Category: Birthdays

Individuals born on this date with an emphasis on American history and culture, including pop culture.

It’s the birthday

… of Bob Seger, making Night Moves at 61 today.

Detroit has always been a musical hotbed, and Bob Seger is one of its greatest rock and roll talents. His was a long, slow climb to the top, and his overdue breakthrough – with Night Moves, in 1977 – attested to his belief in himself and rock music as a dream worth pursuing. For more than ten years Seger labored on rock’s fringe. Sustained by a rabid fan base, he cut some fine albums and performed at least 200 shows a year. As Dave Marsh wrote, “He had all the requisites of greatness: the voice, the songwriting, the performance onstage, the vision and the ambition.”

When Seger finally broke through, assuming a rightful place among such fellow travelers as the Eagles and Bruce Springsteen, it was sweet vindication for all the years spent in the shadows. (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)

… of George Clooney. The Oscar-winner is 45. According to IMDB: “He says he will never get married again, nor have any children, but Michelle Pfeiffer and Nicole Kidman both bet $10,000 each that he would be a father before he turned 40. They were both wrong and each sent him a check. He returned the money, betting double or nothing that he won’t have kids by age 50.”

The greatest living ballplayer

Mays card

… is 75 today. That’s Willie Mays.

When Joe DiMaggio died in 1999, baseball luminaries were asked who inherited the title of greatest living player. NewMexiKen had a different assumption. I thought Willie Mays became the greatest living ballplayer when Ty Cobb died in 1961.

Willie Mays, the “Say Hey Kid,” played with enthusiasm and exuberance while excelling in all phases of the game – hitting for average and power, fielding, throwing and baserunning. His staggering career statistics include 3,283 hits and 660 home runs. The Giants’ superstar earned National League Rookie of the Year honors in 1951 and two MVP awards. He accumulated 12 Gold Gloves, played in a record-tying 24 All-Star games and participated in four World Series. His catch of Vic Wertz’s deep fly in the ’54 Series remains one of baseball’s most memorable moments.

National Baseball Hall of Fame

Two quotes about Mays:

Ted Williams: “They invented the All-Star game for Willie Mays.”

Manager Leo Durocher, who must have been from Deadwood, once recalled a remarkable home run by Mays: “I never saw a f—ing ball go out of a f—ing park so f—ing fast in my f—ing life!”

Alice

… is 80 today. If you’re her age, you might remember her better as Schultzy. That’s Ann B. Davis of The Brady Bunch and The Bob Cummings Show.

It’s the birthday

… of Pete Seeger. The writer of “Turn, Turn, Turn” and “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” is 87. (Of course, the lyrics to “Turn, Turn, Turn” are from Ecclesiastes.)

… of James Brown. The Godfather of Soul is 73.

… of Frankie Valli, well-seasoned at 72.

… of Greg Gumbel. He’s 60. (Brother Bryant is 57.)

… and of Dulé Hill. That’s Charlie on West Wing. He’s 31.

And Harry Lillis Crosby was born on this date in 1903. Known as “Bing” from a childhood nickname, he was:

[W]ithout doubt, the most popular and influential media star of the first half of the 20th century. The undisputed best-selling artist until well into the rock era (with over half a billion records in circulation), the most popular radio star of all time, and the biggest box-office draw of the 1940s, Crosby dominated the entertainment world from the Depression until the mid-’50s, and proved just as influential as he was popular. Unlike the many vocal artists before him, Crosby grew up with radio, and his intimate bedside manner was a style perfectly suited to emphasize the strengths of a medium transmitted directly into the home. He was also helped by the emerging microphone technology: scientists had perfected the electrically amplified recording process scant months before Crosby debuted on record, and in contrast to earlier vocalists, who were forced to strain their voices into the upper register to make an impression on mechanically recorded tracks, Crosby’s warm, manly baritone crooned contentedly without a thought of excess. …

John Bush for the All Music Guide

Before there was Mr. Spock, there was Dr. Spock

Benjamin Spock was born on this date in 1903. His handbook on child care, “Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care,” sold nearly 50 million copies in 42 languages before his death in 1998. The following is from The New York Times obituary:

Dr. Benjamin Spock, the pediatrician who gently coached anxious postwar parents to trust their “own common sense,” only to be blamed by some critics for the self-indulgence of those parents’ children, the 60’s generation, died on Sunday at his home in San Diego. He was 94.
…

Dr. Spock also became well known as an antiwar demonstrator in the 1960’s, as he campaigned for nuclear disarmament and against the war in Vietnam and was arrested in protest demonstrations. ”There’s no point in raising children if they’re going to be burned alive,” was how he made the connection between parents, pediatricians and politics.

Dr. Spock had already broken with authority in his child-rearing handbook, which he saw as giving ”practical application” to the ideas propounded by two early 20th-century sages, Sigmund Freud and John Dewey, the American philosopher and educator.

“John Dewey and Freud said that kids don’t have to be disciplined into adulthood but can direct themselves toward adulthood by following their own will,” he observed in 1972.

And so in the opening chapter of the book, first published in hardcover in 1946 with the title “The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care,” Dr. Spock counseled his readers not to “take too seriously all that the neighbors say.”

“Don’t be afraid to trust your own common sense,” he wrote. “What good mothers and fathers instinctively feel like doing for their babies is usually best.”

Such relaxed advice, given in the easy, practical, reassuring way that he had with parents, was light-years from the stern dictums of earlier standard works, like the 1928 book “Psychological Care of Infant and Child” by Dr. John B. Watson. “Never, never kiss your child,” Dr. Watson commanded. “Never hold it in your lap. Never rock its carriage.”

Willie Nelson

Bill and Willie… is 73 today.

He is an American icon; his voice as comforting as the American landscape, his songs as familiar as the color of the sky, his face as worn as the Rocky Mountains. Perhaps that’s why Dan Rather suggested, “We should add his face to the cliffs of Mt. Rushmore and be done with it.”

He’s recorded 250 albums, written 2,500 songs, and for half a century played countless concerts across America and around the world. He’s been instrumental in shaping both country and pop music, yet his appeal crosses all social and economic lines. Sometimes he’s called an outlaw, though from Farm Aid to the aftermath of September 11, from the resurrection of a burned-out courthouse in his own hometown to fanning the flame of the Olympics, it is Willie Nelson who brings us together.

Perhaps Emmylou Harris said it best: “If America could sing with one voice, it would be Willie’s.”

73-year-old Willie is appearing in Hamilton, Ontario, tonight, Toronto Tuesday, Montreal Wednesday, Fredricton Friday, Moncton Saturday, and Charlottetown Sunday.

It’s the birthday

… of Jerry Seinfeld. He’s 52.

… of three-time Oscar nominee, one-time winner Daniel Day-Lewis. He’s 49.

… of three-time Oscar nominee Michelle Pfeiffer. She’s 48.

… of Jan Brady. Eve Plumb is 48.

… of one-time Oscar nominee (Pulp Fiction) Uma Thurman. She’s 36.

Edward Kennedy Ellington, that is, Duke Ellington, was born in Washington, D.C., on this date in 1899. The PBS web site for JAZZ A Film By Ken Burns sums up Ellington succinctly.

Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was the most prolific composer of the twentieth century in terms of both number of compositions and variety of forms. His development was one of the most spectacular in the history of music, underscored by more than fifty years of sustained achievement as an artist and an entertainer. He is considered by many to be America’s greatest composer, bandleader, and recording artist.

The extent of Ellington’s innovations helped to redefine the various forms in which he worked. He synthesized many of the elements of American music — the minstrel song, ragtime, Tin Pan Alley tunes, the blues, and American appropriations of the European music tradition — into a consistent style with which, though technically complex, has a directness and a simplicity of expression largely absent from the purported art music of the twentieth century. Ellington’s first great achievements came in the three-minute song form, and he later wrote music for all kinds of settings: the ballroom, the comedy stage, the nightclub, the movie house, the theater, the concert hall, and the cathedral. His blues writing resulted in new conceptions of form, harmony, and melody, and he became the master of the romantic ballad and created numerous works that featured the great soloists in his jazz orchestra.

The Red Hot Jazz Archive has a number of Ellington recordings on line [RealAudio files].

And William Randolph Hearst was born on this date in 1863. Many think we know Hearst because we know Charles Foster Kane. Was Hearst the model for Charles Foster Kane? Read what Orson Welles had to say in 1975 (first posted by NewMexiKen two years ago).

It’s the birthday

… of Harper Lee. The author of one the great classics of American literature, To Kill A Mockingbird, is 80. Miss Lee has remained so private so long that the only mental image of her I have is actually an image of Catherine Keener from Capote.

Mockingbird, published in 1960, has sold more than 30 million copies.

“Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”

The Writer’s Almanac has a nice essay about Lee (it includes the quotation above). There was another slightly longer variation of it two years ago that NewMexiKen replicated.

… of James A. Baker III. The former Secretary of State is 76. NewMexiKen met Baker in 1993 during the last week of the first Bush Administration. He was the President’s chief of staff, so the meeting took place in the West Wing (one of two times I’ve been there on business). Never have I met an individual more impressive in a small meeting than Baker. When you spoke, Baker gave you his apparent undivided attention. I mean no disrespect when I say, “He made better eye-contact than a $500 hooker.” Baker’s place in history will be enhanced I believe by his diplomatic work in forming the international coalition before the 1991 invasion of Iraq. His place in history will be diminished I believe by his work for the second Bush in the 2000 Florida election litigation.

… of Saddam Hussein. He’s 69.

… of Jay Leno. He’s 56.

… of golfer John Daly. He’s 40.

… of former ADA Serena Southerlyn. Elisabeth Röhm is 33.

… of Penélope Cruz Sánchez. Winner of several best actress awards in Europe for Non ti muovere, Miss Cruz is 32.

… of Jessica Alba. She’s 25.

Lionel Herbert Blythe was born on this date in 1878. We know him as Lionel Barrymore — and we know him even better as Mr. Potter in It’s A Wonderful Life — “I’d say you were nothing but a scurvy little spider.” Barrymore won the Oscar for best actor in 1931 for A Free Soul. The previous year he was nominated for best director. Both of Barrymore’s parents were actors, as were his sister Ethel (an Oscar winner) and brother John.

And James Monroe, the fifth U.S. President, was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, on this date in 1758. He is one of three presidents (and two NewMexiKen daughters) to attend the College of William and Mary.

Ulysses S. Grant

… was born on this date in 1822. The Writer’s Almanac has a fine essay on Grant, some of which is excerpted here:

But by that time, Grant had also been diagnosed with throat cancer and his health deteriorated rapidly. He realized that he didn’t have long to live, and wrote his memoirs as fast as he could. In extreme pain, and in a daze from pain medication, he still managed to write 275,000 words in less than a year. In the last few weeks of his illness, he couldn’t even speak, but he kept writing and revising, and checking everything he wrote against the official records to make sure it was all factual. He finished his memoirs in July 1885, and died four days later. …

Critics and writers of the time were shocked at how well Grant wrote. His book Personal Memoirs (1885) is one of the few books ever written by an American president that qualifies as great literature.

Among the most famous passages in the book is Grant’s description of Robert E. Lee’s surrender at the Appomattox Court House. Grant wrote, “What General Lee’s feelings were I do not know … [but] my own feelings, which had been quite jubilant on receipt of his letter, were sad and depressed. I felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly, and had suffered so much for a cause, though that cause (slavery) was, I believe, one of the worst for which a people ever fought, and one for which there was the least excuse.”

The Library of Congress has information on Grant and his White House biography is here.

The other animator named Walter

Walter Lantz was born on this date in 1899. Lantz was the creator of such animated characters as Andy Panda, Chilly Willy, Wally Walrus and the greatest cartoon character of them all, Woody Woodpecker. Lantz was nominated for the Academy Award 10 times. He received the Academy’s Life-Time Achievement Award in 1979.

Lantz.jpg

Click on the image above to visit lantz.toonzone.net for audio and video clips and lots of other goodies.

Duane Eddy

… was born on this date in 1938, which would make him 68 today. Eddy was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.

One of the earliest guitar heroes, Duane Eddy put the twang in rock and roll. “Twang” is a reverberating, bass-heavy guitar sound boasted by primitive studio wizardry. Concocted by Eddy and producer Lee Hazlewood in 1957, twang came to represent the sound of revved-up hot rods and an echo of the Wild West on the frontier of rock and roll. Eddy obtained his trademark sound by picking on the low strings of a Chet Atkins-model Gretsch 6120 hollowbody guitar, turning up the tremolo and running the signal through an echo chamber. Behind the mighty sound of twang, Eddy became the most successful instrumentalist in rock history, charting fifteen Top Forty singles in the late Fifties and early Sixties. He has sold more than 100 million records worldwide. No less an authority than John Fogerty has declared, “Duane Eddy was the front guy, the first rock and roll guitar god.” Eddy’s influence is widespread in rock and roll. A twangy guitar drove Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run,” and twang echoes in the work of the Beatles, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Dave Edmunds, Chris Isaak and many more.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum

“Cannonball,” “Rebel Rouser,” “Forty Miles of Bad Road” and NewMexiKen is cruising Speedway Boulevard in Tucson again. Someone else is driving — I’m not quite that old — but nevertheless, little rock and roll is as evocative as Duane Eddy, dated as it seems now.

Gertrude Pridgett

… was born on this date in 1886. Gertrude Pridgett began performing in 1900, singing and dancing in minstrel shows. In 1902, she married performer William “Pa” Rainey and became known as Ma Rainey.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum has this to say about inductee Ma Rainey.

If Bessie Smith is the acknowledged “Queen of the Blues,” then Gertrude “Ma” Rainey is the undisputed “Mother of the Blues.” As music historian Chris Albertson has written, “If there was another woman who sang the blues before Rainey, nobody remembered hearing her.” Rainey fostered the blues idiom, and she did so by linking the earthy spirit of country blues with the classic style and delivery of Bessie Smith. She often played with such outstanding jazz accompanists as Louis Armstrong and Fletcher Henderson, but she was more at home fronting a jugband or washboard band.

The Red Hot Jazz Archive has several Ma Rainey recordings you can listen to.

Ella Fitzgerald

… was born in Newport News, Virginia, on this date in 1918. Scott Yanow’s essay for the All Music Guide is first rate. It begins:

“The First Lady of Song,” Ella Fitzgerald was arguably the finest female jazz singer of all time (although some may vote for Sarah Vaughan or Billie Holiday). Blessed with a beautiful voice and a wide range, Fitzgerald could outswing anyone, was a brilliant scat singer, and had near-perfect elocution; one could always understand the words she sang. The one fault was that, since she always sounded so happy to be singing, Fitzgerald did not always dig below the surface of the lyrics she interpreted and she even made a downbeat song such as “Love for Sale” sound joyous. However, when one evaluates her career on a whole, there is simply no one else in her class.

There are many great Fitzgerald CDs but an excellent, inexpensive place to start is The Best of the Song Books.

It’s the birthday

… of Al Pacino. The 8-time Oscar nominee is 66. He won for Scent of a Woman, but not for The Godfather or Godfather II. Pacino was nominated for a supporting actor Oscar for the first Godfather, which seems odd until one remembers that Caan and Duvall were also nominated for supporting and Brando won for lead.

… of another Godfather cast member Talia Shire. She’s 60 today. Connie Corleone-Rizzi in the Godfather movies, Miss Shire was Adrian in the Rocky films. She was nominated for the best supporting actress Oscar for Godfather II (1974) and for the best actress Oscar for Rocky (1976). Talia Shire’s actual name is Talia Rose Coppola. She is the sister of director Francis Ford Coppola, which makes her the aunt of Sofia Coppola (daughter of Francis Coppola) and the aunt of Nicolas Cage (son of another Coppola brother).

… of Agador Spartacus. He’s 42 today. So are Moe Szyslak, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Chief Wiggum, Professor Frink, Comic Book Guy and Dr. Nick Riviera. All are played by the multi-talented Hank Azaria, who was born on this date in 1964. Agador Spartacus is the Guatemalan houseboy in The Birdcage. Azaria appeared on Friends six times and 13 times on Mad About You.

… of Renee Zellweger. Twice nominated for best actress, Miss Zellweger won the Oscar for a supporting role in Cold Mountain (without her that film would have died of its own weight). She was born in Katy, Texas, but her parents were born in Switzerland and Norway.

… of Earl Hickey. Earl’s name isn’t Earl at all, it’s Jason Lee and he’s 36 today.

… of Tim Duncan. He’s 30.

Albert Nelson was born on this date in 1923 (he died in 1992). We know him as Albert King.

Albert King is truly a “King of the Blues,” although he doesn’t hold that title (B.B. does). Along with B.B. and Freddie King, Albert King is one of the major influences on blues and rock guitar players. Without him, modern guitar music would not sound as it does — his style has influenced both black and white blues players from Otis Rush and Robert Cray to Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan. It’s important to note that while almost all modern blues guitarists seldom play for long without falling into a B.B. King guitar cliché, Albert King never does — he’s had his own style and unique tone from the beginning.

Albert King plays guitar left-handed, without re-stringing the guitar from the right-handed setup; this “upside-down” playing accounts for his difference in tone, since he pulls down on the same strings that most players push up on when bending the blues notes. King’s massive tone and totally unique way of squeezing bends out of a guitar string has had a major impact. (All Music)

It’s the birthday

… of five-time nominee for the Oscar for best actress — and one-time winner — Shirley MacLaine. She’s 72 today. Miss MacLaine won for Terms of Endearment in 1984.

… of Barbra Streisand, born in Brooklyn on this date 64 years ago. Miss Streisand has been nominated for the best actress Oscar twice, winning for Funny Girl in 1969. She also shared the Oscar with Paul Williams for best original song in 1977 for A Star is Born.

… of Cedric the Entertainer. He’s 42.

… of American Idol Kelly Clarkson. She’s 24.

It’s the birthday

… of Shirley Temple Black. The actress turned diplomat is 78. Shirley Temple was in approximately 50 films before she turned 18. She received a special juvenile Oscar in 1935. (One of NewMexiKen’s personal regrets: I had a business trip scheduled to Prague in 1991 while Mrs. Black was our ambassador there. I was told to attend a conference in Orlando instead. My colleague went to Prague and Shirley Temple Black sat with him in the embassy cafeteria at lunch one day.)

… of Lee Majors. He’s 67. Soon the $6-million man will be found on eBay for $13.95.

… of Judy Davis. The two-time Oscar nominee is 51.

… of Valerie Bertinelli. Once Barbara Cooper on One Day at a Time (1975-1984), she’s 46 and recently divorced from Eddie Van Halen.

… of George Lopez. He’s 45.

It was on the date in 1791 that the former worst president ever of the U.S., James Buchanan, was born.

Jack Nicholson

… is 69 today.

Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award 12 times, eight times for best actor in a leading role and four times for best actor in a supporting role. He won for best actor for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1976) and As Good As It Gets (1998). He won for best supporting actor for Terms of Endearment (1984). Nicholson has been nominated for an Oscar for films made in the 60s (Easy Rider), 70s, 80s, 90s, and 00s (About Schmidt).

The best actress Oscar went to a co-star each time Nicholson won — Louise Fletcher for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Shirley MacLaine for Terms of Endearment and Helen Hunt for As Good As It Gets.

According to IMDB, Nicholson “was raised believing his grandmother was his mother and his mother was his older sister. The truth was revealed to him years later when a Time magazine researcher uncovered the truth while preparing a story on the star.”

God save the Queen

Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.

Her Majesty is 80 today. Her name is Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor. She signs Elizabeth R.

Hitler

Adolf Hitler was born at Braynau, Austria, on this date in 1889. The New York Times obituary from May 2, 1945, (Hitler died April 30) is an excellent contemporary source. It’s worth reading the entire piece, but here are a few excerpts:

Like Lenin and Mussolini, Hitler came out of the blood and chaos of 1914-18, but of the three he was the strangest phenomenon. Lenin, while not know[n] to the general public, had for many years before the Russian Revolution occupied a prominent place as leader and theoretician, of the Bolshevist party. Mussolini was a widely known Socialist editor, orator and politician before making his bid for power. Hitler was nothing, and from nothing he became everything to most Germans.

Many who watched Hitler from the time when he first made his appearance on the political scene noticed his megalomania, his gambler’s readiness to take risks, his habit of wild exaggeration and inability to grasp the full implications of things he said and did. It was this failure to measure the significance of his words and deeds that was considered responsible for the coolness he displayed at critical moments after violent outbursts of thought and temper, although on occasions he was reported to fall into tears and hysterics.

The German dictator himself never married. At the age of 16 he suffered from lung trouble. On his mother’s side there were several eccentrics in the family. In general, the family showed definite tendencies to illness and mental instability.

Adolf Hitler was an ascetic, a celibate and a vegetarian and he neither smoked nor drank. From his early youth he was an eccentric. At the age of 16 he suffered from lung trouble and his passionate ambition to become a great historical figure impelled him to take good care of himself. Careful diet was his deliberately chosen method.

Though merciless to political opponents, he was kind to animals. A militarist, he was sickened by the sight of blood. A Wagnerian mystic, he loved spectacles of heroics and death. He was simple, Spartan and vain to the point of megalomania.

Ron Howard’s brother

… Clint is 47 today.

Clint Howard has appeared in more than 150 films and television programs including many of his brother’s films — Cocoon and Apollo 13 come to mind. Many will remember Clint as the 8-year-old kid in the TV series Gentle Ben. Howard was also the voice of Roo in the Disney Winnie the Pooh films, and more recently the voice of the balloon man in Curious George.

ClintandRon.jpg

The Howard brothers: Ron (right) and Ron’s brother
Photo from The Clint Howard Show

See NewMexiKen’s special Ron Howard’s Brother page.

It’s the birthday

… of Pollyanna. Hayley Mills is 60.

… of Daphne Moon. Jane Leeves of “Frasier” is 45.

… of Conan O’Brien. He’s 43.

The first game was played at Yankee Stadium on this date in 1923.

War correspondent, and Albuquerquean, Ernie Pyle was killed by Japanese gunfire on the Pacific island of Ie Shima, off Okinawa, on this date in 1945.

Albert Einstein died at age 76 on this date in 1955.

And it was on this date in 1775 that Paul Revere and others rode to warn their countryman that British troops were mobilizing.

Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.

Continue reading Paul Revere’s Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Clarence Darrow was born

… on this date in 1857. Here’s how The New York Times began Darrow’s obituary in 1938:

Clarence Darrow, famous criminal lawyer, recently described as one who thoroughly understood human nature yet loved his fellow-man, died this afternoon at his home here at the age of 80. For two months he had been confined to bed because of heart disease; for two years he had been retired, for many years he had been
trying to retire.
…

Mr. Darrow was known internationally as a criminal lawyer. Defender in a hundred or more murder trials, no client of his had ever died on the gallows or electric chair. He had built up a reputation for himself as a friend of labor and of the downtrodden. His oratory and his philosophy made him known to millions.

A kindly, homely personage who dressed in the certainty that clothes do not make the man, he went through life declaring himself an agnostic. But three years ago he declared he no longer had any doubts. He proclaimed himself a materialist whom it had taken fifty years to find out that there is nothing after death.