Manka Bros. buys the rights to a screenplay discovered in Eugene O’Neill’s desk drawer after his death. The film, ‘Eugene O’Neill’s Bikini Beach,’ would premiere a year later but was considered too cerebral for the genre to be a hit.
This Date In Manka Bros History – October 3, 1951:
MBS received thousands of bomb threats after cutting the live feed of the final Giants/Dodgers National League pennant game right before Bobby Thomson hit the infamous ‘Shot Heard ‘Round The World.’ They cut to a show about sewing.
Bulgarian fire jugglers, The Kielbasa Brothers, cause the Manka Palace Theater fire in New York when a flaming club ignites a curtain during a rehearsal. No one was killed but it did force the Mankas to exit the Vaudeville business.
Studio co-founder Simeon Manka has a total mental breakdown in 1908 – it is filmed by his brother Khan Manka and becomes the top box office hit of 1908.
‘Super Draculas’ voice artist Bernie Gallagher dies trying to fly like a bat. He recorded the series as a teen but managed to scratch out a living at various ComicCons until his death.
