On this day: December 26
POSTED: 05:00 PM PST Dec 24, 2012
UPDATED: 11:00 PM PST Dec 25, 2012
Congress memorializes George Washington, Babe Ruth's contract is sold to the Yankees, Kwanzaa is celebrated for the first time, and a killer tsunami rolls across the Indian Ocean, all on this day.
Warner Bros. Pictures
1973: The horror movie "The Exorcist," starring Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Jason Miller and Linda Blair, and directed by William Friedkin, opens in theaters. The movie would earn $66.3 million during its first theatrical release, making it the second most popular film of 1974, trailing only "The Sting." It would also become the first horror movie to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, one of 11 Oscar nominations it received. However, it won only two Oscars, for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Sound.
