Category: Birthdays

Today is the birthdate of John Caldwell Calhoun, born March 18, 1782, in Abbeville, South Carolina. Calhoun was the 7th Vice President of the United States, serving under both John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. He was the 16th Secretary of State, serving President John Tyler. He was the 10th Secretary of War, serving President James Monroe. He was twice United States Senator. He was a U.S. Representative, 1811-1817. Early in his political career, Calhoun was a nationalist. After 1840, he was an ardent states-rightist. Slavery corrupted Calhoun every bit as much as it did the most brutal slave-trader or overseer.

Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th President of the United States, was born in Caldwell, New Jersey, on this date in 1837. Cleveland was elected in 1884 and 1892. He also had the most popular votes in 1888, but as we know, the winner of the popular vote isn’t always elected. Cleveland was a pro-business Democrat, somewhat a reformer, known for his honesty. Republicans found that Cleveland had fathered a child outside of marriage while a lawyer in Buffalo, New York, a decade earlier. He was greeted with chants “Ma, ma, where’s my pa?” Cleveland admitted he had paid the woman child support (though whether he actually was the father is uncertain). After the election the chant became, “Ma, ma, where’s my pa? Gone to the White House, ha ha ha.”

Neville Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister known for his appeasement of Hitler before World War II, was born on March 18, 1869. Chamberlain, a Conservative, was prime minister from May 1937 to May 1940. He was succeeded by Winston Churchill. The concessions with Hitler were signed at Munich in September 1938. It permitted the German annexation of the Czechoslovakian Sudetenland.

The actor Edward Everett Horton was born on March 18, 1886. Horton’s career lasted from 1906-1970. Primarily a supporting character actor, he was in many films with Fred Astaire. Horton was the narrator of “Fractured Fairy Tales” on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.

Ernest Gallo was born on this date in 1909. With his brother Julio he founded the Gallo Winery in 1933 with $5,900. Ernest Gallo was a billionaire when he died in 2007. His wife of 62 years was Amelia Franzia.

Andy Granatelli is 89 today. Granatelli was a major player in auto racing and CEO of STP.

Charlie Pride is 74.

Wilson Pickett would have been 71 today; he died in 2006.

Wilson Pickett brought the gruff, throaty power of his gospel-trained voice to bear on some of the most incendiary soul music of the Sixties. Some of his best work, including “In the Midnight Hour” and “634-5789,” was cut in the mid-Sixties at Stax studios in Memphis and released on Atlantic Records. Pickett also connected with the crew of house musicians at Muscle Shoals, where, beginning in 1966, he cut such memorable soul smashes as “Land of 1,000 Dances,” “Mustang Sally” and “Funky Broadway.” Pickett enjoyed a steady run of hits on Atlantic, leaving behind a legacy of some of the deepest, funkiest soul music ever to emerge from the South.

Pickett’s forceful style was nurtured in the Baptist choirs of his native Prattville, Alabama, and on the streets of Detroit, where he moved with his family as a teenager.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Ben Cohen of Ben and Jerry’s is 61 today. Queen Latifah (Dana Elaine Owens) is 42.

Hugh Downs is 91. Downs was the host of The Today Show from 1962-1971; before that he was Jack Paar’s sidekick on The Tonight Show from 1957-1962. He also hosted the NBC daytime quiz show Concentration from 1958-1969. That’s right, at one point he was doing all three. And even before all that he was the announcer for Kukla, Fran and Ollie, one of television’s earliest hits beginning on NBC in 1949. And many other shows.

The Bradys’ mom and stepmom, Florence Henderson, is 78.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is 70.

Carl Bernstein of Woodward and Bernstein is 68.

Magician-comedian Teller is 64. Raymond Joseph Teller was his given name, but Teller is now in fact his legal name. He is one of just a few Americans with one name on his passport (according to Wikipedia).

Michael Doucet of Beausoleil is 61.

Meg Tilly is 52.

Actor Vic Morrow was born February 14, 1929. He and two child-actors were killed when a helicopter crashed on them during the filming of Twilight Zone: The Movie in 1982.

The DJ Murray the ‘K’ (Murray Kaufman) was born 90 years ago today (he died in 1982). While at WINS in New York City Kaufman latched onto The Beatles in their first U.S. tour. Later he help establish the Album Rock format at WOR-FM.

Wayne Woodrow “Woody” Hayes was born on Valentine’s Day in 1913. Hayes coached The Ohio State University football team from 1951–1978. During the 1978 Gator Bowl, Hayes punched Clemson’s Charlie Bauman after Bauman intercepted an Ohio State pass. Hayes then abused an official and had to be physically restrained, attacking even his own player. He was ejected from the game and fired the next day.

Jimmy Hoffa was born on February 14, 1913. Hoffa worked for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters from 1932 to 1975; as its president from 1958-1971. In 1964 Hoffa was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment for jury tampering, but pardoned by President Nixon in 1971 after serving 58 months. The Teamsters, who had always endorsed Democratic presidential candidates, endorsed Nixon 1972. Hoffa disappeared in 1975 and was declared legally dead in 1982.

Mel Allen was also born on February 14, 1913, as Melvin Allen Israel.

A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Allen began broadcasting while an undergraduate at the University of Alabama. At the age of 26 he joined the New York Yankees’ broadcasting team, and from 1939 through 1964 was the “Voice of the Yankees.”

Allen gained national acclaim as a broadcaster of numerous World Series and was the longtime voice of baseball’s weekly highlight show This Week in Baseball.

Allen was a dedicated baseball fan whose voice was known to millions. Highly articulate and extremely knowledgeable, he was often more popular than many of the outstanding players he covered. Allen’s broadcasts transcended the drama and excitement of the game in a cultivated, resonant tone that was uniquely his own.

Baseball Hall of Fame 1978 Ford C. Frick Award Winner

Jack Benny was born as Benjamin Kubelsky on this date in 1894. In The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, the entry for The Jack Benny Program on radio runs for eight pages. And then he was on television. Truly one of the great stars of the mid-20th century.

NewMexiKen knows how corny the jokes and skits would sound now — how corny they undoubtedly were then — but tucked among my fond memories is being at my Great Grandmother’s house in Rensselaer, New York, about 60 years ago. I was sick, so stayed home with Gram that Sunday evening while the rest of the family socialized. She had to be in her seventies; I no more than five or six. We listened to The Jack Benny Program on radio. And all I can remember is how hard we laughed. I feel pretty certain the radio audience that Sunday consisted of people my parents and grandparents’ age and they were laughing too. If you know, please tell me a television program today that could as easily amuse four generations.

Happy Saint Valentine’s Day.

In addition to Chuck Yeager, 89 today, and mentioned in previous post, today is the birthday

… of Kim Novak. Madeleine Elster/Judy Barton (Vertigo) and Madge Owens (Picnic) is 79.

… of George Segal. Jack Gallo (Just Shoot Me) and Nick (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) is 78.

… of Carol Lynley. Nonnie Parry (The Poseidon Adventure) and Janet Willard (Blue Denim) is 70.

… of Peter Tork of the Monkees. He’s 70.

… of Elaine Pagels, 69. The Princeton professor (Stanford B.A., Harvard Ph.D.) has written extensively on the Gnostic Gospels.

… of Jerry Springer. He’s 68.

… of Stockard Channing. Abbey Bartlet (West Wing) and Louisa (‘Ouisa’) Kittredge (Six Degrees of Separation) is 68.

… of historian and art historian Simon Schama, 67 today.

… of Mike Krzyzewski. The Duke coach is 65 today.

… of Peter Gabriel. He’s 62.

… of fitness expert Denise Austin, 55.

… of Leslie Feist, 1-2-3-4 … 36 today. She was born in Amherst, Nova Scotia, Canada.

William Shockley, who shared in a Nobel Prize for Physics for his role in creating the transistor, was born on this date in 1910. The transistor is the component on which the electronic age is based — we call them semi-conductors and you’re using a whole lot of them to create this page. Shockley earned even more fame for arguing for genetic differences among races — at one point calling for monetary awards if the “genetically disadvantaged” voluntarily underwent sterilization.

Pauline Frederick, the first woman to be a major correspondent for network news, was born on this date in 1908. (She died in 1990.) Frederick was the first woman to win the Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting.

Grant Wood was born on this date in 1891. That’s his “American Gothic.”

Frank Selvy of Furman scored 100 points in a game against Newberry College 58 years ago today. He’s the only one in NCAA Divison I history to hit triple figures. 41 of 66 field goals and 18 of 22 free throws. Remember, no three point shots then. He tossed up a prayer at the buzzer to get to 100.

The first person to break the sound barrier is 89 today.

Charles Elwood “Chuck” Yeager broke the sound barrier on October 14, 1947, with two ribs broken two nights before in a drunken horseback ride. He reached a speed of 700 miles per hour, or Mach 1.06, at an altitude of 43,000 feet over what is now Edwards Air Force Base, California. The plane, Glamorous Glennis, is hanging from the Air & Space Museum ceiling. Glennis was Mrs. Yeager.

Yeager told his story in Popular Mechanics in 1987. Good reading.

Yeager is the basis for the character played by Sam Shepard in The Right Stuff. Glennis was portrayed by Barbara Hershey.

In his wonderful book The Right Stuff, Tom Wolfe explains that West Virginian Yeager is the reason why all airline pilots talked with a drawl — to be like Yeager, “the most righteous of all the posessors of the right stuff.”

ChuckYeager.com

Yeager is on Twitter — @GenChuckYeager.

But it sure as hell ought to be. Not only “Rhapsody in Blue” (1924), Abraham Lincoln (1809) and Charles Darwin (1809), but it’s the birthday of Bill Russell for heaven’s sake! And Alice Roosevelt! And Omar Bradley!

[Note, I used “heaven” and “hell” in the same short paragraph. And some of you think I am not religious.]

Bill Russell is 78. Back-to-back NCAA championships at the University of San Francisco, 1955-1956 — 55 consecutive wins. Eleven NBA championships with the Celtics in 13 years, 1957-1969 — Russell was the only player there for all 11. Simply the greatest winner in basketball history. (And the best laugh.)

Today is also the birthday

… of Joe Garagiola, 86.

… of author Judy Blume. She was born Judith Sussman 74 years ago today.

… of Ray Manzarek. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee is 73.

The Doors formed in the summer of 1965 around Morrison and Manzarek, who’d met at UCLA’s film school. A year later the group signed with Elektra Records, recording six landmark studio LPs and a live album for the label. They achieved popular success and critical acclaim for their 1967 debut, The Doors (which included their eleven-minute epic “The End” and “Light My Fire,” a Number One hit at the height of the Summer of Love), and all the other albums that followed.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

And it is also the birthday

… of Arsenio Hall, 56.

… of Josh Brolin, 44. I wonder if his stepmom will sing “Happy Birthday” to him.

… of actress Christina Ricci. Wednesday Addams is 32.

… of Jennifer Stone, 19. She’s known to millions of grammar school kids as Harper Finkle, Alex Russo’s best friend.

Lorne Greene (aka Ben Cartwright) was born on this date in 1915.

John L. Lewis was born on February 12, 1880. Lewis was president of the United Mine Workers (UMW), 1920-1960. In the 1930s, with others, he formed the Congress of Industrial Organizations. The CIO lead the unionization of steel, rubber, auto, glass, electrical equipment and meat industries. He withdrew the UMW from the CIO however, supported Wilkie against FDR in 1940, and took his miners out on strike during World War II. He remained popular with miners, of course, but his reputation and that of organized labor suffered. Even so, Lewis was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964.

Alice Roosevelt Longworth, Teddy Roosevelt’s daughter and Speaker of the House Nicholas Longworth’s wife, was born on February 12th in 1884. Ms. Longworth was prominent in Washington until her death in 1980. This despite the fact — or maybe because of it — that her only child was not with her husband, but a result of her affair with Senator William Borah. Embroidered on her sofa pillow was “If you haven’t got anything good to say about anybody, come sit next to me.”

Omar Bradley, the G.I General, was born on this date in 1893.

Except for his original division assignments, Bradley won his wartime advancement on the battlefield, commanding American soldiers in North Africa, Sicily, across the Normandy beaches, and into Germany itself. His understated personal style of command left newsmen with little to write about, especially when they compared him to the more flamboyant among the Allied commanders, but his reputation as a fighter was secure among his peers and particularly with General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander, who considered him indispensable.

Self-effacing and quiet, Bradley showed a concern for the men he led that gave him the reputation as the “soldier’s general.” That same concern made him the ideal choice in 1945 to reinvigorate the Veterans Administration and prepare it to meet the needs of millions of demobilized servicemen. After he left active duty, both political and military leaders continued to seek Bradley’s advice. Perhaps more importantly, he remained in close touch with the Army and served its succeeding generations as the ideal model of a professional soldier.

U.S. Army Center of Military History

And it’s the birthday of artist Thomas Moran, born on this date in 1837. The National Gallery of Art has an outstanding online exhibit on Moran. Click the image for a larger replica of his classic painting “Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.”

Jennifer Anniston is 43 today.

Hank Gathers might have been 45 today. The Loyola Marymount basketball star — he lead the nation in scoring and rebounding 1988-89 with 32.7 points and 13.7 rebounds — collapsed and died on the court during a game in 1990 at age 23.

Sarah Louise Heath Palin is 48 today. I can see her birthday from here.

Sheryl Crow is 50. Fifty.

All I wanna do is have some fun;
I got a feeling I’m not the only one.

Jeb Bush is 59.

Gerry Goffin is 73. With his then wife Carole King, Goffin wrote some great songs — “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” “The Locomotion,” “Don’t Say Nothing About My Baby,” “One Fine Day,” “Up on the Roof.”

Burt Reynolds is 76.

Gene Vincent was born February 11, 1935. He died at age 36.

Though he landed his contract with Capitol Records largely because he sounded like Elvis Presley, Gene Vincent quickly established himself as a rockabilly pioneer and the very personification of rock and roll rebellion. Born Vincent Gene Craddock, he grew up in Norfolk, Virginia, and served in the Korean war as an enlisted navyman until a motorcycle accident resulted in a crippling leg injury. Vincent listened to country music as a youngster and picked up the guitar in his teens, so it was a natural progression for him to embrace rock and roll. A radio station-WCMS in Hampton Roads, Virginia-solicited talent for Country Showtime, a Grande Ol Opry-style showcase aired live from a local theater on Friday evenings, and Vincent showed up. He won a spot owing to his uncanny covers of Elvis Presley songs. He also had a song of his own called “Be-Bop-A-Lula.”

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno is 78 today. He has been in custody since 1990, currently back in Panama.

Tina Louise is 78. Ginger — Ginger! — Seventy. Eight.

Leslie Nielsen was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, 86 years ago today. He died in 2010. The doctor on Airplane! was his first comedy role.

Daniel “Chappie” James Jr. was born on February 11, 1920. In 1975 he became the first African-American four-star general (USAF). James attended Tuskegee Institute and trained the Tuskegee Airmen, but did not fly combat duty himself until Korea. He flew 101 combat missions there.

Eva Gabor, the Gabor sister on Green Acres, was born February 11, 1919. She died in 1995. Eva was the youngest of the Gabor sisters, Zsa Zsa and Magda. Eva was married five times; Zsa Zsa nine; Magda six.

Max Baer, the one-time Heavyweight Champion of the World, was born February 11, 1909. He held the title for 364 days before losing it to the Cinderella Man, James J. Braddock. Baer’s most famous victory was over the German Max Schmeling at Yankee Staduium in 1933. Baer, partly Jewish, wore a Star of David on his trunks.

Thomas Alva Edison was born in Milan, Ohio, on this date in 1847. Edison’s stature has diminished since his death; technology has evolved so much since then. But he was still a hero when he died in 1931. These are the sub-headlines from his obituary in The New York Times:

World Made Over By Edison’s Magic

He Did More Than Any One Man to Put Luxuries Into the Lives of the Masses

Created Millions Of Jobs

Electric Light, the Phonograph, Motion Pictures and Radio Improvements Among Gifts

Lamp Ended “Dark Ages”

He Held the Miracle of Menlo Park, Produced on a Gusty Night 50 Years Ago, His Greatest Work

We think downloading music is sooo modern. But a century ago they brought music to your door.

Edison photo from The American Experience.

Jean Baptiste Charbonneau was born at Fort Mandan in what is now North Dakota on this date in 1805. His mother was Sacagawea. The infant accompanied Lewis and Clark to the Pacific and back 1805-1806. Little Pomp, as he was called, later was raised by Clark and became a successful trapper, scout, prospector and entrepreneur. He died in 1866 after an accident in Oregon. He is the only child ever depicted on U.S. currency (with his mother on that beautiful $1 coin).

Boris Leonidovich Pasternak was born in Moscow on this date in 1890. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958. He declined the Prize because the Soviet government was unhappy with the publication of Doctor Zhivago, smuggled out of the U.S.S.R. and published in 1957.

James Francis Durante was born in Brooklyn on February 10, 1893. Durante was a vaudevillian, singer, comedian, and TV personality in its early years. “Good night, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are.”

Bill Tilden was born in Philadelphia on February 10, 1893. Tilden won won 14 majors including 10 grand slam events and was ranked the number one tennis player in the world for seven years. Tilden’s name is included with Babe Ruth, Howie Morenz, Red Grange, Bobby Jones, and Jack Dempsey as part of the Golden Age of Sport.

Leontyne Price is 85 today. The soprano was the first African-American to become a leading artist at the Metropolitan Opera.

Elaine Lobi (E.L.) Konigsburg is 82 today. She is one of just five American authors to win the Newberry Medal twice, for From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and The View From Saturday.

Roberta Flack is 75. “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and “Killing Me Softly with His Song” won the Record of the Year Grammy back-to-back in 1973 and 1974. She was born in Black Mountain, North Carolina and was raised in Arlington, Virginia. Flack enrolled at Howard University at age 15.

Luis Donaldo Colosio might have been 62 today. He was assassinated at a political rally in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico in 1994 while a candidate for President of Mexico.

Mark Spitz is 62 today. Spitz won seven swimming gold medals at the 1972 Olympics.

Two-time British Open winner Greg Norman is 57 today.

Laura Dern is 45. Dern was nominated for the best actress Oscar for Rambling Rose in 1992. Her mother Diane Ladd played her mother in the film. Ladd was nominated for best supporting actress (her third such nomination). Neither won.

Queen Victoria married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, on February 10th in 1840. Albert died in 1861. Victoria died in 1901. (Victoria and Albert were both born in 1819 — the same midwife assisted at their births, Victoria in London in May and Albert near Coburg, Germany, in August.)

The 25th Amendment was ratified by the essential 38th state (Nevada) and became part of the Constitution on this date in 1967. Quick, what does it say?

Today is the birthday

… of Roger Mudd, 84.

… of Nobel Prize-winner for literature J.M. Coetzee. He’s 72.

… of Carole King. Tonight You’re Mine Completely, You Give Your Love So Sweetly — at 70. Songs she’s written or co-written are listed at CaroleKing.com — there are three pages of titles beginning with A alone, 6 beginning with I.

Lookin’ out on the morning rain
I used to feel uninspired
And when I knew I had to face another day
Lord, it made me feel so tired

Before the day I met you, life was so unkind
But your love was the key to my peace of mind

‘Cause you make me feel
You make me feel
You make me feel like
A natural woman

One fine day
You’ll look at me
And you will know our love was meant to be
One fine day
You’re gonna want me for your girl

Stayed in bed all morning just to pass the time
There’s something wrong here, there can be no denying
One of us is changing
Or maybe we just stopped trying

And it’s too late, baby, now it’s too late
Though we really did try to make it
Something inside has died
And I can’t hide and I just can’t fake it

My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue
An everlasting vision of the ever-changing view
A wondrous, woven magic in bits of blue and gold
A tapestry to feel and see, impossible to hold

That’s her in 2010 in the video below accompanying a friend (of 40 years) on some song she wrote.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=in4o9yJ4GYo

… of Joe Pesci. Tommy DeVito is no longer a “yute,” he’s 69.

… of Barbara Lewis. Baby I’m Yours and I’ll be Yours Until the Stars Fall from the Sky — or until she’s 69.

… of Alice Walker. One assumes her birthday cake is The Color Purple as she turns 68 today.

… of Mia Farrow. The former Mrs. André Previn, Mrs. Frank Sinatra and significant other of Woody Allen is 67.

… of Ciarán Hinds. The actor who played Julius Caesar on Rome is 59 today.

… of Travis Tritt. He’s 49. Here’s A Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares).

… of Julie Warner. Vialula is 47 today.

Bill Veeck, the man who brought a dwarf (Eddie Gaedel) to bat in the major leagues, was born on this date in 1914. Veeck was owner of three different major league franchises (Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Browns and Chicago White Sox) and created many of the publicity innovations we take for granted today. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991.

Country star Ernest Tubb was born in Crisp, Texas, on February 9, 1914.

Honky-tonk singer-songwriter, movie actor, record retailer, a longtime Grand Ole Opry star, and member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, Ernest Dale Tubb was among the most influential and important country performers in history. Throughout his own illustrious fifty-year career he gave numerous younger stars invaluable broadcast and concert exposure.

Country Music Hall of Fame

Dean Rusk, Secretary of State in the Administrations of Kennedy and Johnson, was born February 9, 1909. I met Secretary Rusk at the Johnson Library. Unlike most high-profile board members, Rusk thought meeting the staff was a considerate thing to do.

Mary Margaret Wood was born February 9, 1892. As Peggy Wood she appeared in an early TV series “Mama” and as the head nun in The Sound of Music.

Samuel J. Tilden was born on this date in 1814. Along with Andrew Jackson in 1824 and Albert Gore in 2000, Tilden in 1876 shares the honor of winning the popular vote and having the electoral vote taken from him.

William Henry Harrison, the ninth President of the United States, and the one serving the shortest period of time — just 30 days — was born on February 9th in 1773. Harrison’s grandson, Benjamin, was the 23rd president.

The Beatles first appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show 48 years ago today.

The United States went on year-around Daylight Saving Time, called War Time, on February 9, 1942 (it ended on September 30, 1945).

Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart was born in Salzburg on this date in 1756. Theophilus—or Gottlieb—or Amadé means “loved by God.” As an adult Mozart signed Wolfgang Amadé Mozart or simply Mozart. In the family he was known as Wolfgangerl or Woferl.

The actor James Cromwell is 72. Cromwell was nominated for the best supporting actor Oscar for Babe. So the pig had the lead role?

Mikhail Baryshnikov is 64.

Chief Justice John Roberts is 57 today.

Cris Collinsworth is 53

Keith Olbermann is 53.

Margo Timmins of the Cowboy Junkies is 51. At 29 People thought she was one of the 50 most beautiful.

Peter Fonda’s daughter Bridget is 48.

Patton Oswalt is 43.

Oscar-winner Donna Reed was born in Denison, Iowa, on January 27, 1921. She won for a supporting role in From Here to Eternity.

Donna Reed as Alma: I do mean it when I say I need you. ‘Cause I’m lonely. You think I’m lying, don’t you?
Montgomery Clift as Robert E. Lee “Prew’ Prewitt: Nobody ever lies about being lonely.

1992 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Elmore James was born on January 27th in 1918.

Bluesman Elmore James was inspired by the local performances of Robert Johnson to take up the guitar. It was, in fact, a number by Johnson (“Dust My Broom”) that became James’ signature song and laid the foundation for his recording career. First cut by James in August 1951, “Dust My Broom” contains the strongest example of his stylistic signature: a swooping, full-octave opening figure on slide guitar. His influence went beyond that one riff, however, as he’s been virtually credited with inventing blues rock by virtue of energizing primal riffs with a raw, driving intensity.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Hyman Rickover was born January 27th, 1900.

Rickover underwent submarine training between January and June 1930. His service as head of the Electrical Section in the Bureau of Ships during World War II brought him a Legion of Merit and gave him experience in directing large development programs, choosing talented technical people, and working closely with private industry.

Assigned to the Bureau of Ships in September 1947, Rickover received training in nuclear power at Oak Ridge Tennessee and worked with the bureau to explore the possibility of nuclear ship propulsion.
In February 1949 he received an assignment to the Division of Reactor Development, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and then assumed control of the Navy’s effort as Director of the Naval Reactors Branch in the Bureau of Ships. This twin role enabled him to lead the effort to develop the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine, USS Nautilus (SSN-571). The latter joined the fleet in January 1955.

Promoted to the rank of Vice Admiral by 1958, Rickover exerted tremendous personal influence over the nuclear Navy in both an engineering and cultural sense. His views touched matters of design, propulsion, education, personnel, and professional standards. In every sense, he played the role of father to the nuclear fleet, its officers, and its men.

After sixty-four years of service, Rickover retired from the Navy as a full admiral on 19 January 1982.

Naval History and Heritage Command

Jerome Kern was born on this date in 1885.

… Then he met Oscar Hammerstein II, who became a lifelong friend, and the two collaborated on Show Boat in 1927. This musical gave us the songs “Ol’ Man River” and “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man.” In 1933, Kern and Hammerstein produced Roberta, which included the famous song “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes.”

Kern moved to Hollywood in 1935, and he enjoyed success there. He wrote “The Way You Look Tonight” for the movie Swing Time, and the song won an Academy Award. In 1941, Kern and Hammerstein wrote “The Last Time I Saw Paris” because Paris had just been occupied by Nazi Germany, and that song also won an Academy Award.

The Writer’s Almanac (2008)

Billings Learned Hand was born on this date in 1872.

Learned Hand served as a federal judge longer than any other man—52 years. His opinions were prodigious, totaled more than 2,000, covering every phase of the law from maritime liens to complicated antitrust cases. His tart observations (“Judges can be damned fools like anybody else”) were treasured. On the bench. Judge Hand was a formidable figure, a stocky man with the broad shoulders of his Kentish forebears, glittering eyes under dense brows, and craggy features that might have been carved by Gutzon Berglum. Intolerant of lawyers who strayed from the point or became too verbose. Judge Hand sent wayward attorneys scampering back to the facts with an acid query—”May I inquire, sir, what are you trying to tell us?”—or just a furious “Rubbish!”‘ Once, confronting the ferocious old judge at a Yale Law School moot court, a terrified student fainted dead away.

In writing his decisions. Hand followed the meticulous painstaking procedure that he demanded in his court. He invariably wrote three or four drafts of every opinion in longhand on yellow foolscap before the language and reasoning finally satisfied him. His opinions cut to the marrow of the issue and proceeded eloquently but rapidly to the point. Hand’s famed 28-page opinion on United States v. Aluminum Co. of America, in which he ruled that “good” monopolies had no more legality than “bad” monopolies, was distilled from 40,000 pages and four years of testimony, has been a model for every subsequent antitrust suit.

Above from Time obituary, 1961.

Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albrecht von Preußen was born on this date in 1859. His mother was Victoria, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom, and his father was Prince Frederick Wilhelm of Prussia. He was the first grandchild of Queen Victoria. Wilhelm became King of Prussia and German Emperor in 1888. He abdicated in November 1918, but lived until 1941.

And he would become two-thirds of a tweed-wearing Englishman when he was in England. Then he’d go back to Berlin and he’d become a Prussian prince dressing up in German uniforms – eventually a German emperor, with even more uniforms. He had this really split personality. But the interesting and most important thing for European diplomacy and the future of the continent – which was going to lead up to the First World War – was Wilhelm’s admiration and envy of the British navy. He was from an almost landlocked country, which didn’t have and didn’t need a navy and yet he was taught to love the sea and ships.

Robert K. Massie

________

“He was a symbol of a political system that was out of control. There was no one authority that actually could operate, even though the law said that he was it. So, when the time came for major decisions to make, you both have a vision that the Kaiser’s hysterical, and that he makes the decisions.

“The answer is probably both, and neither, because the real core of the German Empire is the army and the navy. They run the show before the First World War behind the scenes. They run it during the war from the Front.”

Jay Winter

Edward Smith, the captain of the RMS Titanic, was born on this date in 1850. He went down with his ship on April 15, 1912.

Samuel Gompers was born in London in 1850 and came to New York in 1863.

Samuel Gompers was the first and longest-serving president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL); it is to him, as much as to anyone else, that the American labor movement owes its structure and characteristic strategies. Under his leadership, the AFL became the largest and most influential labor federation in the world. It grew from a marginal association of 50,000 in 1886 to an established organization of nearly 3 million in 1924 that had won a permanent place in American society. In a society renowned for its individualism and the power of its employer class, he forged a self-confident workers’ organization dedicated to the principles of solidarity and mutual aid. It was a singular achievement.
. . .

As a local and national labor leader, Gompers sought to build the labor movement into a force powerful enough to transform the economic, social and political status of America’s workers. To do so, he championed three principles. First, he advocated craft or trades unionism, which restricted union membership to wage earners and grouped workers into locals based on their trade or craft identification. This approach contrasted with the effort of many in the Knights of Labor to organize general, community-based organizations open to wage earners as well as others, including employers. It also contrasted sharply with the “one big union” philosophy of the Industrial Workers of the World.

Second, Gompers believed in a pure-and-simple unionism that focused primarily on economic rather than political reform as the best way of securing workers’ rights and welfare. Gompers’s faith in legislative reform was dashed in the 1880s after the New York Supreme Court overturned two laws regulating tenement production of cigars that he had helped pass. Gompers saw that what the state gave, it could also take away. But what workers secured through their own economic power in the marketplace, no one could take away.

Third, when political action was necessary, as Gompers increasingly came to believe in his later years, he urged labor to follow a course of “political nonpartisanship.” He argued that the best way of enhancing the political leverage of labor was to articulate an independent political agenda, seek the endorsement of existing political parties for the agenda and mobilize members to vote for those supporting labor’s agenda.

AFL-CIO

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was born January 27, 1832. We know him as Lewis Carroll.

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where—” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

John Chivington was born on this date in 1821.

The hero of Glorietta Pass and the butcher of Sand Creek, John M. Chivington stands out as one of the most controversial figures in the history of the American West.
. . .

When the Civil War broke out, Colorado’s territorial governor, William Gilpin, offered Chivington a commission as a chaplain, but he declined the “praying” commission and asked for a “fighting” position instead. In 1862, Chivington, by that point a Major in the first Colorado Volunteer Regiment, played a critical role in defeating confederate forces at Glorietta Pass in eastern New Mexico, where his troops rapelled down the canyon walls in a surprise attack on the enemy’s supply train. He was widely hailed as a military hero.
. . .

A month later, while addressing a gathering of church deacons, he dismissed the possibility of making a treaty with the Cheyenne: “It simply is not possible for Indians to obey or even understand any treaty. I am fully satisfied, gentlemen, that to kill them is the only way we will ever have peace and quiet in Colorado.”

Several months later, Chivington made good on his genocidal promise. During the early morning hours of November 29, 1864, he led a regiment of Colorado Volunteers to the Cheyenne’s Sand Creek reservation, where a band led by Black Kettle, a well-known “peace” chief, was encamped. Federal army officers had promised Black Kettle safety if he would return to the reservation, and he was in fact flying the American flag and a white flag of truce over his lodge, but Chivington ordered an attack on the unsuspecting village nonetheless. After hours of fighting, the Colorado volunteers had lost only 9 men in the process of murdering between 200 and 400 Cheyenne, most of them women and children. After the slaughter, they scalped and sexually mutilated many of the bodies, later exhibiting their trophies to cheering crowds in Denver.

PBS – The West

Cartoonist Jules Feiffer is 83 today.

Bob Uecker is 77. Uecker received the Baseball Hall of Fame Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasters in 2003.

College of William and Mary alum Scott Glenn is 71 today.

Activist, author Angela Davis is 68.

Oscar nominee David Strathairn is 63.

Lucinda Williams is 59.

Eddie Van Halen is 57.

Ellen DeGeneres is 54.

Wayne Gretzky, the Great One, is 51. Gretsky’s number, 99, was retired by the league!

Paul Newman was born 87 years ago today. Newman was nominated for the Best Actor in a Leading Role Oscar eight times, winning for The Color of Money in 1986, but not for Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, The Hustler, Hud, Cool Hand Luke, Absence of Malice, The Verdict, or Nobody’s Fool. He was also nominated for the Best Supporting Actor for Road to Perdition at age 78.

Akio Morita was born on January 26th in 1921. He was the co-founder of Sony.

Jimmy Van Heusen was born 99 years ago today. He won four Oscars for best song: with lyricist Johnny Burke, “Swinging on a Star” and with lyricist Sammy Cahn, “All the Way,” “High Hopes” and “Call Me Irresponsible.”

Maria Augusta Kutschera was born on this date in 1905. In 1927 she married George Ludwig von Trapp. Documentation indicates she was in her six month when they married. I don’t remember that part in the movie. (In addition to his seven children, they had three.)

The actor Charles Lane was born on this date in 1905 — he lived until 2007. Lane has 359 credits at IMDb. Three. Hundred. Fifty. Nine. His last was at age 101, 75 years after his first.

The most overrated — especially by himself — person in American history was born on this date in 1880. That’s Douglas MacArthur.

Julia Morgan was born in San Francisco on January 26, 1872.

Miss Morgan was one of the first women to graduate from University of California at Berkeley with a degree in civil engineering. During her tenure at Berkeley, Morgan developed a keen interest in architecture which is thought to have been fostered by her mother’s cousin, Pierre Le Brun, who designed the Metropolitan Life Insurance Tower in New York City. At Berkeley one of her instructors, Bernard Maybeck, encouraged her to pursue her architectural studies in Paris at the Ecole Nationale et Speciale des Beaux-Arts.

Arriving in Paris in 1896, she was initially refused admission because the Ecole had never before admitted a woman. After a two-year wait, Julia Morgan gained entrance to the prestigious program and became the first woman to receive a certificate in architecture. While in Paris, Morgan also found a mentor in her professor, Bernard Chaussemiche, for whom she worked as a drafter.

Soon after her graduation from the Ecole, Julia Morgan returned to her native San Francisco and began working for architect John Galen Howard. At the time Howard was the supervising architect of the University of California’s Master Plan, the commission of which he won by default from Phoebe Apperson Hearst. Morgan worked on the Master Plan drawing the elevations and designing the decorative details for the Mining Building built in memory of George Hearst. During this time Morgan also designed the Hearst Greek Theater on the Berkeley campus.
…

Over the course of the next 28 years, Morgan supervised nearly every aspect of construction at Hearst Castle including the purchase of everything from Spanish antiquities to Icelandic Moss to reindeer for the Castle’s zoo. She personally designed most of the structures, grounds, pools, animal shelters and workers’ camp down to the minutest detail. Additionally, Morgan worked closely with Hearst to integrate his vast art collection into the structures and grounds at San Simeon. She also worked on projects for Hearst’s other properties including Jolon, Wyntoon, Babicore, the “Hopi” residence at the Grand Canyon, the Phoebe Apperson Hearst Memorial Gymnasium at Berkeley, the Los Angeles Examiner Building, several of his Beverly Hills residences and Marion Davies’ beach house in Santa Monica.

Hearst Castle

Take a look.

52 years ago today Danny Heater scored 135 points for Burnsville (West Virginia) High School (against Widen HS). It is still the record by one player in any sanctioned game at any level. He had 50 at the half. He was 53 for 70 from the field (all two pointers, of course) and 29 of 41 from the line. He also had 32 rebounds and 7 assists (assists?). He was just 6-feet-0.

Etta James would have been 74 today.

Dean Jones is 81. Herbie’s co-star in The Love Bug.

Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Carl Eller is 70 today.

In 1964, Carl Eller, a consensus All-America with the University of Minnesota, was a first-round draft pick of both the National Football League’s Minnesota Vikings and the Buffalo Bills of the then-rival American Football League. A 6-6, 247-pound defensive stalwart, Eller opted to stay in a familiar environment and signed with the Vikings. For the next 15 years through 1978, he was a fixture in one of pro footballs most effective defensive alignments. He finished his career with one final season with the Seattle Seahawks in 1979, having played in 225 regular season games.

Pro Football Hall of Fame

Alicia Keys is 31.

One of the most important songwriters of the 20th century, Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim was born on January 25, 1927. The Brazilian was the primary force behind bossa nova and was especially influential in the U.S., most notably for “The Girl from Ipanema (Garota de Ipanema)” which he composed. Others include “Corcovado” (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars), “Desafinado” (Slightly Out of Tune) and “Samba de Uma Nota Só” (One Note Samba). Jobim died in 1994.

Pro Football Hall of Fame member Lou Groza was born on January 25, 1924. He played for Ohio State and the Cleveland Browns (1946-1959, 1961-1967). How good was Groza? The award for best college place kicker each years is the Lou Groza Award. Groza died in 2000.

William Earnest “Ernie” Harwell was born 94 years ago today. Harwell broadcast baseball games from 1948-2002, primarily in Detroit (1960-1991, 1993-2002). For decades he was one of the best things about Detroit. Harwell died in 2010. In 1981, Harwell, was recipient of the Baseball Hall of Fame’s Ford C. Frick Award, just the fifth announcer so honored.

Harwell made his major league debut in 1948 after becoming the only broadcaster who ever figured in a baseball trade. Earl Mann, President of the Atlanta Crackers, agreed to let him go to Brooklyn if Branch Rickey would send Montreal catcher Cliff Dapper to Atlanta to manage the club. Harwell also worked for the New York Giants and for the Baltimore Orioles before coming to Detroit in 1960. . . .

Baseball Hall of Fame

Virginia Woolf was born Adeline Virginia Stephen on January 25th in 1882. She married Leonard Woolf in 1912.

I feel certain that I am going mad again. I feel we can’t go through another of those terrible times. And I shan’t recover this time. I begin to hear voices, and I can’t concentrate. So I am doing what seems the best thing to do. You have given me the greatest possible happiness. You have been in every way all that anyone could be. I don’t think two people could have been happier ’til this terrible disease came. I can’t fight any longer. I know that I am spoiling your life, that without me you could work. And you will I know. You see I can’t even write this properly. I can’t read. What I want to say is I owe all the happiness of my life to you. You have been entirely patient with me and incredibly good. I want to say that – everybody knows it. If anybody could have saved me it would have been you. Everything has gone from me but the certainty of your goodness. I can’t go on spoiling your life any longer. I don’t think two people could have been happier than we have been. V.

Woolf’s note to her husband just before she drowned herself in 1941.

Charles Curtis was born in Kansas on this date in 1860. Curtis was the 31st vice president of the United States, serving under President Herbert Hoover, 1929-1933. Curtis is the first person with non-European ancestry to ever serve as President or Vice President. His mother was part Kansa or Kaw, Osage and Potawatomi and part French. Curtis had a one-eighth Indian blood quantum.

George Edward Pickett was born on this date in 1825. He was 59th out of 59 in the Class of 1846 class at West Point, but was a hero at the Battle of Chapultepec in September 1847. On July 3, 1863, Maj. Gen. Pickett was one of three Confederate generals under Gen. James Longstreet who led their men against the Union forces on Cemetery Ridge outside Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Pickett’s division suffered over 50% casualties. All three of Pickett’s brigade commanders and all 13 of his regimental commanders were casualties. Pickett himself lived until 1875.

Robert Burns was born on this date 252 years ago.

The wintry west extends his blast,
And hail and rain does blaw;
Or the stormy north sends driving forth
The blinding sleet and snaw:
While, tumbling brown, the burn comes down,
And roars frae bank to brae;
And bird and beast in covert rest,
And pass the heartless day.

“The sweeping blast, the sky o’ercast,”
The joyless winter day
Let others fear, to me more dear
Than all the pride of May:
The tempest’s howl, it soothes my soul,
My griefs it seems to join;
The leafless trees my fancy please,
Their fate resembles mine!

Thou Power Supreme, whose mighty scheme
These woes of mine fulfil,
Here firm I rest; they must be best,
Because they are Thy will!
Then all I want-O do Thou grant
This one request of mine!-
Since to enjoy Thou dost deny,
Assist me to resign.

And Happy Birthday to you, Rob.

Oscar-winner Ernest Borgnine is 95 today. Borgnine won the best actor Oscar in 1956 for the lead in Marty. The film also won best picture, director and screenplay (Paddy Chayefsky). Borgnine is however, perhaps best known as Lieutenant Commander Quinton McHale of the sitcom McHale’s Navy.

Jerry Maren is 92 today. Maren was the center member of the Lollipop Guild in The Wizard of Oz.

Prima ballerina Maria Tallchief is 87. The Oklahoma native danced with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and New York City Ballet. Her father was chief of the Osage Nation.

Neil Diamond is 71.

Neil Diamond is among the greatest pop songwriters of the modern age. He is among the top-grossing performers and best-selling recording artists of all time. Diamond’s prolific half-century as a professional musician has yielded one of the most enduring catalogs in American popular music.

To date he has placed 56 singles in Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart and 48 albums (including compilations) on its Top 200 album chart. He has sold more than 125 million records and set attendance records at venues all over the world.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Aaron Neville will have to “Tell It Like It Is” today. It is 71.

Mary Lou Retton is 44. Ed Helms is 38. Mischa Barton is 26.

Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Edith Wharton was born on January 24th in 1862. She won for The Age of Innocence, published in 1920.

The director Henry King was born on January 24, 1886. He was one of the 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, but never won an Oscar. He was nominated twice, for Wilson and The Song of Bernadette.

John Belushi should have been 63 today. Warren Zevon would have been 65.

Gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill on this date in 1848.

Richard Henry Lee was born on January 20, 1732. It was Lee who made the motion in the Second Continental Congress on June 7, 1776, calling for the Congress to declare independence from Great Britain.

Resolved: That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.

In August Lee signed the Declaration of Independence that had followed from his motion. He was the great-uncle of Robert E. Lee.

Nathan Birnbaum was born in New York City on January 20, 1896. He lived to be 100. As George Burns, his career spanned vaudeville, film, radio, television and movies. He met Gracie Allen in 1923 and as Burns put it: “”And all of a sudden the audience realized I had a talent. They were right. I did have a talent — and I was married to her for 38 years.” Burns and Allen began on radio in 1932, first on CBS, then on NBC, then back on CBS. They began on CBS TV in 1950 and lasted until 1958, when Allen retired. After some false starts on TV, Burns appeared in The Sunshine Boys with Walter Matthau (1975) and even more successfully in the title role of Oh, God! with John Denver in 1977. Burns won the Oscar for best supporting Oscar. He was 82.

Dr. “Bones” McCoy was born Jackson DeForest Kelly on January 20, 1920. He died in 1999.

Ray Anthony is 90 today. He was born Raymond Antonini. Anthony was a big band leader in the 1950s, well after the big band era had ended. Nonetheless, the Ray Anthony Orchestra had a few hits in the early fifties including the theme from the popular TV series Dragnet. I once saw Anthony live in a Detroit record store. I was 12 and it didn’t leave an impression. I was with my mom though and it left an impression on her. Anthony was very good looking.

Oscar-winner for best actress for Hud, Patricia Neal was born on January 20, 1926. She died in 2010. Neal is still known as the widow in The Day the Earth Stood Still, the matron in Breakfast at Tiffany’s and as the mother of the Walton brood in The Homecoming, the made-for-television movie (not the TV series). Ms. Neal had three burst cerebral aneurysms in 1965 (she was in a coma for three weeks); she had to turn down the role of Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate. Neal had an affair (and an aborted pregnancy) with married Gary Cooper when he was 46 and she was 21. She married Roald Dahl (1953-1983) and had five children.

Frank Kush, the football coach at Arizona State University 1958-1979 is 83 today. God, how I hated that man.

“Verrrry interesting, but …” Arte Johnson is 83 today.

The second man on the Moon, Edwin Eugene “Buzz” Aldrin, is 82 today.

Director David Lynch is 66.

Bill Maher is 56.

Rainn Wilson is 46.

Today is the birthday of Robert E. Lee and Edgar Allan Poe, mentioned in earlier posts. It is also the birthday

… of Jean Stapleton. Edith Bunker is 89. She won three Emmys and two Golden Globes in that role.

… of Tippi Hedren. The actress in Hitchcock’s The Birds is 82. She is Melanie Griffith’s mom.

… of Robert MacNeil. The newscaster, born in Montreal, is 81.

… of Phil Everly. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee (with older brother Don) is 73.

The gentle, silken harmonies of the Everly Brothers were one of the musical treasures of the 1950s and a major influence on the music of the 1960s. The duo of Don and Phil Everly drew upon Appalachian folk, bluegrass and country to craft a dreamy, innocent style of rock and roll. Their father, Ike Everly, was an accomplished guitarist. He and his wife Margaret had their sons performing regularly on their live radio show before they had reached their teens. With Don taking the melody and Phil harmonizing above him, the Everlys sang with flawless precision. Over the decades, the Everlys’ close-harmony style served to influence the likes of the Beatles, the Hollies, Simon and Garfunkel and the Byrds. The Everly Brothers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

… of Shelley Fabares. Donna Reed’s television daughter is 68.

… of Dolly Parton. She’s 66.

With their strong feminine stances in the 1960s and 1970s, Dolly Rebecca Parton, along with fellow female pioneers Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette, revolutionized the world of country music for women performers. Then Parton took her crusade a step farther by crossing over to the pop world—landing on the cover of Rolling Stone, achieving pop hits, and starring in a series of Hollywood movies. Along the way, however, she ultimately lost much of her core country audience, to the point that in 1997 she dissolved her fan club, which had been one of the staunchest in country music. But Parton’s career—and her appeal to fans of hard country—was far from over. Beginning in 1999 she returned to the music of her youth and began rebuilding a tradition-minded fan base with a series of critically acclaimed bluegrass albums.

Country Music Hall of Fame

… of recently in the news Paula Deen. She’s 65.

… of Desi Arnaz Jr. Little Ricky, Lucille Ball’s TV son, also first appeared 59 years ago today, on I Love Lucy about 12 hours after Desi Jr. was born.

… of Katey Sagal. The Married…With Children mom is 58.

… of Paul Rodriguez, 57.

… of Luc Longley. The 7-foot-2 Australian who played at the University of New Mexico and for the Timberwolves, Bulls, Suns and Knicks is 43.

… of Drea de Matteo. The actress who was whacked on The Sopranos is 40.

Robert Palmer was born on January 19, 1949. Alas, Palmer was even more addicted to nicotine than he was “Addicted to Love.” He died of a heart attack in 2003.

Janis Joplin was born in Port Arthur, Texas, 69 years ago today.

Janis Joplin brought her powerful, bluesy voice from Texas to San Francisco’s psychedelic scene, where she went from drifter to superstar. She has been called “the greatest white urban blues and soul singer of her generation.” Joplin’s vocal intensity proved a perfect match for the high-energy music of Big Brother and the Holding Company, resulting in a mix of blues, folk and psychedelic rock. Joplin’s tenure with Big Brother may have been brief, lasting only from 1966 to 1968, but it yielded a pair of albums that included the milestone Cheap Thrills. Moreover, her performance with Big Brother at 1967’s Monterey International Pop Festival, a highlight of the film documentary Monterey Pop, is among the great performances in rock history.

In the words of biographer Myra Friedman, “It wasn’t only her voice that thrilled, with its amazing range and strength and awesome wails. To see her was to be sucked into a maelstrom of feeling that words can barely suggest.” She was a dynamic singer who shred her vocal cords on driving psychedelic rockers like “Combination of the Two” and then deliver a delicate, empathetic reading of George Gershwin’s “Summertime.” . . .

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

http://youtu.be/JjD4eWEUgMM

Paul Cezanne was born on this date in 1839. Not his most colorful, but my particular favorite Cezanne painting is below. Perhaps that is because I portrayed the middle card player in the Laguna Beach Pageant of the Masters in 1977.

Today is the birthday

… of Kevin Costner. Costner won the Oscars for director and best picture for Dances With Wolves and was nominated for the best actor Oscar for his portrayal of Lt. John Dunbar. He’s 57 today.

… of hockey hall-of-famer Mark Messier. He’s 51.

Mark Messier’s nickname, “the Moose,” is a tribute to his size, strength and determination. A player renowned for his leadership abilities and one of the all-time leading NHL scorers, Messier emerged from the great Edmonton Oilers teams of the 1980s to become a hockey superstar. He was a powerful skater who combined playmaking skill and a goal-scoring touch with the toughness necessary to survive and thrive in the corners. Six times his teams sipped from the Stanley Cup and on two occasions Messier took home the Hart Trophy as the league’s most valuable player.

Like Gordie Howe, Messier is credited with being the most complete player of his generation. He was a power forward, a two-way left winger and sometime center with talent and overwhelming power and size and an unpredictable mean streak. . . .

Legends of Hockey

… of Jesse L. Martin. The Law & Order actor is 43.

It’s also the birthday of Cary Grant (Archibald Alexander Leach, 1904-1986) and Danny Kaye (David Daniel Kaminski, 1913-1987). Both won honorary Oscars though neither won the real thing; Grant had two nominations.

Oliver Hardy was born in Harlem, Georgia, on this date in 1892. Hardy was the larger member of the great comedy team he formed with Stan Laurel.

Thomas A. Watson was born on January 18, 1854. Watson was the first person to receive a telephone call: “Mr. Watson. Come here. I want to see you.” So said, Alexander Graham Bell on March 10, 1876.

Joseph Farwell Glidden was born on January 18, 1812. Glidden received the patent for barbed wire in 1874.

Daniel Webster was born on January 18, 1782.

When my eyes shall be turned to behold for the last time the sun in heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and dishonored fragments of a once glorious Union; on States dissevered, discordant, belligerent; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal blood! Let their last feeble and lingering glance rather behold the gorgeous ensign of the republic… not a stripe erased or polluted, nor a single star obscured, bearing for its motto, no such miserable interrogatory as “What is all this worth?” nor those other words of delusion and folly, “Liberty first and Union afterwards”; but everywhere, spread all over in characters of living light, blazing on all its ample folds, as they float over the sea and over the land, and in every wind under the whole heavens, that other sentiment, dear to every true American heart,— Liberty and Union, now and for ever, one and inseparable!

From “Second Reply to Hayne” January 27, 1830

The first college basketball game with five players on a side was played on this date in 1896 at Iowa City, Iowa. The University of Chicago defeated the University of Iowa 15 to 12.

The birthday of Benjamin Franklin is also the birthday

… of Betty White. The character actress, who first appeared on television in 1949, and most famous now for The Golden Girls, is 90. Miss White has been nominated for 19 Emmy Awards, winning five times. I saw a promo last year that featured both Betty White and Steven Tyler. Ms. White looked by far the best of the two.

… of Vidal Sassoon. He’s 84.

… of Popeye the Sailor Man, who first appeared in the comic strip Thimble Theatre 83 years ago today (1929).

… of James Earl Jones. The voice of Darth Vader is 81. Jones has been in more than 130 films and appeared on more than 50 television programs. He was nominated for the 1971 best actor Oscar for The Great White Hope.

… of Muhammad Ali. The Champ is 70.

… of Bangle Susanna Hoffs, now 53.

… of Jim Carrey. The comedian was born in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, 50 years ago today.

… of journalist Sebastian Junger. The author of The Perfect Storm and director of Restrepo is 50.

… of Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama, 48 today.

… of Kid Rock. Not so much the Kid anymore at 41.

… of Zooey Claire Deschanel, 32.

Andy Kaufman was born on January 17, 1949. He died in 1984.

And it’s the birthday of Al Capone, born in Naples, Italy, in 1899. Here’s some of the background from his obituary in The New York Times when he died in 1947 at the age of 48.

Alphonse (Scarface) Capone, the fat boy from Brooklyn, was a Horatio Alger hero–underworld version. More than any other one man he represented, at the height of his power from 1925 through 1931, the debauchery of the “dry” era. He seized and held in thrall during that period the great city of Chicago and its suburbs.

Head of the cruelest cutthroats in American history, he inspired gang wars in which more than 300 men died by the knife, the shotgun, the tommy gun and the pineapple, the gangster adaptation of the World War I hand grenade.

His infamy made international legend. In France, for example, he was “The One Who Is Scarred.” He was the symbol of the ultimate in American lawlessness.

Capone won great wealth; how much, no one will ever know, except that the figure was fantastic. He remained immune from prosecution for his multitudinous murders (including the St. Valentine Day Massacre in 1929 when his gunners, dressed as policemen, trapped and killed eight of the Bugs Moran bootleg outfit in a Chicago garage), but was brought to book, finally, on the comparatively sissy charge of evasion of income taxes amounting to around $215,000.

For this, he was sentenced to eleven years in Federal prison–serving first at Atlanta, then on The Rock, at Alcatraz–and was fined $50,000, with $20,000 additional for costs. With time out for good conduct, he finished this sentence in mid-January of 1939; but by then he was a slack- jawed paretic overcome by social disease, and paralytic to boot.

Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday is January 15th.

Author William Kennedy is 84 today.

He’s the author of a series of eight novels set in Albany, called The Albany Cycle, beginning with Legs (1975) and Billy Phelan’s Greatest Game (1978). The third novel, Ironweed (1983), is the story of homeless man and alcoholic who left his family after he accidentally killed his infant son. It won Kennedy a National Book Award and a Pulitzer; in 1987, it was made into a film starring Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep, and Kennedy wrote the screen adaptation.

The eighth novel in the cycle came out last fall; Changó’s Beads and Two-Tone Shoes (2011) is about the Cuban revolution of the 1950s, and the 1968 race riots in Albany.

The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor

Kennedy made it big at age 56.

Albert Pujols is 32 today. Pujols made it big at age 21.

Also having birthdays today, Marilyn Horne (78), A.J. Foyt (77), Ronnie Milsap (66), Debby Allen (62), Sade (Helen Folasade Adu, 53), Kate Moss (38) and Raven’s QB Joe Flacco (27).

Susan Sontag was born 79 years ago today (her name at birth was Susan Rosenblatt, she took her stepfather’s surname as a child). She died in 2004.

Part of the appeal was her own glamour — the black outfits, the sultry voice, the trademark white stripe parting her long dark hair. The other part was the dazzle of her intelligence and the range of her knowledge; she had read everyone, especially all those forbidding Europeans — Artaud, Benjamin, Canetti, Barthes, Baudrillard, Gombrowicz, Walser and the rest — who loomed off on what was for many of us the far and unapproachable horizon.

Nor was she shy about letting you know how much she had read (and, by implication, how much you hadn’t), or about decreeing the correct opinion to be held on each of the many subjects she turned her mind to. That was part of the appeal, too: her seriousness and her conviction, even if it was sometimes a little crazy-making. Consistency was not something Ms. Sontag worried about overly much because she believed that the proper life of the mind was one of re-examination and re-invention.

Charles McGrath, from “An Appreciation; A Rigorous Intellectual Dressed in Glamour” (2004)

Dian Fossey was born 80 years ago today. She was killed in 1985.

For many years, Fossey conducted research from her base camp in the mountains, located approximately 10,000 feet above sea level. She struggled with fear of heights on steep slopes, and battled disease, torrential rains, poachers, witchcraft and revolution. However, her tireless efforts at gorilla habituation were rewarded when an adult male gorilla, whom she had named Peanuts, touched her hand. This gesture was the first recorded instance of peaceful gorilla-to-human contact.

Fossey’s intense observations and study of the mountain gorillas over thousands of hours brought new information to the scientific community. Her commitment also earned Fossey the complete trust of the wild mountain gorillas she studied. Even though she cared deeply for each gorilla, Fossey became particularly attached to a young male gorilla she named Digit. In 1977, their friendship came to a tragic halt when poachers attacked and killed the young gorilla. Fossey reacted with fury and even greater commitment. Several major publications, including National Geographic magazine, heeded her pleas for justice by running in-depth, poignant feature articles. This coverage propelled the plight of the mountain gorillas into the international limelight. It was shortly after Digit’s death that Fossey founded the Digit Fund to help raise money to protect the gorillas.

In 1983, Fossey published Gorillas in the Mist, an account of her life and work at Karisoke™. The book became an international best seller. A movie based on the book was released in 1988. The film, starring Sigourney Weaver as Dian Fossey, achieved great popular success and helped attract public support for Fossey’s work.

The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International

Dizzy Dean was born 102 years ago today.

Jay Hanna Dizzy Dean, the brash Cardinals fireballer, burst upon the big league scene in 1932 and averaged 24 wins over his first five full campaigns. A winner of four consecutive National League strikeout crowns, Diz was 30-7 in 1934 (the last NL pitcher to record 30 wins) when he and his brother Paul led the Gashouse Gang to the world championship. A broken toe suffered in the 1937 All-Star Game led to an arm injury that eventually shortened his playing days. He later embarked on a successful broadcasting career.

National Baseball Hall of Fame

Ethel Merman was born 104 years ago today. She was a star of musical-comedy 1930-1982.

Former Terrapin and Cowboy Randy White is 59. White is in both the College and Pro Football halls of fame.

Rob Lowe’s brother Chad is 44 today.

Drew Brees is 33.

Lloyd Bridges was born January 15th, 1913. Bridges had more than 200 credits, most notably as Mike Nelson in the TV series Sea Hunt. From High Noon to Airplane! to Hots Shots, Part Deux, Bridges was a multi-talented actor. Beau and Jeff are his sons.

The jazz drummer Gene Krupa was born in Chicago on January 15, 1909. He began playing and recording in the 1920s, but his work with the Benny Goodman Band in the 30s made Krupa a celebrity. It’s Krupa with the tom-toms on the iconic “Sing, Sing, Sing.”

Edward Teller was born in Budapest January 15, 1908. He emigrated to the U.S. in the 1930s, was a theoretical physicist and earned the title “Father of the Hydrogen Bomb,” a name he did not particularly care for. He was considered one of the inspirations for the title character in Dr. Strangelove.

Ray Chapman was born on this date in 1891. Playing shortstop for the Cleveland Indians in 1920, Chapman was hit by a pitch thrown by Yankees pitcher Carl Mays at the Polo Grounds. Chapman apparently never saw the pitch. It hit his head hard enough that Mays thought it had hit the bat; the pitcher fielded the carom and tossed it to first for the presumed out. Chapman took a few steps and collapsed (some reports say he collapsed immediately). He died the next day. Chapman is the only Major League player to die directly from game-related injury. (In 1909, Philadelphia Athletics catcher Michael Riley “Doc” Powers crashed into the wall chasing a pop up. He died of peritonitis as a result of surgeries two weeks later.)

“Big Daddy” Don Garlits is 80. Garlits was long the most prominent name in drag racing; he was the first to reach speeds above 170 in the quarter-mile, eventually topping 270.

Musician, composer, producer Allen Toussaint is 74.

Faye Dunaway is 71. Her name at birth was Dorothy Faye Dunaway. She won the best actress Oscar for Network; she was also nominated for Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown.

NPR’s Nina Totenberg is 68.

Pulitzer Prize winner Taylor Branch is 65. Branch won the prize for Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63, part of his trilogy.

Joseph Henry “T-Bone” Burnett is 64. Once a member of Bob Dylan’s band, Burnett’s fame is as a music producer, including artists John Mellencamp, Los Lobos, Counting Crows, Elton John, Leon Russell and Natalie Merchant. He has won Grammy Awards for O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Walk the Line and Crazy Heart, and for his work with Alison Krauss and Robert Plant. He was nominated for Oscar for his songwriting contribution to the film Cold Mountain, and won the Oscar for best original song for “The Weary Kind” from Crazy Heart (shared with Ryan Bingham).

Apollo Creed is 64 today. That’s actor Carl Weathers.

Four-time Oscar nominee — writer, director, producer — Lawrence Kasdan is 63. Kasdan’s nominations were for The Big Chill, The Accidental Tourist and Grand Canyon.

The columnist Maureen Dowd is 60. Dowd won the Pulitzer Prize for her commentary on the Clinton-Lewinsky nonsense. She has been an op-ed columnist at the Times since 1995.

Sidney Biddle Barrows is 60. Her occupation is listed as madam. More specifically she was the “Mayflower Madam” because of her well-established family.

Steven Soderbergh is 49 today. He won the best director Oscar for Traffic and was nominated for Erin Brockovich.

Emily Watson is 45. She has made some odd career choices: Watson turned down the role of Amélie, Audrey Tautou parlayed it into international fame; Watson also turned down the role of Elizabeth, which worked out well for Cate Blanchett. Watson has still garnered two best actress Oscar nominations.

James Todd Smith is 44. It might help if I gave his stage name: LL Cool J.

Jason Bateman is 43.

Andy Rooney would have been 93 today.

Guy Williams, Zorro and Professor John Robinson of Lost in Space, was born on January 14, 1924. He died of a brain aneurysm in 1989. At birth in New York City, Guy Williams was Armand Joseph Catalano.

William Bendix was born on this date in 1906. Bendix played the title role in The Babe Ruth Story and the eponymous role on radio and TV in The Life of Riley.

The theologian, missionary, musician, music scholar and Nobel laureate Albert Schweitzer was born on this date in 1875.

It’s the birthdate of Benedict Arnold (1741), so no national holiday ever possible on January 14th, even if it is the anniversary of Today, whose first broadcast was January 14, 1952.