Pop Culture Happenings: March 2024

Photo by Markus Spiske

The last Japanese soldier surrenders, a waitress gets a $3 million tip and Keanu learns Kung Fu.

1974

50 years ago

On March 19, 1974, a Japanese soldier surrendered 29 years after World War II ended. Hiroo Onoda was sent to Lubang Island in the Philippines on Dec. 26, 1944, as a guerrilla fighter and ordered, under no circumstances, to surrender or take his own life. When leaflets were dropped on the island announcing the war had ended, Onoda believed they were enemy propaganda and continued his mission. On Feb. 20, 1974, Onoda was discovered by Norio Suzuki, but said he would only surrender to a superior officer. The Japanese government located Onoda's former commanding officer, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, who went to Lubang Island and ordered Onoda to surrender. Onoda went back to Japan dying of a heart failure in 2014.

1984

40 years ago

On March 31, 1984, a New York police detective offered his waitress half of a $1 lottery ticket. The next day, they won $6 million. Robert Cunningham was a regular at Sal’s Pizzeria in Yonkers and suggested his waitress and long-time friend, Phyllis Penzo, split a lottery ticket instead of getting a tip. They chose the numbers together and laughed at the possibility. The next day, April 1, 1984, Cunningham called Penzo with the news they had won and were both now millionaires. Since it was April Fool’s Day, Penzo thought he was joking, but Cunningham said it was no joke. Cunningham used some of the money on home improvements, and Penzo bought a new house and cars for her family. In 1994, Nicholas Cage and Bridget Fonda starred in a film made about Cunningham and Penzo’s story called “It Could Happen to You.”

1999

25 years ago

On March 31, 1999, “The Matrix,” written and directed by The Wachowskis and starring Keanu Reeves, Lawrence Fishburne and Carrie-Ann Moss, premiered. The science fiction action film depicts a dystopian future in which humanity is unknowingly trapped inside the Matrix, a simulated reality that intelligent machines have created to distract humans while using their bodies as an energy source. Reeves played a hacker called Neo who joins a rebellion against the machines along with other people who have been freed from the Matrix. The film was praised for its innovative visual effects, action sequences and cinematography and was a massive success at the box office.