When the disaster movie Airport became successful in 1970, a whole bunch of disaster movies followed it. These included The Towering Inferno, in which a tall building is set on fire, and Earthquake, in which earthquakes of various sizes happen. I saw this when I was 14; it featured "Sensurround", which simulated the effects of an earthquake in your local movie theatre. It was supposed to be scary, I guess.
The Poseidon Adventure was one of the most successful of the 1970s disaster movies. Released in 1972, it featured a ship that sank and turned upside down; to survive, the trapped voyagers needed to go from the top of the boat, which was now at the bottom, to the bottom of the boat, which was now at the top. (Spoiler: some of them made it, some didn't.) "The Morning After" was from the soundtrack for this movie; it won an Academy Award for Best Original Song.
Maureen McGovern (born 1949) was hired sight unseen to record the single version of "The Morning After". It reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and sold over a million copies. She continued her recording career into the 1970s, with declining success; during a low point in her career, she took a job as a secretary under the name of Glenda Schwartz.
In the 1980s, she started a career as a Broadway actress, taking over from Linda Ronstadt in The Pirates of Penzance and appearing in several other productions. Later in the decade, she returned to music, and she was twice nominated for a Grammy in the 1990s.
Created July 22, 2026.