November 21st is the birthday

… of baseball hall-of-famer Stan Musial. He’s 89. Stan “The Man” graced the first cover ever of “Sports Illustrated” (1954).

24 All-Star Games… Three MVP Awards… 475 Homers… 331 Batting Average… 3,630 Hits… 1,949 Runs Scored… Three World Series Rings… 1,951 RBIs… 3,026 Games… Seven Batting Titles… A Plaque in Cooperstown… Stan-The-Man.com

… of “That Girl” Marlo Thomas, now 72.

… of Malcolm John “Mac” Rebennack, Jr. That’s Dr. John, in the right place, wrong time. He’s 69 today.

… of actress Juliet Mills. Hayley’s older sister is 68. Juliet Mills first appeared in a movie in 1942, when she played an infant.

… basketball hall-of-famer Earl Monroe. The Pearl is 65.

… of writer-director-actor Harold Ramis. He’s 65. Ramis co-wrote the screenplay and directed “Groundhog Day,” enough to make me a fan. He was the doctor in the film.

… of Goldie Hawn. Kate Hudson’s mom is 64.

… of the other Judy Garland daughter, Lorna Luft. She’s 57.

… of the not so desperate Nicollette Sheridan. She’s 46.

… of Björk. She’s 44.

… of football hall-of-famer Troy Aikman. He’s 43.

… of probable future baseball hall-of-famer Ken Griffey Jr. Junior is 40.

Coleman Hawkins was born on this date in 1904.

Hawkins himself didn’t think there was anything outstanding about his Body and Soul saying “it was nothing special, just an encore I use in the clubs to get off the stand. I thought nothing of it and didn’t even bother to listen to it afterwards”. But the solo, two choruses of beautifully conceived and perfecly balanced improvisation, caused an immediate sensation with musicians and the public. It is still the standard to which tenorists aspire. A parallel can be drawn between Hawkins’ Body and Soul and Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Both were brief, lucid, eloquent and timeless masterpieces, yet tossed off by their authors as mere ephemera.

Len Weinstock

Lincoln well knew what he had done at Gettysburg, but it’s a nice analogy even so.