Gregory Galloway

Death Wish was released on 24 July 1974.

Brian Garfield was offered the opportunity to adapt his 1972 for the screen, but turned it down, and Wendell Mayes was hired. Mayes kept the basic story, but shifted the tone of the novel from its critical perspective of vigilantism to a more sympathetic tone. Sidney Lumet was offered to direct (with Jack Lemmon starring), but accepted Serpico instead. Eventually Michael Winner was hired and Charles Bronson (who had worked with Winner on The Mechanic and The Stone Killer) was cast to star. Bronson thought the role was better suited for Dustin Hoffman.

High Noon premiered on 24 July 1952 in New York City.

The film was written and co-produced by Carl Foreman, who was called before the House Un-American Activitied Committee (HUAC) during production. Foreman had been a member of the Communist Party in the early 1940s, which he told the Committee, but refused to provide names of other members. Foreman was blacklisted and fled to England (where he wrote The Bridge on the River Kwai).

John Wayne famously called High Noon “the most un-American thing I’ve seen in my whole life,” but what is less repeated is that Wayne was also one of the people responsible for Foreman’s blacklisting. As President of the Motion Picture Alliance, Wayne put pressure on studio heads to end the careers of many “unfriendly” HUAC witnesses. In a 1971 interview, Wayne said that he would “never regret having helped run [Foreman] out of the country.“

Director Fred Zinnemann had escaped Nazi Europe in the 1930s, and tried in vain to get his parents out as well, writing numerous letters, including to the US State Department, to try and secure visas. No one helped and his parents were murdered in Auschwitz.

Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros 2nd studio album was released on 24 July 2001.

28-year-old Aretha Franklin’s 17th studio album (and second of 1970) was released on 24 August 1970.

Recorded shortly after her divorce from Ted White (who was also her manager), and while she was pregnant with her 4th child, Spirit in the Dark is seen as a “cathartic testimonial documenting the fusion of house-wrecking gospel and gut-wrenching soul” (Pitchfork).

Spike Lee’s 4th feature film, Mo’ Better Blues, premiered in New York City on 23 July 1990, before wider release on 3 August.

The debut album by the Moody Blues was released in the UK on 23 July 1965 (it was released 5 days later in Canada and the US as Go Now: The Moody Blues #1, with a different track listing).

The band had signed with the management company Ridgepride in the summer of 1964 and released "Go Now!" in November 1964. The single hit #1 in the UK in late January 1965 - it would peak at #2 in Canada and #10 in the US).

The band held a party to celebrate the release of The Magnificent Moodies, with Marianne Faithfull, George Harrison, and Paul McCartney attending, and called Ridgepride the next day to take care of the bill, only to discover that the company had shut its offices and disappeared, leaving the band bankrupt. They then signed with the Beatles' manager Brian Epstein (the Moody Blues would be one of the opening bands on the Beatles' final tour in December 1965).

The Supremes 6th studio album (and 3rd of 4 albums to be released in 1965), appeared in stores on 23 July.

More Hits by the Supremes included the singles "Stop! In the Name of Love" (which had been released in February) and "Back in My Arms Again" (released in April) - which both hit #1 - and "Nothing But Heartaches" (released on 16 July), which peaked at #11, breaking the Supremes' string of 5 consecutive #1 singles. It was, however, their 6th (of 7) consecutive singles to sell more than 1 million copies.

The Far Country premiered in London on 22 July 1954 and played in theaters in the UK the rest of 1954 before its release in the US in February 1955.

The 6th (of 8) collaborations between director Anthony Mann and James Stewart, it was Mann and Stewart's 3rd collaboration with screenwriter Borden Chase (1950's Winchester '73 and 1952's Bend in the River).

The self-titled debut album by Alvvays was released on 22 July 2014.

My Aim is True was released in the UK 22 July 1977 (it would not be released in the US until December).

Produced by Nick Lowe, the album was recorded for less than $4000. Johnny Ciambotti, Sean Hooper, John McFee, and Mickey Shine from the San Francisco-based band Clover were the uncredited backing musicians.

The jacket was designed by Barney Bubbles.

24-year-old Stevie Wonder's 17th studio album, Fulfillingness' First Finale, was released on 22 July 1974.

The Daily Show, created by Madeleine Smithberg and Lizz Winstead, premiered on Comedy Central on 22 July 1996.

Hosted by Craig Kilbourn, correspondents included A. Whitney Brown, Beth Littleford, Brian Unger, and Winstead.

Sharon Tate photographed at London Airport on July 22, 1966.