December 28 Birthday
On December 28, 1895, the Lumière brothers screened ten short films at the Grand Café in Paris. The screening is considered the birth of commercial cinema. The most famous film was Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory — fifty seconds of workers walking out of a factory gate. An apocryphal story says that audiences fled their seats when a train appeared on screen, fearing it would come through the wall. The Lumières filmed their first movie in March 1895 and patented their cinematograph, which was both a camera and a projector. They sold tickets for one franc. Within months, cinemas were opening across the world. Stan Lee, born this day in 1922, created Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Iron Man, and Thor. He worked at Timely Comics (later Marvel) from 1939 until his death in 2018. He had a cameo in every Marvel movie — his appearances became a game for fans. He changed comic books by giving heroes human problems — rent, relationships, self-doubt. People born on December 28 fall under the zodiac sign of Capricorn. The birthstone is Tanzanite and the birth flower is Holly. Historical events on December 28 include 1895: Lumière brothers screen first commercial films in Paris, 1908: Messina earthquake and tsunami kills 100,000 in Italy, 1945: US Congress formally recognizes Pledge of Allegiance. Famous people born on December 28 include Woodrow Wilson (1856), Stan Lee (1922), Denzel Washington (1954).