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Post by pegasus on Sept 21, 2011 12:12:30 GMT -7
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.
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Post by pegasus on Sept 22, 2011 8:18:29 GMT -7
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.
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Post by pegasus on Sept 23, 2011 11:05:00 GMT -7
CHECKERS SPEECH DAY We’re not referring to the game of checkers, here. This is about a dog named Checkers. The dog, a cocker spaniel, belonged to former U.S. Pres. 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.”
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Post by pegasus on Sept 24, 2011 9:47:38 GMT -7
MUPPETEER DAYThere’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 Sept 24th 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, 1990. Jim Henson lives on through his Muppets.
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Post by pegasus on Sept 25, 2011 7:34:08 GMT -7
BABA WAWA DAY Happy Birthday to the woman who can spin circles around just about any other interviewer on television, Barbara Walters, born Sept 25th in 1929. 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, referring to her as Baba Wawa. 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. That was not the end of her career, however. In 1997, Barbara Walters became a co-host of The View, a show she refers to as a forum for women of “different generations, backgrounds, and views,” and of which she is co-executive producer and co-creator. It matters not what you call her, whether Baba Wawa or Barbara Walters, she remains the consummate professional.
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Post by pegasus on Sept 26, 2011 11:14:23 GMT -7
SHAMU DAYShamu was born Sept 26th in 1985 in Orlando, Fla., 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.
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Post by pegasus on Sept 27, 2011 8:07:42 GMT -7
CHOO-CH00 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 the beginning of the trains that could and did. On Sept. 27th in 1825, England’s Stockton and Darlington line opened. It was the first line to have a passenger train pulled along the tracks by a locomotive, the first time an engine -- not a horse -- had accomplished this. (The very first steam-engine locomotive was built by Richard Trevithick, also of England, in 1804.) Several years later, the locomotive, the Rocket, designed by George Stephenson, and his son Robert, with input from Henry Booth of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, won the Rainhill Trials. Rocket, the first truly successful steam locomotive, beat out ten other locomotives and remains the model for most steam locomotives even today. Critics were a little wary of these first iron horses. 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?
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Post by pegasus on Sept 28, 2011 8:38:07 GMT -7
LI'L ABNER DAY The man who created Li’l Abner was born on Sept 28th in 1909 at New Haven, Conn. 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.
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Post by pegasus on Sept 29, 2011 10:42:26 GMT -7
MY FAIR LADY DAYMy Fair Lady closed on Sept. 29th 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, cockney, 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.
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Post by pegasus on Sept 30, 2011 11:45:50 GMT -7
DEATH VALLEY DAYS 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 starring Ronald Reagan. Buy some 20-Mule-Team Borax in commemoration.
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Post by pegasus on Oct 1, 2011 8:10:12 GMT -7
VIRTUOSO VLADIMIR DAY Destined to become one of the world’s greatest pianists, Vladimir Horowitz was born on Oct 1st 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. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * P.S. I was privileged to hear him play in person at a benefit concert for polio victims when I was in my teens. It is one of the most unforgettable memories of my life.
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Post by pegasus on Oct 2, 2011 10:00:26 GMT -7
PEANUTS DAY The renowned comic strip Peanuts, from the pen of cartoonist Charles Schulz, began on Oct 2nd in 1950 in seven U.S. newspapers. The strip, for the United Features Syndicate, had only three characters at its inception: Charlie Brown, Peppermint Patty (Reichardt) and Shermy. The world’s most famous beagle, Snoopy, made his first appearance on October 4th. Later, we were introduced to Linus, Lucy Van Pelt, Sally and Schroeder; and learned that the Peanuts gang came from the California town of Sebastopol, which really exists. Charlie Brown starred in his own Broadway musical, You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, along with the rest of the gang; and in several movies; and in several TV specials. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and A Charlie Brown Christmas are rerun on TV year after year, no doubt attracting new audiences each time around. Snoopy, everyone’s favorite character in the strip, became so famous that the comic strip, although titled, Peanuts, is often referred to as Snoopy. The last Peanuts strip created by Charles Shultz, as he was set to retire, showed Snoopy at his typewriter surrounded by other Peanuts regulars. Snoopy was typing out a “Dear Friends” letter thanking readers: “I have been grateful over the years for the loyalty of our editors and the wonderful support and love expressed to me by fans of the comic strip,” Schulz wrote. “Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy ... how can I ever forget them ... ” It ended with his signature. Charles Shultz died Feb 12, 2000 as the last strip was headed for newsstands. And readers of 2400 newspapers, in 68 countries, who speak in 26 different languages, read their beloved Peanuts through tears that turned to smiles as they recalled the wonderful moments those little children and our favorite dog, Snoopy gave us.
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Post by pegasus on Oct 3, 2011 8:15:34 GMT -7
SHERIFF ANDY DAY Imagine a TV sitcom centering around a sheriff, with plots that contained no crime! No crime, you say? How can that work? Well, CBS-TV figured it out on this night in 1960 when The Andy Griffith Show premiered. Maybe you remember the small town of Mayberry, N.C. with its sheriff, Andy Taylor, played gently and philosophically by Andy Griffith. Andy was a widower with a young son, Opie, played by the now, award-winning, movie director Ron Howard. Other members of the cast of The Andy Griffith Show went on to become celebrated show biz stars, too: Don Knotts who played Andy’s deputy, Barney Fife; and Jim Nabors, the lovable, extremely naive gas station attendant, Gomer Pyle, come to mind. Since there was very little crime in Mayberry, the stories centered around the personal lives of the citizens, mainly that of Sheriff Andy Taylor. The sheriff was so beloved that, although the last show aired in September of 1968, millions of viewers continue to see The Andy Griffith Show in reruns. There’s even a worldwide organization, The Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club (TAGSRWC), 12,000 members strong. It seems that Sheriff Andy may live forever.
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Post by pegasus on Oct 4, 2011 5:15:27 GMT -7
STRATEMEYER DAY And you thought Laura Lee Hope wrote The Bobbsey Twins. Well, yes and no. Hope was the pen name of Edward L. Stratemeyer, born on Oct 4th in 1862. Stratemeyer used over 60 different names to pen over 800 books. Stratemeyer created the Stratemeyer Syndicate in 1906 to produce such popular teenagers’ reading material as The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mystery series. Under the name Arthur Winfield, Stratemeyer penned twenty books from 1899-1917 about the adventures of The Rover Boys, plus forty books centered around the young inventor, Tom Swift. He wrote the first of many Bobbsey Twins stories in 1904. It was titled Merry Days Indoor and Out and featured the adventures of two sets of twins, eight-year-olds, Bert and Nan and four-year-olds, Freddie and Flossie. Thanks go to Mr. Stratemeyer, or whatever his name was, for many hours of great reading for many, many generations of young people. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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Post by pegasus on Oct 5, 2011 6:56:36 GMT -7
TOM DOOLEY DAYimg.bk1.jp/hmvimg/8123/81238117.jpg [/img]This was the day that saw the record charts dominated by a folk song for the first time. It was 1958 and The Kingston Trio scored with "Tom Dooley". The story, told in song, is of an embittered Civil War veteran, Tom Dula. It seems that he had been forced to make a confession just before having to face the gallows, saying that he had killed his girlfriend out of jealousy. Some said he was innocent. The story became a folk song in the 1860s, and The Kingston Trio, a group of clean-cut, shorthaired, button-down shirted, young men, rode the folk revival to fame and fortune with their rendition of "Tom Dooley".
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