… of J.D. Salinger. The reclusive author of Catcher in the Rye is 90.
He wanted to be a writer, and his dream was to publish his fiction in The New Yorker, which rejected his work over and over. In November of 1941, he finally got an acceptance letter from The New Yorker for a short story called “Slight Rebellion Off Madison,” about a teenager named Holden Caulfield. It was set to come out in the Christmas issue, but then the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and the story was put on hold. Salinger was drafted into the Army, deployed in the ground force invasion of Normandy, and he was part of the Battle of the Bulge and some of the worst fighting of WWII. When the war ended, Salinger checked into an Army general hospital in Nuremberg, suffering from shell shock. In 1946, The New Yorker finally published “Slight Rebellion Off Madison.” Salinger took the character of Holden Caulfield, and he wrote an entire novel about him. And even though it got mixed reviews and Salinger refused to help with publicity at all, it was a best seller: The Catcher in the Rye (1951). And Salinger became a celebrity, which he hated, so he became a recluse.
… of Frank Langella. The likely Oscar-nominee this year is 71.
… of Country Joe McDonald. Give me an “F”… He’s 67.
… of Grandmaster Flash. The rapper is 51.
Also born on New Year’s Day:
William Fox (of Fox Pictures) in 1879.
“Wild Bill” Donovan in 1883. Donovan directed the American Office of Strategic Service during World War II, precursor to the CIA.
J. Edgar Hoover, in 1895.
Barry Goldwater in 1909.
Betsy Ross was born on this date in 1752, but that was before the British Empire accepted the Gregorian calendar and designated January 1st New Year’s Day.