Category: Birthdays

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

It’s the birthday

… of Betty White. The character actress, who first appeared on television in 1949, and most famous now for The Golden Girls, is 84. Miss White has been nominated for 15 Emmy Awards, winning four times.

… of Eartha Kitt. Santa’s Baby is 79.

… of James Earl Jones. The voice of Darth Vader is 75. 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 64.

… of Jim Carrey. The actor is 44. NewMexiKen thought Carrey deserved an Oscar nomination for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; it’s difficult for the clown to be taken seriously.

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.

The Founding Uncle

Benjamin FranklinBenjamin Franklin was born on this date 300 years ago today.

As a recent biographer, Walter Isaacson, states:

[Franklin] was, during his eighty-four-year-Iong life, America’s best scientist, inventor, diplomat, writer, and business strategist, and he was also one of its most practical, though not most profound, political thinkers. He proved by flying a kite that lightning was electricity, and he invented a rod to tame it. He devised bifocal glasses and cleanburning stoves, charts of the Gulf Stream and theories about the contagious nature of the common cold. He launched various civic improvement schemes, such as a lending library, college, volunteer fire corps, insurance association, and matching grant fund-raiser. He helped invent America’s unique style of homespun humor and philosophical pragmatism. In foreign policy, he created an approach that wove together idealism with balance-of-power realism. And in politics, he proposed seminal plans for uniting the colonies and creating a federal model for a national government.

But the most interesting thing that Franklin invented, and continually reinvented, was himself. America’s first great publicist, he was, in his life and in his writings, consciously trying to create a new American archetype. In the process, he carefully crafted his own persona, portrayed it in public, and polished it for posterity.

And, as historian Gordon S. Wood wrote in his review of Isaacson’s biography:

[Franklin] is especially interesting to Americans, and not simply because he is one of the most prominent of the Founders. Among the Founders his appeal seems to be unique. He appears to be the most accessible, the most democratic, and the most folksy of these eighteenth-century figures.

It’s the birthday

… of the popular 19th-century American writer Horatio Alger Jr., born in Chelsea, Massachusetts (1832). He graduated near the top of his class at Harvard University, then spent two years in the ministry before moving to New York City and starting a career as a writer. He wrote a novel called Ragged Dick; or Street Life in New York with the Boot Blacks (1867), about a shoeshine boy who goes from rags to riches through a combination of hard work and good luck (or “luck and pluck”). The novel was a huge success. Over the next 30 years, Alger published more than a hundred successful novels using the same formula.

The Writer’s Almanac

Two years ago The Writer’s Almanac had this:

His first novel, Ragged Dick; or Street Life in New York with the Boot Blacks, was serialized in a magazine, where it picked up more readers with every issue. When it was published in book form in 1867, it became an instant bestseller. Groucho Marx once said, “Horatio Alger’s books conveyed a powerful message to me and many of my young friends—that if you worked hard at your trade, the big chance would eventually come. As a child I didn’t regard it as a myth, and as an old man I think of it as the story of my life.”

A.B. Guthrie

… was born on this date in 1901. His The Big Sky (1946) is one of the classic works of western American literature. Its sequel, The Way West (1949), won the Pulitizer Prize for fiction in 1950.

What “The Big Sky” is: An unflinching account not only of the hardships and dangers of the 1830-1845 mountain man era, but also a glimpse into the meaning of our own existence here — the reasons why we come, the reasons why we stay. True to Guthrie’s bid for honesty, the answers aren’t always pretty.

Guthrie’s Boone Caudill is the quintessential anti-hero, a mean, moody misanthrope who heads West to escape his troubled past as well as to seek adventure and freedom. Ultimately, though, trouble follows Boone — because, after all, the one thing he can’t run away from is himself.

The theme, Guthrie wrote, is “that each man kills the thing he loves.

“If it had any originality at all, it was only that a band of men, the fur-hunters, killed the life they loved and killed it with a thoughtless prodigality perhaps unmatched.”

From The 100 Most Influential Montanans of the Century

‘I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor; Believe me, honey, rich is better.’

Sophia Kalish was born at a farm house along the road in Russia as her mother was emigrating to America on this date in 1884. As Sophie Tucker she was one of the great stars of vaudeville, the Ziegfeld Follies and early movies. In the 1930s she brought elements of nostalgia for the early years of 20th century into her show. She was billed as “The Last of the Red Hot Mamas.” Her hearty sexual appetite was a frequent subject of her songs, unusual for female performers of the era.

In addition to her performing, Sophie Tucker was active in efforts to unionize professional actors, and was elected president of the American Federation of Actors in 1938.

From birth to age eighteen, a girl needs good parents. From eighteen to thirty-five, she needs good looks. From thirty-five to fifty-five, she needs a good personality. From fifty-five on, she needs good cash.

Sophie Tucker

[Reposted from two years ago.]

It’s the birthday

… of two fat loudmouths. Kirstie Alley and Rush Limbaugh both turn 55 today.

… of a skinny loudmouth. Howard Stern is 52 today.

… of a billionaire. Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, is 42.

… of three classic singers of their genre: Ray Price is 80, Ruth Brown is 78 and Glenn Yarborough is 76.

When Ray Noble Price was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996, many noted that the honor was long overdue. Such feelings weren’t based so much on the longevity of his career or on the number of major hits he has recorded, for in those regards Price was no different from many other deserving artists awaiting induction. More importantly, Price has been one of country’s great innovators. He changed the sound of country music from the late 1950s forward by developing a rhythmic brand of honky-tonk that has been hugely influential ever since. As steel guitarist Don Helms, a veteran of Hank Williams’s Drifting Cowboys once put it, “Ray Price created an era.” (Country Music Hall of Fame)

In the Fifties, Ruth Brown was known as “Miss Rhythm,” a testament to her stature as a female rhythm & blues singer whose only serious competition was Dinah Washington. Signed to Atlantic Records in 1948 by label founders Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson, Brown gave the fledgling company its second-ever hit with “So Long,” a simple, bluesy showcase for her torchy, church- and jazz-schooled voice. Her second single, “Teardrops in My Eyes,” brought out her more swaggering, aggressive side, and she was rewarded with her first Number One R&B hit. For the duration of the Fifties, Brown dominated the R&B charts and even crossed over into rock and roll with some success with “Lucky Lips” (written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller) and “This Little Girl’s Gone Rockin'” (written for Brown by Bobby Darin). But her best work was to be found on such red-hot mid-Fifties R&B sides as “5-10-15 Hours” and “(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean.” No less a rock and roll pioneer than Little Richard has credited Brown with influencing his vocal style. Brown’s two dozen hit records helped Atlantic secure its footing in the record industry, a track record for which the young label was referred to as “the House That Ruth Built.” (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)

From his days as the singing mainstay of “The Limeliters” through a long solo career that’s seen its share of hits, Glenn Yarbrough has been a respected interpreter of folk and popular music. He’s had a top hit in “Baby, The Rain Must Fall” and his interpretation of “Seven Daffodils” is the benchmark against which love songs are measured. From his days in a boys choir through today, Glenn’s powerful voice has rung with lusty conviction about all that he cares about. Listen to Glenn Yarbrough. He’s what singing should be. (All Music Guide)

It’s the birthday

… of Willie McCovey. “Stretch,” a baseball hall-of-famer, is 68.

TOP LEFT-HANDED HOME RUN HITTER IN N.L.
HISTORY WITH 521. SECOND ONLY TO LOU GEHRIG
WITH 18 CAREER GRAND SLAMS. LED N.L. IN HOMERS
THREE TIMES AND RBI’S TWICE. N.L. ROOKIE OF
YEAR IN 1959, MVP IN 1969 AND COMEBACK PLAYER
OF THE YEAR IN ’77. TEAMED WITH WILLIE MAYS
FOR AWESOME 1-2 PUNCH IN GIANTS’ LINEUP.

… of Rod Stewart. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee is 61.

Rod Stewart can be regarded as the rock generation’s heir to Sam Cooke. Like Cooke, Stewart delivers both romantic ballads and uptempo material with conviction and panache, and he sings in a warm, soulful rasp. A singer’s singer, Stewart seemed made to inhabit the spotlight. (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)

… of William Sanderson. The character actor (E.B. Farnum in “Deadwood,” Larry on “Newhart”) is 58.

… of George Foreman. The boxing hall-of-famer and cook is 57. Foreman has five daughters and five sons and has named all of the sons George: George Jr., George III, George IV, George V, and George VI.

… of Patricia Mae Andrzejewski. Pat Benatar is 53. She won four consecutive Grammy awards in the 1980s for “Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female.”

… of Shawn Colvin. The singer is 50.

Shawn Colvin is one of the bright spots of the so-called “new folk movement” that began in the late ’80s. And though she grew out of the somewhat limited “woman with a guitar” school, she has managed to keep the form fresh with a diverse approach, avoiding the clichéd sentiments and all-too-often formulaic arrangements that have plagued the genre. In less than a decade of recording, Colvin has emerged as a songcraftsman with plenty of pop smarts, which has earned her a broad and loyal following. (All Music Guide)

It’s the birthday

… of Bart Starr. The hall-of-fame quarterback is 72.

… of Dick Enberg. The sportscaster is 71 (oh, my!).

… of Joan Baez. The singer is 65.

… of Jimmy Page. The Led Zeppelin rocker is 62.

… of Brenda Gayle Webb. Loretta Lynn’s little sister Crystal Gayle is 55.

… of Dave Matthews. He’s 39.

Richard Nixon was born on this date in 1913.

Many years ago NewMexiKen was contacted by the staff working with Richard Nixon on his memoirs, RN. I was asked to see if I could determine from among the Nixon papers in my custody the time of day he was born. As I remember it, my research was inconclusive. Someone else’s must have been helpful.

The memoirs begin:

I was born in a house my father built. My birth on the night of January 9, 1913, coincided with a record-breaking cold snap in our town of Yorba Linda, California.

It’s the birthday

… of Milton Supman. The television comedian, known as Soupy Sales, who was a big part of NewMexiKen’s life when I was 8 or 10 years old, is 80.

On New Year’s Day 1965 Soupy, miffed at having to work on the holiday, ended his live broadcast by encouraging his young viewers to tiptoe into their still-sleeping parents’ bedrooms and remove those “funny green pieces of paper” from their pants and pocketbooks. “Put them in an envelope and mail them to me,” Soupy allegedly instructed the children. “And you know what I’m going to send you? A post card from Puerto Rico!” In his 2001 autobiography Soupy Sez! My Life and Zany Times, Soupy admits it is true. He was suspended by the station for two weeks for encouraging children to steal. Soupy received $80,000 from viewers, mostly in play money. Any real money was donated to charity. (Wikipedia)

… of newscasters Sander Vanocur (78) and Charles Osgood (73).

… of Shirley Bassey. The singer of “Goldfinger” is 69.

… of Bob Eubanks. “The Newlywed Game” emcee is 68.

… of Stephen Hawking. The physicist and author is 64.

… of Yvette Mimieux. The actress is 64.

Born to a French father and Mexican mother, actress Yvette Mimieux grew up within shouting distance of Hollywood Boulevard. The blonde, well-proportioned Mimieux was a beauty contest winner and model when signed to an MGM contract in 1959. With her second film appearance as ethereal 800th century girl Weena in The Time Machine (1960), Mimieux achieved stardom; with her next film, Where the Boys Are (1960), she proved capable of heavy dramatics via a discreetly handled “gang rape” sequence. An appearance as a terminally ill girl on the 1964 Dr. Kildare episode “Tyger Tyger” drew a great deal of press attention for Mimieux, principally because she spent most of her early scenes in a bikini. (All Movie Guide via New York Times)

… of David Bowie. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee is 59.

David Bowie is rock’s foremost futurist and a genre-bending pioneer, chameleon, and transformer. Throughout his solo career and in his alliances with other artists – including Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Brian Eno and Nine Inch Nails – Bowie has positioned himself on the cutting edge of rock and roll. His innovations have created or furthered several major trends in rock and roll, including glam-rock, art-rock and the very notion of the self-mythologized, larger-than-life rock star. (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)

It’s the birthday

… of Katherine Anne Couric. University of Virigina grad Katie Couric is 49.

… of Nicholas Kim Coppola. The Oscar-winner, known better as Nicolas Cage, is 42.

It’s the birthday

… of J.D. Salinger. The reclusive author of Catcher in the Rye is 87.

… of Frank Langella. The actor is 66.

… of Country Joe McDonald. Give me an “F”… He’s 64.

… of Grandmaster Flash. The rapper is 48.

Also born on New Year’s Day:

Betsy Ross in 1752.

William Fox (of Fox Pictures) in 1879.

“Wild Bill” Donovan in 1883. Donovan directed the American Office of Strategic Service during World War II, precursor to the CIA.

J. Edgar Hoover, in 1895.

Barry Goldwater in 1909.

It’s the birthday

… of Odetta. The folk and blues singer is 75.

… of Anthony Hopkins. The Oscar winner is 68. Hopkins has been nominated for Best Actor three times, winning for The Silence of the Lambs. He was also nominated as Best Supporting Actor for Amistad.

… of Tim Considine. Spin of “Spin and Marty” is 65. Considine was also the oldest of “My Three Sons” and played the soldier slapped by General Patton in the film Patton.

… of Sarah Miles. The Oscar nominee (best actress for Ryan’s Daughter) is 64.

… of Ben Kingsley. The Oscar winner is 62. He won Best Actor for his portrayal of Gandhi. He was also nominated for Best Actor for House of Sand and Fog and twice for Best Supporting Actor.

… of Tim Matheson. Animal House’s “Otter,” better known recently as Vice President John Hoynes on “West Wing,” is 58.

… of Donna Summer. The Bad Girl is 57.

… of Bebe Neuwirth. Lilith is 47. Ms. Neuwirth won the Emmy twice for this role on Cheers.

… Val Kilmer. “Iceman” is 46.

Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. was born in Roswell, New Mexico, on this date in 1943. His grandmother gave him a guitar while he lived in Tucson and eventually he became John Denver.

Denver died in 1997 when his experimental plane crashed into Monterey Bay.

Nicholas Sparks 40

It’s the birthday of the novelist Nicholas Sparks, born in Omaha, Nebraska (1965). He’s one of the few successful male romance novelists starting with his first novel The Notebook which he wrote as an homage to his wife’s grandparents. They had been married for sixty-two years when he met them and he realized while talking to them for the first time that they were still flirting with each other.

Nicholas Sparks said, “Writing the last page of the first draft is the most enjoyable moment in writing. It’s one of the most enjoyable moments in life, period.”

The Writer’s Almanac

NewMexiKen enjoyed Three Weeks with My Brother, Sparks’s non-fiction memoir.

It’s the birthday

… of LeBron James. He’s 21 today.

… of Eldrick Woods. Tiger is 30.

… of Bo Diddley. “One of the most original and fertile rhythmic intelligences of our time,” the Rock Hall of Famer is 77.

… of Russ Tamblyn. Riff of “West Side Story” is 71.

… of Sandy Koufax. The most dominant pitcher in the game in the early 1960s, the man who threw four no-hitters including a perfect games is 79.

… of Paul (Noel actually) Stookey. Paul of Peter, Paul & Mary is 68.

… of James Burrows. The director of “Taxi,” “Cheers” and “Will and Grace” is 65.

… of Fred Ward. The actor (Gus Grissom in “The Right Stuff”) is 63.

… of Monkees Michael Nesmith (63) and Davy Jones (60).

… of Patti Smith. Punk rock’s poet laureate is 59.

… of Matt Lauer. The Today show host is 48.

… of Tracey Ullman. She’s 46.

Politician Al Smith (he lost to Herbert Hoover in 1928) was born on this date in 1873.

Albert Einstein was born on this date in 1880.

It’s the birthday

… of Claudia Taylor Johnson. She’s 93 today. NewMexiKen worked at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library in the mid-1970s where I met and occasionally chatted with Mrs. Johnson. She was then, and I’m sure remains today, a warm, impressive and very attractive woman.

… of Hector Elizondo. Better-known perhaps for Chicago Hope, NewMexiKen remembers this fine character actor best as the gracious hotel manager in Pretty Woman. He’s 69.

… of Steve Carlton. Lefty is 61.

… of Diane Sawyer. She’s 60. Another person NewMexiKen once met; in Sawyer’s case while she worked for Richard Nixon after he resigned the presidency. It was 30 years ago, but I can still remember the moment and thinking that I wanted to be a former President when I grew up so that women as attractive as her would be on my staff.

… of Robin Gibb. The twin of Maurice (d. 2003) and brother of Barry and Andy (d. 1988) is 56.

… of Ralph Fiennes. The actor, twice nominated for the best actor Oscar, is 43.

It’s the birthday

… of Joe Paterno. The football coach at Penn State is 79.

… of Phil Donahue. The talk show host is 70.

… of Jane Fonda. The two-time Oscar-winning actress is 68. Miss Fonda has been nominated for the best actress Oscar six times, winning for Klute and Coming Home. She was also nominated for best supporting actress for On Golden Pond.

… of Carla Thomas. Gee Whiz, she’s 63.

… of Samuel L. Jackson. Mace Windu is 57. Jackson was nominated for the best actor Oscar for his portrayal of Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction.

… of Chris Evert. The tennis hall-of-famer is 51.

… of Jane Kaczmarek. Malcolm’s mom is 50.

… of Ray Romano. Raymond is 48.

… of Kiefer Sutherland. He’s 39.

… of Julie Delpy. The actress, who was nominated for a writing Oscar for Before Sunset, is 36.

It’s the birthday

… of Don Hewitt. The producer of 60 Minutes is 83.

… of Patty Duke. The Oscar-winning actress is 59.

Oscar nominee, for Days of Wine and Roses, Lee Remick was born on this date in 1935. Miss Remick died in 1991.

Congressional Medal of Honor winner Jimmy Doolittle was born on this date in 1896. Doolittle led the daring bombing raid on Tokyo in April 1942. Sixteen B-25s from the U.S.S. Hornet did little damage, but the attack on the Japanese homeland was a major public relations and morale-boosting effort for U.S. forces.

It’s also the birthday of Veronica, official daughter-in-law of NewMexiKen, mother of one of The Sweeties, attorney-at-law, and source of many suggestions and comments for NewMexiKen. Happy Birthday, Veronica.

It’s the birthday

… of Dick Van Dyke. Rob Petrie is 80.

… of Christopher Plummer. Captain Georg von Trapp is 78. More recently Plummer has been in A Beautiful Mind and, this year, Syriana.

… of Steve Buscemi. The actor who portrayed the creepy Tony Blundetto (Tony Soprano’s cousin) and the even creepier Carl Showalter in Fargo is 48.

… of Johnny Whitaker. That would be Buffy’s brother Jody on Family Affair. He’s 46.

… of Jamie Foxx. The Oscar-winner is 38.

It’s the birthday

… of Bob Barker. C’mon down, he’s 82. NewMexiKen actually remembers seeing Ralph Edwards introduce Barker as the host of the daytime version of Truth Or Consequences in 1956. Barker hosted that show for 18 years.

… of Connie Francis. Do you suppose she’s still trying to get to where the boys are at 67.

… Dionne Warwick. Perhaps she’d just as soon walk on by her 65th birthday.

… of Cathy Rigby. The Olympic gymnast is 53.

… of Tracy Austin. The one-time tennis prodigy is 43.

Francis Albert Sinatra was born on this date 90 years ago. This from Sinatra’s New York Times obituary in 1998:

Widely held to be the greatest singer in American pop history and one of the most successful entertainers of the 20th century, Sinatra was also the first modern pop superstar. He defined that role in the early 1940’s when his first solo appearances provoked the kind of mass pandemonium that later greeted Elvis Presley and the Beatles.

During a show business career that spanned more than 50 years and comprised recordings, film and television as well as countless performances in nightclubs, concert halls and sports arenas, Sinatra stood as a singular mirror of the American psyche.

His evolution from the idealistic crooner of the early 1940’s to the sophisticated swinger of the 50’s and 60’s seemed to personify the country’s loss of innocence.

It’s the birthday

… of Alexander Solzhenitsyn. The Nobel Prize winner (for Literature in 1970) is 87.

… of Rita Moreno. The Oscar winner — supporting actress for Anita in West Side Story — is 74.

… of Tom Hayden. Royal Oak’s most famous native, co-founder of Students for a Democratic Society and Jane Fonda’s one-time husband is 66.

… of John Kerry. He’s 62.

… of Brenda Lee. She’s Rockin’ Around the Christmas Holiday Tree this year at age 61.

… of Terri Garr. The Oscar nominee (supporting actress for Tootsie) is 56.

920 Biography, genealogy, insignia

Melvil Dewey was born on this date in 1851. You know — Dewey, as in Dewey decimal system.

Read Dewey’s obituary in 1931 from The New York Times.

Here’s a website that seems to be the Dewey Decimal Classification headquarters.

Oh, and here’s 025.431: The Dewey blog.

NewMexiKen has been considering jettisoning the Categories for this blog and replacing them with a classification scheme. I’d probably use the Library of Congress system, though. Sorry, Melvil.