their titles: Thursday (1998), Thursday Afternoon (1998), Thursday's Child (1942), Thursday's Children (1954), There's Always a Thursday (1957), It Happens Every Thursday (1957) and Great Scout and Cathouse Thursday (1976).
Everyone has heard of Det. Joe Friday, but at least 20 actors have portrayed characters named Thursday in motion pictures.
The list includes such notables as Fort Apache (1948) co-stars Henry Fonda and Shirley Temple as Lt. Col. Owen and Philadelphia Thursday, plus forgettables including Ulla La as Thursday in The Erotic Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1975).
In 1985's The Man with One Red Shoe, the character named Cooper says, "Honey, will you please. . . . What are the odds of the Russians attacking on a Thursday night?"
Thursdays played an important role in the lives of some pretty famous movie people, too.
Comedians George Burns (who later won an Oscar for The Sunshine Boys) and Gracie Allen were married Thursday, Jan. 7, 1926.
Two-time Academy Award winner for best director Milos Forman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Amadeus) was born on Thursday, Feb. 18, 1932.
And two-time Oscar winner Elizabeth Taylor (Butterfield 8, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) became a second-time bride when she married Michael Wilding on Thursday, Feb. 21, 1952. Taylor's marriage total (counting twice with Richard Burton) now stands at eight.