Today in history.

[ShadowThomas]

255th day of 2007 - 110 remaining.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007
MONKEES DAY.

“Hey, hey we’re the Monkees -- and we don’t monkey around...” The theme song from the NBC-TV show, The Monkees, kicked off a fun-filled weekly series on this day in 1966.

Some 400 aspiring actors had auditioned for the Columbia television series by producer Don Kirschner. Davy Jones, a former English horse racing jockey; Michael Nesmith, a session guitarist; Peter Tork of the Phoenix Singers; and Micky Dolenz, who had appeared in the TV series Circus Boy were picked to be America’s answer to The Beatles. The four were picked to become the fabricated music group -- not because they could sing, act or play musical instruments -- but because they looked the parts. Dolenz and Jones were actors, Tork and Nesmith had some musical experience.

The Monkees were the first made-for-TV rock group. Ironically -- or maybe not -- The Monkees TV show won an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series of 1967.

Events
September 12th.

1866 - The first burlesque show opened in New York City. The show was a four-act performance called The Black Crook. It ran for 475 performances and made about $1.3 million for its producers. Not bad money in 1866. Actually, not bad money now, either.

1873 - The first practical typewriter was sold to customers. We think that in order to celebrate this momentous occasion, we should all hunt and peck on our word processors today ... since all typewriters in this, the Electronic Age, are pretty much impractical ...

1928 - Actress Katharine Hepburn made her stage debut. The play was titled The Czarina. It would be four years before the ‘First Lady of the American Screen’ would indeed, make her first film, A Bill of Divorcement.

1938 - H.V. Kaltenborn made broadcasting history by covering a crisis in Czechoslovakia for CBS radio beginning on this day. Kaltenborn was so devoted to his work that he slept in the studio for 18 days while bringing updates to his appreciative audience.

1940 - Johnny Long’s orchestra recorded the classic In a Shanty in Old Shanty Town for Decca Records.

1953 - The opening scene of Camelot was staged. 24-year-old Jacqueline Lee Bouvier wed the 36-year-old U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, future U.S. President, John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

1954 - A standing-room-only crowd of 84,587 arrived at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland, OH to watch the Indians play the New York Yankees. The Indians won both ends of the doubleheader: 4-1 and 3-2.

1954 - Lassie was seen on CBS-TV for the first time. Despite being called “girl” by Jeff Miller, who starred as Tommy, and Jan Clayton, who starred as Jeff's mom, Ellen, Lassie was, in reality, a male dog. In fact, there were more than a half-dozen Lassie dogs doing stunts. Lassie ran on CBS for exactly 17 years. The last show aired on September 12, 1971.

1966 - The Beatles received a gold record this day for Yellow Submarine.

1970 - James Taylor’s first single, Fire and Rain, was released. Taylor scored 14 hits on the music charts in the 1970s and 1980s.

1973 - Horse race jockey Bill Shoemaker rode his 100th winner -- in a $100,000 stakes race. Shoemaker was aboard Such a Rush in the Del Mar Futurity at Del Mar, CA.

1979 - Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox became the first American League player to get 3,000 career hits -- and 400 career home runs -- as the Red Sox downed the New York Yankees 9-2 at Fenway Park in Boston.

1980 - An in-depth report on the death of Elvis Presley aired on ABC-TV’s 20/20. It raised so many unanswered questions that the official case concerning Elvis’ death was reopened. Elvis has left the building...

1983 - Arnold “I’ll Be Back” Schwarzenegger became a U.S. citizen, 14 years after emigrating from Austria.

1984 - Michael Jordan signed a seven-year contract to play basketball with the Chicago Bulls. ‘Air’ Jordan became an NBA star for the Bulls and helped make the team a dominant force in the NBA.

1984 - Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets set a rookie strikeout record by fanning his 251st batter of the season. ‘Doc’ Gooden led the Mets to a 2-0 shutout over the Pittsburgh Pirates this day.

1994 - This was a big day for a young company named Mosaic Communications. It announced its first products: a network browser called Mosaic Netscape, and a server line called Mosaic Netsite.

1996 - Barbra Streisand, the Eagles, Chicago and the Neville Brothers performed at a Los Angeles fundraiser for U.S. President Bill Clinton. How much for tickets? $2,500 -- to Bill’s reelection campaign.

1998 - Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs became the fourth player in major-league baseball history to reach 60 homers in a single season.

If you like TWtD you will love TWtD Deluxe.

Birthdays
September 12th.

1818 - Richard Gatling
inventor: the Gatling gun; died Feb 26, 1903

1880 - H.L. (Henry Louis) Mencken
newspaper journalist, critic: Baltimore Sun; author: The Smart Set, American Mercury, The American Language; son of cigarmaker, August Mencken; died January 29, 1956

1888 - Maurice (Auguste) Chevalier
actor, singer: Gigi, Fanny, Can-Can; died Jan 1, 1972

1901 - Ben Blue (Benjamin Bernstein)
actor, comedian: Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?, Broadway Rhythm, The Big Broadcast of 1938; died Mar 7, 1975

1913 - Jessie (James Cleveland) Owens
National Track & Field Hall of Famer, Olympic Hall of Famer: Olympic Gold Medalist (4): 1936 Berlin Games: 100-meter, 200-meter, long jump, 4x100-meter relay, breaking or tying Olympic records nine times; Big Ten meet [1935]: broke 4 world records and tied another in one afternoon; died Mar 31, 1980

1916 - Tony (Melvin) Bettenhausen
International Motorsports Hall of Famer; killed while test driving a racecar at Indianapolis Motor Speedway May 12, 1961

1918 - Chaim Herzog
President of Israel; died Apr 17, 1997

1920 - Irene Dailey
actress: Another World

1924 - Ella Mae Morse
singer: Cow Cow Boogie, Shoo Shoo Baby, House of Blue Lights, The Blacksmith Blues; 1st artist to record for Capitol Records; died Oct 16, 1999

1925 - Stan (Stanley Edward) ‘Stash’ Lopata
baseball: catcher: Philadelphia Phillies [World Series: 1950/all-star: 1955, 1956], Milwaukee Braves

1925 - Dickie (John) Moore
actor: Miss Annie Rooney, Our Gang series

1931 - George Jones
‘The Possum’: singer: Why Baby Why, White Lightning, The Race is On, He Stopped Loving Her Today, Tender Years, She Thinks I Still Care, Near You [w/Tammy Wynette]

1934 - Glenn Davis
National Track & Field & Olympic Hall of Famer: Olympic Gold Medalist [3]: 400-meter hurdles [1956, 1960], 4x400-meter relay [1960]; football: Detroit Lions wide receiver

1937 - George Chuvalo
boxing: heavyweight: 97 bouts: 68 wins by knockout, 9 by decision, 2 draws, 1 disqualification, 2 TKOs

1940 - Linda Gray
actress: Dallas, Models, Inc., Melrose Place

1940 - Mickey (Michael Stephen) Lolich
baseball: pitcher: Detroit Tigers [World Series: 1968/all-star: 1969, 1971, 1972], NY Mets, SD Padres

1943 - Maria Muldaur (d’Amato)
singer: Midnight At The Oasis, I’m a Woman

1943 - Ralph Neely
football: Dallas Cowboys tackle: Super Bowl V, X, XI

1944 - Barry White
singer: I’m Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby, Never, Never Gonna Give You Up, Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe, Love’s Theme [w/Love Unlimited Orchestra]; played piano on Jesse Belvin’s Goodnight My Love [1955]; died July 4, 2003

1946 - John ‘Frenchy’ Fuqua
football: Pittsburgh Steelers running back: Super Bowl X

1947 - John (Evans) Montague
baseball: pitcher: Montreal Expos, Philadelphia Phillies, Seattle Mariners, California Angels

1948 - Dave Washington
football: SF 49ers

1952 - Gerry Beckley
singer: Grammy Award-winning [1972] group: America: A Horse with No Name, Sister Golden Hair, Tin Man, Ventura Highway, Lonely People, You Can Do Magic

1952 - Neil Peart
musician: drums: group: Rush: Rivendell, By-Tor and the Snow Dog, The Fountain of Lamneth, Distant Early Warning

1954 - Joe Pantoliano
actor: Orphans, Bound, The Immortals, The Spy Within, The Fugitive, Nightbreaker, Midnight Run, La Bamba, Empire of the Sun, The Goonies, Risky Business, Eddie and the Cruisers, Idolmaker, From Here to Eternity, The Fanelli Boys

1954 - Peter Scolari
actor: Bosom Buddies, Newhart, The Mommies, Goodtime Girls, Family Album, Camp Nowhere, Corporate Affairs

1956 - Barry Andrews
musician: keyboards: groups: League of Gentlemen, XTC

1956 - Brian Robertson
musician: guitar: groups: Wild Horses, Thin Lizzy: Still in Love with You

1957 - Michael Hegstrand
pro wrestler/actor: WWF Superstars of Wrestling, Wrestlemania VII, VIII, XIII, XIV, Summerslam, Royal Rumble, WWF Judgement Day, Beyond the Mat; died Oct 19, 2003

1957 - Rachel (Claire) Ward
actress: The Thorn Birds, Night School, Sharky’s Machine, Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, Against All Odds, How to Get Ahead in Advertising, Double Jeopardy

1957 - Hans Zimmer
Academy Award-winning composer: The Lion King [1994]; Moonlighting, Wild Horses, Rain Man, Driving Miss Daisy, Bird on a Wire, Days of Thunder, Thelma & Louise, Backdraft, A League of Their Own, Drop Zone, Crimson Tide, Broken Arrow, The Rock, Scream 2, The Prince of Egypt, Gladiator, Mission: Impossible II, Hannibal, Pearl Harbor, Black Hawk Down

1966 - Darren E. Burrows
actor: Northern Exposure, Cry-Baby, Class of 1999 .

Chart Toppers
September 12th.

1946 To Each His Own - Eddy Howard
They Say It’s Wonderful - Frank Sinatra
Surrender - Perry Como
Wine, Women and Song - Al Dexter

1954 Sh-Boom - The Crew-Cuts
Hey There - Rosemary Clooney
The High and the Mighty - Victor Young
I Don’t Hurt Anymore - Hank Snow

1962 Sheila - Tommy Roe
You Don’t Know Me - Ray Charles
Ramblin’ Rose - Nat King Cole
Devil Woman - Marty Robbins

1970 War - Edwin Starr
Ain’t No Mountain High Enough - Diana Ross
In the Summertime - Mungo Jerry
All for the Love of Sunshine - Hank Williams, Jr.

1978 Boogie Oogie Oogie - A Taste of Honey
Three Times a Lady - Commodores
Hot Blooded - Foreigner
I’ve Always Been Crazy - Waylon Jennings

1986 Venus - Bananarama
Take My Breath Away - Berlin
Dancing on the Ceiling - Lionel Richie
Desperado Love - Conway Twitty


Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...

For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will
keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily
on my morning radio show.

All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others
that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the
contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments
about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding.

[ShadowThomas]

256th day of 2007 - 109 remaining.

Thursday, September 13, 2007
CANDY KISSES DAY.

Pull the little paper sticking out of the foil. That’s right. Now carefully unwrap the silver foil. Voila! A milk-chocolate delight; and just one of the many chocolate products produced by the Hershey Chocolate Company.

Milton S. Hershey was born on this day in 1857. By the time he was in his mid-30s he had developed the ’Great American Chocolate Bar’ -- or Hershey Bar as it is known throughout the world. This bar of solid milk chocolate became the foundation of his company and his fortune; and the foundation of Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Milton Hershey would be proud to know that the sweet cocoa smell of chocolate still permeates his hometown and home of the Hershey Chocolate Factory.

He would also find that some Hershey hotel guest rooms include cocoa butter soap as an amenity. And the street lights are in the shape of chocolate candy kisses.
More here. Hershey Chocolate Company. Hershey Chocolate Factory.

Events
September 13th.

1789 - The United States Government took out its first loan. The money was borrowed from the Bank of North America at 6% interest. The national debt has grown a little over the years. Americans now owe about $65,000 each, as their share of the debt.

1898 - Reverend Hannibal Williston Goodwin of Newark, NJ patented celluloid photographic film. It’s the stuff on which movies are made.

1899 - Henry M. Bliss became the first known automobile fatality. As Mr. Bliss stepped off a streetcar at Central Park West and 74th Street, he was hit by a car driven by Arthur Smith. Bliss was rushed to the hospital but died a short time later. Smith was arrested, but was not held.

1922 - The mercury climbed to 136 degrees (Fahrenheit) in El Azizia, Libya, the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth. We sure hope they had plenty of lemonade on hand.

1931 - Vaudeville star Eddie Cantor was heard for the first time -- on NBC radio. The Chase and Sanborn Hour became one of the most popular radio shows of the 1930s.

1932 - Joe McCarthy became the first manager to win both the American and National league pennants. McCarthy, then managing the New York Yankees, clinched the American League pennant on this day.

1937 - The first broadcast of Kitty Keene, Inc. was heard on the NBC Red network.

1949 - The Ladies Professional Golf Association was formed in New York City. Patty Berg became the first president of the LPGA.

1954 - The cover of LIFE magazine was adorned with Judy Garland’s picture, with the caption, “Judy Garland takes off after an Oscar.” Garland had been nominated for her role in A Star is Born.

1960 - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission banned payola. A scandal, investigated by a Congressional committee, involved some of the biggest names in radio, including popular New York DJ Alan Freed. He lost his job at WABC for allegedly accepting gifts and money for playing certain records. There was substantial evidence to prove that the practice was quite widespread.

1968 - Clarence Carter received a gold record for his million-selling hit Slip Away. Carter earned two other gold records for Too Weak to Fight and Patches. The singer from Montgomery, Alabama had been blind since age one and taught himself to play guitar by age 11.

1969 - John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, presented the Plastic Ono Band in concert for the first time. The appearance at the Toronto Peace Festival was Lennon’s first in four years. The first hit by the new group, Give Peace a Chance, made it to number 14 on the charts.

1971 - The World Hockey Association was formed. It was announced that play would commence in October, 1972.

1986 - Captain EO, a 17-minute, three-dimensional, musical, science-fiction flick starring Michael Jackson, made its gala premiere at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA and at Disney’s Epcot Center in Orlando, FL this day. The innovative movie cost approximately $1,000,000 a minute to produce.

1986 - Miss America (1987), crowned this night in Atlantic City, NJ, was Kellye Cash, the grandniece of singer Johnny Cash. It was the first year that the contestants’ measurements were not publicized. Women’s groups had been protesting the Miss America Pageant, especially the judging of contestants in swim suits, saying it was humiliating and demeaning to women.

1992 - The first puntless game in NFL history happened this day. The Buffalo Bills (quarterback Jim Kelly: 403 yards and three TDs) and San Francisco 49ers (QB Steve Young: 449 yards and three touchdowns) combined for 1,086 yards of total offense -- without punting the ball once. The Bills beat the 49ers 34-31. And they have the nerve to call it football...

1993 - There was hope that the 45 years of war between Arabs and Jews would come to an end. PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin came together in Washington, DC to sign an agreement to make peace, not war.

1996 - Movies debuting in the U.S. this day: American Buffalo (starring Dustin Hoffman, Dennis Franz, Sean Nelson); Feeling Minnesota (with Keanu Reeves, Cameron Diaz, Tuesday Weld, Dan Aykroyd); Fly Away Home (Jeff Daniels, Anna Paquin, Dana Delany); Grace of My Heart (Illeana Douglas, John Turturro, Matt Dillon, Eric Stoltz, Jennifer Leigh Warren; Maximum Risk (Jean-Claude Van Damme Natasha Henstridge, Jean-Hugues Anglade); and The Rich Man’s Wife (Halle Berry, Christopher Mcdonald, Peter Greene).

1997 - Oscar De La Hoya was awarded a unanimous decision after 12 rounds against Hector ‘Macho’ Camacho in Las Vegas. This was the second time De La Hoya, unbeaten in 26 bouts, had successfully defended his WBC welterweight boxing title. “He earned it,” the bruised and battered Camacho said following the loss. “He did everything he said he was going to do, except he didn’t knock me out.”

1997 - “I like that ooh, ooh; Come on, come on MC, MC ooh, ooh...” Mariah Carey’s Honey debuted on the Hot 100 at number one -- her third single to do so. The others were Fantasy (Sep 30, 1995) and One Sweet Day (Dec 2, 1995). Carey was the first artist to have three singles debut at #1.

Birthdays
September 13th.

1851 - Dr. Walter Reed
army doctor, medical pioneer: yellow fever research; Walter Reed Army Hospital [Bethesda MD] named in his honor; died Nov 23, 1902

1857 - Milton S. (Snavely) Hershey
candy tycoon: see Candy Kisses Day [above]; died Oct 13, 1945

1860 - John (Joseph) Pershing
U.S. General: Pershing tank named for him; died July 15, 1948

1876 - Sherwood Anderson
writer: Winesburg, Ohio; died Mar 8, 1941

1903 - Claudette Colbert (Lily Claudette Chauchoin)
Academy Award-winning actress: It Happened One Night [1934]; I Met Him in Paris, Drums Along the Mohawk, Egg and I, Three Came Home; died July 30, 1996

1911 - Bill Monroe
‘Father of Bluegrass Music’: Country Music Hall of Famer: singer: Blue Moon of Kentucky; band: The Bluegrass Band; songwriter: Kentucky Waltz, A Letter from My Darling; died Sep 9, 1996

1916 - Roald Dahl
writer: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; screen play: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; died Nov 23, 1990

1916 - Dick (Richard Benjamin) Haymes
singer: I’ll Get By, It Can’t Be Wrong, You’ll Never Know, Till the End of Time, Mamselle, Little White Lies; actor: State Fair, All Ashore, Irish Eyes are Smiling; died Mar 28, 1980

1924 - Scott Brady (Gerard Tierney)
actor: Johnny Guitar, The China Syndrome, Arizona Bushwackers; died Apr 16, 1985

1925 - Mel Torme
‘The Velvet Fog’: Grammy Award-winning singer: LP: An Evening with George Shearing and Mel Torme [1982]; Comin’ Home Baby, Careless Hands, Bewitched; songwriter: The Christmas Song; died June 5, 1999

1926 - Emile Francis
hockey: NHL: Chicago Blackhawks, NY Rangers

1928 - Robert Indiana (Clark)
artist: As I Opened Fire

1931 - Barbara Bain (Millie Fogel)
Emmy Award-winning actress: Mission Impossible [1966-67, 1967-68]; Space 1999, Richard Diamond, Private Detective

1933 - Eileen Fulton
actress: As the World Turns, Our Private World

1937 - Fred Silverman
TV executive: NBC head; ABC Program Chief; producer: Matlock, In the Heat of the Night, Thicke of the Night, Diagnosis Murder

1938 - Judith Martin (Judith Sylvia Perlman)
columnist: Miss Manners

1939 - Richard Kiel
actor: The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, Silver Streak, Happy Gilmore, Pale Rider, Force 10 from Navarone, The Longest Yard, The Phantom Planet, Van Dyke and Company, The Barbary Coast

1941 - David Clayton-Thomas
singer: group: Blood Sweat and Tears: You Made Me So Very Happy, Spinning Wheel

1944 - Peter Cetera
musician: bass guitar, singer: solo: Glory of Love, One Good Woman; group: Chicago

1944 - Jacqueline Bisset
actress: Rich and Famous, The Deep, Airport, Bullitt, Wild Orchid, Murder on the Orient Express, Choices

1947 - Ed Bell
football: NY Jets

1948 - Brian Cadle
hockey: WHA: Winnipeg Jets

1948 - Nell Carter
Tony & Emmy Award-winning actress: Ain’t Misbehavin’ [1978], [1981-82]; Gimme a Break, Lobo, Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper; died Jan 23, 2003

1948 - Curtis Perry
basketball: Phoenix Suns

1949 - Rick (John Rikard) Dempsey
baseball: catcher: Minnesota Twins, NY Yankees, Baltimore Orioles [World Series: 1979, 1983], Cleveland Indians, LA Dodgers [World Series: 1988], Milwaukee Brewers

1952 - Randy Jones
singer: group: The Village People: Y.M.C.A.

1956 - Joni Sledge
singer: group: Sister Sledge: We are Family

1959 - Jean Smart
actress: Designing Women, Project X, The Brady Bunch Movie, The Odd Couple II, Piaf

1977 - Fiona Apple
singer, songwriter: LPs: Tidal, When The Pawn.

Chart Toppers
September 13th.

1947 Peg o’ My Heart - The Harmonicats
That’s My Desire - The Sammy Kaye Orchestra (vocal: Don Cornell)
I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now - Perry Como
Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette) - Tex Williams

1955 The Yellow Rose of Texas - Mitch Miller
Maybellene - Chuck Berry
Autumn Leaves - Roger Williams
I Don’t Care - Webb Pierce

1963 My Boyfriend’s Back - The Angels
Hello Mudduh, Hello Fadduh! - Allan Sherman
Blue Velvet - Bobby Vinton
Ring of Fire - Johnny Cash

1971 Go Away Little Girl - Donny Osmond
Spanish Harlem - Aretha Franklin
Ain’t No Sunshine - Bill Withers
Easy Loving - Freddie Hart

1979 My Sharona - The Knack
After the Love Has Gone - Earth, Wind & Fire
The Devil Went Down to Georgia - The Charlie Daniels Band
I May Never Get to Heaven - Conway Twitty

1987 La Bamba - Los Lobos
I Just Can’t Stop Loving You - Michael Jackson with Siedah Garrett
Didn’t We Almost Have It All - Whitney Houston
Make No Mistake, She’s Mine - Ronnie Milsap & Kenny Rogers


Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...

For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will
keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily
on my morning radio show.

All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others
that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the
contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments
about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding.

[ShadowThomas]

257th day of 2007 - 108 remaining.

Friday, September 14, 2007
GOOD NIGHT, JOHN BOY DAY.

As lights went out in bedrooms throughout America, voices were heard repeating the good-night routine performed on this, the first performance of The Waltons on CBS-TV in 1972. “Good night, John Boy”, “Good night, Jim-Bob”, “Good night, Elizabeth” and so on...

Families tuned in every Thursday night to get a TV view of the life happenings of the Walton family. The Depression years (and later) story, narrated by its creator, Earl Hamner, Jr., was seen through the eyes of the oldest of 7 children, John Boy, portrayed by Emmy Award-winning actor Richard Thomas.

Walton’s Mountain in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Jefferson County was the locale of all that happened to the Walton family. That family included other Emmy Award winners, Michael Learned as Olivia Walton (the brood’s mother) and Ellen Corby as Grandma Walton. Veteran performers Ralph Waite as John Walton and Will Geer as Grandpa Walton, along with the bright, young, rising stars -- Mary Ellen (Judy Norton-Taylor), Jim-Bob (David W. Harper), Elizabeth (Kami Cotler), Jason (Jon Walmsley), Erin (Mary Elizabeth McDonough), and Ben (Eric Scott), made the TV series a popular favorite. Executive producer Lee Rich and producer Robert L. Jacks picked up the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series-Continuing in the very first year of The Waltons.

Nine years later, the children were grown up, going to college and getting married. Walton’s Mountain had changed and we all said “Good night, John Boy” for the last time (unless you’re still watching the show in syndication).
The Waltons.

Events
September 14th.

1741 - George Frederick Handel completed his The Messiah. It took the composer just 23 days to complete the timeless musical treasure which is still very popular during the Christmas holiday season.

1814 - Frances Scott Key, an attorney in Washington, DC, was aboard a warship that was bombarding Fort McHenry (an outpost protecting the city of Baltimore, MD). Key wrote some famous words to express his feelings. Those words became The Star-Spangled Banner, which officially became the U.S. national anthem by an act of Congress in 1931.

1886 - George K. Anderson of Memphis, TN patented the typewriter ribbon. For those of you who don’t remember typewriters, no less their ribbons, these ribbons were inked and had to be threaded through prongs and from reel to reel. Very messy and a big pain in the neck.

1916 - Baseball pitcher Christy Mathewson won the last pitching assignment of his major-league career on this day. Mathewson had a total of 373 wins, 188 losses and 83 shutouts in 636 games. He struck out 2,511 batters.

1927 - Gene Austin waxed one of the first million sellers. He recorded his composition, My Blue Heaven, for Victor Records.

1936 - The NBC radio network presented John’s Other Wife for the first time. Actually, John’s other wife was not his wife at all. She was his secretary.

1957 - Richard Boone became the hired gun, Paladin. The CBS-TV series Have Gun Will Travel debuted this night. The popular western continued for six years.

1968 - Cardigan Bay was retired at the age of 12. The famous horse was the first harness racer to earn $1,000,000 in career winnings.

1973 - Donny Osmond received a gold record for his hit single, The Twelfth of Never. The song, released in March of 1973, was one of five which turned gold for the young Osmond. His other solo successes were Sweet & Innocent, Go Away Little Girl, Hey Girl and Puppy Love.

1978 - The first show of the TV series Mork & Mindy, starring the irrepressible Robin Williams as Mork and actress Pam Dawber as Mindy, aired on ABC-TV. Mork had made an earlier (February, 1978) appearance, landing on earth during an episode of Happy Days. Na nu, na nu.

1982 - Princess Grace of Monaco died from injuries suffered when her car plunged off a mountain road. Her daughter, seventeen-year-old Stephanie, a passenger in the car, suffered bruises and trauma. Princess Grace, the former movie star, Grace Kelly, of Pennsylvania and Hollywood, had been married to Prince Ranier III of Monaco since 1956.

1984 - Dustin Hoffman brought the show Death of a Salesman back to Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre. The classic show broke with tradition. It ran only six times a week instead of the usual eight performances.

1987 - A skateboard high jump record was set. Tony Magnusson cleared 9.5 feet above the top of the U-ramp.

1995 - The London auction house, Sotheby’s, autioned Paul McCartney’s hand-written lyrics for the Beatles’ Getting Better (from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band) for £161,000 ($257,600). It was a record (pardon the expression) for a Beatles song.

1998 - WorldCom completed its $40-billion merger with MCI. “MCI WorldCom is open for business,” said Bert C. Roberts Jr., chairman of the company. “We have created a new kind of communications company with a unique set of assets, a top-flight group of employees, and a heritage for delivering the benefits of competition to our customers.”

2000 - Microsoft Windows Me (Millennium Edition) was released. It was the successor and last version of the popular Windows 9x series of operating systems which began with the enormously popular Windows 95. It also was, “Quite possibly, the most under-hyped version of Windows ever created.”

If you like TWtD you will love TWtD Deluxe.

Birthdays
September 14th.

1849 - Ivan Pavlov (physiologist: 1904 Nobel Laureate in Medicine; developer of Pavlov’s Theory; died Feb 27, 1936

1867 - Charles Gibson
artist: The Gibson Girl; died in 1944

1879 - Margaret Sanger
nurse, feminist: birth control advocate; 1st president of International Planned Parenthood; died Sep 6, 1966

1910 - Jack (John Edward) Hawkins
actor: Ben Hur, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, Lola, Zulu; died July 18, 1973

1914 - Clayton Moore
actor: The Lone Ranger, Jesse James Rides Again; died Dec 28, 1999

1920 - Kay Medford (Maggie O’Regin)
actress: Lola, Funny Girl, Butterfield 8, The Rat Race, Dean Martin Presents, The Dean Martin Show, To Rome with Love; died Apr 10, 1980

1921 - Constance Baker Motley
civil rights attorney; 1st woman elected as president of Manhattan [NYC]; 1st black woman to become a state senator of New York; federal judge

1921 - Hughes Rudd
news correspondent: CBS Morning News [20 years]; ABC; died Oct 13, 1992

1923 - Bud (John) Palmer
basketball: Princeton Univ., New York Knickerbockers; broadcaster: CBS Sports, ABC’s Wide World of Sports

1924 - Jerry Coleman
baseball: NY Yankees; broadcaster: San Diego Padres, CBS Radio Sports: “There’s a long drive. The outfielder is back at the warning track and hits his head on the wall! It rolls back toward second base! This could be a triple!”

1927 - Gardner Dickinson
golf: member of NCAA Championship team at LSU [1947]; 1st PGA tour victory: Miami Beach Open [1956]; last tour victory: Atlanta Classic [defeated Jack Nicklaus in playoff: 1971]; member U.S. Ryder Cup teams [1967, 1971]; member of Sports Halls of Fame: Georgia, Alabama, LSU; died Apr 19, 1998

1930 - Allan Bloom
author: The Closing of the American Mind, Love and Friendship; died Oct 7, 1992

1933 - Zoe Caldwell
actress: Medea, Lantern Hill

1934 - Kate Millett
writer: The Basement, Flying, Sexual Politics; sculptor

1935 - Ed Khayat
football: Philadelphia Eagles, NE Patriots

1936 - Walter Koenig
actor: Star Trek, Antony and Cleopatra, Moontrap

1938 - Nicol Williamson
actor: The Advocate, Christopher Columbus, Excalibur, The Human Factor, Robin and Marian, Hamlet

1944 - Joey (Davenie) Heatherton
actress: Dean Martin Presents, Cry-Baby, Bluebeard; daughter of Ray Heatherton of Tropicana Orange Juice fame

1946 - Pete Agnew
musician: bass, singer: group: Nazareth: Love Hurts

1947 - Jon ‘Bowzer’ Bauman
singer: group: Sha Na Na: LP: Rock & Roll is Here to Stay!; VJ: VH-1

1947 - Sam Neill
actor: In the Mouth of Madness, Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, The Piano, Jurassic Park, The Hunt for Red October, Sleeping Dogs, Ivanhoe, The Final Conflict, My Brilliant Career

1950 - Paul Kossoff
musician: guitar: group: Free: All Right Now; died Mar 19, 1976

1954 - Barry Cowsill
singer: group: The Cowsills: Indian Lake, Hair, The Rain, the Park and Other Things; his body was recovered Dec 28, 2005 from the Chartres Street Wharf

1957 - Tim (Timothy Charles) Wallach
baseball: Montreal Expos [all-star: 1984, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1990], LA Dodgers, California Angels

1959 - Mary (Frances) Crosby
actress: Dallas: she shot J.R.; The Berlin Conspiracy, Corporate Affairs, Deadly Innocence; daughter of Bing and Kathryn Crosby

1959 - Morten Harket
singer: group: a-ha: Take on Me

1964 - Faith Ford
actress: Murphy Brown, Thirtysomething, Another World, If It’s Tuesday, It Still Must Be Belgium, The Norm Show

1971 - Kimberly Williams
actress: Father of the Bride, Father of the Bride Part II, Jake’s Women, Elephant Juice, Simpatico

1989 - Jesse James
actor: Pearl Harbor, As Good As It Gets, The Gingerbread Man, A Dog of Flanders, Slap Her, She’s French.

Chart Toppers
September 14th.

1948 A Tree in the Meadow - Margaret Whiting
It’s Magic - Doris Day
You Call Everybody Darlin’ - Al Trace (vocal: Bob Vincent)
Bouquet of Roses - Eddy Arnold

1956 Hound Dog/Don’t Be Cruel - Elvis Presley
Whatever Will Be Will Be (Que Sera Sera) - Doris Day
The Flying Saucer (Parts 1 & 2) - Buchanan & Goodman
I Walk the Line - Johnny Cash

1964 The House of the Rising Sun - The Animals
Because - The Dave Clark Five
Bread and Butter - The Newbeats
I Guess I’m Crazy - Jim Reeves

1972 Alone Again (Naturally) - Gilbert O’Sullivan
Long Cool Woman (In a Black Dress) - The Hollies
Baby Don’t Get Hooked on Me - Mac Davis
Woman (Sensuous Woman) - Don Gibson

1980 Upside Down - Diana Ross
All Out of Love - Air Supply
Fame - Irene Cara
Lookin’ for Love - Johnny Lee

1988 Sweet Child o’ Mine - Guns N’ Roses
Simply Irresistible - Robert Palmer
Perfect World - Huey Lewis & The News
(Do You Love Me) Just Say Yes - Highway 101


Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...

For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will
keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily
on my morning radio show.

All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others
that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the
contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments
about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding.

[ShadowThomas]

258th day of 2007 - 107 remaining.

Saturday, September 15, 2007
USA TODAY DAY.

USA Today, a publication of the Gannett media empire, was published for the first time on this day in 1982. The paper was called “The Nation’s Newspaper.” Critics called the satellite-transmitted, colorful, splashy, somewhat glitzy publication, “News McNugggets,” “The Nation’s Comic Book” and the winner of the “Pulitzer Prize for Best Investigative Paragraph.”

Several books have been written about the newspaper that is now read by millions each day. Two such volumes chronicling the rise of USA Today are Gannett Chairman Al Neuharth’s Confessions of an S.O.B. and Peter S. Prichard’s The Making of McPaper.

USA Today -- now with editions throughout the world -- has changed the shape of newspapers everywhere. Many have imitated the fast-reading format pioneered by USA Today in an attempt to revitalize the suffering newspaper industry.
USA Today.

Events
September 15th.

1857 - Timothy Alden of New York City earned a patent for the typesetting machine. Newspaper and magazine publishers were very happy, as the machine made the production of these publications much faster and easier to accomplish ... making them more timely. We wonder what Timothy would have thought of the computer.

1930 - Ely Culbertson and the United States team played a challenge match with Great Britain in contract bridge competition. The event took place in London, England, and helped establish bridge as a favorite with the card-playing crowd. The London bridge crowd fell down on the job as the U.S. team won the match.

1930 - Hoagy Carmichael recorded Georgia on My Mind on the Victor label. Carmichael composed the song (lyrics by Stuart Gorrell) that has has been recorded by Ray Charles and many other artists over the years. Georgia on My Mind became the official state song of Georgia in 1979.

1934 - NBC radio presented The Gibson Family to American audiences. The program was the first musical-comedy-drama to be broadcast. Ernest Whitman and Eddie Green were featured members of the cast and were billed as “network radio’s only colored comedians.” The show originated from the studios of WEAF in New York City.

1953 - The National Boxing Association adopted the 10-point ‘must’ scoring system for all of its matches. The winner of each round must get 10 points, while the loser of each round must have fewer than 10 points.

1963 - Matty, Felipe and Jesus Alou, the famed Alou Brothers of baseball, took to the outfield and played together for the first time. The brothers played for the San Francisco Giants, who beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 13-5, at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

1965 - It was a grand time in Hooterville. Oliver (Wendell) Douglas and his socialite wife Lisa; storekeeper Sam Drucker; Arnold the Pig and a whole bunch of funny neighbors showed up at Green Acres on CBS-TV. Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor headed a memorable cast in this, the first of six seasons on the network.

1971 - Twelve members of the Don’t Make a Wave Committee founded Greenpeace, the environmental organization committed to a green and peaceful world. The group from Vancouver, British Columbia was aboard the Phyllis Cormack sailing to Amchitka, Alaska to protest nuclear testing.

1973 - Secretariat won the Marlboro Cup and set a world record for the 1-1/8 mile event. The legendary thoroughbred won in 1 minute, 45-2/3 seconds and earned $250,000.

1979 - Bob Watson of the Boston Red Sox hit a single, double, triple, and home run to become the first player in the major leagues to hit for the cycle in both leagues. Boston walloped the Baltimore Orioles 10-2.

1984 - Princess Diana and Prince Charles celebrated the birth of their second child, a blue-eyed baby boy who weighed 6 pounds, 14 ounces. Prince Harry (Henry Charles Albert David) is third in line to succeed to the British throne.

1997 - Elton John’s Candle in the Wind 1997 sold more than 600,000 copies in its first day in British stores. At one Tower Records in London, 1,000 copies of the Princess Diana tribute were snatched up in less than 90 minutes. The single was released in the U.S. on Sep 23 and hit #1 Oct 11.

2000 - Motion pictures released in the U.S. this day: Warner Bros.’ Bait, and Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport; United Artists’ Crime + Punishment in Suburbia; Hollywood Pictures’ Duets; and the re-release of MGM’s This is Spinal Tap.

Birthdays
September 15th.

1789 - James Fenimore Cooper
writer: The Leatherstocking Tales: The Deerslayer, The Last of the Mohicans, The Pathfinder, The Pioneers, The Prairie; died Sep 14, 1851

1857 - William Howard Taft
27th U.S. President [1909-1913]; married to Helen Herron [two sons, one daughter]; Yale University law professor; Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court [1921-30]; died Mar 8, 1930

1890 - Agatha (Marie Clarissa) Christie (Miller)
writer: Murder on the Orient Express, 65 other mysteries; playwright: The Mousetrap [world’s longest running play]; died Jan 12, 1976

1903 - Roy Acuff
‘The King of Country Music’: Country Music Hall of Famer: Wabash Cannonball, Pins and Needles [In My Heart], Night Train to Memphis, The Great Speckled Bird, Freight Train Blues; group: Smoky Mountain Boys; publisher: Acuff-Rose Publishing; died Nov 23, 1992

1907 - Fay Wray
actress: King Kong, Dr. X, Tammy and the Bachelor; died Aug 8, 2004

1908 - Penny Singleton (Mariana McNulty)
actress: Blondie series; died Nov 12, 2003

1916 - Margaret Lockwood (Day)
actress: The Wicked Lady, Cast a Dark Shadow, The Lady Vanishes; died July 15, 1990

1920 - Dave Garcia
baseball manager: Cleveland Indians

1922 - Jackie Cooper (John Cooperman Jr.)
actor: Superman series, The People’s Choice, Skippy, Little Rascals, Our Gang; director: Izzy & Moe, Sex and the Single Parent, Leave ’Em Laughing, Marathon

1924 - Bobby Short
pianist, singer: regular on first Playboy TV series; autobiography: Black & White Baby; died Mar 21, 2005

1928 - Julian ‘Cannonball’ Adderly
musician: Alto/Soprano Saxophone: Mercy, Mercy, Mercy; died Aug 8, 1975

1928 - Henry Silva
actor: The Bravados, Green Mansions, Oceans Eleven, The Manchurian Candidate, Johnny Cool, The Hills Run Red, Sharky’s Machine, Code of Silence, Amazon Women on the Moon, Above the Law, Dick Tracy, The End of Violence

1938 - Gaylord (Jackson) Perry
Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher: SF Giants [all-star: 1966, 1970/Cy Young Award: 1971], Cleveland Indians [all-star: 1972, 1974], Texas Rangers, SD Padres [Cy Young Award: 1978/all-star: 1979], NY Yankees, Atlanta Braves, Seattle Mariners, KC Royals; 314 wins, 3,534 strikeouts, 20-game winner 5 times, lifetime ERA: 3.10, only pitcher to win Cy Young Award in both leagues

1940 - Jimmy Gilmer
singer: group: Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs: Sugar Shack, Daisy Petal Pickin’

1940 - Merlin Olsen
Pro Football Hall of Famer: LA Rams; broadcaster: NBC, CBS NFL Football; actor: Father Murphy, Little House on the Prairie

1941 - Les (William) Braid
musician: bass, organ: group: The Swinging Blue Jeans: Hippy Hippy Shake; died July 31, 2005

1945 - Carmen Maura
actress: Between Heaven and Earth, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Law of Desire, What Have I Done to Deserve This?, Dark Habits

1946 - Tommy Lee Jones
Academy Award-winning actor: The Fugitive [1993]; House of Cards, The Client, Natural Born Killers, JFK, Coalminer’s Daughter, Batman Forever, Volcano, U.S. Marshals; Emmy Award-winner: The Executioner’s Song [1982-1983]

1946 - Oliver Stone
Academy Award-winning director: Born on the Fourth of July [1989], Platoon [1986]; Wall Street, JFK, Natural Born Killers

1949 - Dave (David Percy) Pagan
baseball: NY Yankees, Baltimore Orioles, Pittsburgh Pirates, Seattle Mariners

1961 - Dan Marino
football: Miami Dolphins QB: individual NFL record for yards gained passing in a season [5.084] and touchdowns thrown [48] - both in 1984; Super Bowl XIX; TV host/analyst: HBO: Inside the NFL

1984 - Prince Harry (Henry Charles Albert David)
third in line to the British throne; see 1984 [above]

Chart Toppers
September 15th.

1949 Room Full of Roses - The Sammy Kaye Orchestra (vocal: Don Cornell)
You’re Breaking My Heart - Vic Damone
Maybe It’s Because - Dick Haymes
Why Don’t You Haul Off and Love Me - Wayne Raney

1957 Tammy - Debbie Reynolds
Diana - Paul Anka
Honeycomb - Jimmie Rodgers
Fraulein - Bobby Helms

1965 Help! - The Beatles
Like a Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan
Eve of Destruction - Barry McGuire
Is It Really Over? - Jim Reeves

1973 Delta Dawn - Helen Reddy
Say, Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose - Tony Orlando & Dawn
Loves Me like a Rock - Paul Simon
You’ve Never Been This Far Before - Conway Twitty

1981 Endless Love - Diana Ross & Lionel Richie
Slow Hand - Pointer Sisters
Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around - Stevie Nicks with Tom Petty & The
Heartbreakers
Older Women - Ronnie McDowell

1989 Hangin’ Tough - New Kids on the Block
Don’t Wanna Lose You - Gloria Estefan
Heaven - Warrant
I Wonder Do You Think of Me - Keith Whitley


Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...

For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will
keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily
on my morning radio show.

All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others
that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the
contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments
about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding.

[ShadowThomas]

259th day of 2007 - 106 remaining.

Sunday, September 16, 2007
MAYFLOWER DAY.

Do you stick your nose up in the air and say that your ancestors came over on the Mayflower? If so, you of staunchly English pedigree should know that on this day, in the year 1620, 102 passengers and crew set sail on the ocean blue from Plymouth, England.

Their destination was the New World. And, although they encountered stormy weather and treacherous seas, this hearty group of 41 men, the rest, women and children; half religious dissenters and half entrepreneurs, made it to Provincetown, Massachusetts on November 21, 1620.

A month later, the Plymouth Colony was founded by the passengers of the Mayflower. Better check that family tree ...
More reading here. The Mayflower.

Events
September 16th.

1908 - General Motors was founded on this day. The man responsible for the beginning of the huge auto-manufacturing company (maker of Cadillac, Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Chevrolet) was William Crapo ‘Billy’ Durant.

1920 - Enrico Caruso made his last recording for Victor Records in Camden, NJ.

1924 - Jim Bottomley of the St. Louis Cardinals set a major-league baseball record by knocking in 12 runs in a single game.

1938 - Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra recorded the swing classic Boogie Woogie for Victor Records.

1940 - Sam Rayburn of Texas became Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Rayburn served as Speaker for 17 years.

1941 - CBS radio debuted The Arkansas Traveler. The program was later renamed The Bob Burns Show. Burns played a very strange musical instrument called the ‘bazooka’. The U.S. Army chose the name to identify its rocket launcher, because it looked so much like Burns’ bazooka, believe it or not...

1953 - The St. Louis Browns of the American League were given the OK to move to Baltimore, MD, where they became the Baltimore Orioles.

1960 - Amos Alonzo Stagg announced his retirement from football coaching. He was 98 years old at the time!

1963 - She Loves You, by The Beatles, was released in the U.S. It was the first record recorded by The Beatles; but the second single by the ‘Fab Four’ to hit #1. I Want to Hold Your Hand, was the group’s first #1 song and million seller. It beat She Loves You to the top spot by just a few weeks.

1964 - Shindig premiered on ABC-TV. The program had go-go girls and the biggest rock bands of the day in a dance party environment. Regulars were Jimmie O’Neill and the Shindig Dancers. The first show featured Sam Cooke, The Everly Brothers, The Righteous Brothers, The Wellingtons, Bobby Sherman and comic Alan Sues.

1965 - San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral became the site of the first concert of sacred music presented by Duke Ellington.

1965 - The Dean Martin Show debuted on NBC-TV. It was a weekly variety show that continued on the network for nine years. Regulars over the years were The Goldiggers, Ken Lane, The Ding-a-Ling Sisters, Tom Bosley, Dom DeLuise, Nipsey Russell, Rodney Dangerfield and Les Brown and His Band. The theme song? Everybody Loves Somebody.

1968 - The Andy Griffith Show was seen for the final time on CBS-TV. Sheriff Andy Taylor (Griffith), Opie (Ron Howard), Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier), Barney Fife (Don Knotts), Goober Pyle (George Lindsey), Floyd Lawson (Howard McNear), and the rest of the gang from Mayberry, NC, are still seen regularly on TV through syndication.

1978 - Boston’s album Don’t Look Back ascended to number one on U.S. charts. Other LPs in the top five that week: 2. Some Girls (The Rolling Stones); 3. Double Vision (Foreigner); 4. Grease (Soundtrack); 5. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Soundtrack).

1981 - Boxer ‘Sugar’ Ray Leonard, at age 25, knocked out Thomas ‘The Hit Man’ Hearns. Leonard won the welterweight boxing championship -- and the richest payday in boxing history.

1988 - Tom Browning made it into the history books of major league baseball when he pitched a perfect game. The 12th perfect game in history was a National League match between Cincinnati and Los Angeles with a score of 1-0.

1999 - Hurricane Floyd stormed ashore, pounding North Carolina with 110 mph winds, dumping more than a foot of rain, damaging 12,000 homes and claiming more than 50 lives. Floyd also caused the largest peacetime evacuation in U.S. history, with 2.6 million people ordered away from the shores in the hurricane’s path.

Birthdays
September 16th.

1823 - Francis Parkman
author: The Oregon Trail; died in 1893

1875 - J.C. (James Cash) Penney
merchant: founder: J.C. Penney Co.; died Feb 12, 1971

1890 - George Whitney Calhoun
sportswriter: Green Bay Press Gazette; cofounder [w/Earl Curly Lambeau] of Green Bay Packers [Calhoun named the team]

1908 - (Colonel) Buster ‘Bus’ Mills
baseball: SL Cardinals, Brooklyn Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, SL Browns, NY Yankees, Cleveland Indians; died Dec 1, 1991

1914 - Allen Funt
radio/TV producer, host: Candid Microphone, Candid Camera; films: What Do You Say to a Naked Lady?, Money Talks; died Sep 5, 1999

1919 - Marvin Middlemark
inventor: rabbit ears TV antenna; died in 1989

1922 - Janis Paige (Donna Mae Tjaden)
actress: The Pajama Game, Silk Stockings, Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, Hero

1924 - Lauren Bacall (Betty Perske)
actress: Key Largo, Applause, Woman of the Year, How to Marry a Millionaire, To Have and Have Not; married actor Humphrey Bogart

1924 - Nelson Benton
journalist: CBS News; died Feb 13, 1988

1925 - Charlie Byrd
musician: guitar: Meditation, Desafinado [w/Stan Getz]; died Nov 30, 1999

1925 - B.B. (Riley B.) King
musician, singer: The Thrill Is Gone, I Like to Live the Love, Rock Me Baby; appeared in films: Into the Night, Amazon Women of the Moon; Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award [1987]

1925 - Morgan Woodward
actor: The Waltons, Dark Before Dawn, The Longest Drive

1926 - John Knowles
author: Backcasts: Memories & Recollections of Seventy Years as a Sportsman

1927 - Peter Falk
Emmy Award-winning actor: The Price of Tomatoes: The Dick Powell Show [1961-62]; Columbo [1971-72, 1974-75, 1975-76, 1989-90]; Murder by Death, Pocketful of Miracles , The Great Race, The In-Laws, The Princess Bride

1927 - Jack Kelly
actor: Maverick, Dr. Hudson’s Secret Journal, Get Christie Love, To Hell and Back; host: NBC Comedy Theater; mayor: Huntington Beach, California; died Nov 7, 1992

1930 - Anne Francis
actress: Funny Girl, Blackboard Jungle, Laguna Heat, Battle Cry, Bad Day at Black Rock, Born Again

1934 - Elgin Baylor
basketball: LA Lakers: holds NBA Playoff Record for points scored in a game [61], and for points scored in a playoff series [284] [both in 1962]

1934 - George Chakiris
Academy Award-winning actor, dancer: West Side Story [1961]; Is Paris Burning, Dallas

1938 - Larry Grantham
football: NY Jets linebacker: Super Bowl III

1942 - Bernie Calvert
musician: bass: group: The Hollies: The Air that I Breathe; group: The Dolphins

1944 - Linda Henning
actress: Petticoat Junction

1944 - Betty Kelly
singer: group: Martha and the Vandellas: Dancing in the Street

1948 - Kenny Jones
musician: drums: group: Small Faces, Faces: Stay with Me; group: The Who

1949 - Ed Begley Jr.
actor: St. Elsewhere, Parenthood, She-Devil, The Applegates, The Accidental Tourist, The In-Laws

1950 - David Bellamy
singer: duo: The Bellamy Brothers: Let Your Love Flow, If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me; songwriter: Spiders and Snakes

1950 - Susan Ruttan
actress: L.A. Law, Sweet 15, A Perfect Little Murder, Funny About Love, Fire and Rain, Chances Are, Bad Dreams, Eye of the Demon, Bad Manners

1955 - Robin (R) Yount
Baseball Hall of Famer: Milwaukee Brewers outfielder [all-star: 1980, 1982, 1983/World Series: 1982/Baseball Writers’ Award: 1982-shortstop, 1989-outfielder]

1956 - David Copperfield (Kotkin)
magician, illusionist

1956 - Mickey Rourke
actor: Body Heat, Diner, The Pope of Greenwich Village, Year of the Dragon, Nine Weeks, Barfly, Angel Heart, Johnny Handsome, Wild Orchid, Harley Davidson & The Marlboro Man

1958 - Orel (Leonard Quinton) Hershiser
baseball: pitcher: LA Dodgers [all-star: 1987, 1988, 1989/World Series: 1988/Cy Young Award: 1988], Cleveland Indians [World Series: 1995]

1961 - Jennifer Tilly
actress: The Fabulous Baker Boys, The Webbers, The Getaway [1994], Stuart Little, The Magnificent Ambersons

1963 - Richard Marx
singer, songwriter: Hazard, Children of the Night, Too Late to Say Goodbye, Keep Coming Back, Angelia , Take This Heart, Right Here Waiting, Satisfied , Hold on to the Nights, Endless Summer Nights, Should’ve Known Better, Don’t Mean Nothing

1964 - Molly Shannon
actress: Saturday Night Live.

Chart Toppers
September 16th.

1950 Mona Lisa - Nat King Cole
Goodnight Irene - The Weavers
Tzena, Tzena, Tzena - The Weavers
Goodnight Irene - Red Foley-Ernest Tubb

1958 Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare) - Domenico Modugno
It’s All in the Game - Tommy Edwards
Rock-in Robin - Bobby Day
Bird Dog - The Everly Brothers

1966 You Can’t Hurry Love - The Supremes
Yellow Submarine - The Beatles
Land of 1000 Dances - Wilson Pickett
Almost Persuaded - David Houston

1974 I Shot the Sheriff - Eric Clapton
Rock Me Gently - Andy Kim
I’m Leavin It (All) Up to You - Donny & Marie Osmond
Please Don’t Tell Me How the Story Ends - Ronnie Milsap

1982 Hard to Say I’m Sorry - Chicago
Jack & Diane - John Cougar
You Should Hear How She Talks About You - Melissa Manchester
She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft) - Jerry Reed

1990 Release Me - Wilson Phillips
Do Me! - Bell Biv DeVoe
Have You Seen Her - M.C. Hammer
Jukebox in My Mind - Alabama


Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...

For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will
keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily
on my morning radio show.

All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others
that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the
contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments
about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding.

[ShadowThomas]

260th day of 2007 - 105 remaining.

Monday, September 17, 2007
HOGAN’S HEROES DAY.

CBS-TV debuted an oxymoronic show this night in 1965. Hogan’s Heroes, a comedy, took place in a World War II Nazi POW camp.

For six years the prisoners, under the lead of Colonel Robert Hogan (played by former KNX radio air personality Bob Crane), managed to outwit the incompetent and inept Nazi Colonel Wilhelm Klink (played very competently by Werner Klemperer [2-time Emmy-Award winner for his role]) and Nazi Sgt. Shultz (played quite deftly by John Banner).

The prisoners finagled, cheated and tricked the Germans so they could feed classified information to the Allies, help fugitives escape from Germany, etc. They managed, through their conniving, to live in luxury. Robert Clary played the Frenchman Louis LeBeau, who prepared fine French cuisine for his fellow prisoners. A steam room, a barbershop and many other creature comforts added to the amusement of the viewers

Those who watched the antics in Stalag 13 will remember the comedy and pathos brought to the small screen by POWs: Sgt. Andrew Carter (played by Larry Hovis); radioman Sgt. James Kinchloe (played by Ivan Dixon); and Peter Newkirk, the English corporal (played by Richard Dawson, later of Family Feud).

Some thought it almost sacrilegious to make light of a POW camp. However, much can be learned through comedy. With tongue in cheek, Hogan’s Heroes educated and entertained.

Now, a new generation, along with old fans, can be entertained by Hogan’s Heroes, through the book, Hogan’s Heroes; Behind the Scenes at Stalag 13, written by Werner Klemperer with Brenda Scott Royce.
September 17, 1965 - July 4, 1971 Hogan’s Heroes. The Fifties Web.

Events
September 17th.

1787 - The Constitution of the United States of America was signed by delegates from twelve states at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, PA. The U.S. Constitution is the world’s oldest working Constitution.

1872 - Phillip W. Pratt of Abington, MA patented an automatic sprinkler system for putting out fires. The system was operated by means of a valve to which cords and fuses were attached. The cords held the valve closed with a spring-loaded lever. In case of a fire, when the fuses ignited, the cords burned, and the valve opened, releasing a stream of water.

1911 - The first transcontinental airplane flight, from New York City to Pasadena, CA, was accomplished on this day. It took C.P. Rogers only 82 hours to fly across the U.S.

1920 - The National Football League was formed -- in Canton, Ohio. Canton is now the home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

1931 - RCA Victor began demonstrating a very early version of the long-playing (LP), 33-1/3 RPM phonograph record. It would be another 17 years before RCA rival Columbia would begin mass production of the LP.

1952 - Frank Sinatra sang at his final session with Mitch Miller and Columbia Records.

1953 - Ernie Banks became the first black baseball player to wear a Chicago Cubs uniform. Banks was also quick to say, “Let’s play two!” Banks was the Cubs’ outstanding shortstop from 1954 to 1960. In 1961 he was moved to left field, then to first base, where he spent the rest of his career. In 1969, Ernie Banks was voted the Cub’s best player ever by Chicago fans. ‘Mr. Cub’ retired in 1971.

1954 - Rocky Marciano retained possession of the world heavyweight boxing title. He knocked out Ezzard Charles in the eighth round of their championship bout.

1955 - The Perry Como Show moved to Saturday nights on NBC-TV. Soon, U.S.A. audiences would “Sing along with me ... I’m on my way to the stars...” with the incomparable Mr. C. Como’s hourlong variety show replaced his three-times-per-week, 15-minute show, which had been on the air since 1948. The new version of The Perry Como Show soon became Saturday’s highest-rated TV program, beating CBS competitor Jackie Gleason.

1955 - Capitol Records released Magic Melody, Part Two. The tune consists only of the last two notes of the musical phrase, “Shave and a haircut, two bits,” making it the shortest tune ever to be released. Now we want to see the deejay put that one on and make it to the bathroom and back before it’s finished playing...

1961 - A new team debuted in the National Football League: the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings defeated the Chicago Bears by a score of 37-13 in the team’s first game.

1965 - The Smothers Brothers Show, a sitcom, debuted on CBS-TV. Dick Smothers played young executive Dick Smothers, who worked for publisher Leonard J. Costello (Rolland Winters). Dick was trying to enjoy life as a prosperous bachelor, when his brother Tom (played by Tom) showed up as an apprentice angel. Tom, who had been lost at sea some years before, had to perform good deeds on earth in order to gain permanent angel wings. Instead of the helpful angel, he was often the blundering angel, constantly depending on brother Dick to get him out of scrape after scrape. The Smothers Brothers Show ran in this format for one year. The funny and talented duo returned in February of 1967 with The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and continued to get into scrape after scrape -- this time with the network.

1983 - Vanessa Williams, Miss New York, was crowned Miss America. Williams was the first black woman in the 62-year history of the Miss America Pageant to win the coveted title. Williams relinquished her crown during her reign when nude pictures of her were published in Penthouse magazine. She went on to enjoy popularity as a singer (Dreamin’, Save the Best for Last) and an actress (Candyman, Another You, Under the Gun).

1983 - The Cincinnati Reds honored Baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Bench as he ended his 16-year career as a catcher.

1983 - Slugger Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox broke Hank Aaron’s major-league record for games played. ‘Yaz’ played in his 3,299th game.

1984 - Seventeen years to the day after his first major-league home run, Reggie Jackson of the California Angels hit his 500th career homer -- in a game against the Kansas City Royals.

1986 - The New York Mets clinched their first divisional title since 1973 by defeating the Chicago Cubs 4-2. The Mets later won the World Series as well.

1994 - II, by Boyz II Men, debuted at number one on the Billboard U.S. album chart. Cuts on the LP: Thank You, All Around the World, U Know, Vibin’, I Sit Away, Jezzebel, Khalil [Interlude], Trying Times, I’ll Make Love to You, On Bended Knee, 50 Candles, Water Runs Dry, Yesterday. II was #I for IV weeks.

1999 - Four flicks featured at U.S. theatres this day: Blue Streak (starring Martin Lawrence, Luke Wilson, Peter Greene, William Forsythe); Breakfast of Champions (with Bruce Willis, Albert Finney, Nick Nolte, Barbara Hershey); For Love of the Game (Kevin Costner, Kelly Preston, John C. Reilly, Jena Malone); and Get Bruce! (Whoopi Goldberg, Bette Midler, Nathan Lane, Lily Tomlin and about a zillion others).

Birthdays
September 17th.

1869 - Ben (Bernard) Turpin
comedian, actor: Burlesque of Carmen, Yankee Doodle in Berlin, Mack Sennett comedies, When Comedy was King; died July 1, 1940

1900 - J.W. (John Willard) Marriott
hotel magnate; died Aug 13, 1985

1902 - Esther Ralston
actress: Tin Pan Alley, We’re in the Legion Now, Oliver Twist, Shadows of the Orient, To the Last Man; died Jan 14, 1994

1903 - Dolores Costello
actress: The Magnificent Ambersons; died Mar 1, 1979

1904 - Jerry Colonna
comedian, actor: Meet Me in Las Vegas, Kentucky Jubilee, The Road to Singapore; TV host: The Jerry Colonna Show; died Nov 21, 1986

1907 - Warren (Earl) Burger
Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court; died June 25, 1995

1922 - Ursula Howells
actress: Girly, The Gilded Cage; died Oct 16, 2005

1923 - Hank (Hiram) Williams Sr.
musician, songwriter, singer: I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive, I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry, Cold, Cold Heart, Take These Chains from My Heart, Honky Tonkin’, Jambalaya, Kaw-Liga, Your Cheatin’ Heart, Lovesick Blues; 1st country musician whose music crossed over into pop; wrote 125 compositions; died Jan 1, 1953

1926 - Bill Black
musician: bassist: group: Bill Black Combo: White Silver Sands, Smokie Pt. 2; played in Elvis Presley band, backup for Elvis; died Oct 21, 1965

1927 - George Blanda
Pro Football Hall of Famer: Chicago Bears QB, Houston Oilers QB: AFL MVP [1961], LA Raiders kicker and quarterback: AFC Player of the Year, AP Male Athlete of the Year [1970]; holds NFL individual record for points scored in career [2002, 1949-75] and points scored after touchdowns [943]

1928 - Roddy (Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude) McDowall
Tony Award-winning actor: The Fighting **** [1960]; Planet of the Apes series, The Poseidon Adventure , The Longest Day, How Green was My Valley, My Friend Flicka, Lassie Come Home; died Oct 3, 1998

1929 - Sil Austin
musician, tenor saxophone: Slow Walk; composer: Ping-Pong; died Sep 1, 2001

1929 - Pat Crowley
actress: Joe Forrester, Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, Red Garters, Return to Fantasy Island

1931 - Anne Bancroft (Anna Maria Louisa Italiano)
Oscar and Tony Award-winning actress: The Miracle Worker [1962]; The Graduate, The Turning Point, Agnes of God, Malice, Point of No Return, The Elephant Man, Silent Movie; married to Mel Brooks; died June 6, 2005

1933 - Dorothy Loudon
actress: The Garry Moore Show, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil; died Nov 15, 2003

1935 - Ken Kesey
author: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nestdied Nov 10, 2001

1937 - Orlando (Manuel) Cepeda
‘Baby Bull’, ‘Cha Cha’: Baseball Hall of Famer: SF Giants [Rookie of the Year: 1958/all-star: 1959-1964, 1967/World Series: 1962, 1967, 1968], SL Cardinals [Baseball Writers’ Award: 1967], Atlanta Braves, Oakland Athletics, Boston Red Sox, Kansas City Royals

1938 - Paul Benedict
actor: The Jeffersons, The Freshman

1938 - Bobby (Robert Paul Sr.) Wine
baseball: Philadelphia Phillies Philadelphia Phillies, Montreal Expos

1938 - LeeRoy Yarborough
race car driver: Daytona 500 winner [1969]; died Dec 7, 1984

1939 - David H. Souter
attorney: Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court

1940 - LaMont McLemore
singer: group: The 5th Dimension: Up Up and Away, Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In, [Last Night] I Didn’t Get to Sleep at All, Wedding Bell Blues, Stoned Soul Picnic

1947 - Jeff MacNelly
cartoonist: Shoe; died June 8, 2000 [lymphoma]

1948 - John Ritter
Emmy Award winning actor: Three’s Company [1983-1984]; Problem Child I & II, Hooperman, Stay Tuned; son of Tex Ritter; died Sep 11, 2003

1949 - Cassandra Peterson
‘Elvira, Mistress of the Dark’: TV hostess: The Elvira Show; actress: Echo Park, Uncensored, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Balboa, Working Girls, Stroker Ace, Dead of Night, Nash Bridges

1950 - Fee Waybill (John Waldo)
singer: group: The Tubes

1951 - Kermit Washington
basketball: American Univ., LA Lakers, Portland Trailblazers [suspended 26 games for punching Rockets’ Rudy Tomjanovich: 1977]

1952 - Harold Solomon
tennis: player, coach

1954 - Wayne (Richard) Krenchicki
baseball: Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers, Montreal Expos

1955 - Rita Rudner
comedienne, actress: Rita Rudner TV series, Hollywood Squares.

Chart Toppers
September 17th.

1951 Because of You - Tony Bennett
The Loveliest Night of the Year - Mario Lanza
Sweet Violets - Dinah Shore
Always Late (With Your Kisses) - Lefty Frizzell

1959 Sleep Walk - Santo & Johnny
I’m Gonna Get Married - Lloyd Price
(’Til) I Kissed You - The Everly Brothers
The Three Bells - The Browns

1967 Ode to Billie Joe - Bobbie Gentry
Reflections - Diana Ross & The Supremes
Come Back When You Grow Up - Bobby Vee
My Elusive Dreams - David Houston

1975 Rhinestone Cowboy - Glen Campbell
At Seventeen - Janis Ian
Fame - David Bowie
Feelins’ - Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynne

1983 Maniac - Michael Sembello
Tell Her About It - Billy Joel
The Safety Dance - Men Without Hats
Night Games - Charley Pride

1991 The Promise of a New Day - Paula Abdul
I Adore Mi Amor - Color Me Badd
Motownphilly - Boys II Men
Leap of Faith - Lionel Cartwright


Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...

For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will
keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily
on my morning radio show.

All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others
that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the
contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments
about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding.

[ShadowThomas]

261st day of 2007 - 104 remaining.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007
CBS DAY.

The Columbia Broadcasting System was born on this day in 1927, although its rival, NBC, had been on the air for some time. The Tiffany Network, as CBS was called, broadcast an opera, The King’s Henchman, as its first program.

William S. Paley put the network together, purchasing a chain of 16 failing radio stations. The controlling interest cost between $250,000 and $450,000. The following year, the 27-year-old Paley became President of CBS. It only took one more year for him to profit 2.35 million dollars as the network grew to over 70 stations.

In 1978 Paley received the First Annual ATAS (Academy of Television Arts and Sciences) Governor’s Award as Chairman of the Board of CBS.
CBS Broadcasting, Inc. Columbia Broadcasting System.

Events
September 18th.

1763 - An instrument named the spinet was mentioned in The Boston Gazette newspaper on this day. John Harris made the spinet, a small upright piano with a three to four octave range. There is no verifiable evidence to support the rumor that a man named Spinetti made the first spinet.

1830 - A race was held between a horse and an iron horse. Tom Thumb, the first locomotive built in America, was pitted against a real horse in a nine-mile course between Riley’s Tavern and Baltimore. Tom Thumb suffered mechanical difficulties including a leaky boiler. If you had your money on the horse, you won! Tom Thumb lost by more than a nose.

1851 - The New York Times began publishing “All the News That’s Fit to Print.” The Times is now a media conglomerate involving radio, TV, cable and the Internet.

1891 - Harriet Maxwell Converse (her Indian name was Ga-is-wa-noh: the Watcher) became the first white woman to be named chief of an Indian tribe. Converse became chief of the Six Nations tribe at Tonawanda reservation in New York. She had been adopted by the Seneca tribe 7 years earlier because of her efforts on behalf of the tribe.

1895 - If you’ve ever had a chiropractic adjustment you owe it to not only your chiropractor, but to Daniel David Palmer. He gave the first chiropractic adjustment to Harvey Lillard in Davenport, Iowa (now the home of Palmer Chiropractic College).

1947 - Country singers Ernest Tubb and Roy Acuff performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City. It was the first country show for the NYC venue.

1947 - The U.S. Air Force, an independent military service, was established by the National Security Act. Originally, U.S. military aviation began as part of the U.S. Army in 1907.

1948 - The Original Amateur Hour returned to radio on ABC, two years after the passing of the program’s originator and host, Major Bowes. Bowes brought new star talent into living rooms for 13 years. Ted Mack, the new host, had also started a TV run with The Original Amateur Hour on the DuMont network in January of 1948.

1955 - What had been The Toast of the Town on CBS Television (since 1948) became The Ed Sullivan Show. This “rilly big shew” remained a mainstay of Sunday night television until June 6, 1971. Sullivan was a newspaper columnist/critic before and during the early years of this pioneering TV show.

1957 - The Big Record, hosted by ‘the singing rage’, Miss Patti Page, debuted on CBS-TV. The Big Record was a live musical showcase featuring established artists singing their big songs. The Big Record lasted one big season.

1965 - Larry Hagman (Captain Tony Nelson) and Barbara Eden (Jeannie) starred in the first episode of I Dream of Jeannie on NBC-TV. Capt. Nelson had been forced to make a parachute landing on a desert island. He happened upon an old bottle that had washed up on the shore. He popped the top and - bingo! Out popped Jeannie, a 2000-year-old, very pretty genie. Jeannie took to Tony and started making weekly magic that lasted until September 1, 1970.

1969 - Tiptoeing through late night TV, Tiny Tim announced his engagement to Miss Vicki Budinger. Johnny Carson, host of The Tonight Show, was so enthralled with the falsetto voiced singer that he invited the couple to get married on the show. They did on December 17, 1969 and TV history was made.

1970 - Rock radio mourned the loss of rock music legend, Jimi Hendrix. He died at age 27 of an overdose of sleeping pills. His Purple Haze and Foxy Lady became anthems for a generation at war in Vietnam.

1975 - Publishing heiress Patricia Hearst was rescued/captured by the FBI in San Francisco, CA. She had been kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army on Feb 4, 1974, but had apparently fallen in with her captors and had participated in a bank holdup. Hearst was convicted of bank robbery on Mar 20, 1976. On Feb 1, 1979, her sentence was commuted to time served by President Jimmy Carter, but her conviction stood. On Jan 20, 2001, outgoing President Bill Clinton granted Patricia Hearst a full pardon.

1977 - The Voyager I spacecraft (launched on Sep 5, 1977 from cape Canaveral, FL) snapped the first photograph showing the earth and moon together. (Voyager I is further away from Earth than any other man-made object.)

1988 - The Seoul Summer Olympics were the first since Munich in 1972, to have no organized boycotts going on. On this first day of competition, the Soviet Union was first to claim a gold medal -- in the women's air rifle event. U.S. swimmers won silver and bronze in women’s platform diving.

1993 - Garth Brooks’ In Pieces debuted at #1 in the U.S. on both the Billboard Hot 200 and Country LP charts. The album has sold over 8 million copies.

1997 - Time Warner vice-chairman Ted Turner pledged one billion dollars for United Nations programs over ten years. The money came from Time Warner shares Turner acquired in the Time Warner-Turner Broadcasting merger.

Birthdays
September 18th.

1709 - Samuel Johnson
writer: created the first true dictionary of the English language in 1755; poet; essayist; novelist: Rasselas: Prince of Abyssinia; died Dec 13, 1784

1779 - Joseph Story
associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court [1811-1845]; died Sep 10, 1845

1895 - John (George) Diefenbaker
Canadian Prime Minister [1957-1963]; died Aug 16, 1979

1898 - George (Ernest) Uhle
‘The Bull’: baseball: Cleveland Indians [World Series: 1920], Detroit Tigers, NY Giants, NY Yankees; died Feb 26, 1985

1904 - Bun (Frederick) Cook
Hockey Hall of Famer: NHL: NY Rangers [Stanley Cup: 1928, 1933], Boston Bruins; coach: Providence Reds [Calder Cup: 1938, 1940], Cleveland Barons [five Championships 1945-1954]; died Mar 19, 1988

1905 - Greta (Lovisa) Garbo (Gustafsson)
actress: Camille, Grand Hotel, Ninotchka, Mata Hari, The Painted Veil, Anna Christie; died Apr 15, 1990

1905 - Eddie ‘Rochester’ Anderson
actor: Jack Benny Show, Birth of the Blues, Gone with the Wind, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World; died Feb 28, 1977

1910 - Ray Geiger
editor: The Farmer’s Almanac [1934-1993]; the longest-held position of any almanac editor in America; died Apr 1, 1994

1911 - Syd (Sydney) Howe
hockey: NHL: Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators, St. Louis Eagles, Detroit Red Wings [1943-1944 record: scored six goals in game]; died May 20, 1976

1916 - Rossano Brazzi
actor: South Pacific, Three Coins in the Fountain, The Barefoot Contessa, Formula for a Murder; died Dec 24, 1994

1920 - Jack Warden
Emmy Award-winning actor: Brian’s Song [1971-72]; N.Y.P.D., Bad News Bears, Crazy like a Fox, Shampoo, From Here to Eternity, All the President’s Men, Problem Child, Used Cars; died July 19, 2006

1925 - Harvey Haddix
‘The Kitten’: baseball: pitcher: SL Cardinals [all-star: 1953, 1954, 1955], Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Redlegs, Pittsburgh Pirates [World Series: 1960/lost 12-inning perfect game to Milwaukee Braves in 13th inning: 5-26-1959], Baltimore Orioles; died Jan 8, 1994

1926 - Bob Toski
golf: Graffis Award [1980]

1927 - Phyllis Kirk (Kirkegaard)
actress: The Red Buttons Show, The Thin Man, House of Wax; died Oct 19, 2006

1929 - Teddi King
singer: Mr. Wonderful; died Nov 18, 1977

1933 - Robert Blake (Michael James Vijencio Gubitosi)
Emmy Award-winning actor: Baretta [1974-1975]; In Cold Blood, Pork Chop Hill, PT 109, Our Gang, Little Beaver & Red Ryder series

1933 - Jimmie Rodgers
singer: Honeycomb, Kisses Sweeter than Wine, Oh-Oh, I’m Falling in Love Again, Secretly, Are You Really Mine; TV host: The Jimmie Rodgers Show

1940 - Frankie (Frances) Avalon (Avellone)
singer: Venus, Bobby Sox to Stockings, A Boy Without a Girl, Just Ask Your Heart, Why, Dede Dinah; actor: Disc Jockey Jamboree, Guns of the Timberland, The Carpetbaggers, Beach Party series, Back to the Beach

1948 - Ken (Kenneth Alven) Brett
baseball: Boston Red Sox [World Series: 1967], Milwaukee Brewers, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates [all-star: 1974], Chicago White Sox, NY Yankees, California Angels, LA Dodgers, Minnesota Twins, KC Royals; broadcaster: California Angels; died Nov 18, 2003

1949 - Kerry Livgren
musician: guitar, keyboards: group: Kansas: Dust in the Wind

1951 - Daryl Stingley
football: Purdue Univ., NE Patriots; paralyzed in a collision with Oakland Raiders’ Jack Tatum [1978]; founder: Daryl Stingley Youth Foundation

1951 - Tony (Anthony) Scott
baseball: Montreal Expos, SL Cardinals, Houston Astros

1952 - Dee Dee Ramone (Douglas Colvin)
musician: drums: group: The Ramones: Howling at the Moon, Do You Remember Rock ’n’ Roll Radio; died June 5, 2002

1959 - Ryne (Dee) Sandberg
baseball: Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs [all-star: 1984-1993/Baseball Writers’ Award: 1984]

1961 - James Gandolfini
Emmy Award-winning actor: The Sopranos [2000, 2001]; A Stranger Among Us, Terminal Velocity, Crimson Tide, Get Shorty, The Juror, 12 Angry Men [1997], A Civil Action, 8MM

1962 - Joanne Catherall
singer: group: Human League: Don’t You Want Me, [Keep Feeling] Fascination, Mirror Man, The Lebanon, Life on Your Own, Louise

1964 - Holly Robinson Peete
actress: 21 Jump Street, Hanging with Mr. Cooper

1967 - Ricky Bell
singer: group: New Edition

1971 - Jada Pinkett Smith
actress: The Nutty Professor, A Different World, Menace II Society, If These Walls Could Talk, Scream 2, Woo, Bamboozled, Collateral; married to actor Will Smith

1973 - James Marsden
actor: X-Men, In the Line of Duty: Ambush in Waco, Boogies Diner, On the Edge of Innocence, Disturbing Behavior, Ally McBeal.

Chart Toppers
September 18th.

1944 I’ll Walk Alone - Dinah Shore
Swinging on a Star - Bing Crosby
Time Waits for No One - Helen Forrest
Soldier’s Last Letter - Ernest Tubb

1952 Wish You Were Here - Eddie Fisher
Auf Wiedersehn, Sweetheart - Vera Lynn
Half as Much - Rosemary Clooney
Jambalaya (On the Bayou) - Hank Williams

1960 It’s Now or Never - Elvis Presley
The Twist - Chubby Checker
My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own - Connie Francis
Alabam - Cowboy Copas

1968 People Got to Be Free - The Rascals
Harper Valley P.T.A. - Jeannie C. Riley
1,2,3, Red Light - 1910 Fruitgum Co.
Mama Tried - Merle Haggard

1976 Play That Funky Music - Wild Cherry
I’d Really Love to See You Tonight - England Dan & John Ford Coley
A Fifth of Beethoven - Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band
I Don’t Want to Have to Marry You - Jim Ed Brown/Helen Cornelius

1984 What’s Love Got to Do with It - Tina Turner
Missing You - John Waite
She Bop - Cyndi Lauper
You’re Getting to Me Again - Jim Glaser


Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...

For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will
keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily
on my morning radio show.

All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others
that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the
contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments
about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding.

[ShadowThomas]

262nd day of 2007 - 103 remaining.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007
JUST PLAIN BILL DAY.

It was just an average day this day in 1935, when Just Plain Bill was first heard on CBS radio. It was “The real life story of people just like people we all know.” The 15-minute show (Monday through Friday at 7:15 p.m.) was all about (just plain) Bill Davidson and his daughter, Nancy, who lived in (just plain) Hartville. Since Bill was the town barber, everybody came to him with their problems -- and Bill helped them straighten things out.

Instead of playing the usual organ, as a first, Hal Brown played harmonica and whistled the Just Plain Bill introduction music (Darling Nellie Gray). Hal also handled the closing theme (Polly Wolly Doodle) in the same manner.

The show, created by Frank and Anne Hummert, who also came up with Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons, Little Orphan Annie, Amanda of Honeymoon Hill, Front Page Farrell, John’s Other Wife, Mr. Chameleon, Our Gal Sunday and many other radio dramas, later moved to NBC radio. Just Plain Bill chalked up a total of 20 years on the air. A few of the Just Plain Bill sponsors over the years were Kolynos toothpaste, Clapp’s baby food, BiSoDol shaving cream and Anacin pain relief pills.
Antique Radio. Just plain Bill. The Radio Showtime. Frank Hummert. Adult Stuff. Team Effort Of Popular Pain Reliever Stifles Pain.

Events
September 19th.

1819 - It was such a beautiful fall day that poet John Keats was inspired to take out pen and pad. He inked one of the best-loved English poems, Ode to Autumn.

1876 - We are reminded that Melville R. Bissell of Grand Rapids, MI patented the carpet sweeper on this day. The name, Bissell, became synonymous with carpet sweepers during the first half of the 20th century -- much like Frigidaire and refrigerator, Jell-O and gelatin dessert.

1928 - The second talkie (the opposite of a silent movie) for Al Jolson was released. It was titled The Singing Fool, which he certainly was not.

1936 - The classic, Indian Love Call, was recorded by Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald, on Victor Records.

1953 - Gisele MacKenzie took over as host on NBC-TV’s Your Hit Parade. Her biggest hit during that stint (1953-57) was Hard to Get in June of 1955. Ironically, the song was first sung by Gisele in an episode of the NBC-TV show, Justice. It became a hit and she performed it again on Your Hit Parade.

1955 - Eva Marie Saint, Frank Sinatra and Paul Newman starred in the Producer’s Showcase presentation of Our Town on NBC-TV.

1959 - The leader of the U.S.S.R., Nikita Khruschev, was a little upset. In fact, he got quite angry. And who could blame him. He wasn’t allowed to ride down the Matterhorn, see Tinkerbell or Mickey or anything else at Disneyland. Security - or lack thereof - prevented him from visiting the Southern California amusement park. He did, however, get to visit a movie set.

1963 - The Crystals’ Then He Kissed Me debuted on U.K. charts this day. It had hit U.S. charts on Aug 17, and made it to #6 for three weeks (Sep 14, 21, 28) before fading away.

1970 - She could turn the world on with her smile. The Mary Tyler Moore Show was seen for the first time on CBS-TV. It became one of the most successful television shows of the 1970s. The last, original episode aired on September 3, 1977.

1974 - Eric Clapton received a gold record for I Shot the Sheriff. The song reached #1 on the pop charts on September 14th.

1981 - For their first concert in years, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel reunited for a free concert to benefit New York City parks. The concert attracted a crowd of 500,000 people in Central Park and was broadcast to a TV audience in the millions.

1985 - In Mexico City, this day will forever be remembered. The first of two killer earthquakes hit the city. This one, 8.1 on the Richter scale, followed the next day by a 7.5er, crumbled buildings (damages were estimated at more than one billion dollars) and killed almost 10,000 people.

1987 - Michael Jackson’s I Just Can’t Stop Loving You rose to #1 in the U.S. on the Billboard Hot 100. The single, from Jackson’s "Bad" LP, stayed at the top of the hit heap for one week.

1988 - U.S. diver Greg Louganis struck and injured his head on the board in a preliminary round of springboard diving at the Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. Days later, however, Louganis won the gold medal in springboard diving.

1991 - Ötzi, the Iceman, was found by a German tourist, Helmut Simon, on the Similaun Glacier in the Tirolean Ötztal Alps, on the Italian-Austrian border. The body is that of a man aged 25 to 35 who had been about 5 feet 2 inches (1.6 meters) tall and had weighed about 50 kg (110 pounds), is the oldest mummified human body ever found intact -- some 5000 years old. And his few remaining scalp hairs provided the earliest archaeological evidence of haircutting. And, if that’s not enough, Ötzi was found to have a number of ‘points’ tattooed on his body, 80% of which are considered valid modern acupucture points and dates acupuncture back to at least 3300 B.C.

Birthdays
September 19th.

1778 - Henry Brougham
orator; the Brougham carriage was named after him; died May 17, 1868

1905 - Leon Jaworski
attorney: Watergate special prosecutor; died Dec 9, 1982

1907 - Lewis F. Powell Jr.
associate justice of U.S. Supreme Court [1972-1987]; died Aug 25, 1998

1911 - Sir William Golding
Nobel Prize for literature [1983]; Lord of the Flies; died June 19, 1993

1914 - Frances Farmer
actress: Rhythm on the Range, Son of Fury; died Aug 1, 1970

1921 - Billy Ward
singer, musician: piano: group: Billy Ward and His Dominoes: Sixty-Minute Man, Have Mercy Baby, Star Dust, Deep Purple, St. Therese of the Roses

1926 - Duke (Edwin Donald) Snider
‘The Silver Fox’: Baseball Hall of Famer: Brooklyn Dodgers [World Series: 1949, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956/all-star: 1950-1956], LA Dodgers [World Series: 1959/all-star: 1963], NY Mets, SF Giants; broadcaster: Montreal Expos

1928 - Adam West
actor: Batman, The Detectives, Starring Robert Taylor, The Last Precinct, Hooper, The New Age

1930 - Bob (Robert Lee) Turley
‘Bullet Bob’: baseball: pitcher: SL Browns, Baltimore Orioles [all-star: 1954], NY Yankees [World Series: 1955-1958, 1960/all-star: 1955, 1958/Cy Young Award: 1958], Boston Red Sox, LA Angels

1931 - Brook Benton (Benjamin Franklin Peay)
singer: It’s Just a Matter of Time, Baby [You’ve Got What It Takes] [w/Dinah Washington], Endlessly, Think Twice, Kiddio, The Boll Weevil Song, Rainy Night in Georgia; died Apr 9, 1988

1931 - Ray Danton
actor: The Longest Day, The George Raft Story, I’ll Cry Tomorrow; died Feb 11, 1992

1932 - Mike Royko
journalist: Chicago Tribune: syndicated column; author: Boss, Slats Grobnick; died Apr 29, 1997

1933 - David McCallum
actor: The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Invisible Man, Shattered Image, Navy NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service

1934 - Brian Epstein
talent manager: The Beatles; died Aug 26, 1967

1934 - Jay Randolph
sportscaster: NBC Sports, St. Louis Cardinals

1935 - Nick Massi (Macioci)
musician: bass, singer: group: The Four Seasons: Sherry, Big Girls Don’t Cry, Walk like a Man, Rag Doll; died Dec 24, 2000

1936 - Al Oerter
Olympic and Track & Field Hall of Famer: 4 time Gold Medalist & world record maker: discus [1956, 1960, 1964, 1968]

1937 - Chris (Christopher Joseph) Short
baseball: pitcher: Philadelphia Phillies [all-star: 1964, 1967], Milwaukee Brewers; died Aug 1, 1991

1937 - Abner Haynes
football: Dallas Texans/Kansas City Chiefs: Rookie and Player of the Year [1960]; Denver Broncos, Miami Dolphins, NY Jets

1940 - Bill Medley
singer: I’ve Had the Time of My Life [w/Jennifer Warnes]; group: The Righteous Brothers: You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling, Just Once in My Life, Unchained Melody, Ebb Tide, [You’re My] Soul and Inspiration, Rock and Roll Heaven

1940 - Paul Williams
songwriter: themes: The Love Boat, The Muppet Movie; Academy Award-winning lyricist: A Star Is Born [1976: w/Barbra Streisand]; actor: Smokey and the Bandit series, Battle for the Planet of the Apes, The Wild Wild West Revisited, The Paul Williams Show, The Night They Saved Christmas, The Doors, Hart to Hart Returns

1941 - ‘Mama’ Cass Elliott (Ellen Naomi Cohen)
singer: group: The Mamas & The Papas: California Dreamin’, Monday, Monday, Creeque Alley; solo: Dream a Little Dream of Me, It’s Getting Better, Make Your Own Kind of Music; group: The Mugwumps; died July 29, 1974

1942 - Freda Payne
singer: Band of Gold, Bring the Boys Home; sang w/Duke Ellington

1943 - Joe (Leonard) Morgan
Baseball Hall of Famer: Houston Colt .45’s, Houston Astros [all-star: 1966, 1970], Cincinnati Reds [all-star: 1972-1979/World Series: 1972, 1975, 1976/Baseball Writers’ Award: 1975, 1976], SF Giants, Philadelphia Phillies [World Series: 1983], Oakland Athletics; 266 home runs, 2527 games as second baseman are records for his position; ESPN TV baseball analyst

1945 - Randolph Mantooth
actor: Emergency, Detective School, Operation Petticoat

1946 - John Coghlan
musician: drums: group: Status Quo: LPs: Picturesque Matchstickable, Piledriver, Hello, On the Level, Blue for You

1946 - Joe (Joseph Vance) Ferguson
baseball: LA Dodgers [World Series: 1974, 1978], SL Cardinals, Houston Astros, California Angels

1947 - Larry Brown
football: Washington Redskins running back, NFL Player of the Year [1972]; NFL leading rusher [1970, 1972]; Super Bowl VII

1947 - Lol Creme
musician: guitar, singer: groups: 10cc: Rubber Bullets, I’m Not inLove, The Things We Do for Love; Godley & Creme: Donna, Wedding Bells

1948 - Jeremy (John) Irons
Academy Award-winning actor: Reversal of Fortune [1990]; Die Hard: With a Vengeance, House of Spirits, M. Butterfly, Damage, Dead Ringers, The French Lieutenant’s Woman; voice of Scar: Lion King

1949 - Twiggy (Leslie Hornby)
fashion model: mini-skirt; actress: The Boy Friend, Madame Sousatzka, Body Bags, The Princesses

1949 - Sidney Wicks
basketball: College Player of the Year [1970]; Portland Trail Blazers, Boston Celtics, San Diego Clippers

1950 - Joan Lunden
broadcast journalist; TV host: Good Morning America

1952 - Nile Rogers
musician: group: Honeydrippers: Sea of Love

1956 - Rex Smith
actor: Sooner or Later, A Passion to Kill, Transformations, Pirates of Penzance

1958 - Kevin Hooks
actor: The White Shadow, He’s the Mayor, Innerspace, Can You Hear the Laughter?/The Story of Freddie Prinze, Aaron Loves Angela, Sounder; director: Fled, Passenger 57, Murder Without Motive, Strictly Business, Roots: The Gift

1966 - Soledad O’Brien
TV host: MSNBC: The Site

1967 - Jim (James Anthony) Abbott
baseball: one-handed pitcher: Olympic gold medalist: U.S. baseball team [1988]; California Angels [Sullivan Award: 1987], NY York Yankees [no-hitter: 9/4/93], Chicago White Sox.

Chart Toppers
September 19th.

1945 Till the End of Time - Perry Como
On the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe - Johnny Mercer
If I Loved You - Perry Como
You Two-Timed Me One Time Too Often - Tex Ritter

1953 You, You, You - The Ames Brothers
Vaya Con Dios - Les Paul & Mary Ford
Crying in the Chapel - June Valli
A Dear John Letter - Jean Shepard & Ferlin Husky

1961 Take Good Care of My Baby - Bobby Vee
My True Story - The Jive Five
(Marie’s the Name) His Latest Flame - Elvis Presley
Walk on By - Leroy Van Dyke

1969 Honky Tonk Women - The Rolling Stones
Sugar, Sugar - The Archies
I’ll Never Fall in Love Again - Tom Jones
A Boy Named Sue - Johnny Cash

1977 I Just Want to Be Your Everything - Andy Gibb
Float On - The Floaters
Don’t Stop - Fleetwood Mac
Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue - Crystal Gayle

1985 St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion) - John Parr
We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome) - Tina Turner
Money for Nothing - Dire Straits
Modern Day Romance - Nitty Gritty Dirt Band


Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...

For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will
keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily
on my morning radio show.

All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others
that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the
contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments
about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding.

[ShadowThomas]

263rd day of 2007 - 102 remaining.

Thursday, September 20, 2007
UPTON DAY.

It was 1878 and the Sinclair family celebrated the birth of their son, Upton. Of course, they had no way to know that Upton would become a famous author whose books influenced social reform.

Upton Sinclair’s book, The Jungle, published in 1906, was an expose of Chicago’s stockyards and the meat-packing industry, in general. The Jungle revealed unsanitary conditions and what was really in the meat that was being eaten, like rats being swept up and dumped into sausage-making machines.

The book made such bold statements that no publisher would touch it. Sinclair published it himself and The Jungle became a best seller, resulting in laws being passed to ensure pure and safe food products.

What became of Upton Sinclair? He became a vegetarian and used the profits from The Jungle to found a cooperative community in New Jersey. He also wrote about the Teapot Dome scandal in Oil, the Sacco and Vanzetti case in Boston and he penned a Pulitzer Prize-winner, Dragon’s Teeth, an antifascist novel, in 1943. Sometimes it pays to fight your way out of the jungle.
End Poverty in California The EPIC Movement. The Jungle. Upton Sinclair.

Events
September 20th.

1884 - If you thought equal rights for women is a modern concept, think again. On this day, the Equal Rights Party was formed in San Francisco, California. The party nominated Mrs. Belva Lockwood as their U.S. presidential candidate and Marietta Snow as Lockwood’s running mate.

1921 - KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania started one of the first daily radio newscasts in the country. The broadcast came from the city desk of The Pittsburgh Post.

1948 - One of the most popular singing groups of the 1950s got their professional start on this day. The Four Freshmen did their first gig in Fort Wayne, Indiana and went on to major success with Capitol Records. Hits included It’s a Blue World, Charmaine and Love is Just Around the Corner.

1953 - Lovely Loretta Young hosted a weekly TV show, Letter to Loretta. Later (February 14, 1954), the name was changed to The Loretta Young Show. As you might suspect, the show featured dramatic responses to letters Loretta had received from her fans during the years she had been a movie star.

1953 - Jimmy Stewart debuted in The Six Shooter on NBC. He played Britt Ponset on the radio Western.

1955 - You’ll Never Get Rich started its run on CBS-TV. Because of weak ratings, the name of the show was changed (less than two months later) to The Phil Silvers Show, with the subtitle, You’ll Never Get Rich. The change worked. The show, “An outrageous satire on military life,” became a hit on the tube and ran thru 1959.

1969 - Sugar, Sugar, by The Archies, hit number one in Billboard. The Archies sat at the top of the hit heap for four weeks.

1973 - The in place for radio and record types to see, and be seen, opened in Los Angeles -- to a sold-out crowd. On the opening bill at the Roxy Theatre: Elton John, Carole King and Jackson Browne.

1973 - In three straight sets, Billie Jean King showed who was the better tennis player in the Battle of the Sexes. She defeated Bobby Riggs in the televised event at the Houston Astrodome, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. Howard Cosell was the announcer.

1973 - Singer Jim Croce, his lead guitarist, Maury Muehleisen, and four others died when their plane crashed into a tree at Natchitoches, LA while taking off for a concert in Sherman, Texas.

1984 - NBC-TV debuted The Cosby Show. Bill Cosby played Dr. Heathcliff (Cliff) Huxtable. His lovely wife, Clair, was played by Phylicia Rashad. The Huxtable kids were Sondra, age 20 (Sabrina Le Beauf), Denise, age 16 (Lisa Bonet), Theodore, age 14 (Malcom-Jamal Warner), Vanessa, age 8 (Tempestt Bledsoe) and Rudy, age 5 (Keshia Knight Pulliam). The premiere was the most watched show of the week and the show went on to become an Emmy Award-winner and one of the most popular on television for eight years.

1986 - NBC’s The Golden Girls won best comedy honors and CBS’s Cagney & Lacey won for top drama at the 38th Emmy Awards held in Pasadena, CA.

1986 - The number one pop hit in the U.S. was Stuck With You, by Huey Lewis & The News. The song, from the multi-platinum album Fore!, was stuck at #1 for three weeks.

1992 - Raymond Floyd won the Senior PGA Tour GTE North Classic at at Indianapolis, Indiana. By winning, he became the first player to win tournaments on the regular and Senior PGA Tours in the same year (he had won the Doral-Ryder Open earlier that year).

1995 - AT&T announced that it would be splitting into three companies: AT&T (communication services); Lucent Technologies (systems and technology communications products); and NCR Corp. (computer business).

Birthdays
September 20th.

1878 - Upton (Beall) Sinclair
author & social/political reformer: see Upton Day [above]; died Nov 25, 1968

1898 - Chuck (Charles Walter) Dressen
baseball: Cincinnati Reds, NY Giants; manager: Cincinnati Reds, Brooklyn Dodgers, Washington Senators, Milwaukee Braves, Detroit Tigers; coach: Brooklyn Dodgers, N.Y. Yankees, LA Dodgers; pro football player: Decatur Staleys, Racine Legion; died Aug 10, 1966

1899 - Elliott Nugent
actor: Romance, The Unholy Three; director: Up in Arms, Welcome Stranger; died Aug 9, 1980

1908 - Zeke (Henry John) Bonura
baseball: Chicago White Sox, Washington Nationals, NY Giants, Chicago Cubs; died Mar 9, 1987

1911 - Frank DeVol
bandleader, songwriter: themes: The Brady Bunch, My Three Sons, The Love Boat; scores: The Dirty Dozen, Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte, Pillow Talk [more than 50 films]; died Oct 27, 1999

1917 - Red (Arnold) Auerbach
Basketball Hall of Famer: Boston Celtics coach: most NBA Championships [9] [1957 & 1959-1966]

1918 - Peg Phillips
actress: Northern Exposure; died Nov 7, 2002

1924 - James Galanos
fashion designer

1924 - Gogi Grant (Audrey Brown)
singer: The Wayward Wind, Suddenly There’s a Valley; dubbed vocals for Ann Blythe: The Helen Morgan Story

1927 - Johnny Dankworth
musician: alto sax, band leader, composer: Experiments with Mice, African Waltz, What the Dickens, The Avengers theme song

1927 - Rachel Roberts
actress: Murder on the Orient Express [1974], The Tony Randall Show, Circle of Children; died Nov 26, 1980

1928 - Donald A. Hall
author: The Ox Cart Man, Lucy’s Christmas

1929 - Anne Meara
comedienne: Stiller & Meara; actress: Fame, All in the Family, Rhoda, The Paul Lynde Show, The Corner Bar, Alf

1931 - Peter Palmer
actor: Li’l Abner, Custer, Edward Scissorhands

1934 - Sophia Loren (Sofia Scicolone)
Academy Award-winning actress: Two Women [1961]; Black Orchid, Marriage Italian Style, Desire Under the Elms, El Cid, Man of La Mancha, Grumpier Old Men, Brief Encounter

1935 - Jim Taylor
Pro Football Hall of Famer: Green Bay Packers running back: Super Bowl I, II; AP NFL Player of the Year [1962]; New Orleans Saints

1937 - Tom (Thomas Michael) Tresh
baseball: NY Yankees [Rookie of the Year: 1962/World Series: 1962, 1963, 1964/all-star: 1962, 1963], Detroit Tigers

1948 - Chuck Panozzo
musician: bass: group: Styx: Lady, Suite Madame Blue, Come Sail Away, Miss America, Castle Walls, Superstars, Renegade, Babe, The Best of Times, Too Much Time on My Hands, Mr. Roboto

1948 - John Panozzo
musician: drums: group: Styx: Lady, Suite Madame Blue, Come Sail Away, Miss America, Castle Walls, Superstars, Renegade, Babe, The Best of Times, Too Much Time on My Hands, Mr. Roboto; died July 16, 1996

1950 - Dave Twardzik
basketball: Portland Trailblazers; GM: Golden State Warriors

1951 - Matt Blair
football: Minnesota Vikings LB: Super Bowls IX, XI

1951 - Guy Lafleur
Hockey Hall of Famer: NHL: Montreal Canadiens [Hart Memorial Trophy: 1977, 1978], NY Rangers, Quebec Nordiques

1954 - Brinke Stevens
model, actress, scream queen: Necromancy, Emmanuelle 4, Girls of Penthouse, Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama, The Jigsaw Murders, Transylvania Twist, Acting on Impulse, Invisible Mom, Mommy II: Mommys Day, Victoria’s Shadow, The Vampire Hunters Club, Witchouse 3: Demon Fire, Slumber Party Massacre IV

1956 - Debbi Morgan
actress: Boston Public, Roots: The Next Generations, The Jesse Owens Story, All My Children, General Hospital, Eve’s Bayou, Love & Basketball

1967 - Kristen Johnston
actress: 3rd Rock from the Sun, The Orkly Kid, Backfire!, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, Nobody Knows Anything.

Chart Toppers
September 20th.

1946 To Each His Own - Eddy Howard
Five Minutes More - Frank Sinatra
Surrender - Perry Como
Wine, Women and Song - Al Dexter

1954 Sh-Boom - The Crew-Cuts
Skokiaan - The Four Lads
The High and the Mighty - Les Baxter
I Don’t Hurt Anymore - Hank Snow

1962 Sheila - Tommy Roe
Ramblin’ Rose - Nat King Cole
Green Onions - Booker T. & The MG’s
Devil Woman - Marty Robbins

1970 Ain’t No Mountain High Enough - Diana Ross
Lookin’ Out My Back Door/Long as I Can See the Light - Creedence
Clearwater Revival
Patches - Clarence Carter
For the Good Times - Ray Price

1978 Boogie Oogie Oogie - A Taste of Honey
Three Times a Lady - Commodores
Hot Blooded - Foreigner
I’ve Always Been Crazy - Waylon Jennings

1986 Stuck with You - Huey Lewis & The News
Dancing on the Ceiling - Lionel Richie
Friends and Lovers - Gloria Loring & Carl Anderson
Got My Heart Set on You - John Conlee


Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...

For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will
keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily
on my morning radio show.

All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others
that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the
contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments
about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding.

[ShadowThomas]

264th day of 2007 - 101 remaining.

Friday, September 21, 2007
BROCKTON BOMBER DAY.

Boxing fans all over the world held their collective breaths as Archie Moore, the light heavyweight champion, knocked the heavyweight champion, Rocky Marciano, to the floor on this night in 1955. But the champ got up ... just as he had done in every fight before this ... and went on to defeat Moore.

Rocky Marciano was the only world champion at any weight to have won every fight of his professional career (1947 to 1956). 43 of his 49 fights were won either by KO’s or because the fight had to be stopped.

Marciano, born Rocco Marchegiano in Brockton, Massachusetts and known as the ‘Brockton Bomber’, wanted to be a major-league baseball player. This was never to be. Instead, beating up the resident bully in Army camp, he started on the road to his famous boxing career. Marciano won 42 consecutive fights before he met Jersey Joe Walcott for the heavyweight championship on September 23, 1952. Marciano won with a KO. He retired in 1956 after defending his title six times.

The International Boxing Hall of Famer died in a plane crash in Iowa on August 31, 1969. There has never been a boxer like him. In fact, a 1969 computer simulation of a match between Marciano and Muhammad Ali lasted 13 rounds and Marciano knocked out Ali. It was truly a super fight.
Rocky Marciano. professional career (1947 to 1956)

Events
September 21st.

1784 - America’s first daily paper, The Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser, was published in Philadelphia.

1897 - 8-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon had written a letter to The New York Sun: “I am eight years old. Some of my friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, ‘If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.’ Please tell me the truth. Is there a Santa Claus?” Editor Frank Church wrote the response that was printed for the first time on this day: “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist. No Santa Claus? Thank God he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay ten times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.”

1946 - After being tested on a regional basis, The Second Mrs. Burton was heard for the first time on the entire CBS radio network. The Second Mrs. Burton fared very well, having a relationship with the network for 14 years.

1948 - The Texaco Star Theater on NBC-TV chose this night to make one of its oft-appearing hosts the permanent host. Milton Berle stayed on as the regular host until 1967. He was so much a part of The Texaco Star Theater that it became known as The Milton Berle Show.

1948 - The serial Life With Luigi debuted on CBS radio. Luigi Basko was played by J. Carroll Naish. Naish, an Irish-American, became typecast as an Italian immigrant, and went on to play the same role in the TV version in 1952.

1957 - Famed trial lawyer Perry Mason came to TV. The creation of attorney/novelist Erle Stanley Gardner, Perry Mason found fame first as a series of novels, then as a CBS radio series (1943-1955). TV’s Perry Mason, which continued for 9 seasons (TV’s longest-running lawyer series) on CBS, starred Raymond Burr in the lead role. Della Street was played by Barbara Hale.

1961 - For some reason, folks want to swim the English Channel. However, Antonio Abertondo swam the channel both ways. He did it nonstop in 24 hours and 25 minutes.

1970 - ABC-TV debuted Monday Night Football, with Howard Cosell, ‘Dandy’ Don Meredith and Keith Jackson. (Frank Gifford replaced Jackson the following year.)

1981 - For 191 years, the U.S. Supreme Court had existed without a woman sitting on the bench. That changed as Sandra Day O’Connor was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in a 99-0 vote. She became the first female Justice of that august body.

1989 - Hugo is a nice enough sounding name -- unless you put a hurricane behind it. Hurricane Hugo tore into Charleston, South Carolina this day, leaving a trail of destruction calculated at over eight billion dollars.

1991 - I Adore Me Amore, by Color Me Badd, rose to #1 on U.S. singles charts. The hit, from their The Best of Color Me Badd LP, was number one for two weeks.

Birthdays
September 21st.

1788 - Margaret Taylor (Smith)
First Lady: wife of 12th U.S. President Zachary Taylor; died in 1852

1866 - H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
writer: War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, The Outline of History; died Aug 13, 1946

1912 - Chuck Jones
cartoonist: The Road Runner, Pepe Le Pew, Wiley Coyote; died Feb 22, 2002

1924 - Gail Russell
actress: Henry Aldrich Gets Glamour, Angel and the Badman, The Great Dan Patch, The Lawless, The Silent Call; died Aug 26, 1961

1931 - Larry Hagman
actor: I Dream of Jeannie, Dallas, Staying Afloat, Ensign Pulver, In Harm’s Way, Fail-Safe; son of actress Mary Martin

1934 - Leonard Cohen
singer, songwriter: group: The Army: Famous Blue Raincoat, Joan of Arc, Avalanche

1935 - Henry Gibson (Bateman)
comedian: Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In; Nashville

1941 - Dickey Lee (Lipscomb)
singer: Patches, I Saw Linda Yesterday, Never Ending Songs of Love, Rocky; songwriter: She Thinks I Still Care

1942 - Sam (Samuel Edward Thomas) McDowell
‘Sudden Sam’: baseball: pitcher: Cleveland Indians [all-star: 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971], SF Giants, NY Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates; led American League in strikeouts five times in six years

1945 - Richard Childress
auto racer; racing car team owner: six Winston Cup championships, one NASCAR Truck Series championship, 79 victories

1947 - Don Felder
musician: guitar, singer: group: The Eagles: One of These Nights, Lyin’ Eyes, Best of My Love, New Kid in Town; solo: LP: Airborne

1947 - Stephen King
author: Pet Sematary, Christine, The Duel, Misery, The Stand, Carrie, The Shining

1947 - Marsha Norman
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright: ’Night Mother [1983]

1947 - Reggie Rucker
football: Dallas Cowboys wide receiver: Super Bowl V

1949 - Artis Gilmore
basketball: Chicago Bulls: holds league record for career field goal percentage [.599], Kentucky Colonels: Rookie and Player of the Year [1971]

1950 - Brent McClanahan
football: Minnesota Vikings running back: Super Bowl IX, XI

1950 - Bill Murray
Emmy Award-winning comedy writer: Saturday Night Live [3/12/77]; actor: Stripes, Ghostbusters series, Groundhog Day, Mad Dog and Glory, What About Bob?, Scrooged, Rushmore, Cradle Will Rock, Scout’s Honor, Hamlet, Charlie’s Angels [2000], Speaking of Sex, Osmosis Jones, The Royal Tenenbaums, Lost in Translation

1953 - Mike Collier
football: Pittsburgh Steelers running back: Super Bowl X

1953 - Arie Luyendyk
racecar driver: Indy 500 winner [1990, 1997]; People magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People list [1992]

1953 - Kenny Starr
musician: guitar, singer, songwriter: Blind Man in the Bleachers, Me & the Elephant, Tonight I’ll Face the Man [Who Made It Happen]

1954 - Philthy Animal (Philip Taylor)
musician: drums: group: Motorhead

1959 - Dave Coulier
actor: Full House; TV host: America’s Funniest People

1960 - David James Elliott
actor: JAG, Police Academy 3: Back in Training, Knots Landing, Melrose Place, Clockwatchers, The Shrink is In

1961 - Nancy Travis
actress: Fluke, Body Language, The Vanishing, Chaplin, Three Men and a Little Lady, Loose Cannons, Married to the Mob, Three Men and a Baby, Harem, Almost Perfect, Duckman

1962 - Rob Morrow
actor: Numb3rs, Northern Exposure, Quiz Show, Tattingers

1963 - Cecil Grant Fielder
baseball: Detroit Tigers 1st base; Toronto Blue Jays

1967 - Faith Hill
singer: LPs: Take Me as I Am, It Matters to Me, Faith; sold eleven million records, eight #1 singles, ten #1 videos

1968 - Trugoy the Dove (David Jolicoeur)
musician: group: De La Soul

1968 - Ricki Lake
TV talk show host; in films: Serial Mom, Hairspray

1971 - Alfonso Ribeiro
actor: Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Silver Spoons, Ticks, The Mighty Pawns.

Chart Toppers
September 21st.

1947 Peg o’ My Heart - The Harmonicats
That’s My Desire - The Sammy Kaye Orchestra (vocal: Don Cornell)
I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now - Perry Como
Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette) - Tex Williams

1955 The Yellow Rose of Texas - Mitch Miller
Maybellene - Chuck Berry
Love is a Many-Splendored Thing - The Four Aces
I Don’t Care - Webb Pierce

1963 Blue Velvet - Bobby Vinton
Heat Wave - Martha & The Vandellas
Sally, Go ’Round the Roses - The Jaynetts
Abilene - George Hamilton IV

1971 Go Away Little Girl - Donny Osmond
Spanish Harlem - Aretha Franklin
Ain’t No Sunshine - Bill Withers
The Year That Clayton Delaney Died - Tom T. Hall

1979 My Sharona - The Knack
After the Love Has Gone - Earth, Wind & Fire
The Devil Went Down to Georgia - The Charlie Daniels Band
You’re My Jamaica - Charley Pride

1987 I Just Can’t Stop Loving You - Michael Jackson with Siedah Garrett
Didn’t We Almost Have It All - Whitney Houston
Here I Go Again - Whitesnake
This Crazy Love - The Oak Ridge Boys


Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...

For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will
keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily
on my morning radio show.

All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others
that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the
contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments
about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding.

[ShadowThomas]

265th day of 2007 - 100 remaining.

Saturday, September 22, 2007
IF I WERE A RICH MAN DAY.

In the tradition of the Broadway stage, the lights lowered, the curtain rose and Zero Mostel stepped into the spotlight as the fiddler played. “Tra-a--a-dition,” he sang, as he began the first of 3,242 performances of Fiddler on the Roof. The musical opened on Broadway this day in 1964.

The story of Tevye (brilliantly played by Mostel), a poor Jewish milkman with five daughters, takes place in a small Russian village in the late 1890s. He sings and dances his way through the tragedies and comedies of a father fighting for tradition in a changing world.

“To life,” he sang, as the music of Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick made the stories by Sholem Aleichem come alive. And he brought tears to audiences eyes with the poignant, Sunrise, Sunset, and laughter, too, with the memorable, If I were a Rich Man -- which surely made Zero Mostel a wealthy man.
PLAYBILL ARCHIVES: Fiddler on the Roof — 1964.

Events
September 22nd.

1927 - Referee Dave Barry stopped the count. Boxer Gene Tunney was down; but the champion, Jack Dempsey, hadn’t returned to his corner. By the time the ref was able to resume counting, Tunney was able to get to his feet. He got an extra 2 to 5 seconds. And those seconds counted. Tunney won the fight and took the world championship away from Dempsey.

1937 - Red Norvo and his orchestra recorded the Russian Lullaby on the Brunswick label. Norvo did more famous work at a later date, recording with a singer named Dinah Shore.

1943 - Singer Kate Smith finished her War Bond radio appeal. For 13 continuous hours Smith had stayed on the air, collecting a whopping $39 million dollars in bond pledges.

1955 - Commercial television was beamed to homes in Great Britain. The rules said that only six minutes of ads were allowed each hour and there was no Sunday morning TV permitted.

1957 - The CBS Radio Workshop was silenced after 18 months of what the critics said was “ingenious radio programming.”

1962 - It was a hootenanny of a good time in, of all places, New York’s famed Carnegie Hall. The cast included newcomer Bob Dylan making his first appearance at Carnegie Hall.

1964 - Robert Vaughn starred as Napoleon Solo when The Man From U.N.C.L.E. debuted on NBC-TV this night. Solo’s trusty side-kick in this James Bond spoof was Illya Kuryakin, played by David McCallum. The show was a hit for 3½ seasons.

1973 - Henry Kissinger took the oath as U.S. Secretary of State. This was the first time a naturalized citizen had held this office. Only in America...

1980 - John Lennon signed with Geffen Records. The Lennon LP, Double Fantasy, was released on Geffen. (Lennon was assassinated on December 8, 1980.)

1985 - The poor of America’s Heartland ... the financially troubled farmers of Middle America ... got help from their friends in the music biz. Singing stars Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Cougar Mellencamp held a benefit concert to raise funds. The stars came out and so did the money. The Farm Aid concert raised ten million dollars.

1995 - The Turner Broadcasting System agreed to be gobbled up by, er merge with, the Time Warner media conglomerate for $7.5 billion.

1997 - The Atlanta Braves won an unprecedented sixth straight division title. The record eclipsed the old mark of five straight set by the New Ycrk Yankees (1949-1953) and the Oakland A’s (1971-1975). The Braves failed to reach the World Series, however, for the first time since 1993.

If you like TWtD you will love TWtD Deluxe.

Birthdays
September 22nd.

1791 - Michael Faraday
chemist/physicist: early experiments w/electricity; died Aug 25, 1867

1895 - Paul Muni (Frederich Weisenfreund)
Academy Award-winning actor: The Story of Louis Pasteur [1936]; The Last Angry Man, Stage Door Canteen, The Good Earth, Angel on My Shoulder; died Aug 25, 1967

1902 - John Houseman (Jacques Haussmann)
Academy Award-winning actor: The Paper Chase [1973]; Seven Days in May, Three Days of the Condor, The Winds of War, The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad; died Oct 31, 1988

1909 - Allan ‘Rocky’ Lane (Harry Albershart)
voice: Mister Ed; actor: Red Ryder, El Paso Stampede, Night Nurse; died Oct 27, 1973

1914 - Martha Scott
actress: Ben-Hur, The Ten Commandments, Desperate Hours, Our Town, Sayonara, The Turning Point; died May 28, 2003

1917 - Richard C. Hottelet
journalist: CBS News

1920 - Bob Lemon
Baseball Hall of Famer: Cleveland Indians pitcher: World Series [1948, 1954]; manager: Kansas City Athletics, Chicago White Sox, NY Yankees [World Series 1978]; died Jan 11, 2000

1925 - Abe Gibron
football: Purdue Univ., Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns, Philadelphia Eagles, Chicago Bears; head coach: Chicago Bears; died Sep 22, 1997

1927 - Tom (Thomas Charles) Lasorda
baseball: pitcher: Brooklyn Dodgers, KC Athletics; Baseball Hall of Famer manager: LA Dodgers [World Series: 1977, 1978, 1981, 1988], won 1,599 games, 8 National League West titles, 4 N.L. pennants, 2 World Series championships, managed in 61 post-season games [second only to Casey Stengel’s 63], and managed 4 N.L. all-star teams

1928 - Eugene Roche
actor: Soap, Webster, Perfect Strangers, Lenny, Good Time Harry, The Corner Bar; writer: Captain Kangaroo; died July 28, 2004

1930 - Joni James (Joan Carmello Babbo)
singer: How Important Can It Be?, You Are My Love, Why Don’t You Believe Me

1931 - Ken (Kenneth Joseph) Aspromonte
baseball: Boston Red Sox, Washington Senators, Cleveland Indians, LA Angels, Milwaukee Braves, Chicago Cubs

1932 - Ingemar Johansson
boxer: world heavyweight champion [1959]

1935 - Harriet King
fencing: U.S. Olympic Team: 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972

1937 - Ray Norton
track: AAU Outdoor 100 and 200-meter champion [1959, 1960]: world record holder in both events [9.3, 20.5 respectively]

1946 - Larry (Lawrence Edward) Dierker
baseball: pitcher: Houston Colt .45’s, Houston Astros [all-star: 1969, 1971], SL Cardinals

1946 - Paul Le Mat
actor: Sensation, Children of Fury, Woman with a Past, On Wings of Eagles, The Burning Bed, Strange Invaders, Melvin and Howard, American Graffiti, Firehouse

1949 - Harold Carmichael
football: Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver: Super Bowl XV

1951 - David Coverdale
singer: groups: Deep Purple, Whitesnake: Fool for Your Loving, Don’t Break My Heart Again; solo: In the Heat of the Night

1954 - Shari Belafonte
actress: Hotel; TV cohost: Lifestyles with Robin Leach and Shari Belafonte; singer Harry Belafonte’s daughter

1955 - Jeffrey Leonard
baseball: LA Dodgers, Houston Astros, SF Giants [all-star: 1987], Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners [all-star: 1989]

1956 - Debby Boone
Grammy Award-winning singer: Best New Artist [1977], You Light Up My Life [1977], With My Song I Will Praise Him [1980], Keep the Flame Burning [w/Phil Driscoll - 1984]; group: The Boone Family; daughter of singers Pat and Shirley Boone

1958 - Lynn Herring
actress: General Hospital

1958 - Joan Jett
singer: group: The Blackhearts: I Love Rock ’n’ Roll, Crimson and Clover, I Hate Myself for Loving You; actress: Light of Day; group: Runaways

1959 - Wally (Walter Wayne) Backman
baseball: NY Mets [World Series: 1986], Minnesota Twins, Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia Phillies, Seattle Mariners

1961 - Scott Baio
actor: Happy Days, Joanie Loves Chachi, Charles in Charge, Diagnosis Murder

1961 - Catherine Oxenberg
actress: Dynasty, Acapulco H.E.A.T., Rubdown, Sexual Response, Overexposed, Swimsuit: The Movie, K-9000, The Lair of the White Worm

1964 - Bonnie Hunt
actress: The Green Mile, Beethoven, Beethoven’s 2nd, Jumanji, Jerry Maguire, Random Hearts.

Chart Toppers
September 22nd.

1948 A Tree in the Meadow - Margaret Whiting
It’s Magic - Doris Day
You Call Everybody Darlin’ - Al Trace (vocal: Bob Vincent)
Just a Little Lovin’ (Will Go a Long Way) - Eddy Arnold

1956 Canadian Sunset - Hugo Winterhalter & Eddie Heywood
Whatever Will Be Will Be (Que Sera Sera) - Doris Day
Be-Bop-a-Lula - Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps
Don’t Be Cruel/Hound Dog - Elvis Presley

1964 The House of the Rising Sun - The Animals
Bread and Butter - The Newbeats
Oh, Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison
I Guess I’m Crazy - Jim Reeves

1972 Black & White - Three Dog Night
Baby Don’t Get Hooked on Me - Mac Davis
Saturday in the Park - Chicago
When the Snow is on the Roses - Sonny James

1980 Upside Down - Diana Ross
All Out of Love - Air Supply
Another One Bites the Dust - Queen
Lookin’ for Love - Johnny Lee

1988 Sweet Child o’ Mine - Guns N’ Roses
Simply Irresistible - Robert Palmer
Don’t Worry Be Happy - Bobby McFerrin
Joe Knows How to Live - Eddy Raven


Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...

For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will
keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily
on my morning radio show.

All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others
that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the
contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments
about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding.

[ShadowThomas]

266th day of 2007 - 99 remaining.

Sunday, September 23, 2007
CHECKERS SPEECH DAY.

We’re not referring to the game of checkers, here. This is about a dog named Checkers. The dog, a ****er spaniel, belonged to former U.S. President Richard M. Nixon. This presidential dog was different than Him and Her, Lyndon Johnson’s beagles; Ronald Reagan’s two dogs, Lucky and Rex, George Bush’s pet dog, Millie or even Bill Clinton’s buddy, Buddy. Abraham Lincoln’s Fido, Harry S Truman’s two dogs, Mike and Feller and Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Heidi were also never part of a political controversy.

Checkers, however, was the subject of a speech given this day in 1952 by Mr. Nixon, then a candidate for vice president. In the televised speech, he stated that he would not give back a gift -- whether it had political ties or not -- because it was a present for his daughter.

The gift in question was Checkers and the speech was forever referred to as the “Checkers Speech.”
Richard M. Nixon. Richard M. Nixon "Checkers" Nixon's Famous Checkers Speech Turns 50.

Events
September 23rd.

1779 - You’ve heard the expression, “I have not yet begun to fight.” Well, if you thought that John Paul Jones said those words, you were right. He spoke them in a Revolutionary War battle when, as commander of the American warship, Bonhomme Richard, he led the victory over the British warship, H.M.S. Serapis.

1846 - The planet Neptune was first observed. Although the planet is about 30 times further away from the sun than we are on planet Earth, German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle spotted it. How’d he do that?

1908 - The baseball term, “Merkle’s Boner” and the expression, “You’re a bonehead,” had their origins on this day -- at the final game of the National League pennant race between the Chicago Cubs and the New York Giants. The Giants were at bat, two men were on base and the score was tied 1-1. The batter hit safely, scoring the winning run. But, Chicago claimed that Fred Merkle, who had been on first, never advanced to second, that he went straight to the dugout upon seeing the winning run come in. Chicago Cubs’ Johnny Evers tried to tag Merkle but was hampered by hundreds of fans pouring on to the field. Fans called the play a ‘boner’, etc. (It was later decided that the game was a tie, and the teams met again for a playoff, a 4-2 Cubs win.)

1912 - Mack Sennett’s Keystone studio opened, complete with Keystone Kops.

1923 - Jan Savitt and his orchestra recorded 720 in the Books on Decca Records.

1930 - Flashbulbs were patented by Johannes Ostermeier of Athegnenber, Germany. Now that’s an invention that used to be very popular in the little box cameras. You popped the bulb into the socket in front of a silver reflector dish. The bulb would get all crinkly looking and milky white in color after it was used (you could only use it once). Then the bulbs were replaced by flash cubes and now, the automatic flash is built into the camera. So easy to use ... but not half as much fun.

1952 - Rocky Marciano became the world heavyweight boxing champion by knocking out Jersey Joe Walcott in the 13th round in Philadelphia PA. It was Rocky’s 43rd consecutive victory.

1952 - Pay Television for sporting events began -- with the Marciano-Walcott fight, coast to coast, in 49 theatres in 31 cities.

1967 - The Box Tops from Memphis hit #1 with The Letter. Though the song was #1 for four weeks and remained on the charts for 13 weeks. The Box Tops reorganized right after that first hit and never made it to #1 again.

1971 - The Honey Cone scored their second gold record with Stick-Up on the Hot Wax label. It was a follow-up to their #1 smash, Want Ads (June 12, 1971).

1986 - NBC-TV won the ratings race for the 52-week season (1985-1986). The Cosby Show and Family Ties rated #1 and #2 respectively that year. NBC repeated the feat the following year and The Cosby Show remained number one through the 1989-1990 season.

1998 - Shadrach, from Columbia Pictures, opened in U.S. theatres. Based on the short story by William Styron, it’s about a 99-year-old former slave (Shadrach) who wants to be buried on the plantation where he was born into slavery. Harvey Keitel, Andie Macdowell, John Franklin Sawyer, Scott Terra, Daniel Treat and Monica Bugajski star.

Birthdays
September 23rd.

1713 - Ferdinand VI
King of Spain [1746-1759]; died in August 1759

1800 - William Holmes McGuffy
educator, author: McGuffy Readers [122 million copies sold as of 1999]; 4th president of Ohio University; died May 4, 1873

1889 - Walter Lippmann
journalist, political commentator; died Dec 14, 1974

1897 - Walter Pidgeon
Mrs. Miniver, Funny Girl, Hit the Deck, How Green was My Valley, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea; died Sep 25, 1984

1899 - Louise Nevelson
sculptor: Windows to the West, Tropical Tree III, Mirror-Shadow XI, Tropical Night Disc; died Apr 17, 1988

1920 - Mickey Rooney (Joe Yule, Jr.)
actor: Will Roger’s Follies, Boy’s Town, Captains Courageous, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, The Human Comedy, The Black Stallion, Babes in Arms, Babes on Broadway, Andy Hardy series

1926 - John (William) Coltrane
composer, musician: tenor & soprano sax: Stablemates, Softly as in a Morning Sunrise, Greensleeves, Chim Chim Cheree, In a Sentimental Mood, LPs: Kind of Blue, Giant Steps, My Favorite Things; died July 17, 1967

1930 - Colin Blakely
actor: Murder on the Orient Express, The Pink Panther Strikes Again, The Dogs of War, Equus; died May 7, 1987

1930 - Ray Charles (Robinson)
‘The Genius’: Grammy Award-winning singer: Georgia on My Mind [1960], Let the Good Times Roll [1960], Genius of Ray Charles [1960], Hit the Road Jack [1961], I Can’t Stop Loving You [1962], Busted [1963], Crying Time [1966], Living for the City [1975], Lifetime Achievement Award of 1986, I’ll be Good to You [w/Chaka Khan - 1990]; What’d I Say, One Mint Julep, Take These Chains from My Heart, You Don’t Know Me; actor: The Blues Brothers, Ballad in Blue, Limit Up; died June 10, 2004

1931 - Pat Suzuki
actress: Skullduggery, Mr. T. and Tina

1935 - Les McCann
musician, singer: Compared to What, Bang, Bang!, Cold Duck

1938 - Romy Schneider (Rosemarie Magdelena Albach-Retty)
actress: What’s New Pussycat?, Bloodline, Death Watch, La Passante; died May 29, 1982

1941 - Bob Vogel
football: Baltimore Colts tackle: Super Bowl III, V

1942 - Jim (James Phillip) Rooker
baseball: pitcher: Detroit Tigers, KC Royals, Pittsburgh Pirates [World Series: 1979]

1942 - Woody (William Frederick) Woodward
baseball: Milwaukee Braves, Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds

1943 - Steve Boone
musician: bass, singer: group: The Lovin’ Spoonful: Do You Believe in Magic, You Didn’t Have to Be So Nice, Daydream, Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind, Summer in the City, Rain on the Roof, Nashville Cats, Darling Be Home Soon

1943 - Julio Iglesias
singer: To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before [w/Willie Nelson]; Guinness Book of Records: sales of more than 100 million copies of 60 LPs in five languages; soccer: professional goalie [Spain]

1944 - Oscar (Jose) Zamora
baseball: pitcher: Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros

1945 - Ronald Bushy
musician: drums: group: Iron Butterfly: In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida

1945 - Paul Petersen
actor: The Donna Reed Show, Mickey Mouse Club; singer: My Dad; paperback writer: It’s a Wonderful Life

1947 - Mary Kay Place
Emmy Award-winning actress: Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman [1976-1977]; Forever Fernwood, The Big Chill; singer: Baby Boy

1949 - Bruce Springsteen
‘The Boss’: singer: group: E-Street Band: Born in the U.S.A., Born to Run, Hungry Heart, Dancing in the Dark, Cover Me, I’m on Fire, Glory Days, My Hometown, War; songwriter: Blinded by the Light [Manfred Mann’s Earth Band], Fire [The Pointer Sisters]; inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame [3-15-99]

1959 - Jason Alexander
actor: Seinfeld, Everything’s Relative, E/R, Duckman, Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, For Better or Worse, Dunston Checks In, Bye, Bye Birdy, The Paper, North, Blankman, Coneheads, Pretty Woman, Jacob’s Ladder, The Mosquito Coast, Brighton Beach Memoirs, The Burning, Bob Patterson

1959 - Lita Ford
musician: guitar: group: The Runaways; actress: Highway to Hell, Edgeplay

1961 - Elizabeth Peña
actress: Shannon’s Deal, Tough Cookies, I Married Dora, Jacob’s Ladder, Lone Star, The Invaders, Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home, Fugitive Among Us, La Bamba, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, They All Laughed, Times Square, El Super.

Chart Toppers
September 23rd.

1949 You’re Breaking My Heart - Vic Damone
Let’s Take an Old Fashioned Walk - Perry Como
Someday - Vaughn Monroe
Slipping Around - Ernest Tubb

1957 Tammy - Debbie Reynolds
Diana - Paul Anka
Mr. Lee - The Bobbettes
My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You - Ray Price

1965 Help! - The Beatles
Eve of Destruction - Barry McGuire
You Were on My Mind - We Five
Is It Really Over? - Jim Reeves

1973 Let’s Get It On - Marvin Gaye
We’re an American Band - Grand Funk
Loves Me like a Rock - Paul Simon
You’ve Never Been This Far Before - Conway Twitty

1981 Endless Love - Diana Ross & Lionel Richie
Queen of Hearts - Juice Newton
Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around - Stevie Nicks with Tom Petty & The
Heartbreakers
You Don’t Know Me - Mickey Gilley

1989 Girl I’m Gonna Miss You - Milli Vanilli
Heaven - Warrant
If I Could Turn Back Time - Cher
Above and Beyond - Rodney Crowell


Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...

For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will
keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily
on my morning radio show.

All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others
that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the
contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments
about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding.

[ShadowThomas]

267th day of 2007 - 98 remaining.

Monday, September 24, 2007
MUPPETEER DAY.

There’s a fictional neighborhood where some of the residents are named Kermit, Big Bird, Bert & Ernie, Miss Piggy, and Oscar the Grouch. It’s called Sesame Street.

The creator of the lifelike characters, Jim Henson, was born on this day in 1936. The puppeteer first named his puppets, Muppets, in 1954 when he was working as a producer of the Washington, D.C. TV show, Sam and Friends.

Henson moved his Muppets to network TV in 1969. Children of all ages were able to enjoy the Muppets’ antics on the educational, yet entertaining Sesame Street. The Muppets then got their own show, The Muppet Show; which generated The Muppet Movie and other films, like The Muppets Take Manhattan and The Great Muppet Caper.

And Jim Henson got the awards: 18 Emmys, 17 Grammys, 4 Peabody Awards and 5 Ace Awards (National Cable Television Association).

The premier muppeteer, and voice of Kermit the Frog, died suddenly in May of 1990. Jim Henson lives on through his Muppets.
More reading. Click here. Jim Henson.

Events
September 24th.

1915 - Douglas Fairbanks starred in The Lamb. It was his first film and was shown at the Knickerbocker Theatre in New York City.

1934 - Babe Ruth bid farewell to the New York Yankees. It was the Babe’s last game in Yankee Stadium and for the team. The Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox, 5-0.

1938 - Tennis champion Don Budge won the U.S. Tennis Open at Forest Hills, NY. The win made Budge the first player to win all four major titles (he also had won the Australian Open, the French Open and the British Open).

1940 - Flinging a Wing Ding was recorded by Bob Chester. We wonder whether that was a chicken wing-ding he was flinging...

1942 - Glenn Miller ended his Moonlight Serenade series on CBS radio. It was time for Miller to go to war. The show had aired three times a week for Chesterfield Cigarettes.

1955 - Millions of Americans tuned in to watch Judy Garland make her TV debut on the Ford Star Jubilee. The CBS show received the highest television ratings to that time.

1961 - Bullwinkle J. Moose and his friend, Rocket J. (Rocky) Squirrel, were seen in prime time for the first time on NBC-TV. The Sunday night cartoon (7-7:30 p.m.) was called The Bullwinkle Show. Originally Bullwinkle and Rocky appeared on ABC in a weekday afternoon series, Rocky and His Friends.

1968 - The Vogues received a gold record for Turn Around Look at Me on the Reprise label.

1968 - The longest-running newsmagazine on television began on CBS-TV. 60 Minutes started on this, a Tuesday, night in 1968. During its first three years on the tube, 60 Minutes ran on an alternate-week schedule with CBS News Hour, moving to Sundays (all by itself) in early 1972. 60 Minutes debuted with two correspondents: Mike Wallace and Harry Reasoner.

1977 - Get out the polyester cruisewear! The Love Boat set sail -- on ABC-TV. Captain Stubing (Gavin MacLeod); Cruise Director, Julie McCoy (Lauren Tewes); Dr. Adam Bricker (Bernie Kopell); Bartender, Isaac Washington (Ted Lange); and Yeoman-Purser, Burl ‘Gopher’ Smith (Fred Grandy) took to the calm seas each week. The show’s theme, The Love Boat, written by Paul Williams and Charles Fox, was sung by Jack Jones. The voice of Ernie Anderson, will always be remembered for his intros announcing, “The Luuuuuve Boat.”

1988 - The Rev. Barbara C. Harris of Philadelphia was elected Suffragan Bishop of Massachusetts. She was the first woman to be elected a bishop of the Episcopal Church.

1988 - Guns N’Roses Appetite for Destruction reached #1 on the Billboard album chart. The tracks: Welcome to the Jungle, It’s So Easy, NighTrain, Out Ta Get Me, Mr. Brownstone, Paradise City, My Michelle, Think About You, Sweet Child O’ Mine, You’re Crazy, Anything Goes, Rocket Queen.

1988 - Seoul Summer Olympics flashes: 1) Carl Lewis ran the fastest 100 meters of his life, 9.92 seconds, but was beaten by Canadian Ben Johnson’s 9.79. “I ran the best I could, and I'm pleased with the race.” Lewis said. (Lewis did become the recipient of the that gold medal when Johnson tested positive for steroids, a banned substance for Olympic athletes.) 2) Jackie Joyner-Kersee amassed a world-record score (7,291) in the heptathlon (seven different track-and-field events for women).

1999 - Movies debuting in U.S. theatres this day: Double Jeopardy (starring Tommy Lee Jones, Ashley Judd, Bruce Greenwood); Guinevere (with Sarah Polley, Stephen Rea, Gina Gershon); Jakob the Liar (Robin Williams, Alan Arkin, Bob Balaban); and Mumford (Jane Adams, Ted Danson, Hope Davis).

Birthdays
September 24th.

1755 - John Marshall
attorney: 4th Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court; died July 6, 1835

1896 - F. (Francis) Scott (Key) Fitzgerald
writer: This Side of Paradise, The Great Gatsby, Tender is the Night; died Dec 21, 1940

1912 - Don Porter
actor: Our Miss Brooks, The Candidate, Bachelor in Paradise; died Feb 11, 1997

1915 - Larry Gates
actor: Backstairs at the White House, Death of a Gunfighter, The Sand Pebbles, Toys in the Attic; died Dec 12, 1996

1921 - Jim McKay (McManus)
Emmy Award-winning commentator: Coverage of the Munich Olympic Tragedy: ABC Special [1972]; sportscaster: ABC’s Wide World of Sports; newspaper writer: The Baltimore Sun

1924 - Sheila MacRae (Stephens)
comedienne: The Honeymooners, The Jackie Gleason Show; author: Mother of the Year; wife of singer, actor Gordon MacRae

1931 - Anthony Newley
actor: Stop the World, I Want to Get Off, Roar of the Grease Paint, Oliver Twist, No Time to Die; singer: What Kind of Fool Am I?; died Apr 14, 1999

1936 - Jim (James Maury) Henson
Muppeteer; died May 16, 1990; see Muppeteer Day [above]

1940 - Barbara Allbut
singer: group: The Angels: My Boyfriend’s Back

1941 - John Mackey
Pro Football Hall of Famer: Baltimore Colts: Super Bowl V; San Diego Chargers

1941 - Linda McCartney (Eastman)
photographer: Rolling Stone magazine; singer: group: Wings: Silly Love Songs [w/husband Paul McCartney]; died Apr 17, 1998

1942 - Gerry Marsden
singer: group: Gerry & The Pacemakers: Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying, I’m the One, Ferry Cross the Mersey

1946 - ‘Mean’ Joe (Charles) Greene
Pro Football Hall of Fame: Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle with ‘The Steel Curtain’: two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year; Super Bowl IX, X, XIII, XIV; defensive line coach: Pittsburgh Steelers

1948 - Phil Hartman
actor, comedian: Saturday Night Live, NewsRadio, The Pee-wee Herman Show, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Dennis the Menace, Amazon Women on the Moon, Loaded Weapon 1, Coneheads, Stuart Saves His Family, Jingle All the Way; shot to death by his wife Brynn May 28, 1998

1948 - Eric (Thane) Soderholm
baseball: Minnesota Twins, Chicago White Sox, Texas Rangers, NY Yankees

1951 - Terry Metcalf
football: Toronto Argonauts, SL Cardinals, Washington Redskins

1952 - Rod (Rodney Joe) Gilbreath
baseball: Atlanta Braves

1956 - Hubie (Hubert) Brooks
baseball: NY Mets, Montreal Expos [all-star: 1986, 1987], LA Dodgers, California Angels, KC Royals

1959 - Steve Whitmire
voice [since Jim Henson died in 1990] of Kermit the Frog, Rizzo the Rat, Beaker, Bean Bunny, Doozer; shares same birthday as Jim Henson [see Muppeteer Day above]

Chart Toppers
September 24th.

1950 Mona Lisa - Nat King Cole
Goodnight Irene - The Weavers
Play a Simple Melody - Bing Crosby
Goodnight Irene - Red Foley-Ernest Tubb

1958 Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare) - Domenico Modugno
It’s All in the Game - Tommy Edwards
Rock-in Robin - Bobby Day
Bird Dog - The Everly Brothers

1966 Cherish - The Association
Sunshine Superman - Donovan
Bus Stop - The Hollies
Almost Persuaded - David Houston

1974 Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe - Barry White
Rock Me Gently - Andy Kim
I Honestly Love You - Olivia Newton-John
I Wouldn’t Want to Live if You Didn’t Love Me - Don Williams

1982 Hard to Say I’m Sorry - Chicago
Abracadabra - The Steve Miller Band
Jack & Diane - John Cougar
She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft) - Jerry Reed

1990 Release Me - Wilson Phillips
(Can’t Live Without Your) Love and Affection - Nelson
Close to You - Maxi Priest
Jukebox in My Mind - Alabama


Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...


For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will
keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily
on my morning radio show.

All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others
that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the
contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments
about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding.

[ShadowThomas]

268th day of 2007 - 97 remaining.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007
BABA WAWA DAY.

Happy Birthday to the woman who can spin circles around just about any other interviewer on television, Barbara Walters, born this day in 1931.

Originally, Walters was mere window dressing for the Today show on NBC. She had little to do with the program except for reporting women’s features. Eventually she was able to show her prowess in incisive interviews and in-depth features before moving to ABC as a news anchor on ABC News Tonight with Harry Reasoner.

It was this move in 1976 that garnered Ms. Walters an annual salary of $1,000,000 -- an unprecedented sum for a woman broadcaster at that time. Reasoner and Walters didn’t quite click and Reasoner quit. Walters then put her own brand of interviewing style to work in Barbara Walters Specials, which garnered a birthday present for her on this night in 1983. The show received the Outstanding Informational Series Emmy.

In 1984, Barbara Walters was reunited on 20/20 with her former co-host on the Today show, Hugh Downs. She had been promoted from correspondent to co-host. One of her most famous exclusive interviews on 20/20 was with Gulf War hero General Norman Schwarzkopf on March 15, 1991, shortly after the end of Operation Desert Storm. We have also seen Barbara as anchor, taking turns with Diane Sawyer and Forrest Sawyer on the news documentary, Turning Point in 1994.

And, many wondered, when she was given the million-dollar salary, how someone who couldn’t pronounce r’s and l’s could be so successful in the news biz. Even comedians used Barbara in their material. Ignoring the snide comments, Barbara Walters went on to become a highly respected and talented interviewer and journalist; and was elected to the Television Hall of Fame in 1990. After more than twenty years with ABC-TV, she probably could care less if we call her Baba Wawa.
Barbara Walters. Barbara Jill Walters. And more, Barbara Walters.

Events
September 25th.

1513 - The first European to see it took a glance at what we call the Pacific Ocean. Vasco Nunez de Balboa thought he was the first to discover the large body of water. He named it the South Sea, claiming it in the name of the King of Spain.

1690 - Many immigrants came to the New World to escape persecution; yet the land of the free was not necessarily free. On this day, the first newspaper was published in America. It was never published again. Censorship raised its ugly head. Authorities considered “Publick Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestick” to be offensive and ordered the publisher, Benjamin Harris, to cease publishing.

1890 - A U.S. National Park was established in Central California. It was called Sequoia National Park after the giant redwood trees that grow there.

1933 - America’s favorite cowboy, Tom Mix, was heard for the first time on NBC radio. The Tom Mix Ralston Straight Shooters continued on the air until June 1950.

1934 - Hot Lips was recorded by Henry Busse and his orchestra in Chicago, IL.

1950 - NBC-TV introduced a new concept in daytime programming. Kate Smith debuted an hourlong show. Her theme song for the show was When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain. Kate’s daytime show ran for four years. God Bless America.

1953 - Following in the footlights of musical greats like Ignace Paderewski and Victor Borge, a piano player named Liberace made his debut at Carnegie Hall. Liberace performed before a sellout audience. His candelabra and concert grand piano were instant trademarks that lasted throughout his career.

1965 - Willie Mays hit his fiftieth home run of the baseball season, making him the oldest player to accomplish this. He was 34 years old. Ten years before, at the age of 24, he was the youngest man to accomplish the same feat.

1979 - The third musical resulting from the collaboration of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Weber lit up the Great White Way. Evita opened on Broadway to rave reviews.

1981 - Sandra Day O’Connor became the first woman to sit on the bench of the U.S. Supreme Court. She was sworn in as the 102nd Justice.

1986 - An 1884-S Barber Head dime - one of only a dozen in existence - brought $83,000 in a California coin auction.

1992 - A Florida judge ruled that it was legal for a child to divorce biological parents. The court case involved twelve-year-old Gregory Kingsley who didn’t want his parents anymore.

1998 - Hurricane Georges crossed the Florida Straits, passed over Key West and took aim on the northern Gulf coast. On September 26, hurricane warnings went up from Panama City to Morgan City, Louisiana.

Birthdays
September 25th.

1683 - Jean Phillippe Rameau
composer: Treatise of Harmony, Hippolyte and Aricie, Castor and Pollux, Zoroastre, Les Indes Galants; died in 1764

1897 - William (Cuthbert) Faulkner
Nobel Prize-winning writer [1949]; The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying, Light in August, Absalom, Absolom!, Sanctuary, The Bear, Soldiers’ Pay, The Reivers; movie scripts: The Big Sleep, To Have and Have Not; died July 6, 1962

1905 - Red (Walter) Smith
Pulitzer Prize-winning sportswriter [New York Times: 1976]; died Jan 15, 1982

1906 - Dimitri Shostakovich
composer: Symphony No.5, No. 7, No. 11, No. 13, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk aka Katerina Ismailova; died Aug 9, 1975

1917 - Phil (Philip Francis) Rizzuto
‘Scooter’: Baseball Hall of Famer: NY Yankees short stop [World Series: 1941, 1942, 1947, 1950-1953, 1955/all-star: 1942, 1950-1953/Baseball Writers’ Award: 1950]; TV sportscaster: Yankees TV; died Aug 14, 2007

1917 - Johnny (John Franklin) Sain
baseball: pitcher: Boston Braves [all-star: 1947, 1948/World Series: 1948], NY Yankees [World Series: 1951, 1952, 1953/all-star: 1953], Kansas City Athletics; died Nov 7, 2006

1926 - Aldo Ray (DaRe)
actor: Battle Cry, God’s Little Acre, The Green Berets, Miss Sadie Thompson, The Naked and the Dead, Nightstalker; died Mar 27, 1991

1931 - Barbara (Ann) Walters
broadcaster: See Baba Wawa Day [above]

1932 - Glenn (Herbert) Gould
pianist, composer: films: Spheres, Slaughterhouse-Five, The Wars; wrote piano essay about Petula Clark; died Oct 4, 1982

1933 - Erik Darling
folk singer: groups: The Weavers; The Tarriers: Cindy, Oh Cindy, Banana Boat Song; Rooftop Singers: Walk Right In; solo: LP: True Religion, Train Time

1936 - Juliet Prowse
dancer, actress: Can-Can, G.I. Blues, Mona McCluskey; L’Eggs commercials; died Sep 14, 1996

1942 - Oscar Bonavena
boxing: heavyweight: record: 56 wins, 9 losses, 1 draw, 42 kayos; found murdered at the Mustang Ranch bordello (Las Vegas) May 22, 1976

1943 - Gary Alexander
musician: guitar, singer: group: The Association: Along Comes Mary, Cherish, Windy, Never My Love

1943 - Robert Walden
actor: Lou Grant, All the King’s Men

1944 - Michael Douglas
Academy Award-winning actor: Wall Street [1987]; Disclosure, The China Syndrome, Fatal Attraction, Black Rain, A Chorus Line, The Jewel of the Nile, Romancing the Stone, Basic Instinct, The Game, The Streets of San Francisco; son of actor Kirk Douglas

1945 - Onnie McIntyre
musician: guitar: group: Average White Band: Pick Up the Pieces, Work to Do, Let’s Go Around Again

1947 - Cheryl Tiegs
model; author: The Way to Natural Beauty

1949 - Anson Williams (Heimlick)
actor: Happy Days

1950 - E.C. Coleman
basketball: New Orleans Jazz, Golden State Warriors

1951 - Mark Hamill
actor: Star Wars, The Texas Wheelers, Eight is Enough, Batman-The Animated Series, General Hospital

1951 - Bob McAdoo
basketball: Buffalo Braves: NBA MVP [1975]; LA Lakers, Detroit Pistons, Boston Celtics, NY Knicks

1952 - Booker Brown
football: Univ. of Southern California, Houston Oilers

1952 - Christopher Reeve
actor: Superman series, Blood Horse, Black Fox, Somewhere in Time, Village of the Damned, The Remains of the Day; champion of people with paralytic injuries; died Oct 10, 2004

1952 - Mike (Michael Thomas) Stanton
baseball: pitcher: Houston Astros, Cleveland Indians, Seattle Mariners, Chicago White Sox

1955 - Steve Severin (Bailey)
musician: bass: group: Siouxsie & The Banshees: The Lord’s Prayer, Helter-Skelter, Israel, Christine, Happy House

1958 - Michael Madsen
actor: WarGames, The Natural, War and Remembrance, The End of Innocence, Fatal Instinct, Free Willy, Money for Nothing, The Getaway [1994], Wyatt Earp, Mulholland Falls, Executive Target, Pressure Point

1961 - Heather Locklear
actress: Melrose Place, Dynasty, T.J. Hooker

1965 - Scottie Pippen
basketball: Chicago Bulls; member of 1992 Olympic Gold Medal-winning dream team

1968 - Will Smith
actor: Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Six Degrees of Separation, Made in America; singer: Nightmare on My Street, Parents Just Don’t Understand, Men in Black series

1969 - Catherine Zeta-Jones
actress: The Phantom, The Mask of Zorro, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Christopher Columbus: The Discovery, Entrapment.

Chart Toppers
September 25th.

1951 Because of You - Tony Bennett
I Get Ideas - Tony Martin
Come on-a My House - Rosemary Clooney
Always Late (With Your Kisses) - Lefty Frizzell

1959 Sleep Walk - Santo & Johnny
(’Til) I Kissed You - The Everly Brothers
Mack the Knife - Bobby Darin
The Three Bells - The Browns

1967 The Letter - The Box Tops
Never My Love - The Association
Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie - Jay & The Techniques
My Elusive Dreams - David Houston

1975 Fame - David Bowie
I’m Sorry - John Denver
Fight the Power - The Isley Brothers
Daydreams About Night Things - Ronnie Milsap

1983 Tell Her About It - Billy Joel
Total Eclipse of the Heart - Bonnie Tyler
The Safety Dance - Men Without Hats
Baby, What About You - Crystal Gayle

1991 I Adore Mi Amor - Color Me Badd
Good Vibrations - Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch/Loleatta Holloway
Emotions - Mariah Carey
Leap of Faith - Lionel Cartwright


Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...

For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will
keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily
on my morning radio show.

All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others
that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the
contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments
about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding.

[ShadowThomas]

269th day of 2007 - 96 remaining.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007
SHAMU DAY.

Shamu was born this day in 1985 in Orlando, Florida. She was the first killer whale to be born in captivity and survive. Her place of birth was Sea World.

Shamu and other killer whales with the same name (Shamu’s mother, Katina, also plays Shamu in the shows at Sea World Florida) have entertained millions at Sea World parks and at other ocean-life parks throughout the world. The giant, but seemingly gentle, creatures give rides to their trainers. They let children pet them and feed them. Shamu has even been known to give a visitor a sloppy, wet kiss.

The original Shamu ... her real name is Kalina ... moved to Sea World Texas, where she met the father of her calf Kito. She moved back to Sea World Florida to have her baby. It is there that Baby Shamu often performs with his mother.
Sea world. And click.

Events
September 26th.

1892 - The ‘March King’ was introduced to the general public. John Philip Sousa and his band played the Liberty Bell March in Plainfield, New Jersey.

1908 - An ad for the Edison Phonograph appeared in The Saturday Evening Post. The phonograph offered buyers free records by both the Democratic and Republican U.S. presidential candidates!

1955 - Debbie Reynolds married singing idol Eddie Fisher. The couple made it through four tempestuous years.

1957 - West Side Story opened in New York. The musical ran for 734 performances. The loose adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet produced several hit songs, including Maria and Tonight.

1960 - The first of the presidential debates between hopefuls Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy took place. The debate, moderated by Howard K. Smith, reached more than 69 million people via TV and another 17 million on radio.

1962 - “Come and listen to the story ’bout a man named Jed...” The Beverly Hillbillies aired on CBS-TV. U.S. audiences were enchanted with Jed, Ellie Mae, Granny, Jethro, Miss Jane and that banker feller. Enchanted, as in a trance, in fact, for 216 shows. Bluegrass stars Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs had the honor of composing and recording the theme song and hit record, The Ballad of Jed Clampett.

1964 - Gilligan’s Island began its 98-show run on CBS. The TV show starred Bob Denver in the title role, Jim Backus as Mr. Howell, Natalie Schafer as Lovey Howell, Alan Hale as the Skipper, Russell Johnson as the Professor and Dawn Wells and Tina Louise as Mary Ann and Ginger, respectively.

1969 - The Beatles walked the road toward a hit LP for the last time, as Abbey Road was released in London. The 13th and last album for the ‘fab four’ zoomed quickly to the #1 spot on the charts and stayed there for 11 weeks.

1983 - The longest winning streak in sports -- 132 years -- was broken. It was the America’s Cup race and the United States team expected to maintain their title; one they were defending for the 25th time. Challenger Australia II won!

1984 - History was made at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. Neil Shicoff, lead tenor in the The Tales of Hoffmann, was unable to perform due to illness. His understudy, a chap named William Lewis, was a bit under the weather as well, and his voice began to falter during the performance. So, Kenneth Riegel was called in to sing the part from the orchestra pit while Mr. Lewis lip-synced the part on stage.

1984 - Liz Taylor starred in the season opener of the TV soap, Hotel. Despite incredibly biting bits from John Belushi on NBC’s Saturday Night Live regarding her plumpness at the time, viewers were quite amazed when Ms. Taylor appeared in a gown -- with a 24-inch waistline. Definitely no more, “I followed Liz Taylor to McDonald’s to watch the numbers change,” from Joan Rivers.

1986 - Dallas, on CBS-TV, smashed NBC’s Miami Vice in the overnight ratings. The episode, from Southfork Ranch, had Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) returning from the dead -- in the shower, no less! Pam Ewing (Victoria Principal) was a bit perplexed. So were the viewers. Somebody had stayed up very, very late writing this episode.

1987 - Whitney Houston’s fifth consecutive #1 U.S. single hit the top. Didn’t We Almost Have It All was a cut from her LP, Whitney, which was number one on the album charts from June 27 to Sep 11 that year.

1991 - A group of scientists, four men and four women began a two-year stay inside Biosphere 2, a sealed structure in Oracle, AZ. They had planned to have no contact with the outside world; to grow their own food and live peacefully together as future pioneers in a harsh and alien world. Unfortunately, the outside world had to intervene a few times; to get rid of an ant invasion, to pump in oxygen, to tend to a health emergencies, to bring in forgotten necessities like makeup. The scientific team managed to last out the term, but they were half-crazy and half-starved when U.S. marshals led them out two years later.

1997 - Motion pictures opening in the U.S. this day: Triumph Films’ The Assignment; Dreamworks’ The Peacemaker; and The Edge and Soul Food from 20th Century Fox.

If you like TWtD you will love TWtD Deluxe.

Birthdays
September 26th.

1774 - Johnny Appleseed (Chapman)
nurseryman: planter of apple orchards; died Mar 18, 1845

1888 - T.S. (Thomas Stearns) Eliot
Nobel Prize-winning poet [1948]; The Waste Land, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock; died Jan 4, 1965

1895 - George Raft (Ranft)
actor: Scarface, Eighty Days, Some Like It Hot, Casino Royale; died Nov 24, 1980

1897 - Pope Paul VI (Giovanni Battista Montini)
262nd pope of the Roman Catholic Church [1963-1978]; died Aug 6, 1978

1898 - George Gershwin (Jacob Gershvin)
composer: Rhapsody in Blue, Swanee, Porgy & Bess, The Man I Love, Strike Up the Band, Funny Face, I Got Rhythm, Summertime, An American in Paris, They Can’t Take That Away from Me, Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off, A Foggy Day [In London Town], Fascinating Rhythm, Embraceable You, Our Love is Here to Stay; collaborated with brother Ira; died July 11, 1937

1901 - Ted Weems (Wilfred Theodore Weymes)
orchestra leader: Ted Weems Orchestra: Heartaches, Piccolo Pete; played mostly on network radio shows; musician: violin, trombone; died May 6, 1963

1914 - Jack LaLanne
fitness guru

1919 - Barbara Britton (Brantingham)
actress: Mr. & Mrs. North, Dragonfly Squadron, Bandit Queen, Captain Kidd, I Shot Jesse James, Wake Island; died Jan 17, 1980

1925 - Marty Robbins (Robertson)
Country Music Hall of Famer; Grammy Award Winner: El Paso [1960], My Woman, My Woman, My Wife [1970]; A White Sport Coat, Don’t Worry, Devil Woman; actor: Road to Nashville, Ballad of a Gunfighter, Hell on Wheels, The Drifter; last Grand Ole Oprey singer to perform in Ryman Auditorium, 1st to perform in new Opryland; died Dec 8, 1982

1925 - Bobby (Robert Clayton) Shantz
baseball: pitcher: Philadelphia Athletics [all-star: 1951, 1952/Baseball Writers’ Award: 1952], KC Athletics, NY Yankees [all-star: 1957/World Series: 1957, 1960], Pittsburgh Pirates, Houston Colt .45’s, SL Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies

1926 - Julie London (Peck)
singer: Cry Me a River; actress: Emergency; died Oct 18, 2000

1927 - Patrick O’Neal
actor: In Harm’s Way, Under Siege, The Way We Were, Diagnosis: Unknown, Dick and the Duchess, Emerald Point N.A.S., Kaz; died Sep 9, 1994

1931 - George Chambers
musician: bass, singer: group: The Chambers Brothers: Time Has Come Today

1932 - Joyce Jameson
comedienne, actress: The Spike Jones Show, Club Oasis, The Balcony, The Comedy of Terrors; died Jan 16, 1987

1933 - Donna Douglas
actress: Beverly Hillbillies, Frankie and Johnny

1936 - Winnie Mandela
political activist; married South African president Nelson Madela

1941 - Joe Bauer
musician: drums: group: The Youngbloods: Get Together

1942 - Kent McCord (McWhirter)
actor: Adam 12, Unsub, Battlestar Gallactica, Accidental Meeting, Return of the Living Dead, Predator 3, Vice President of Screen Actors Guild

1945 - Dave (David Edwin) Duncan
baseball: catcher: KC Athletics, Oakland Athletics [all-star: 1971/World Series: 1972], Cleveland Indians, Baltimore Orioles

1945 - Bryan Ferry
singer: group: Roxy Music: Virginia Plain, Pyjamarama, Do the Strand, Editions of You, In Every Dream a Heartache, Street Life, All I want is You, Out of the Blue, Love is the Drug, Dance Away, Angel Eyes, More than This, Heart on My Sleeve; solo: Let’s Stick Together

1947 - Lynn Anderson
Grammy Award-winning singer: Rose Garden [1970]; Ride, Ride, Ride, If I Kiss You, Promises, Promises; CMA Female Vocalist of the Year [1971]

1948 - Mary Beth Hurt
actress: Six Degrees of Separation, The Age of Innocence, Compromising Positions, The World According to Garp, A Change of Seasons, Interiors, Working It Out, Tattingers

1948 - Olivia Newton-John
singer: You’re the One that I Want, If Not for You, Let Me Be There, I Honestly Love You, Have You Never Been Mellow, Please Mr. Please, Physical, Magic; actress: Grease, Xanadu, Two of a Kind

1949 - John Roche
basketball: Univ. South Carolina, Denver Nuggets [record: 7 three-pointers in a quarter

1951 - Dave Casper
football: Oakland Raiders tight end: Super Bowl XI

1952 - Garry Howatt
hockey: NHL: NY Islanders, Hartford Whalers, NJ Devils

1954 - Craig Chaquico
musician: guitar, singer: group: Jefferson Starship: We Built this City, Sara, Tomorrow Doesn’t Matter Tonight

1955 - Carlene Carter
singer: I Fell in Love, Every Little Thing, Do It in a Heartache; June Carter’s daughter

1956 - Linda Hamilton
actress: Terminator series, Beauty and the Beast, Children of the Corn

1962 - Melissa Sue Anderson
actress: Little House on the Prairie, The Loneliest Runner, The Equalizer: Memories of Manon

1962 - Tracey Thorn
singer: groups: Marine Girls: LPs: Lazy Ways, Beach Party; Everything But the Girl: Night and Day, Each and Everyone, Sean, Come on Home, I Fall to Pieces; solo LP: A Distant Shore.

Chart Toppers
September 26th.

1944 I’ll Walk Alone - Dinah Shore
Is You is or is You Ain’t - Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters
I’ll Be Seeing You - Bing Crosby
Smoke on the Water - Red Foley

1952 You Belong to Me - Jo Stafford
Wish You Were Here - Eddie Fisher
Half as Much - Rosemary Clooney
Jambalaya (On the Bayou) - Hank Williams

1960 My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own - Connie Francis
Chain Gang - Sam Cooke
Mr. Custer - Larry Verne
Alabam - Cowboy Copas

1968 Harper Valley P.T.A. - Jeannie C. Riley
Hey Jude - The Beatles
Hush - Deep Purple
Mama Tried - Merle Haggard

1976 Play That Funky Music - Wild Cherry
I’d Really Love to See You Tonight - England Dan & John Ford Coley
A Fifth of Beethoven - Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band
If You’ve Got the Money I’ve Got the Time - Willie Nelson

1984 Missing You - John Waite
Let’s Go Crazy - Prince & The Revolution
Drive - The Cars
Let’s Chase Each Other Around the Room - Merle Haggard


Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...

For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will
keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily
on my morning radio show.

All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others
that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the
contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments
about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding.

[ShadowThomas]

270th day of 2007 - 95 remaining.

Thursday, September 27, 2007
CHOO-CHOO DAY.

Remember the children’s story about the train that could? The little choo-choo made it to the top of the hill, pulling its load, by will power, courage, strength and thought, “I think I can, I think I can.”

Well, this story is about another train that could and did. On this day in 1829, a locomotive belonging to England’s Stockton and Darlington line, pulled a passenger train down the tracks. It was the first time an engine -- not a horse -- had accomplished this.

The locomotive, The Rocket was designed by George Stephenson with the help of his son Robert. It was the first truly successful steam locomotive, able to pull a train on smooth rails. (The very first steam engine locomotive was built by Richard Treithick, also of England, in 1804.)

Critics were a little wary of the iron horse. One said that it would make stay-at-homes into gadabouts; honest men into liars and be the downfall of an intellectual society. Some choo-choo, eh?
The Rainhill Trials. October 1829 The Rocket.

Events
September 27th.

1894 - Aqueduct Race Track opened in New York on this day.

1933 - NBC radio debuted Waltz Time, featuring the orchestra of Abe Lymon. The program continued on the network until 1948.

1938 - Clarinet virtuoso Artie Shaw recorded the song that would become his theme song. Nightmare was waxed on the Bluebird Jazz label.

1938 - Thanks for the Memory was heard for the first time on The Bob Hope Show -- on the NBC Red radio network. Who was the bandleader? If you said Les Brown, you’d be ... wrong. It was Skinnay Ennis accompanying ol’ ski nose at the time.

1942 - Just after leaving CBS radio, Glenn Miller led his civilian band for the last time at the Central Theatre in beautiful Passaic, NJ. Miller had volunteered for wartime duty.

1954 - The Tonight show debuted on NBC-TV. Steve Allen hosted the late-night program which began as a local New York show on WNBT-TV in June 1953. Tonight became a launching pad for Steve and hundreds of guests, including Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme. Skitch Henderson and orchestra provided the music. Ernie Kovacs was the host from 1956-1957.

1962 - Detroit secretary Martha Reeves cut a side with a group called The Vandellas and the result was I’ll Have to Let Him Go. Soon thereafter, the hits of Martha and The Vandellas just kept on comin’.

1962 - After a concert that featured folk music at Carnegie Hall, The New York Times gave a glowing review in a story about “Bob Dylan: A Distinctive Folk Song Stylist.”

1970 - “Round and round and round it goes and where it stops, nobody knows.” Ted Mack said, “Good night from Geritol” for the last time. After 22 years on television, the curtain closed on The Original Amateur Hour on CBS. The show had been on ABC, NBC, CBS and originated on the Dumont Television Network.

1986 - Lionel Richie’s Dancing on the Ceiling was the #1 U.S. LP. The tracks: Dancing on the Ceiling, Se La, Ballerina Girl, Don’t Stop, Deep River Woman, Love Will Conquer All, Tonight Will Be Alright, Say You, Say Me and Night Train (Smooth Alligator). Dancing on the Ceiling was the number one album for two weeks.

1989 - The first two people to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel and live to tell about it, did so this day. Actually, Jeffrey Petkovich and Peter DeBernardi went over 167-foot high Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side of the Falls. Why’d they do that? To show kids there are better things to do than drugs. Huh?

1995 - Secretary of the Treasury Robert E. Rubin announced that the U.S. would issue a $100 note that had been redesigned to incorporate numerous security features. The most noticeable feature was a large, off-center Ben Franklin. Rubin commented, “We are improving the security of the currency, and maintaining its integrity and global reputation.”

1996 - Two movies debuted in U.S. theatre this day: Extreme Measures, a thriller with Hugh Grant, Gene Hackman and Sarah Jessica Parker; and 2 Days in the Valley, starring James Spader, Danny Aiello, Teri Hatcher, Eric Stoltz, Jeff Daniels, Glenne Headly, Marsha Mason. It iss “A pretty screwed-up story about pretty screwed-up people...”

Birthdays
September 27th.

1722 - Samuel Adams
U.S. Revolutionary War leader; governor of Massachusetts [1793-1797]; cousin of U.S. President John Adams; died Oct 2, 1803

1792 - George Cruikshank
caricaturist, illustrator: Charles Dickens’ books; died in 1878

1840 - Thomas Nast
political cartoonist: considered the father of American political cartooning: drew cartoon [Harper’s Weekly] using elephant as symbol of Republican party; died Dec 7, 1902

1847 - ‘Professor’ Mike (Michael) Donovan
International Boxing Hall of Famer: middleweight boxing champ [1878-1883]; boxing teacher: U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt was a pupil; died Mar 24, 1918

1898 - Vincent Youmans
Songwriters’ Hall of Famer: musician, composer: Hit the Deck, Great Day!, No, No Nanette [w/Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II], I Know that You Know [w/Harbach], More than You Know, Rise ’n’ Shine, Flying Down to Rio, The Carioca; died Apr 5, 1946

1919 - Johnny (John Michael) Pesky
baseball: Boston Red Sox [World Series: 1946, all-star: 1946], Detroit Tigers, Washington Nationals

1920 - William Conrad (Cann)
actor: Cannon, Jake and the Fatman, Sorry, Wrong Number, Killers, Naked Jungle; TV narrator: The Bullwinkle Show; radio: Marshall Dillon in Gunsmoke; died Feb 11, 1994

1920 - Jayne Meadows (Cotter)
actress: City Slickers, Murder by Numbers, Lady in the Lake, The Steve Allen Comedy Hour, Medical Center; panelist: I’ve Got a Secret; wife of Steve Allen; sister of Audrey Meadows

1922 - Arthur Penn
director: Bonnie and Clyde, Alice’s Restaurant, The Miracle Worker, Little Big Man, Night Moves

1925 - Kathleen Maguire
actress: Edge of the City, The Chadwick Family, One Life to Live, The Concorde: Airport ’79; died Aug 9, 1989

1929 - Sada Thompson
Emmy Award-winning actress: Family [1977-78]; Tony Award-winning actress: Twigs [1972]; Our Town, Desperate Characters

1933 - Greg Morris
actor: Mission: Impossible, Vega$, The Doomsday Flight; died Aug 27, 1996

1933 - Kathleen Nolan
actress: The Real McCoys, Jamie, Broadside; Screen Actor’s Guild president

1934 - Wilford Brimley
actor: Cocoon, The Natural, Tender Mercies, The Firm, Absence of Malice, The China Syndrome, The Electric Horseman, Our House

1934 - Claude Jarman Jr.
actor: Hangman’s Knot, Rio Grande, The Sun Comes Up, Intruder in the Dust, The Yearling

1939 - Delores Taylor
actress, writer, producer: The Trial of Billy Jack, Billy Jack

1939 - Kathy Whitworth
golf champion: Nabisco Dinah Shore [1977], LPGA [1967, 1971, 1975]

1941 - Labron Harris Jr.
golf: Oklahoma State Univ.; U.S. Amateur title: 1962

1941 - Don Nix
musician: baritone sax: group: The Mar-Keys, Booker T and the M.G.’s, Memphis Horns; composer: Goin’ Down

1943 - Randy Bachman
musician: guitar, singer: groups: Bachman-Turner Overdrive: Let It Ride, Takin’ Care of Business, You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet, Roll on Down the Highway, The Guess Who: Shakin’ All Over, These Eyes, Laughing, No Time, American Woman, No Sugar Tonight

1944 - Gary (Lynn) Sutherland
baseball: Philadelphia Phillies, Montreal Expos, Houston Astros, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers, SD Padres, SL Cardinals

1947 - Meat Loaf (Michael Lee Aday)
musician, singer: Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad, Paradise by the Dashboard Light; actor: The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Americathon, Roadie

1949 - Mike (Michael Jack) Schmidt
Baseball Hall of Famer: Philadelphia Phillies Golden Glove, all-star third baseman: [all-star: 1974, 1976, 1979-1984, 1986, 1987, 1989/World Series: 1980, 1983/Baseball Writers’ Award: 1980, 1981, 1986]

1949 - Robb Weller
TV host: Win, Lose or Draw, Entertainment Tonight

1953 - Greg Ham
musician: saxophone, flute, keyboards: group: Men at Work: Who Can It Be Now, Down Under

1958 - Shaun Cassidy
singer: Da Doo Ron Ron, That’s Rock ’n’ Roll, Hey Deanie, Do You Believe in Magic; actor: The Hardy Boys Mysteries, Breaking Away, General Hospital, Blood Brothers; son of Jack Cassidy & Shirley Jones; half-brother of David Cassidy

1969 - Patrick Muldoon
actor: Days of Our Lives, Melrose Place, Starship Troopers, The Second Arrival.

Chart Toppers
September 27th.

1945 If I Loved You - Perry Como
On the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe - Johnny Mercer
Till the End of Time - Perry Como
You Two-Timed Me One Time Too Often - Tex Ritter

1953 No Other Love - Perry Como
Vaya Con Dios - Les Paul & Mary Ford
Crying in the Chapel - June Valli
A Dear John Letter - Jean Shepard & Ferlin Husky

1961 Take Good Care of My Baby - Bobby Vee
The Mountain’s High - Dick & DeeDee
Crying - Roy Orbison
Walk on By - Leroy Van Dyke

1969 Sugar, Sugar - The Archies
Green River - Creedence Clearwater Revival
Easy to Be Hard - Three Dog Night
Tall Dark Stranger - Buck Owens

1977 Best of My Love - Emotions
Don’t Stop - Fleetwood Mac
Keep It Comin’ Love - KC & The Sunshine Band
I’ve Already Loved You in My Mind - Conway Twitty

1985 Money for Nothing - Dire Straits
Cherish - Kool & The Gang
Freedom - Wham!
I Fell in Love Again Last Night - The Forester Sisters


Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...

For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will
keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily
on my morning radio show.

All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others
that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the
contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments
about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding.

[ShadowThomas]

271st day of 2007 - 94 remaining.

Friday, September 28, 2007
LI’L ABNER DAY.

The man who created Li’l Abner was born on this day in 1909 at New Haven, Connecticut. Alfred Gerald Caplin, better known as Al Capp, was responsible for all the happenings in the fictitious hillbilly town of Dogpatch.

From 1934 until 1977, Capp wrote and drew the cartoon, Li’l Abner, with its cast of wonderful characters, Mammy and Pappy Yokum, their son Abner, the lovely Daisy Mae, Fearless Fosdick and the lovable Schmoos. Al Capp even invented a holiday, Sadie Hawkins Day.

Li’l Abner wasn’t just a funny comic strip. It became a Broadway show and a Hollywood movie, too. But above all else, Al Capp used the characters in the Sunday funnies for political satire. It was fairly common to see public figures being lampooned in Li’l Abner. Al Capp would have had a field day with today’s political antics.
Li'l Abner. Al Capp. Li’l Abner. Al Capp.

Events
September 28th.

1542 - Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo landed his ship at what we now call San Diego Bay. The site is marked with a monument, the Cabrillo National Monument, and some folks in California still celebrate Cabrillo day. There’s a reason for that. Cabrillo was the first to find California.

1892 - A football game was played in Mansfield, PA. The game, between Mansfield State Normal School and Wyoming Seminary, was the first one in the U.S. to be played at night.

1928 - Glen Gray’s orchestra recorded Under a Blanket of Blue, with Kenny Sargeant on vocals.

1936 - Bachelor’s Children debuted on CBS radio (at 9:45 a.m.) in addition to its schedule on the Mutual Network (at 10:15 a.m.). The show’s theme song, Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life, opened the 15-minute, critically acclaimed, daily serial. Bachelor’s Children became very popular because of its natural dialogue which made folks think they were hearing a real event. Bachelor’s Children ... brought to you by Old Dutch Cleanser, Palmolive-Peet Soap, Colgate Toothpaste and Wonder Bread.

1939 - The final broadcast of The Fleischmann Hour was heard on radio. The star of the show, Rudee Vallee, wrapped things up after a decade of entertaining radio. The Fleischmann Hour was sponsored by Fleischmann’s Yeast. What else?

1944 - WABD in New York City telecast the first full-length musical written for TV. Ray Nelson was in the director’s chair for The Boys from Boise. The production was carried on the DuMont Network.

1955 - “The following program is brought to you in living color on NBC.” The World Series was seen in all its colorful glory for the first time this day. The New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in the first game, 6-5.

1961 - Richard Chamberlain played the part of handsome, young, Dr. Kildare for five years, beginning this day on NBC. Raymond Massey co-starred in the TV medidrama. Chamberlain’s Theme from Dr. Kildare (Three Stars Will Shine Tonight) became a hit a year into the show. He also sang Love Me Tender and All I Have to Do is Dream in 1962 and 1963 -- all on MGM. Scalpel, doctor?

1961 - Hazel premiered on NBC-TV. The sitcom starred Shirley Booth in the title role, with Don DeFore as George Baxter and Whitney Blake as Dorothy Baxter (the family who Hazel adopted). She was their maid and housekeeper. Hazel was based on the Saturday Evening Post cartoon series by Ted Key.

1968 - The Beatles rode the nearly seven-minute-long Hey Jude to the top of the charts for a nine week-run starting this day. Talk about your microgroove recording! Copies of this Apple release were shipped by the dozen to radio stations because the platters wore out after just a few plays.

1982 - The first of seven deaths was reported in the Chicago area from Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide. Later, Johnson and Johnson introduced a triple sealed, tamper resistant Tylenol bottle.

1984 - Saluting his 34 years in television, Bob “If There’s an Honor I’ll Be There” Hope showed outtakes of his years in television on (where else?) NBC. When he began in television’s infancy, back in 1950, Hope said he got into the new medium “...because the contract was so delicious, I couldn’t turn it down.”

1991 - Garth Brooks, big ol’ black hat and all, hit number one with his album Ropin’ the Wind. He was the first country artist to debut an album at #1 on both the Billboard album chart and country album chart.

1997 - Europe held off the U.S. in the Ryder Cup, 14.5-13.5.

Birthdays
September 28th.

1841 - Georges Clemenceau
French government leader; died Nov 24, 1929

1856 - Kate Douglas (Smith) Wiggin
writer: Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Timothy’s Quest, The Bird’s Christmas Carol; organized 1st free kindergarten in San Francisco, established California Kindergarten Training School; died Aug 24, 1923

1892 - Elmer Rice
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright: Street Scene [prize for drama: 1929]; died May 8, 1967

1901 - William S. Paley
Television Hall of Famer, broadcast executive: founder/owner of CBS; died in 1990; died Oct 26, 1990

1902 - Ed (Edward Vincent) Sullivan
newspaper columnist, TV host: Toast of the Town, The Ed Sullivan Show; died Oct 13, 1974

1905 - Max (Maximillian Adolph Otto Siegfried) Schmeling
International Boxing Hall of Famer: heavyweight champ: bouts: 70; won: 56; lost: 10; drew: 4; KOs: 39

1909 - Al Capp (Alfred Gerald Caplin)
cartoonist: Li’l Abner; died Nov 5, 1979; see Li’l Abner Day [above]

1916 - Peter Finch (Frederick George Peter Ingle-Finch)
Academy Award-winning actor: Network [1976]; Flight of the Phoenix, Raid on Entebbe, Elephant Walk; died Jan 14, 1977

1919 - Tom Harmon
football: University of Michigan [Heisman Trophy: 1940], AFL: NY Americans [1941], NFL: LA Rams [1946-1947]; broadcaster: ABC Sports; World War II fighter pilot [Silver Star, Purple Heart]; father of actor Mark Harmon; died Mar 17, 1990

1923 - William Windom
Emmy Award-winning actor: My World and Welcome to It [1969-70]; Murder, She Wrote, The Farmer’s Daughter, The Girl with Something Extra, Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, To Kill a Mockingbird

1924 - Marcello Mastroianni (Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastrojanni)
actor: White Nights, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, Used People, Divorce, Italian Style, La Dolce Vita; died Dec 19, 1996

1925 - Arnold Stang
comedian, actor: Broadside, The Milton Berle Show, Dennis the Menace; cartoon: voice of Top Cat

1926 - Jerry Clower
entertainer: LP: Jerry Clower from Yazoo City, Mississippi Talkin’; CMA Comedian of the Year [1974-82]; TV co-host: Nashville on the Road; writer: Ain’t God Good; died Aug 24, 1998

1930 - Tommy Collins (Leonard Sipes)
singer: You Better Not Do That, It Tickles, If You Can’t Bite, Don’t Growl, I Made the Prison Band; songwriter: If You Ain’t Lovin’ then You Ain’t Livin’, You Gotta Have a License; died Mar 14, 2000

1934 - Brigitte Bardot (Camille Javal)
actress: And God Created Woman, Viva Maria, A Very Private Affair

1935 - Bruce Crampton
golf: best PGA year: 1973: won four times and finished second five times; 10 holes-in-one in pro career

1938 - Ben E. King (Benjamin Earl Nelson
singer, songwriter: group: The Drifters: There Goes My Baby, Save the Last Dance for Me; solo: Spanish Harlem, Stand by Me, What is Soul, Supernatural Thing Part 1

1941 - Charley Taylor
Pro Football Hall of Famer: Washington Redskins wide receiver: played in seven Pro Bowls

1942 - Grant (Dwight ‘Buck’) Jackson
baseball: pitcher: Philadelphia Phillies [all-star: 1969], Baltimore Orioles [World Series: 1971], NY Yankees [World Series: 1976], Pittsburgh Pirates [World Series: 1979], Montreal Expos, KC Royals

1943 - J.T. Walsh
actor: Breakdown, Hope, Hannah and Her Sisters, Tin Men, Tequila Sunrise, The Grifters, Backdraft, A Few Good Men, Loaded Weapon 1, The Last Seduction, The Client, The Babysitter, Crime of the Century, Pleasantville, Hidden Agenda; died Feb 27, 1998

1946 - Helen Shapiro
singer: Please Don’t Treat Me like a Child, You Don’t Know, Walkin’ Back to Happiness, Tell Me What He Said, Little Miss Lonely, Fever; actress: It’s Trad, Dad, Play It Cool, Oliver!

1947 - Jeffrey Jones
actor: The Avenging Angel, Houseguest, Stay Tuned, The Hunt for Red October, Who’s Harry Crumb?, Beetlejuice, Howard the Duck, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Amadeus

1952 - Anthony Davis
football: Univ. of Southern California All-American, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Houston Oilers, LA Rams

1952 - Sylvia Kristel
actress: Emmanuelle series, Lady Chatterly’s Lover, The Concorde: Airport ’79, Beauty School

1954 - Steve Largent
Pro Football Hall of Famer: Seattle Seahawks wide receiver; seven Pro Bowls; NFL record holder: most consecutive games with a reception [177], most yards on receptions [13.089], most touchdown passes [100]; member of U.S. House of Representatives [Oklahoma]

1964 - Janeane Garofalo
actress: The Larry Sanders Show, The Ben Stiller Show, Saturday Night Live, TV Nation, The Truth About Cats & Dogs, The Cable Guy, Cop Land, Felicity, The Independent, The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle, The Laramie Project

1967 - Mira Sorvino
Academy Award-winning supporting actress: Mighty Aphrodite [1995]; Norma Jean & Marilyn, Tales of Erotica, The Replacement Killers, Joan of Arc: The Virgin Warrior, The Triumph of Love

1967 - Moon Unit Zappa
actress: Dark Side of Genius, Heartstopper, Spirit of ’76, The Boys Next Door; daughter of singer Frank Zappa

1972 - Gwyneth Paltrow
Academy Award-winning actress: Shakespeare in Love [1998]; Hook, Great Expectations, A Perfect Murder, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Bounce, The Anniversary Party, Possession, The Royal Tenenbaums, Shallow Hal, A View from the Top.

Chart Toppers
September 28th.

1946 To Each His Own - Eddy Howard
Five Minutes More - Tex Beneke
South America, Take It Away - Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters
Wine, Women and Song - Al Dexter

1954 Sh-Boom - The Crew-Cuts
Hey There - Rosemary Clooney
Shake, Rattle and Roll - Bill Haley & His Comets
I Don’t Hurt Anymore - Hank Snow

1962 Sheila - Tommy Roe
Ramblin’ Rose - Nat King Cole
Green Onions - Booker T. & The MG’s
Devil Woman - Marty Robbins

1970 Ain’t No Mountain High Enough - Diana Ross
Lookin’ Out My Back Door/Long as I Can See the Light - Creedence
Clearwater Revival
Julie, Do Ya Love Me - Bobby Sherman
There Must Be More to Love Than This - Jerry Lee Lewis

1978 Boogie Oogie Oogie - A Taste of Honey
Kiss You All Over - Exile
Hopelessly Devoted to You - Olivia Newton-John
I’ve Always Been Crazy - Waylon Jennings

1986 Stuck with You - Huey Lewis & The News
Friends and Lovers - Gloria Loring & Carl Anderson
Walk This Way - Run-D.M.C.
In Love - Ronnie Milsap


Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...

For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will
keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily
on my morning radio show.

All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others
that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the
contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments
about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding.

[ShadowThomas]

272nd day of 2007 - 93 remaining.

Saturday, September 29, 2007
MY FAIR LADY DAY.

My Fair Lady closed on this day in 1962 after a run of 6½ years. At the time, the show held the Broadway record for longest-running musical of all time. 3,750,000 people watched the wonderful show and heard tunes like Wouldn’t it Be Loverly, Show Me, Get Me to the Church on Time, I’m an Ordinary Man, I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face and the Vic Damone/Robert Goulet standard, On the Street Where You Live.

The team of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe turned George Bernard Shaw’s play, Pygmalion, into a colorful, musical production. They gave a new life to the rough-around-the-edges, ****ney, flower girl; the subject of a bet between Professor Higgins (Just You Wait, ’Enry ’Iggins) and a colleague. The Professor bet that he could turn Eliza Doolittle into a proper lady (The Rain in Spain). With a Little Bit of Luck he did it. Eliza, looking and acting very much like a princess, sang I Could Have Danced All Night.

After its Broadway success, My Fair Lady was made into a motion picture (1964) and won seven Academy Awards including Best Picture.
Biography of Alan Jay Lerner.

Events
September 29th.

1829 - Greater London’s Metropolitan Police went into action. There was much opposition to the act of Parliament that authorized the police force. Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel had requested the act (the police were called ‘Bobbies’ in honor of him). The Bobbies first official headquarters were at Scotland Yard; and Scotland Yard became the official name of the police force.

1920 - Radios for 10 bucks! That’s what Joseph Horne Company’s department store in Pittsburgh, PA was selling. The radios were advertised in The Pittsburgh Sun for $10 and up. One could get a ready-made radio in a box with headphones and tuning knob. This way, one could do away with the Quaker Oats round box and the cat’s whisker wire, which was a pain in the butt to tune.

1930 - “This is Lowell Thomas.” Those words were spoken for the first time as a young Lowell Thomas made his debut on CBS Radio. He replaced Floyd Gibbons on the nightly (6:45 p.m.), 15-minute newscast. Thomas, who started as a reporter for the New York Daily News (at age 19), was heard on the radio for the next 46 years.

1930 - “Ba, ba, ba, boo. I will, ba ba ba boo ... marry you!” ‘Der Bingle’, better known as Bing Crosby, America’s premier crooner for decades, married Dixie Lee.

1940 - Double or Nothing, a radio quiz show, was first heard on the Mutual Radio Network. Each time contestants answered questions correctly, their winnings would double -- from $20 to $40 to the big payoff of $80. If they gave an incorrect answer, they were gone! Nobody bet on how long the show would last. Good thing. It kept going for a dozen years. Among the sponsors: Feen-A-Mint, Chooz breath candy and Campbell’s soup.

1946 - Mystery fans remember when The Adventures of Sam Spade debuted on CBS radio this Sunday night. (It had aired in the summer of 1946 on ABC on Friday nights.) The Adventures of Sam Spade, with Howard Duff playing Spade, became a big hit in the Sunday night radio lineup. And now a word from our sponsor: “Use Wildroot Cream Oil, Charlie ... it keeps your hair in trim...”

1947 - Dizzy Gillespie presented his first Carnegie Hall concert in New York, adding a sophisticated jazz touch to the famous concert emporium. Diz would become one of the jazz greats of all time. His trademark: Two cheeks pushed out until it looked like his face would explode. But, as the hepcats said, “Man, that guy can blow!”

1951 - The University of California defeated the University of Pennsylvania 35-0 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. It was the first network football game to be televised in color -- on CBS.

1953 - Danny Thomas, who many now remember as Marlo’s dad and Phil Donahue’s father-in-law, is also remembered for many things that influenced television. At the suggestion of his friend, Desi Arnaz, Thomas negotiated a deal that would allow him to retain ownership rights to his programs, like Make Room for Daddy, which debuted this day on ABC-TV. Later, in 1957, the show would move to CBS under the Desilu/Danny Thomas Productions banner. The rest is, literally, TV history. His success allowed him to give something back to the world, in the form of his philanthropic efforts to build St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital in Memphis. “All I prayed for was a break,” he once told an interviewer, “and I said I would do anything, anything, to pay back the prayer if it could be answered. All I needed was a sign of what to do and I would do it.” And so it was.

1960 - My Three Sons was welcomed into U.S. homes on ABC-TV. Fred MacMurray, who was a movie actor, had a difficult time making the adjustment to the small screen. But adjust he did, and My Three Sons endured so well that CBS bought the successful hit for somewhere between seven and ten million dollars in 1965.

1977 - It was the most-watched prize fight in history, as Muhammad Ali beat Ernie Shavers (in a decision) to claim the heavyweight championship boxing crown. The bout was televised from New York City’s Madison Square Garden and was officiated by the first woman official of a heavyweight title boxing match. Ali “floated like a butterfly ... stung like a bee” before an estimated 70 million viewers -- on NBC-TV.

1982 - 264,000 bottles of Tylenol, the pain reliever, were recalled after a California man was poisoned by a strychnine-laced capsule. Seven people died of cyanide poisoning when they unknowingly ingested Tylenol that had been deliberately tampered with. The killer or killers have never been identified.

1983 - On the Great White Way, A Chorus Line became the longest-running show on Broadway, with performance number 3,389. Grease, the rock ’n’ roll production, had been the previous box-office champ since 1980.

1984 - The lovely Elizabeth Taylor, undergoing rehabilitation at the Betty Ford Clinic and overcoming a nagging weight problem, was voted as the world’s most beautiful woman in a Louis Harris poll released this day.

1986 - Mary Lou Retton, who stunned audiences with perfect 10 scores in the Olympics of 1984, called it quits from the wide world of gymnastics.

1996 - The Nintendo 64 video game system known as the first ‘true’ 64-bit system, hit North American shelves. That first day, Nintendo sold 500,000 systems, with the Mario64 game selling the same with it. Needless to say, Nintendo’s system was a big sucess.

2000 - Movies released in the U.S.: Beautiful, with Minnie Driver, Joey Lauren Adams, Hallie Kate Eisenberg, Kathleen Turner; Best in Show, starring Jennifer Coolidge, John Michael Higgins, Michael Hitch****; The Broken Hearts League, Timothy Olyphant, Zach Braff, Dean Cain, Andrew Keegan; and Remember the Titans, starring Denzel Washington, Will Patton and Wood Harris.

Birthdays
September 29th.

1547 - Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
author: Don Quixote; died Apr 23, 1616

1758 - Horatio Nelson
military: British Navy: Battle of Trafalgar hero; killed during that battle Oct 23, 1805

1904 - Greer Garson
Academy Award-winning actress: Mrs. Miniver [1942]; Sunrise at Campobello, Pride and Prejudice, Little Women, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, The Singing Nun; died Apr 6, 1996

1907 - (Orvon) Gene Autry
‘The Singing Cowboy’: actor: 100+ cowboy westerns; singer: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine, The Death of Mother Jones, You are My Sunshine, Mexicali Rose, Back in the Saddle Again; owner: California Angels, Golden West Broadcasting; CMA Hall of Famer; only person to have 5 Hollywood Walk of Fame stars [film, radio, TV, stage, records]; died Oct 2, 1998

1907 - Richard Harkness
radio/TV journalist: NBC Washington correspondent [1943-1970]; died Feb 16, 1977

1912 - Michelangelo Antonioni
director: Blowup, Zabriskie Point, The Red Desert, The Passenger, Love in the City

1913 - Trevor (Wallace) Howard
actor: Superman: The Movie, Gandhi, Mutiny on the Bounty, Ryan’s Daughter, The Count of Monte Cristo; died Jan 7, 1988

1913 - Stanley Kramer
director: The Defiant Ones, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Inherit the Wind, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Judgment at Nuremberg, Ship of Fools, On the Beach; died Feb 19, 2001

1923 - Bum Phillips
football coach: Houston Oilers

1931 - Anita Ekberg
actress: La Dolce Vita, War and Peace

1935 - Jerry Lee Lewis
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer [1986]: singer: Whole Lot of Shakin’ Going On, Great Balls of Fire, Breathless; cousin of singer Mickey Gilley, and evangelist Jimmy Swaggart

1938 - Mike (Michael Francis) McCormick
baseball: pitcher: NY Giants, SF Giants [all-star: 1960, 1961/Cy Young Award: 1967], Baltimore Orioles, Washington Senators, NY Yankees, KC Royals

1939 - Larry Linville
actor: M*A*S*H, Grandpa Goes to Washington, Blue Movies, Earth Girls Are Easy, West From North Goes South, A Million to Juan, Pressure Point; died Apr 10, 2000

1940 - Mike Eischeid
football: punter: Oakland Raiders Super Bowl II. Minnesota Vikings Super Bowl VIII, IX

1941 - Kermit Zarley
golf: PGA Tour: joined in 1963, Senior PGA Tour: joined in 1992

1942 - Madeline Kahn
Tony Award-winning actress: The Sisters Rosensweig [1993]; Blazing Saddles, Paper Moon, What’s Up, Doc?, High Anxiety, Young Frankenstein, Oh Madeline, Mr. President; died Dec 3, 1999

1942 - Ian McShane
actor: Grand Larceny, Con Man, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Grace Kelly Story, Yesterday’s Hero, The Fifth Musketeer, Code Name: Diamond Head, The Last of Sheila, If It’s Tuesday It Must Be Belgium, Lovejoy, Roots, Dallas, Bare Essence

1943 - Lech Walesa
Nobel Peace prize-winner [1983]: founder of Polish solidarity

1944 - Mike Post
Grammy Award-winning composer, arranger, musician: Classical Gas [1968], The Rockford Files [1975: w/Pete Carpenter], The Theme From Hill Street Blues [1981: w/Larry Carlton], The Theme From L.A. Law [1988]; Emmy Award: Main Title: Murder One [1995]; Baa Baa Black Sheep, CHiPs, The Night Rider, Magnum, P.I., The Greatest American Hero, The A-Team, Hunter, Stingray, Quantum Leap, Doogie Howser, M.D., Silk Stalkings, Martial Law, Sins of the City, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

1946 - Patricia Hodge
actress: The Heat of the Day, The Shell Seekers, Sunset, Diamond’s Edge, Dust to Dust, Betrayal, The Elephant Man, Rumpole of the Bailey

1947 - Altie Taylor
football: Utah State, Detroit Lions

1948 - Mark Farner
musician: guitar: singer: Grand Funk Railroad: We’re an American Band, Walk Like a Man; solo: LP: Mark Farner, No Frills

1948 - Bryant Gumble
TV host: Today [NBC], Real Sports [HBO], Public Eye with Bryant Gumbel [CBS], The Early Show [CBS]; brother of Greg

1949 - Steve (Steven Lee) Busby
baseball: pitcher: KC Royals [all-star: 1974, 1975]

1953 - Warren (Livingston) Cromartie
baseball: Montreal Expos, KC Royals

1956 - Sebastian Coe
runner: world record: 800-meters [1:41.73: June 10, 1981]; eight world records and two Olympic gold medals

1957 - Andrew Dice Clay
actor: The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, Private Resort, Pretty in Pink, Amazon Women on the Moon, Andrew Dice Clay: Banned for Life

1957 - Tim (Timothy Earl) Flannery
baseball: SD Padres [World Series: 1984]

1961 - Tom Sizemore
actor: Pearl Harbor, Guilty by Suspicion, Passenger 57, Striking Distance, Wyatt Earp, Natural Born Killers, Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down

1970 - Emily Lloyd
actress: Under the Hula Moon, Scorchers, A River Runs Through It, In Country, Wish You Were Here.

Chart Toppers
September 29th.

1947 Feudin’ and Fightin’ - Dorothy Shay
I Wish I Didn’t Love You So - Vaughn Monroe
I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now - Perry Como
Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette) - Tex Williams

1955 The Yellow Rose of Texas - Mitch Miller
Love is a Many-Splendored Thing - The Four Aces
Tina Marie - Perry Como
I Don’t Care - Webb Pierce

1963 Blue Velvet - Bobby Vinton
Sally, Go ’Round the Roses - The Jaynetts
Be My Baby - The Ronettes
Abilene - George Hamilton IV

1971 Go Away Little Girl - Donny Osmond
Maggie Mae/Reason to Believe - Rod Stewart
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down - Joan Baez
The Year That Clayton Delaney Died - Tom T. Hall

1979 My Sharona - The Knack
Sad Eyes - Robert John
Rise - Herb Alpert
It Must Be Love - Don Williams

1987 Didn’t We Almost Have It All - Whitney Houston
Here I Go Again - Whitesnake
Lost in Emotion - Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam
Three Time Loser - Dan Seals


Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...

For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will
keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily
on my morning radio show.

All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others
that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the
contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments
about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding.

[ShadowThomas]

273rd day of 2007 - 92 remaining.

Sunday, September 30, 2007
DEATH VALLEY DAYS DAY.

First heard on the NBC Red radio network this day in 1930, Death Valley Days became one of radio’s biggest hits. The 30-minute, Western-adventure series starred Tim Daniel Frawley as the Old Ranger, Harvey Hays as the Old Prospector, John White as the Lonesome Cowboy, Edwin Bruce as Bobby Keen, Robert Haag as Sheriff Mark Chase and Olyn Landick as Cassandra Drinkwater.

The tales heard on Death Valley Days were all based on fact and were human interest stories revolving around the borax mining town of Death Valley, California. The show was created by Ruth Woodman, a script writer for a New York ad agency. She had never seen Death Valley; but had found the vehicle to sell 20-Mule-Team Borax. As time went on, Ms. Woodman did make a trip to Death Valley. She went back again and again after that, digging up facts for her scripts. She even met an honest-to-goodness old ranger, Wash Cahill, who knew everyone and everything about the mining town.

Death Valley Days was renamed Death Valley Sheriff in 1944 and The Sheriff in 1945. And Ruth Woodman continued to write the scripts. She even wrote scripts when Death Valley Days became a TV show. Buy some 20-Mule-Team Borax in commemoration.
More good reading here. Jerry Haendiges Radio Logs. "Death Valley Days" TV-Series 1952-1975 20-Mule-Team Borax.

Events
September 30th.

1641 - Once upon a time, New York and New Jersey were known as the New Netherlands. It was on this day that an ordinance by the authorities of the New Netherlands declared that an annual fair be held at Fort Amsterdam (now, New York City). The ruling actually stated that there would be two fairs, a Cattle Fair on October 15 and a Hog Fair on November 1; and that all who had any thing to buy or sell could attend. Anyone remember seeing a cow or a pig running around NYC lately?

1927 - A record for the most home runs in a season -- 60 -- was set by Babe Ruth. The record stood for 34 years until it was broken by Roger Maris.

1933 - The theme song was Hail, Hail, the Gang’s All Here and it opened the National Barn Dance. The half-hour country music and comedy show, originally heard on WLS, Chicago since 1924, moved to the NBC Blue network this night. National Barn Dance was broadcast from the Eighth Street Theater in Chicago, where the stage was transformed into a hayloft every Saturday night. The host was Joe Kelly. Uncle Ezra was played by Pat Barrett who was known to say, “Give me a toot on the tooter, Tommy,” as he started dancing. A few of the other Barn Dance characters were Arkie, the Arkansas Woodchopper; Pokey Martin; the Hoosier Hotshots; the Prairie Ramblers; cowgirl, Patsy Montana; Pat Buttram; Lulu Belle and the Cumberland Road Runners. Gene Autry and Red Foley were heard early in their careers on National Barn Dance. Although there were plenty of sponsors (Alka Seltzer, One-A-Day vitamins, Phillips Milk of Magnesia), the National Barn Dance was one of the few radio shows to charge admission!

1935 - “Calling all cars...” The Adventures of Dick Tracy came to radio for the first time -- on the Mutual Radio Network. Based on the comic strip created by Chester Gould, the 15-minute adventure show was heard Monday thru Friday at 5:45 p.m. The sponsors were Quaker Puffed Wheat and Quaker Puffed Rice.

1935 - “Summertime ... and the livin’ is easy.” Porgy and Bess was presented for the first time -- at the Colonial Theatre in Boston. It was a flop! (It was revived in 1942. It wasn’t a flop that time. It ran longer than any revival in the history of U.S. musical theater.)

1939 - Captain Midnight was heard on radio for the first time -- on Mutual. The Captain flew his single-engine plane all over the place fighting crime. Talk about a popular show: Ovaltine dropped its sponsorship of Little Orphan Annie to climb on board with Captain Midnight. The show was also sponsored by Skelly Oil.

1941 - The Larry Clinton Orchestra recorded their version of That Solid Old Man, on Bluebird Records.

1947 - “Look sharp ... feel sharp...” The World Series came to television for the first time. The New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers 5-3. The Gillette Safety Razor Company and Ford Motor Company were the sponsors. Together, they paid $65,000 for coverage of the entire series! Announcers: Bob Edge (who also did the razor commercials), Bob Stanton and Bill Slater.

1951 - “Thank you and may God bless.” The Red Skelton Show debuted on NBC-TV (almost 10 years to the day after Red made his radio debut). America’s ‘Clown Prince of Comedy’ was a hit for years on radio and an even bigger one on TV with characters like The Mean Wittle Kid (“I dood it!”), Clem Kadiddlehopper, Sheriff Deadeye, Cauliflower McPugg, Willie Lump-Lump, San Fernando Red, Bolivar Shagnasty and Freddie the Freeloader. Later, he would move to CBS-TV. Overall, The Red Skelton Show remained a fixture on U.S. television for 20 years.

1954 - Julie Andrews, who would later become a household name in movies, TV and on records, opened on Broadway for the first time. The future star of The Sound of Music appeared in The Boy Friend this night.

1955 - James Dean, the brooding film actor who won acclaim in Giant, East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause, died from injuries suffered in a car crash at the intersection of routes 46 and 41, near Cholame, CA, a tiny farm town. Dean, who lived the life of James Stark (his character in Rebel Without a Cause), was killed when his Porsche Spyder ran into another car, head-on at 75 miles an hour. James Dean souvenirs are for sale at the Jack Ranch Cafe, a half-mile west of the crash scene. Located near the cafe is the Dean memorial, financed by Japanese fan Seita Ohnishi. Dean's mechanic, Rolf Wütherich, who was in the Porsche with Dean, was gravely injured, but gradually recovered. Ironically, Wütherich eventually returned to his native (West) Germany and died there in 1981 when his car skidded on a rain-slickened road and struck a tree.

1966 - Nazi war criminals Albert Speer and Baldur von Schirach were freed from Spandau Prison after serving 20 years.

1971 - A nine-member citizens committee was organized to investigate the Attica, New York prison riot earlier in the month. 10 hostages and 32 prisoners were killed in the rioting -- the worst in U.S. history.

1980 - Israel issued new currency. The shekel replaced the pound.

1982 - The gang down at the Boston Beacon Street neighborhood bar called Cheers brought their antics into our homes beginning this night. Cheers was the place “Where Everyone Knows Your Name” as the theme song, written by Judy Hart Angelo and Gary Portnoy, told us. And we got to know everyone’s name like they were family. The original cast included owner/bartender Sam Malone, played by Ted Danson, his helper Ernie ‘Coach Pantusso’ (Nicholas Colasanto), waitresses Diane Chambers (Shelley Long) and Carla Tortelli LeBec (Rhea Perlman), and the regulars -- Norm Peterson (George Wendt) and Cliff Clavin (John Ratzenberger). Cheers, created by Glen and Les Charles and James Burrows, became an American institution and was still the number one TV show when it ended its eleven-year run on August 19, 1993.

1984 - Mike Witt pitched a perfect game. With a final score of 1-0, and a California win over Texas, Witt was the 11th major-league baseball pitcher in 104 years to accomplish this feat.

1984 - Doonesbury, Garry Trudeau’s comic strip, returned after a 20-month hiatus. Trudeau, married to former Today co-host Jane Pauley, revived the sometimes controversial strip by showing how Mike and the gang from Walden Pond “jumped from draft beer and mixers to cocaine and herpes.”

1993 - MS-DOS v6.2 was released by Microsoft. Why? As far as we can tell, it was because I.B.M. had just released their DOS v6.1.

1993 - More than 10,000 people were killed when an earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale, struck southern India. 7,600 people were killed and 130,000 left homeless by the pre-dawn temblor. It was the worst earthquake to hit India in 50 years, flattening 52 villages and damaging hundreds more.

1998 - A U.S. General Accounting Office audit of Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr and his predecessor, Robert Fiske, showed they had spent more than $40 million investigating President Bill Clinton -- from Whitewater to Monica Lewinsky. No matter what we may think of attorneys, we have to admit that they really do know how to spend money...

1999 - German novelist Guenter Grass won the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences credited Grass’ first novel, The Tin Drum, with restoring honor to German literature “after decades of linguistic and moral destruction.”

Birthdays
September 30th.

1861 - William Wrigley Jr.
chewing gum tycoon; died Jan 26, 1932

1905 - Johnny (John Thomas) Allen
baseball: pitcher: NY Yankees [World Series: 1932], Cleveland Indians [all-star: 1938], Brooklyn Dodgers [World Series: 1941], SL Browns, NY Giants; died March 29, 1959

1921 - Deborah Kerr (Trimmer)
actress: The King and I, From Here to Eternity, A Woman of Substance, The Night of the Iguana, Quo Vadis, Tea and Sympathy, Separate Tables

1922 - Oscar Pettiford
musician: bass, cello; played with Charlie Barnet, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Woody Herman, Stan Getz

1924 - Truman (Streckfus) Capote (Persons)
writer: In Cold Blood, Other Voices, Other Rooms, Breakfast at Tiffany’s; actor: Murder by Death; died Aug 25, 1984

1926 - Robin (Evan) Roberts
Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher: Philadelphia Phillies [World Series: 1950/all-star: 1950-1956/Sporting News National League Player of the Year: 1952, 1955], Baltimore Orioles, Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs; won 286 games in 19 seasons, six consecutive 20-victory seasons

1931 - Angie Dickinson (Brown)
actress: Police Woman, Cassie and Company, Wild Palms, Dressed to Kill, Rio Bravo, Ocean’s 11; Hollywood’s Best Legs Award [1962]

1932 - Johnny (John Joseph) Podres
baseball: pitcher: Brooklyn Dodgers [World Series: 1953, 1955], LA Angeles Dodgers [all-star: 1958, 1960, 1962/World Series: 1959, 1963], Detroit Tigers, San Diego Padres

1935 - Jill Corey (Norma Jean Esperanza)
singer: Love Me to Pieces

1935 - Johnny Mathis
singer: Wonderful, Wonderful, It’s Not for Me to Say, Chances Are, Misty, The Twelfth of Never, A Certain Smile, Small World, Gina, What Will Mary Say, Too Much, Too Little, Too Late [w/Deniece Williams], Friends In Love [w/Dionne Warwick]

1942 - Dewey Martin
musician: drums, singer: group: Buffalo Springfield: For What It’s Worth

1943 - Marilyn McCoo (Davis)
singer: group: The Fifth Dimension: Up, Up and Away; Aquarius; solo: One Less Bell to Answer, You Don’t Have to be a Star [w/husband, Billy Davis, Jr.]; TV hostess: Solid Gold [1981-1984, 1986-88]; TV music reporter: Preview

1944 - Jody Powell
journalist; Press Secretary to U.S. President Jimmy Carter

1944 - Austin ‘Red’ Robbins
basketball: Univ. of Tennessee, Philadelphia 76ers

1946 - Sylvia Peterson
singer: group: The Chiffons: Tonight’s the Night, One Fine Day, He’s So Fine, A Love So Fine, I Have a Boyfriend, Sweet Talkin’ Guy

1948 - Andy Maurer
football: guard, tackle: Minnesota Vikings: Super Bowl IX, Denver Broncos: Super Bowl XII

1951 - Catie Ball-Condon
swimmer: Univ. of Florida, U.S. women’s Olympic 400 medley relay [gold medal: 1968]

1953 - Deborah Allen (Thurmond)
singer: Baby I Lied, Take Me in Your Arms and Hold Me [w/Jim Reeves]; songwriter: Don’t Worry ’Bout Me

1953 - Victoria Tennant
actress: Flowers in the Attic, L.A. Story, The Winds of War, War and Remembrance

1954 - Barry Williams (Blenkhorn)
actor: The Brady Bunch, A Very Brady Christmas

1961 - Eric Stoltz
actor: Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Mask, Some Kind of Wonderful, Our Town, Three Sisters, Two Shakespearean Actors, The Importance of Being Ernest, The Glass Menagerie, Pulp Fiction, Once and Again

1961 - Crystal Bernard
actress: Wings, It’s a Living, Happy Days, As Good as Dead, Slumber Party Massacre 2

1962 - Dave Magadan
~ baseball: NY Mets [NLCS: 1988], Seattle Mariners, Florida Marlins, Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs, Oakland Athletics, San Diego Padres.

Chart Toppers
September 30th.

1948 A Tree in the Meadow - Margaret Whiting
It’s Magic - Doris Day
You Call Everybody Darlin’ - Al Trace (vocal: Bob Vincent)
Just a Little Lovin’ (Will Go a Long Way) - Eddy Arnold

1956 Canadian Sunset - Hugo Winterhalter & Eddie Heywood
The Flying Saucer (Parts 1 & 2) - Buchanan & Goodman
Honky Tonk (Parts 1 & 2) - Bill Doggett
Don’t Be Cruel/Hound Dog - Elvis Presley

1964 Oh, Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison
Bread and Butter - The Newbeats
G.T.O. - Ronny & The Daytonas
I Guess I’m Crazy - Jim Reeves

1972 Baby Don’t Get Hooked on Me - Mac Davis
Saturday in the Park - Chicago
Back Stabbers - O’Jays
I Ain’t Never - Mel Tillis

1980 Upside Down - Diana Ross
All Out of Love - Air Supply
Another One Bites the Dust - Queen
Old Flames Can’t Hold a Candle to You - Dolly Parton

1988 Don’t Worry Be Happy - Bobby McFerrin
I’ll Always Love You - Taylor Dayne
Love Bites - Def Leppard
Addicted - Dan Seals


Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...

For those who are reading this, be sure and stop in daily as I will
keep this updated daily. I use to do a, Today in history article daily
on my morning radio show.

All I ask of you, is to not to post in this thread, so that others
that view this thread will not have to scroll down to view the
contents.
You are however, welcomed to PM. me or even start a thread on comments
about, Today in history.
Thanks for your kind, considerate understanding.

[ShadowThomas]

274th day of 2007 - 91 remaining.

Monday, October 1, 2007
VIRTUOSO VLADIMIR DAY.

Destined to become one of the world’s greatest pianists, Vladimir Horowitz was born on this day in 1903 in Kiev, Russia. While most young children were playing games, Vladimir was playing with the ivories. His time was well spent as he was fully capable of performing publicly by the time he was sixteen.

Within four years, the young piano virtuoso was entertaining audiences at recitals throughout Leningrad -- 23 performances in one year, where he played over 200 different works of music, never repeating a composition. After Leningrad, Horowitz played in concerts in Berlin, Hamburg and Paris.

In 1928, the Russian pianist traveled to the United States to play with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. Arturo Toscanini chose Horowitz to perform his first solo with the New York Philharmonic. It was there that Horowitz met his bride-to-be, Toscanini’s daughter, Wanda. The two were wed in Milan in 1933. New York became Horowitz’ permanent home in 1940. He became a U.S. citizen a few years later, devoting the rest of his career to benefit performances, and helping young, aspiring artists.

His return to the concert stage in May of 1965 was a triumphant success, as was his television recital, Vladimir Horowitz at Carnegie Hall.

Just three years before his death, Vladimir Horowitz returned to his homeland to perform once again for the Russian people on April 20, 1986. They felt he had been away far too long ... close to sixty years.
The Vladimir Horowitz Website.

Events
October 1st.

1880 - A new director of the United States Marine Corps Band was named. John Philip Sousa became the band’s 17th leader. In 1888 he composed Semper Fidelis, traditionally known as the official march of the Marine Corps.

1903 - Cy Young played in his (and everyone else’s) first World Series baseball game. The game was held in Boston between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Boston Pilgrims (now the Red Sox). Cy and Boston lost the game; the score was Pittsburgh 7, Boston 3; however, Boston came back to win the series, five games to three.

1908 - Imagine paying just $825 for a new car! That’s what it cost to buy the new Model T which was introduced by Henry Ford.

1928 - Duke Ellington recorded The Mooche on the Okeh label.

1928 - Forever, by Ben Pollack and his band, was recorded on Victor Records. In Pollack’s band were two talented young musicians: Benny Goodman and Jack Teagarden.

1942 - Pop Quiz time: Who was the original host of People Are Funny? Radio and TV fans might say, “Art Linkletter.” They would be wrong. Art Baker was the original host.

1946 - The first baseball play-off game for a league championship featured the St. Louis Cardinals beating the Brooklyn Dodgers, 4-2.

1957 - U.S. B-52 bombers in the Strategic Air Command went on 24-hour alert status because of the perceived threat of an attack from the Soviet Union.

1962 - “From New York ... heeeeeeeeeere’s Johnny!” Ed McMahon introduced the new host of NBC’s Tonight Show for the first time. Johnny Carson entertained late-night America for nearly three decades, give or take 20 years for vacations...

1966 - I Love My Dog was released by Cat Stevens. He was 19 years old. Five years later, he recorded such hits as Wild World, Morning Has Broken, Peace Train and Oh Very Young. By 1979, Cat Stevens [born, Steven Demitri Georgiou], disenchanted with the music business, converted to the Islamic religion and changed his name to Yusef Islam. He may not have liked the music biz anymore but Cat still loves his dog.

1971 - Walt Disney World opened in Orlando, Florida, USA. The opening was planned for October when the crowds were slower. Disney planners wanted everything to move slowly at first, so any problems that sprang up could be fixed with minimal guest inconvenience. The dedication of the park was held on October 25, 1971. Roy O. Disney stood with Mickey Mouse in Town Square and read the dedication plaque: “Walt Disney World is a tribute to the philosophy and life of Walter Elias Disney . . . and to the talents, the dedication, and the loyalty of the entire Disney organization that made Walt Disney's dream come true. May Walt Disney World bring Joy and Inspiration and New Knowledge to all who come to this happy place . . . a Magic Kingdom where the young at heart of all ages can laugh, and play, and learn - together.” Walt Disney World eventually became the world’s largest, man-made, tourist attraction.

1977 - 77,691 fans saw world-famous soccer player Pele in the last game of his career -- at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. He played the first half with the New York Cosmos and the second half with his former team, Santos of Brazil.

1980 - Ladies’ Home Journal startled readers. Robert Redford became the first male to appear alone on the cover. It had taken 97 years for the magazine to change its no-men-on-the-cover policy.

1983 - Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart began a four-week run as the number one single in the U.S. The song, from her Faster Than the Speed of Night album, ran 5 minutes, 36 seconds and it took a day or two to get out of your head after you listened to it...

1987 - An earthquake in Los Angeles (eleven miles southeast of Pasadena) killed eight people and injured 200. The quake caused $358 millon in property damage and measured 5.9 on the Richter scale.

1993 - The hauntingly beautiful (I Know I Got) Skillz, by Shaquille O’Neal, was released. Just a sample: “...I’m big like Gorilla, 6-7, large, I kick rhymes like moduck-kwong you, I smoke-smoke the mic-mic, I Chech and Chong you, you don’t like Shaq, frankly I don't give a damn, I know I got skills man, I know I got skills man...”

1994 - Eric Clapton’s album From the Cradle was number one in the U.S. The rest of the top five for the week: II (Boyz II Men); Rhythm of Love (Anita Baker); The Lion King (soundtrack); Dookie (Green Day).

1996 - Theodore Kaczynski was charged by a U.S. federal grand jury with mailing a bomb that killed advertising executive Thomas Mosser in 1994. Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber, pleaded guilty in January 1998 to mail bombings that killed three people and injured 23. He was sentenced in July 1997 to life without possibility of parole by a federal court in Sacramento, California.

Birthdays
October 1st

1903 - Vladimir Horowitz
concert pianist; died Nov 5, 1989; see Virtuoso Vladimir Day [above]

1909 - Everett Sloane
actor: Citizen Kane, Marjorie Morningstar, The Enforcer; died Aug 6, 1965

1920 - Walter Matthau
Academy Award-winning actor: The Fortune Cookie [1966]; The Odd Couple, Grumpy Old Men, Grumpier Old Men, Dennis the Menace, Kotch, Pete & Tillie, Plaza Suite, The Sunshine Boys, JFK, Fail-Safe, Earthquake; died July 1, 2000

1921 - James Whitmore
actor: Give ’Em Hell Harry, Kiss Me Kate, Oklahoma!, Planet of the Apes, Tora! Tora! Tora!

1924 - Jimmy Carter
39th U.S. President [1977-1981]; married to Rosalynn Smith [three sons, one daughter]; full name: James Earl Carter

1924 - William Rehnquist
U.S. Supreme Court Justice [sworn in Jan 7, 1972], Chief Justice of U.S. Supreme Court [Sep 26, 1986-present]

1925 - Roger Williams (Louis Weertz)
pianist: 18 gold/platinum albums, charted Billboard hits in four different decades: Autumn Leaves, Born Free, The Impossible Dream, Till, Almost Paradise, Two Different Worlds, Near You, Lara’s Theme from Dr. Zhivago, Theme from Somewhere in Time; in October 2000 Williams celebrated his 75th birthday by playing a 12-hour marathon at the opening of Steinway Hall in Phoenix

1926 - Max Morath
musician: piano: wrote, performed on NET: The Ragtime Era, Turn of the Century

1927 - Tom Bosley
actor: Happy Days, Father Dowling Mysteries, Murder, She Wrote, The Dean Martin Show, The Debbie Reynolds Show, Wait Till Your Father Gets Home

1928 - Laurence Harvey (Laruschka Mischa Skikne)
actor: Room at the Top, Butterfield 8, The Manchurian Candidate, Of Human Bondage; died Nov 25, 1973

1928 - George Peppard
actor: The A-Team, Banacek, The Carpetbaggers, The Blue Max, Pork Chop Hill, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, How the West was Won, Night of the Fox, Bang the Drum Slowly, The Executioner; died May 8, 1994

1930 - Philippe Noiret
actor: Il Postino, The Palermo Connection, Cinema Paradiso, The Family, My New Partner, Coup de Torchon, Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?, The Clockmaker, Night Flight from Moscow, Murphy’s War, Topaz, The Day of the Jackal; died Nov 23, 2006

1931 - Frank Gardner
auto racer

1932 - Albert Collins
Grammy Award-winning musician: blues guitarist, songwriter: LP: Showdown! [1985]; LPs: Love Can Be Found Anywhere Even in a Guitar, Ice Pickin’, Frostbite, Frozen Alive!, Don’t Lose Your Cool, Live in Japan, Cold Snap; Blues Hall of Famer [1989]; died Nov 24, 1993

1933 - Richard Harris
actor: Camelot, The Guns of Navarone, Hawaii, A Man Called Horse, Mutiny on the Bounty, Unforgiven; singer: MacArthur Park, Didn’t We; LP: A Tramp Shining

1933 - Richard Harris
actor: Camelot, The Guns of Navarone, Hawaii, A Man Called Horse, Mutiny on the Bounty, Unforgiven, Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets; singer: MacArthur Park, Didn’t We; LP: A Tramp Shining; died Oct 25, 2002

1934 - Chuck (Charles Joseph) Hiller
baseball: SF Giants [World Series: 1962], NY Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates; died Oct 20, 2004

1935 - Julie Andrews (Julia Wells)
Academy Award-winning actress: Mary Poppins [1964]; The Sound of Music, Victor/Victoria, 10, Hawaii; Emmy Award-winner: Victoria Regina: Hallmark Hall of Fame [1961-62]; My Fair Lady, The Boyfriend

1936 - Stella Stevens (Eggleston)
actress: The Poseidon Adventure, Li’l Abner, The Nutty Professor, Flamingo Road, Ben Casey

1939 - George Archer
golf: Masters Champion [1969]

1942 - Herb Fame (Feemster)
singer: Herb of Peaches & Herb: Reunited

1944 - Scott McKenzie (Phillip Blondheim)
singer: San Francisco [Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair], Like an Old Time Movie; co-writer: Kokomo [Beach Boys]

1945 - Rod (Rodney Cline) Carew
Baseball Hall of Famer: Minnesota Twins [Rookie of the Year: 1967/all-star: 1967-1978/Baseball Writers’ Award: 1977], California Angels [all-star: 1979-1984]

1945 - Donny Hathaway
singer: Where is the Love, You’ve Got a Friend, The Closer I Get to You [w/Roberta Flack]; died Jan 13, 1979

1947 - Stephen Collins
actor: Scarlett, A Woman Named Jackie, The Big Picture, Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Brewster’s Millions, Inside the Third Reich, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Promise, All the President’s Men, Nick & Hillary, Tattingers, Tales of the Gold Monkey, Working It Out

1950 - Randy Quaid
actor: The Last Picture Show, Dead Solid Perfect, Days of Thunder, The Paper, Bye Bye Love, Caddyshack 2, National Lampoon’s Vacation, Christmas Vacation, Vegas Vacation, Independence Day

1956 - Vance (Aaron) Law
baseball: Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago White Sox, Montreal Expos, Chicago Cubs [all-star: 1988], Oakland Athletics

1963 - Mark McGwire
baseball: Oakland Athletics, St. Louis Cardinals: Broke Roger Maris’ major-league single-season home-run record [60] Sep 8, 1998, set single-season record in 1998: 70

1968 - Cindy Margolis
model, actress: The Price is Right, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Chairman of the Board, Hollywood Squares, To Tell the Truth, The Cindy Margolis Show; Most Downloaded Woman [Guiness Book of World Records]

Chart Toppers
October 1st.

1949 You’re Breaking My Heart - Vic Damone
Maybe It’s Because - Dick Haymes
Some Enchanted Evening - Perry Como
Slipping Around - Ernest Tubb

1957 Wake Up Little Susie - The Everly Brothers
Honeycomb - Jimmie Rodgers
Chances Are/The Twelfth of Never - Johnny Mathis
My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You - Ray Price

1965 Eve of Destruction - Barry McGuire
Hang on Sloopy - The McCoys
You Were on My Mind - We Five
Is It Really Over? - Jim Reeves

1973 We’re an American Band - Grand Funk
Half-Breed - Cher
Loves Me like a Rock - Paul Simon
Blood Red and Goin’ Down - Tanya Tucker

1981 Endless Love - Diana Ross & Lionel Richie
Queen of Hearts - Juice Newton
Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around - Stevie Nicks with Tom Petty & The
Heartbreakers
Tight Fittin’ Jeans - Conway Twitty

1989 Girl I’m Gonna Miss You - Milli Vanilli
Heaven - Warrant
If I Could Turn Back Time - Cher
Let Me Tell You About Love - The Judds


Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...

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