Category: Birthdays

Vin Scully is 80 today. Scully started doing Dodger’s broadcasts in Brooklyn in 1950. His current contract runs through the 2008 season.

Diane Ladd is 65. Ladd has appeared in more than 100 films and television programs and has been nominated for the best supporting actress Oscar three times including her portrayal of Flo in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

Garry Shandling is 58.

Don Cheadle is 43. Cheadle was, of course, nominated for the best actor Oscar for his performance in Hotel Rwanda.

Louisa May Alcott was born on this date in 1832. Garrison Keillor has this interesting background on The Writer’s Almanac back in 2003.

It’s the birthday of Louisa May Alcott, born in Germantown, Pennsylvania (1832), but brought up in Concord, Massachusetts, among the Transcendentalists, of which her father was one. She’s remembered now for Little Women (1869), which she found tedious to write. In her journal she wrote, “I plod away, though I don’t enjoy this sort of thing.” She much preferred writing lurid, Gothic stories, about women who sold their souls to the devil, and governesses who looked sweet and innocent by day but who ruined the souls of little children by night. She published these stories under several different pen names. Her publishers offered her more money if she would agree to publish under her own name, but she could not bring herself to embarrass her father and his colleague, Ralph Waldo Emerson. She wrote to a friend, “To have had Mr. Emerson for an intellectual god all one’s life is to be invested with a chain armor of propriety.”

The Library of Congress’s Today in History has a lot about Alcott.

Today is the birthday

… of Barry Gordy. The founder of Motown is 78.

… of Gary Hart, 71. I wonder if he’s still hanging out on the “Monkey Business” with Donna Rice.

… of Randy Newman. The 16-time Oscar nominee (one win) is 64. The win was for “If I Didn’t Have You” from “Monsters, Inc.”

… of Paul Shaffer. “The Letterman Show” band-leader is 58.

… of Ed Harris. The four-time Oscar nominee is 57. Harris has been nominated for three best supporting actor Oscars and once as best actor (for “Pollock”).

… of S. Epatha Merkerson. Lt. Van Buren is 55.

… of Judd Nelson. John Bender of “The Breakfast Club” is 48.

… of Jon Stewart. “The Daily Show” star is 45.

Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg is 50 today.

Bill Nye, the Science Guy, is 52.

Angels manager Mike Scioscia is 49.

Jimi Hendrix might have been 65 today.

Jimi Hendrix expanded the range and vocabulary of the electric guitar into areas no musician had ever ventured before. Many would claim him to be the greatest guitarist ever to pick up the instrument. At the very least his creative drive, technical ability and painterly application of such effects as wah-wah and distortion forever transformed the sound of rock and roll. Hendrix helped usher in the age of psychedelia with his 1967 debut, Are You Experienced?, and the impact of his brief but meteoric career on popular music continues to be felt.

More than any other musician, Jimi Hendrix realized the fullest range of sound that could be obtained from an amplified instrument. Many musical currents came together in his playing. Free jazz, Delta blues, acid rock, hardcore funk, and the songwriting of Bob Dylan and the Beatles all figured as influences. Yet the songs and sounds generated by Hendrix were original, otherworldly and virtually indescribable. In essence, Hendrix channeled the music of the cosmos, anchoring it to the earthy beat of rock and roll.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Buffalo Bob Smith was born 90 years ago today. (He died in 1998.)

The new Howdy, who premiered in March 1948 was an all-American boy with red hair, forty-eight freckles (one for each state in the Union), and a permanent smile. Howdy’s face symbolized the youthful energy of the new medium and appeared on the NBC color test pattern beginning in 1954.

Smith treated the marionettes as if they were real, and as a result, so did the children of America. Among the many unusual marionettes on the show was Phineas T. Bluster, Doodyville’s entrepreneurial mayor. Howdy’s grumpy nemesis, Bluster had eyebrows that shot straight up when he was surprised. Bluster’s naive, high-school-aged accomplice, was Dilly Dally, who wiggled his ears when he was frustrated. Flub-a-dub was a whimsical character who was a combination of eight animals. In Howdy and Me, Smith notes, “Howdy, Mr. Bluster, Dilly, and the Flub-a-Dub gave the impression that they could cut their strings, saunter off the stage, and do as they pleased.”

Although the live characters, particularly the native Americans Chief Thunderthud and Princess Summerfall Winterspring, were by modern standards stereotypical and often clownish, each had a rich heritage interwoven into the stories.

The Museum of Broadcast Communications

NewMexiKen had an appendectomy when I was six. I checked into the hospital Thursday evening for the Friday surgery and so missed that Friday’s episode of “Howdy Doody.” I’m still wondering whether Salami Joe found the jewel in the banana. (He only ate bananas on Fridays.)

Today is the birthday of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee (with Ike) Tina Turner; she’s 68.

The Ike and Tina Turner Revue was one of the highest energy ensembles on the soul circuit in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.

Ike Turner had begun as a bandleader and talent scout in the ‘40s for blues and R&B performers. He recorded “Rocket 88,” considered by many the first rock ‘n’ roll recording, under the name of his baritone sax player, Jackie Brenston, in 1951.

Turner and his band, the Kings of Rhythm, found a young singer named Annie Mae Bullock in 1956. Eventually, the singer was renamed Tina Turner and the two married.

Their first hit, “A Fool in Love,” was recorded in 1961 when another singer failed to show up for a session. After several early ‘60s hit R&B singles, including “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine” in 1961, they became major stars in England.

A 1971 cover version of John Fogerty’s “Proud Mary” reached No. 4 on the pop chart. Ike and Tina divorced in 1976.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

A Fool in Love

John McVie is 62 today. McVie is the Mac in Fleetwood Mac. (Stevie Nicks is 59½ today.)

Despite all the changes, two members have remained constant over the years: drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie, whose surnames provided the group name Fleetwood Mac. Though most rock fans are familiar with the lineup that includes Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks—by far the longest-running edition of the band, responsible for the classic albums Fleetwood Mac and Rumours—the group possesses a rich and storied history that predates those epics.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Gold Dust Woman

Art Shell is 61 today. Shell is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a player and he was the first African-American head coach in modern NFL history.

Hall of Fame pitcher Vernon Louis “Lefty” Gomez was born on this date in 1908. He died in 1989.

“No one hit home runs the way Babe (Ruth) did. They were something special. They were like homing pigeons. The ball would leave the bat, pause briefly, suddenly gain its bearings, then take off for the stands.” Lefty Gomez

“When Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon, he and all the space scientists were puzzled by an unidentifiable white object. I knew immediately what it was. That was a home run ball hit off me in 1933 by Jimmie Foxx.” Lefty Gomez

“I talked to the ball a lot of times in my career. I yelled, ‘Go foul. Go foul.'” Lefty Gomez

Charles M. Schulz was born on this date in 1922. He died in February 2000, the night before his last Sunday strip appeared. Last month John Updike wrote a fascinating review of Schulz and Peanuts, a biography by David Michaelis — Sparky from St. Paul.

Today is the birthday of

… Percy Sledge, 67.

Percy Sledge will forever be associated with “When a Man Loves a Woman,” a pleading, soulful ballad he sang with wrenching, convincing anguish and passion.

Sledge sang all of his songs that way, delivering them in a powerful rush where he quickly changed from soulful belting to quavering, tearful pleas. It was a voice that made him one of the key figures of deep Southern soul during the late ’60s. (VH1.com)

The song was number one for two weeks in 1966.

… Ben Stein, the writer/actor/game show host, is 63.

… John Larroquette, 60.

… Jill Hennessy, 39. The Canadian has a twin sister, also 39 today, named Jacqueline. They once had an act, Jack and Jill. In her first role, Hennessy was billed as Jillian Hennessy.

… Christina Applegate, 36. Ms. Applegate was nominated twice for the Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for appearances on “Friends.” She won in 2003. She first appeared on television in a commercial at age five months.

… Donovan McNabb, just 31.

… Barbara and Jenna Bush, 26.

Andrew Carnegie was born on this date in 1835. He died in 1919.

Until he was a septuagenarian, Andrew Carnegie believed that he was born in 1837. Then on a return visit to his native town in Scotland he learned that the date 1837 in the church records merely meant that the records were commenced in that year, and he was listed as a living child in the first census. He announced his correction of the date of his birth by clicking the news to his brother telegraphers on a miniature telegraph instrument at his plate at the dinner they were giving in his honor, supposing it to be his seventy-first when it was really his seventy-third birthday. (The New York Times)

“The day is not far distant when the man who dies leaving behind him millions of available wealth, which were free for him to administer during life, will pass away ‘unwept, unhonored, and unsung,’ no matter to what use he leaves the dross which he cannot take with him. Of such as these the public verdict will be, ‘The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced.'” Andrew Carnegie (1898)

Karl Benz, the inventor of the gasoline-powered automobile (1885), was born on this date in 1844.

Between 1885 and 1887, three versions of the three-wheeler were designed: the Model 1 which Benz donated to the Deutsches Museum in 1906, the Model 2 which was probably altered and rebuilt several times, and lastly the Model 3 with wood-spoked wheels which Bertha Benz took on the first long-distance journey in 1888.

By 1886 the existing production facilities could no longer cope with the insatiable demand for stationary engines and “Benz & Co. Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik” moved to a larger factory building in Waldhofstrasse in which motor vehicle engines were manufactured until 1908. The appearance in 1890 of new partners, Friedrich von Fischer and Julius Ganß, marked the growth of “Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik” into Germany’s second-largest engine factory. In 1893 Karl Benz introduced the axle-pivot steering system into automobile construction and in 1896 he developed the “contra” engine which was to become the precursor to today’s horizontally opposed piston engine.

Between 1894 and 1901 the Benz “Velo” was built at Benz & Co. It was a reasonably priced, light automobile for two people which signaled the breakthrough to higher sales and, with total production of some 1200 units, can be legitimately described as the first series production car. As the turn of the century approached, Benz & Co. had grown into the world’s leading automotive manufacturer. In 1899 the firm was converted into a joint-stock company. (Mercedes-Benz USA)

Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was born on this date in 1881. He became Pope John XXIII in 1958 (and died in 1963).

Joseph Wood Krutch was born on this date in 1893. He graduated from the University of Tennessee and received an M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia. He became an author and lecturer and was drama critic for The Nation during the years 1924-1952. He wrote two criticially acclaimed biographies, Samuel Johnson (1944) and Henry David Thoreau (1948).

Krutch moved to Tucson in 1952 and turned his focus primarily to nature writing. Among his notable works were The Desert Year, The Voice of the Desert and The Great Chain of Life.

From The Voice of the Desert:

Here in the West, as in the country at large, a war more or less concealed under the guise of a “conflict of interests” rages between the “practical” conservationist and the defenders of the national parks and other public lands; between cattlemen and lumberers on the one hand, and the “sentimentalists” on the other. The pressure to allow the hunter, the rancher, or the woodcutter to invade the public domain is constant and the plea is always that we should “use” what is assumed to be useless unless it is adding to material welfare. But unless somebody teaches love, there can be no ultimate protection to what is lusted after. Without some “love of nature” for itself there is no possibility of solving “the problem of conservation.”

Joe DiMaggio was born on this date in 1914. He died in 1999.

Joe DiMaggio is remembered as one of the game’s most graceful athletes – a “picture player” both at bat and in center field. Many rate his 56-consecutive-game hitting streak in 1941 as the top baseball feat of all time. “The Yankee Clipper” used an unusually wide stance in winning two batting championships and three MVP awards. In 13 seasons he amassed 361 homers, averaged 118 RBI annually and compiled a .325 lifetime batting mark. At baseball’s 1969 Centennial Celebration, he was named the game’s greatest living player.

“Joe DiMaggio was the greatest all-around player I ever saw. His career cannot be summed up in numbers and awards. It might sound corny, but he had a profound and lasting impact on the country.”
— Ted Williams

(Baseball Hall of Fame)

John F. Kennedy Jr. was born on this date in 1960. He died in 1999. The photo was taken on his third birthday.

Today is the birthday

… of William F. Buckley, 82, the founder of the modern conservative movement.

… of Oscar Robertson, 69.

Whenever basketball discussions turn to naming the greatest player in history, Oscar Robertson’s name is always prominently mentioned. Red Auerbach, who coached a slew of Hall of Famers with the Boston Celtics, rates Robertson as the best, most versatile player he has ever seen. Most other basketball experts would agree: the “Big O” could do it all. He was an unstoppable offensive player; one who could score from every spot on the court and in any manner he saw fit. Robertson’s offensive prowess changed the point guard stereotype from simply a passer and “floor general” to a scorer and offensive weapon. Robertson truly had a presence on the court.

A three-time All-State selection at Indianapolis’ Crispus Attucks High School, the “Big O” was heavily recruited and opted to remain close to home at the University of Cincinnati. Robertson’s collegiate career (1957-60) was historic: he established 19 school and 14 NCAA records and led the Bearcats to a 79-9 record and two straight NCAA tournament third place finishes in 1959 and 1960. A three-time College Player of the Year and national scoring leader at Cincinnati, Robertson scored 2,973 points (33.8 ppg), placing him seventh all-time in NCAA history. (Basketball Hall of Fame)

… of Pete Best, 66. Best was the orginal drummer in The Beatles, fired in 1962 to be replaced by Ringo Starr.

… of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Donald ”Duck” Dunn, 66.

The group came together in the early Sixties at Stax Records, a studio and record store on East McLemore Avenue in Memphis. By 1962, guitarist Steve Cropper, organist Booker T. Jones and bassist Lewis Steinberg were established session musicians at Stax. They were joined on a recording date for Billy Lee Riley (of “Flying Saucers Rock ‘n’ Roll” fame) by drummer Al Jackson, with whom Steinberg had played in the house band at Memphis’ Plantation Inn. It was during some down time at the Riley session that this lineup recorded the classic Sixties soul instrumental “Green Onions.” The definitive version of Booker T. and the MGs (which stood for “Memphis Group”) was completed in 1963, when bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn – a former schoolmate and bandmate of Cropper’s who’d been touring with the Mar-Keys, another Stax backup group – replaced Steinberg. This lineup lent instrumental fire and uncluttered rhythmic support to countless soul classics. Particularly fruitful was their relationship with Stax’s biggest star, Otis Redding. In addition to playing on virtually all of his records, the band backed him at his legendary performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 (along with the Mar-Kays), and guitarist Cropper co-wrote his best-known number, “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay.” Cropper also shared writing credits on such soul standards as Wilson Pickett’s “In the Midnight Hour,” Sam and Dave’s “Soul Man,” Eddie Floyd’s “Knock On Wood” and Albert King’s “Born Under a Bad Sign.” (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum)

… of Stanley Livingston, 57. He was Chip, the original third son on My Three Sons. Later Stanley’s brother Barry Livingston played an even younger son (when oldest brother Mike played by Tim Considine left the show).

… of Katherine Heigl, 29. That’s Dr. Isobel “Izzie” Stevens to you. NewMexiKen hopes I never get sick, but if I do I want to go to the hottie doctor hospital.

Also born on November 24th —

Junipero Serra (1713-1784)

“A priest in the Franciscan order of the Catholic Church, Junipero Serra was a driving force in the Spanish conquest and colonization of what is now the state of California.” (PBS – THE WEST)

Zachary Taylor (1784-1850)

Northerners and Southerners disputed sharply whether the territories wrested from Mexico should be opened to slavery, and some Southerners even threatened secession. Standing firm, Zachary Taylor was prepared to hold the Union together by armed force rather than by compromise.

Born in Virginia in 1784, he was taken as an infant to Kentucky and raised on a plantation. He was a career officer in the Army, but his talk was most often of cotton raising. His home was in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and he owned a plantation in Mississippi.

But Taylor did not defend slavery or southern sectionalism; 40 years in the Army made him a strong nationalist.
(The White House)

Taylor’s early death probably delayed New Mexico’s entry into the Union by 62 years. It’s also interesting to compare this Virginian career Army officer’s thinking about the Union to another’s, that is, Robert E. Lee.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901)

Rosa La Rouge – À Montrouge (1886-87). Click to view larger version.

Scott Joplin (1868-1917)

The great Ragtime composer left no sound recordings, but he did make several piano rolls. It’s interesting to hear his tempo.

Dale Carnegie (1888-1955)

“Many people think that if they were only in some other place, or had some other job, they would be happy. Well, that is doubtful. So get as much happiness out of what you are doing as you can and don’t put off being happy until some future date.”

“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”

Today is the birthday

… of U.S. Senator Robert Byrd. The West Virginian is 90.

… of Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer, “who through her magnificent epic writing has — in the words of Alfred Nobel — been of very great benefit to humanity.” She’s 84. The Writer’s Almanac has brief essays on Gordimer and Don DeLillo. He’s 71 today.

…of best supporting actress Oscar-winner Estelle Parsons. She won the award for “Bonnie and Clyde” and was nominated again the following year for “Rachel, Rachel.” She’s 80.

… of actor and “Family Feud” host Richard Dawson. He’s 75.

… of comedian Dick Smothers. The straight man of the duo is 69.

… of U.S. Senator Joe Biden of Delaware. He’s 65.

… of Veronica Hamel of Hill Street Blues. She’s 64.

… of Joe Walsh of The Eagles. He’s 60. Life’s been good to him so far.

… of Bo Derek. She’s 51.

… of Sean Young. Ms. Young won the Razzie for worst actress AND worst supporting actress for “A Kiss Before Dying” (she played twins). She’s been nominated for the award five other times. She’s 48.

… of hottie Nadine Velazquez of “My Name Is Earl.” She’s 29.

Robert F. Kennedy might have been 82 today. He was assassinated at age 42.

Astronomer Edwin Hubble was born on this date in 1889.

During the past 100 years, astronomers have discovered quasars, pulsars, black holes and planets orbiting distant suns. But all these pale next to the discoveries Edwin Hubble made in a few remarkable years in the 1920s. At the time, most of his colleagues believed the Milky Way galaxy, a swirling collection of stars a few hundred thousand light-years across, made up the entire cosmos. But peering deep into space from the chilly summit of Mount Wilson, in Southern California, Hubble realized that the Milky Way is just one of millions of galaxies that dot an incomparably larger setting.

Hubble went on to trump even that achievement by showing that this galaxy-studded cosmos is expanding — inflating majestically like an unimaginably gigantic balloon — a finding that prompted Albert Einstein to acknowledge and retract what he called “the greatest blunder of my life.” Hubble did nothing less, in short, than invent the idea of the universe and then provide the first evidence for the Big Bang theory, which describes the birth and evolution of the universe. He discovered the cosmos, and in doing so founded the science of cosmology.

Source: TIME 100: Edwin Hubble

Today is the birthday

… of Larry King. He’s 74. Before CNN, King was one of the first stars of national talk radio. He left his keys on the table of a fast food restaurant in Crystal City, Virginia, near where I was staying during a business trip in 1983. I noticed the keys and called after him. Only when he thanked me did I hear his voice and know who he was.

… of Dick Cavett. He’s 71.

… of Ted Turner. He’s 69. Turner is America’s largest individual private landowner. Turner owns about 1.8 million acres in 10 states, more than one million of it in New Mexico (though he is not New Mexico’s largest private individual landowner).

… of Calvin Klein. He’s 65.

… of Ahmad Rashad. He was born Bobby Moore 58 years ago. Rashad proposed to Cosby TV mom Phylicia Ayers-Allen on national TV during halftime of a Detroit Lions Thanksgiving Day game. O.J. Simpson was his best man. Rashad and Allen were divorced in 2001.

… of Ann Curry. She’s 51. Daughter of an American father and Japanese mother, Curry was born on Guam and raised in Oregon.

… of Allison Janney. She’s 47. Six Emmy nominations for “West Wing,” four wins.

… of Meg Ryan. She’s 46. Ryan has been nominated for best acting Golden Globes, but no Oscars.

… of Jodie Foster. She’s 45. Nominated for the best actress Oscar three times and best supporting actress once, Foster won for “The Accused” and “Silence of the Lambs.”

Hall of Fame catcher Roy Campanella was born on November 19, 1921.

A star with both the bat and glove, Roy Campanella was agile behind the plate, had a rifle arm and was an expert at handling pitchers. He was named National League MVP three times, including a 1953 selection when he set single-season records for catchers with 41 homers and a National League best 142 RBI. Before signing with the Dodgers, the broad-shouldered receiver starred with the Negro National Leagues’ Baltimore Elite Giants for seven seasons. His career was cut short by a tragic auto accident prior to the 1958 season.

National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

Bandleader and trombonist Tommy Dorsey was born on November 19, 1905.

Though he might have been ranked second at any given moment to Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Glenn Miller, or Harry James, Tommy Dorsey was overall the most popular bandleader of the swing era that lasted from 1935 to 1945. His remarkably melodic trombone playing was the signature sound of his orchestra, but he successfully straddled the hot and sweet styles of swing with a mix of ballads and novelty songs. He provided showcases to vocalists like Frank Sinatra, Dick Haymes, and Jo Stafford, and he employed inventive arrangers such as Sy Oliver and Bill Finegan. [Dorsey] was the biggest-selling artist in the history of RCA Victor Records, one of the major labels, until the arrival of Elvis Presley, who was first given national exposure on the 1950s television show [Tommy Dorsey] hosted with his brother Jimmy.

VH1.com

Evangelist Billy Sunday was born on November 19, 1862. Sunday played professional baseball for the Chicago White Stockings, Pittsburgh Alleghenies and Philadelphia Phillies 1883-1890. Following a conversion in 1886, Sunday became the most influential preacher of the era.

In the early 1900s, Billy Sunday sold what was then a unique brand of muscular, testosterone-laden Christianity.

Today, ministers in some of the country’s largest churches preach in shirtsleeves and talk about God in terms of football or golf. Billy Sunday was one of the first to do this. He was a professional baseball player turned tent preacher who became the richest and most influential preacher of his time.
. . .

Sunday, says Martin, was “one of the most acrobatic evangelists of the age.” One newspaper columnist at the time estimated that Sunday traveled about a mile during each sermon.

NPR : Billy Sunday, Man of God

“I’m against sin. I’ll kick it as long as I’ve got a foot, and I’ll fight it as long as I’ve got a fist. I’ll butt it as long as I’ve got a head. I’ll bite it as long as I’ve got a tooth. And when I’m old and fist less and footless and toothless, I’ll gum it till I go home to Glory and it goes home to perdition!”

Owen Wilson is 39 today. David Ortiz of the Red Sox is just 32.

It’s the birthday of Maggie Gyllenhaal (30), Lisa Bonet (40), and Diana Krall (43).

Burgess Meredith, like Oklahoma and Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, was born 100 years ago today. Meredith was twice nominated for the best supporting actor Oscar — at the age of 68 and 69 — The Day of the Locust and Rocky.

W. C. Handy was born on this date in 1873, the son of former slaves.

I hate to see that evenin’ sun go down,
I hate to see that evenin’ sun go down,
‘Cause my baby has left this town.

If I’m feelin’ tomorrow, just like I feel today,
If I’m feelin’ tomorrow, like I feel today,
I’ll pack my trunk and make my get-away.

St. Louis woman, with all her diamond rings,
Stole that man of mine, by her apron strings;
If it wasn’t for powder, and her store-bought hair,
That man I love wouldn’t’ve gone nowhere!
Nowhere!

W.C. Handy is widely recognized by his self-proclaimed moniker, “Father of the Blues” due to his steadfast and pioneering efforts to document, write and publish blues music and his life-long support of the genre. Although much of his musical taste leaned toward a more sophisticated and polished sound, Handy was among the first to recognize the value of the blues, and Southern black music in general, as an important American legacy. Handy was an accomplished bandleader and songwriter who performed throughout the South before continuing his career in New York. He came across the Delta blues in the late 1890s, and his composition “Memphis Blues,” published in 1912, was the first to include “blues” in the title. Some historians don’t consider “Memphis Blues” to be an actual blues song, however it did influence the creation of other blues tunes, including the historic “Crazy Blues,” which is commonly known as the first blues song to ever be recorded (by Mamie Smith in 1920). A Memphis park was named after Handy in recognition of his contribution to blues and the Blues Foundation recognizes the genre’s achievements annually with the prestigious W.C. Handy award.

The Blues | PBS

NPR told the Handy and St. Louis Blues stories as part of the NPR 100. Click to hear the NPR report, which includes Handy’s own reminiscences and the complete recording of the song by Bessie Smith accompanied by Louis Armstrong, possibly the most influential recording in American music history. (RealPlayer file.)

Judge Wapner is 88 today. Raymond Babbitt sends his greetings.

Ed Asner, who will always be Lou Grant to me, is 78.

Petula Clark will be headed downtown to celebrate her 75th birthday.

When you’re alone
And life is making you lonely
You can always go
Downtown

Sam Waterston is 67.

Our guv, Bill Richardson, is 60 today.

Kevin Eubanks, The Tonight Show bandleader, is 50.

Justice Felix Frankfurter (1882-1965), artist Georgia O’Keefe (1887-1986), Field Marshal Edwin Rommel (1891-1944), Governor (of New York) Averell Harriman (1891-1986), and U.S. Air Force General (and George Wallace running-mate) Curtis LeMay (1906-1990) were all born on this date.

The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum is in Santa Fe. American Masters has a brief biography.

On the 13th of November

… in 1789, Benjamin Franklin wrote, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Franklin died the following year.

… in 1940, the Disney film Fantasia premiered.

… in 1977, the comic strip “Li’l Abner” ended.

… in 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington was dedicated.

Joe Mantegna is 60 today, Chris Noth is 53, Oscar-winner Whoopi Goldberg is 52, Vinny Testaverde is 44, and Jimmy Kimmel is 40.

Louis Brandeis was born on November 13, 1856. He served on the Supreme Court from 1916-1939.

For Brandeis, law was a device to shape social, economic, and political affairs. Law had to operate on the basis of two key assumptions: that the individual was the basic force in society and that the individual had limited capabilities. Brandeis did not seek to coddle the individual; rather, he sought to stretch individual potential to its limit.

Oyez

Today is the birthday

… of Wallace Shawn. The actor-playwright is 64. Inconceivable!

He’s the son of the former New Yorker editor William Shawn, and he’s become well known as a character actor in Hollywood movies such as The Princess Bride (1987) and Clueless (1995). Most people don’t know that he’s also an avant-garde playwright. When he got out of college, a lot of his friends took jobs writing for his father’s magazine, but Shawn supported his playwriting by working as a photocopy clerk. He then got the idea of selling stock in himself, and managed to raise $2,500 from investors, which helped him write his first plays. To this day, he sends all those early investors a small annual check. His early plays were not successes. During his first play, the audience actually shouted for the actors to shut up. But he finally had a breakthrough when he wrote and starred in the movie My Dinner with Andre (1981), which consists entirely of Shawn and the theater director Andre Gregory talking over dinner, but it became a cult classic.

The Writer’s Almanac from American Public Media

… of Brian Hyland. The Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini singer is 64.

… of Booker T. Jones. The organist is 63. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:

Between 1963 and 1968, Booker T. and the MGs appeared on more than 600 Stax/Volt recordings, including classics by such artists as Otis Redding, Eddie Floyd, Rufus Thomas, Carla Thomas, Johnnie Taylor and William Bell. As a result of Stax’s affiliation with Atlantic Records, the group also worked with Wilson Pickett, Sam and Dave, and Albert King. Moreover, Booker T. and the MGs were a successful recording group in their own right, cutting ten albums and fourteen instrumental hits, including “Green Onions,” “Hang ‘Em High,” “Time Is Tight” and “Soul-Limbo.”

… of Neil Young. He’s 62. Again, according to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:

Neil Young is one of rock and roll’s greatest songwriters and performers. In a career that extends back to his mid-Sixties roots as a coffeehouse folkie in his native Canada, this principled and unpredictable maverick has pursued an often winding course across the rock and roll landscape. He’s been a cult hero, a chart-topping rock star, and all things in-between, remaining true to his restless muse all the while. At various times, Young has delved into folk, country, garage-rock and grunge. His biggest album, Harvest (1972) , apotheosized the laid-back singer/songwriter genre he helped invent. By contrast, Rust Never Sleeps (1979), Young’s second-best seller, was a loud, brawling masterpiece whose title track, an homage to Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols, contained the oft-quoted line “Better to burn out than it is to rust.”

… of journalist and author Tracy Kidder, also 62.

… of Megan Mullally. She’s 49.

… of Nadia Comaneci. The perfect 10 is 46.

… of Anne Hathaway, all of 25.

Oscar winner Grace Kelly was born 78 years ago today. Her oscar was for best performance by an actress in The Country Girl (1954).

Three-time Oscar nominee Leonardo DiCaprio is 33.

Calista Flockhart is 43.

Demi Moore is 45.

Jonathan Winters is 82. “If God had really intended man to fly, He’d make it easier to get to the airport.”

The late Kurt Vonnegut Jr. was born on November 11, 1922.

He was captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge and was forced to work in a Dresden factory producing vitamin-enriched malt syrup for pregnant women. He slept in a meat locker three stories underground, and that was the only reason he survived the firebombing on the night of February 13, 1945, when British and American bombers ignited a firestorm that killed almost all the city’s inhabitants in two hours. When they walked outside, Vonnegut and his fellow prisoners were just about the only living people in the city. They were then forced by the Germans to help clean up the bodies.

Vonnegut spent the next two decades writing science fiction, but he knew he wanted to write about his experiences in Dresden, and finally did in his novel Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), about a man named Billy Pilgrim who believes that he experiences the events of his life out of order, including his service during World War II, the firebombing of Dresden, and his kidnapping by aliens. He decides there is no such thing as time, and everything has already happened, so there’s really nothing to worry about.

The Writer’s Almanac from American Public Media

George Patton was born on November 11, 1885. From his New York Times obituary in 1945:

Gen. George Smith Patton Jr. was one of the most brilliant soldiers in American history. Audacious, unorthodox and inspiring, he led his troops to great victories in North Africa, Sicily and on the Western Front. Nazi generals admitted that of all American field commanders he was the one they most feared. To Americans he was a worthy successor of such hardbitten cavalrymen as Philip Sheridan, J. E. B. Stuart and Nathan Bedford Forrest.

His great soldierly qualities were matched by one of the most colorful personalities of his period. About him countless legends clustered–some true, some untrue, but all testifying to the firm hold he had upon the imaginations of his men. He went into action with two pearl-handled revolvers in holsters on his hips. He was the master of an unprintable brand of eloquence, yet at times he coined phrases that will live in the American Army’s traditions.

“We shall attack and attack until we are exhausted, and then we shall attack again,” he told his troops before the initial landings in North Africa, thereby summarizing the military creed that won victory after victory along the long road that led from Casablanca to the heart of Germany.

Today is the birthday of Billy Graham. He’s 89.

Opera star Joan Sutherland is 81.

Johnny Rivers is 65.

Roberta Joan Anderson is 64. We know her as Joni Mitchell.

A consummate artist, Joni Mitchell is an accomplished musician, songwriter, poet and painter. Hailing from Canada, where she performed as a folksinger as far back as 1962, she found her niche on the same Southern California singer/songwriter scene of the late Sixties and early Seventies that germinated such kindred spirits as Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon and Crosby, Stills & Nash. Mitchell’s artistry goes well beyond folksinging to incorporate elements of jazz and classical music. In her own words, “I looked like a folksinger, even though the moment I began to write, my music was not folk music. It was something else that had elements of romantic classicism to it.” Impossible to categorize, Mitchell has doggedly pursued avenues of self-expression, heedless of commercial outcomes. Nonetheless, she managed to connect with a mass audience in the mid-Seventies when a series of albums—Court and Spark (1974, #2), Miles of Aisles (1974, #2), The Hissing of Summer Lawns (1975, #4) and Hejira (1976, #13)-established her as one of that decade’s pre-eminent artists.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Christopher Knight is 50. We know him as Peter Brady.

Herman Mankiewicz was born 110 years ago today. Mankiewicz shared the best writing Oscar for Citizen Kane with Orson Welles.

The screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz—who helped establish rapid-fire dialogue as a hallmark of Hollywood’s early talking pictures—is remembered first for co-authoring the script for Citizen Kane. Although he and director Orson Welles shared writing credit (and with it Kane’s only Academy Award), many film historians today not only give Mankiewicz more credit for the script than Welles did, they give him more credit than they give Welles himself.

Columbia University

Mike Nichols is 76 today. Nichols has been nominated for four best director Oscars, winning for “The Graduate.”

Sally Field is 61. Field has won two best actress Oscars (because the Academy really likes her); one for “Norma Rae” and the other for “Places in the Heart.”

Glenn Frey of The Eagles is 59.

California’s first lady, Maria Shriver, is 52.

Ethan Hawke is 37. Hawke has been nominated for two Oscars, one for supporting actor, “Training Day,” and one for co-writing, “Before Sunset.”

New Yorker founder Harold Ross was born on November 6, 1892.

It’s the birthday of Harold Ross, born in Aspen, Colorado (1892), who founded The New Yorker magazine. He was gap-toothed, his hair was always a mess, and he spoke with a Western twang. He had never finished high school, and people sometimes joked that he’d only read one book in his life. But he had actually started out as a migratory newspaperman, traveling the country and filing hundreds of stories from California and Brooklyn and New Orleans and Panama. He later said of that period in his life, “If I stayed anywhere more than two weeks, I thought I was in a rut.”

He settled in New York after serving in World War I, at a time when the city was suddenly filling up with smart, interesting people in their late twenties, and it occurred to him that there was no national magazine being written for this new generation. All the popular magazines at the time were either too intellectual or too middlebrow. Ross wanted to create a magazine that was funny and entertaining and unpretentious, and the result was The New Yorker, which came out February 21, 1925.

The Writer’s Almanac from American Public Media

Walter “Big Train” Johnson was born 120 years ago today. Johnson was one of the first five players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame — along with Cobb, Ruth, Mathewson and Wagner.

There were no sophisticated measuring devices in the early 1900s, but Walter Johnson’s fastball was considered to be in a class by itself. Using a sweeping sidearm delivery, the Big Train fanned 3,508 over a brilliant 21-year career with the Washington Senators, and his 110 shutouts are more than any pitcher. Despite hurling for losing teams most of his career, he won 417 games – second only to Cy Young on the all-time list – and enjoyed 10 successive seasons of 20 or more victories.

National Baseball Hall of Fame

James Naismith was born on this date in 1861. He’s the guy that created basketball and for whom the basketball hall-of-fame is named — and basketball’s most prestigious trophies. Dr. James Naismith’s 13 Original Rules of Basketball.

John Philip Sousa was born on November 6, 1854.

Sousa said a march ‘should make a man with a wooden leg step out’, and his surely did. However, he was no mere maker of marches, but an exceptionally inventive composer of over two hundred works, including symphonic poems, suites, songs and operettas created for both orchestra and for band. John Philip Sousa personified the innocent energy of turn-of-the-century America and he represented America across the globe. His American tours first brought classical music to hundreds of towns.

Naxos.com

Abraham Lincoln was elected president on this date in 1860.

Today is the birthday

… of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Ike Turner, 76 today. [Tina will be 68 later this month.] A Fool in Love / Proud Mary

… of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Art Garfunkel, 66. Bridge Over Troubled Water

… of Sam Shepard. He’s 64. An inductee as a playwright into the Theatre Hall of Fame, Shepard was also nominated for the best actor Oscar for playing Chuck Yeager in The Right Stuff.

… of Peter Noone (Herman of Herman’s Hermits). He’s 60. No, Peter isn’t in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter

… of Bill Walton, 55. He’s in the Basketball Hall of Fame.

… of football hall-of-famer Kellen Winslow. He’s 50.

… of Bryan Adams, 48.

… of Tatum O’Neal, 44. Miss O’Neal won the best supporting actress Oscar at age 10 for Paper Moon.

Vivien Leigh (who died at age 53) was born on this date in 1913. Miss Leigh was voted best actress twice — for Katie Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind (opposite Clark Gable) and for Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire (opposite Marlon Brando).

Leonard Franklin Slye was born in Cincinnati on this date in 1911. As Roy Rogers he’s an inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame, the only person to be elected twice — as the King of the Cowboys and as a founder of the Sons of the Pioneers (“Tumbling Tumbleweeds,” “Cool Water“). Rogers died in 1998.

The journalist Ida Tarbell was born on this date in 1857.

By the early 1900s, John D. Rockefeller Sr. had finished building his oil empire. For over 30 years, he had applied his uncanny shrewdness, thorough intelligence, and patient vision to the creation of an industrial organization without parallel in the world. The new century found him facing his most formidable rival ever–not another businessman, but a 45-year-old woman determined to prove that Standard Oil had never played fair. The result, Ida Tarbell’s magazine series “The History of the Standard Oil Company,” would not only change the history of journalism, but also the fate of Rockefeller’s empire, shaken by the powerful pen of its most implacable observer.

. . .

“The History of the Standard Oil Company” would be hailed as a landmark in the history of investigative journalism, as well as the most comprehensive study of the building of Rockefeller’s oil empire. In 1999 it was listed number five among the top 100 works of twentieth-century American journalism. …

American Experience

Eugene V. Debs was born on November 5th in 1855.

Labor leader, radical, Socialist, presidential candidate, Eugene Victor Debs was a homegrown American original. He formed the American Railway Union, led the Pullman strike of the 1890’s in which he was jailed, and emerged a dedicated Socialist. An idealistic, impassioned fighter for economic and social justice, he was brilliant, eloquent and eminently human. As a “radical” he fought for women’s suffrage, workmen’s compensation, pensions and social security — all commonplace today. Five times the Socialist candidate for president, his last campaign was run from federal prison where he garnered almost a million votes.

Labor Hall of Fame

Today is the birthday of a bunch of characters. Character-actors, that is.

Doris Roberts is 77. She was Raymond’s mom.

Loretta Swit is 70. She was Major Houlihan.

Art Carney was born on this date in 1918. He’s most famous for playing Ed Norton opposite Jackie Gleason’s Ralph Kramden but he won the Oscar for best actor for Harry and Tonto. Carney died in 2003.

Martin Balsam was born on this date in 1914. Balsam was also a character actor. NewMexiKen’s favorite Balsam roles: Juror #1 in 12 Angry Men, Henry Mendez in Hombre, Mr. Green in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, and his Oscar-winning Arnold Burns (best supporting actor) in A Thousand Clowns. Balsam died in 1996.

It’s also the birthday of Delbert McClinton. He’s 67.

The novelist Charles Frazier is 57 today.

Kathy Griffin is 47.

The Karate Kid, Ralph Macchio, is 46.

And Matthew McConaughey is 38.

The First Lady of the United States, Laura Bush, is 61 today.

And Walter Cronkite is 91.

Will Rogers was born in Oologah, Oklahoma, on this date in 1879.

H.L. Mencken called him “the most dangerous writer alive.” Damon Runyan dubbed him “America’s most complete document.” And Franklin D. Roosevelt credited him with bringing his fellow Americans “back to a sense of proportion.” He was a ranch hand, rodeo rider, vaudeville performer, film star, columnist and author, radio personality, pioneer of aviation, tireless master of ceremonies, friend to presidents, and unofficial ambassador of good will under three administrations. He was Will Rogers, and during his lifetime he was the single most popular and beloved man in America.

American Masters

A little of Rogers’ “cowboy philosophy” —

“A fool and his money are soon elected.”

“I bet after seeing us, George Washington would sue us for calling him ‘father.'”

“There is no credit to being a comedian, when you have the whole government working for you. All you have to do is report the facts. I don’t even have to exaggerate.”

“Everything is changing. People are taking the comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke.”

“I never met a man I didn’t like.”

Rapid Robert is 89 today.

Combining an overpowering fastball with a devastating curve, both of which appeared out of a deceptively high leg kick, Bob Feller dominated the American League in the 1940s. Rapid Robert led the league in wins six times and in strikeouts seven over his 18-year career. He pitched three no-hitters and still holds the major league record, along with Nolan Ryan, of 12 one-hitters.

The winningest pitcher in Cleveland Indians history, his career totals — a 266-162 record and 2,581 strikeouts — would have been considerably higher but for the almost four seasons he spent in the Navy during World War II.

As a teenager appearing in his first exhibition game against major leaguers he was so impressive that Dizzy Dean, when asked to take a photograph with the youngster, responded. “Why ask me? Ask that kid if he’ll pose with me.”

Feller’s fastball was so potent and his curve so unbalancing that he became the featured player in 1940s newsreels demonstrating that a thrown baseball could travel faster than a motorcycle and could be made to curve

ESPN Classic

Michael Dukakis is 74.

Roseanne Barr hits the double-nickel today.

Kate Capshaw is 54.

Photographer Walker Evans was born on November 3rd in 1903.

[B]orn in St. Louis, Missouri (1903), [Evans] wanted to be a writer but suffered from terrible writer’s block. He said, “I wanted so much to write that I couldn’t write a word.” He felt like a failure until one day he picked up a camera and realized that with a camera he didn’t have to create things, he could just capture them. The popular photography of the day was highly stylized, so Evans decided to go in the opposite direction, to take pictures of ordinary, unpretentious things. He said, “If the thing is there, why there it is.”

Evans photographed storefronts and signs with marquee lights, blurred views from speeding trains, old office furniture, and common tools. He took pictures of people in the New York City subways with a camera hidden in his winter coat. He especially loved photographing bedrooms: farmers’ bedrooms, bohemian bedrooms, middle-class bedrooms. He’d photograph what people had on their dressers and in their dresser drawers. In 1933, Evans was given the first one-man photographic exhibition by the new Museum of Modern Art.

In the summer of 1936, he collaborated with the journalist James Agee on a book about tenant farmers Greensboro, Alabama, called Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941), which included Evans’s photographs of the Burroughs family, the Fields family, and the Tingle family at work on their farms and in their homes. Those photos are among the most famous images of the Great Depression.

Walker Evans said, “Stare, pry, listen, eavesdrop. Die knowing something. You are not here long.”

The Writer’s Almanac from American Public Media

Sputnik 2 was launched 50 years ago today. On board was the first animal in space, the dog Laika.

And 61 years ago today Franklin Roosevelt beat Alfred Landon. Landon carried two states, Maine and Vermont.

Today is the birthday of Charlie Daniels. The devil in Georgia is 71.

Actress Jane Alexander is 68 today. Ms. Alexander has four Oscar nominations in her career; two for best actress and two for best supporting actress.

Det. Andy Sipowicz is 63. That’s Dennis Franz.

Bill Gates, the former resident of Albuquerque, is 52 today.

Oscar winner Julia Roberts (Erin Brockovich) is 40. Ms. Roberts was also nominated for best actress for Pretty Woman and best supporting actress for Steel Magnolias.

Joaquin Phoenix, who has already been nominated for a best supporting actor (“Gladiator”) and a leading actor (“Walk the Line”) Oscar, is 33.

Costume designer Edith Head was born on October 24th in 1897. Ms. Head was nominated for 35 Oscars, winning eight.

The developer of the first polio vaccine, Dr. Jonas Salk was born on this date in 1914.

He created the vaccine at the height of a polio epidemic in the mid-1950s, when parents were so worried about their children that they kept them home from swimming pools in the summer. Salk’s discovery was that a vaccine could be developed from a dead virus, and he tested the vaccine on himself, his family, and the staff of his laboratory to prove it was safe. The vaccine was finally released to the public in 1955, and the number of people infected by polio went down from more than 10,000 a year to fewer than 100. Salk was declared a national hero.

The Writer’s Almanac from American Public Media

It’s the birthday of Pat Conroy. The author of The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini is 62 today. Two years ago NewMexiKen relayed a good story about Conroy’s introduction to literature at D.C.’s Gonzaga High School — We should both cherish it.

Today is Pat Sajak’s birthday. His wheel has spun for 61 years.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is 60 today.

And it’s the birthday of Mahalia Jackson, born on this date in 1911 (she died in 1972). As The New York Times noted in Ms. Jackson’s obituary:

“I been ‘buked and I been scorned/ I’m gonna tell my Lord/ When I get home/ Just how long you’ve been treating me wrong,” she sang in a full, rich contralto to the throng of 200,000 people as a preface to Dr. King’s “I’ve got a dream” speech.

The song, which Dr. King had requested, came as much from Miss Jackson’s heart as from her vocal cords. The granddaughter of a slave, she had struggled for years for fulfillment and for unprejudiced recognition of her talent.

She received the latter only belatedly with a Carnegie Hall debut in 1950. Her following, therefore, was largely in the black community, in the churches and among record collectors.

Although Miss Jackson’s medium was the sacred song drawn from the Bible or inspired by it, the words–and the “soul” style in which they were delivered–became metaphors of black protest, Tony Heilbut, author of “The Gospel Sound” and her biographer, said yesterday. Among blacks, he went on, her favorites were “Move On Up a Little Higher,” “Just Over the Hill” and “How I Got Over.”

Singing these and other songs to black audiences, Miss Jackson was a woman on fire, whose combs flew out of her hair as she performed. She moved her listeners to dancing, to shouting, to ecstasy, Mr. Heilbut said. By contrast, he asserted, Miss Jackson’s television style and her conduct before white audiences was far more placid and staid.

Today is the birthday

… of basketball coach Bobby Knight. He’s 67.

… of singer Helen Reddy. “I am woman, hear me roar” is a roaring 66.

… of author Anne Tyler (not to be confused with Ann Taylor). The Pulitzer winner (for Breathing Lessons) is 66.

Early in her career, she decided she did not want to be a public person, so she stopped giving readings and only does occasional interviews in writing. She said, “Any time I talk in public about writing, I end up not able to do any writing. It’s as if some capricious Writing Elf goes into a little sulk whenever I expose him.” Ann Tyler also said, “I want to live other lives. I’ve never quite believed that one chance is all I get. Writing is my way of making other chances. It’s lucky I do it on paper. Probably I would be schizophrenic — and six times divorced — if I weren’t writing.”

The Writer’s Almanac from American Public Media

… of basketball hall-of-famer Dave Cowens. The tenacious Celtic is 59.

… of Nancy Cartwright. The voice of Bart Simpson is 50.

Pablo Picasso was born on this date in 1881.

Charles Edward Coughlin was born on this date in 1891.

One of the first public figures to make effective use of the airwaves, Charles E. Coughlin, was for a time one of the most influential personalities on American radio. At the height of his popularity in the early 1930s, some 30 million listeners tuned in to hear his emotional messages. Many of his speeches were rambling, disorganized, repetitious, and as time went by, they became increasingly full of bigoted rhetoric. But as a champion of the poor, a foe of big business, and a critic of federal indifference in the face of widespread economic distress, he spoke to the hopes and fears of lower-middle class Americans throughout the country. Years later, a supporter remembered the excitement of attending one of his rallies: “When he spoke it was a thrill like Hitler. And the magnetism was uncanny. It was so intoxicating, there’s no use saying what he talked about…”
. . .

In 1927 Coughlin offered the first Catholic services on the radio. They were an immediate success. Part of Coughlin’s appeal can be credited to his understanding of what the American public wanted to hear, but many attributed his popularity in part to the sound of his mellifluous voice. Writer Wallace Stegner described it as a “voice of such mellow richness, such manly, heart-warming confidential intimacy, such emotional and ingratiating charm, that anyone tuning past it almost automatically returned to hear it again.” In the fall of 1930, CBS picked up Coughlin’s radio show, broadcasting it over a national network for the first time. The priest began receiving approximately 80,000 letters a week.
. . .

Although anti-Semitic themes appeared in some of Coughlin’s speeches fairly early in his career, it wasn’t until the late 1930s that the priest’s rhetoric became increasingly filled with attacks on Jews. By 1938, the pages of “Social Justice” were frequently filled with accusations about Jewish control of America’s financial institutions. In the summer of that year, Coughlin published a version of “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” A virulently anti-Semitic piece of propaganda that had originated in Russia at the turn of the century, the “Protocols” accused Jews of planning to seize control of the world. Jewish leaders were shocked by Coughlin’s actions.

The American Experience

NewMexiKen once attended a sermon by Fr. Coughlin. I remember it only that I knew who he’d been thirty years earlier and that it had political undertones. The link above has more details about Coughlin’s career. The Talking History Archive has a Coughlin broadcast. Scroll down the page about 40%.