Category: Birthdays

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

Happy, happy birthday, baby

Bill Medley is 65 today. Medley is the Righteous Brother with the deep voice. It was he who sang the opening verse in the great, great classic “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’.” It was the late Bobby Hatfield, the tenor , who generally took the lead on Righteous Brother songs. Cynthia Weil, who wrote “Lovin’ Feelin’,” told this story:

After Phil [Spector], Barry [co-writer Barry Mann] and I finished the song, we took it over to The Righteous Brothers. Bill Medley, who has the low voice, seemed to like the song. I remember Bobby Hatfield saying, “But what do I do while he’s singing the whole first verse???? and Phil said, “You can go directly to the bank!???

Hall of Fame ballplayers Duke Snider and Joe Morgan were born on this date — Snider is 79, Morgan 62. When I think of Morgan I think of an interview during a World Series in the early 1970s. Howard Cossell asked Morgan, “What does it feel like to know you are the best person in the world at what you do?”

Roger Angell, the wonderful writer known foremost for his essays on baseball in The New Yorker, is 85 today.

Actor Adam West, TV’s Batman, is 75. David McCallum, TV’s Illya Kuryakin, is 72.

And the Mary Tyler Show debuted on this date 35 years ago.

It’s the birthday

James Gandolfini is 44 today. Big party at the Bada Bing.

Actor Jack Warden is 85. Warden was nominated twice for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar — for Shampoo and Heaven Can Wait. NewMexiKen liked him best as juror # 7 in 12 Angry Men.

Frankie Avalon is 65. (Annette will be 63 next month.)

And C.J. Sanders, the kid who played the young Ray (Charles) Robinson, is 9.

Hey, Good Lookin’

Hiram Williams was born on this date 82 years ago. We know him as Hank.

Hank Williams’s legend has long overtaken the rather frail and painfully introverted man who spawned it. Almost singlehandedly, Williams set the agenda for contemporary country songcraft, but his appeal rests as much in the myth that even now surrounds his short life. His is the standard by which success is measured in country music on every level, even self-destruction.

— Country Music Hall of Fame

The Country Music Hall of Fame goes on to tell us:

The peak years of Hank Williams’s career were 1950 and 1951. He was one of the most successful touring acts in country music. Every one of his records charted, except for those issued as Luke the Drifter and his religious duets with Audrey. His songs, which had matured greatly since the demos he had submitted to Molly O’Day, began finding a wider market than his own recordings of them ever could. Starting with “Honky Tonkin'” in 1949, his songs had been covered for the pop market, but it was not until Tony Bennett covered “Cold, Cold Heart” in 1951 that he began to be recognized as an important popular songwriter. From that point, there was a rush to reinterpret his songs for the pop market. Guy Mitchell, for instance, had a hit with “I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still in Love with You”), and the duo of Frankie Laine and Jo Stafford took “Hey, Good Lookin'” into the pop Top Ten.

And the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where Williams is also and inductee, says:

The words and music of Hank Williams echo across the decades with a timelessness that transcends genre. He brought country music into the modern era, and his influence spilled over into the folk and rock arenas as well. Artists ranging from Gram Parsons and John Fogerty (who recorded an entire album of Williams’ songs after leaving Creedence Clearwater Revival) to the Georgia Satellites and Uncle Tupelo have adapted elements of Williams’ persona, especially the aura of emotional forthrightness and bruised idealism communicated in his songs. Some of Williams’ more upbeat country and blues-flavored numbers, on the other hand, anticipated the playful abandon of rockabilly.

Hank Williams died in the back seat of his Cadillac. He was found and declared dead on New Year’s Day 1953. He was 29.

It’s the birthday

… of Tommy Lee Jones. He’s 59. Jones has been nominated for the Best Supporting Actor twice, winning for The Fugitive, but not for JFK.

… of Oliver Stone, also 59. Stone has been nominated for seven Oscars and won three — he won for writing for Midnight Express and for best director for Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July.

And of Jackie Cooper; he’s 83. Cooper’s first appearance in film was in 1929; his last 60 years later. He played Perry White in the Superman films but his real fame was as a child actor, most notably Jim Hawkins in Treasure Island (1934). He was nominated for the best actor Oscar for Skippy in 1931. This is the role where the director got him to cry on camera by telling Jackie (falsely) that his dog had just been run over by a car.

Good Humor Man

It’s the birthday of the humorist Robert Benchley, born in Worcester, Massachusetts (1889). He started writing humor as a kid in school. Assigned to write an essay about how to do something practical, he wrote one called “How to Embalm a Corpse.” When he was assigned to write about the dispute over Newfoundland fishing rights from the point of view of the United States and Canada, he instead chose to write from the point of view of the fish.

The Writer’s Almanac

Grandfather of Peter Benchley, author of Jaws.

William Howard Taft

Both president of the United States and chief justice of the United States, William Howard Taft was born on September 15, 1857 in Cincinnati, Ohio. …

In 1900, President William McKinely appointed Taft chair of a commission to organize a civilian government in the Philippines which had been ceded to the United States at the close of the Spanish-American War. From 1901 to 1904 Taft served successfully as the first civilian governor of the Philippines. In 1904 Theodore Roosevelt named Taft secretary of war.

After serving nearly two full terms, popular Teddy Roosevelt refused to run in 1908. Instead, he promoted Taft as the next Republican president. With Roosevelt’s help, Taft handily defeated Democrat William Jennings Bryan. Throughout his presidency, Taft contended with dissent from more liberal members of the Republican party, many of whom continued to follow the lead of former President Roosevelt.

Progressive Republicans openly challenged Taft in the Congressional elections of 1910 and in the Republican presidential primaries of 1912. When Taft won the Republican nomination, the Progressives organized a rival party and selected Theodore Roosevelt to run against Taft in the general election. Roosevelt’s Bull Moose candidacy split the Republican vote and helped elect Democrat Woodrow Wilson.

From 1921 until 1930, Taft served his country as chief justice of the Supreme Court. In an effort to make the Court work more efficiently, he advocated passage of the 1925 Judges Act enabling the Supreme Court to give precedence to cases of national importance.

Library of Congress

It’s the birthday

… of Margaret Sanger, born on this date in 1879. From her obituary in The New York Times (1966):

As the originator of the phrase “birth control” and its best-known advocate, Margaret Sanger survived Federal indictments, a brief jail term, numerous lawsuits, hundreds of street-corner rallies and raids on her clinics to live to see much of the world accept her view that family planning is a basic human right.

The dynamic, titian-haired woman whose Irish ancestry also endowed her with unfailing charm and persuasive wit was first and foremost a feminist. She sought to create equality between the sexes by freeing women from what she saw as sexual servitude.

… of Hal Wallis, born on this date in 1899. A producer, Wallis was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar 15 times, winning for Casablanca in 1942. Wallis died in 1986.

… of Sam Neill, born in Northern Ireland on this date in 1947. Neill has appeared in numerous films, most famously The Hunt for Red October, Jurassic Park and as the ass-of-a-husband in The Piano.

It’s the birthday

… of Milton S. Hershey, born on this date in 1857. Hershey, who only completed the fourth grade, developed a formula for milk chocolate that made what had been a luxury product into the first nationally marketed candy.

… of Bill Monroe, born on this date in 1911. The Father of Bluegrass Music was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1970. In 1993, Monroe was a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, an honor that placed him in the company of Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles and Paul McCartney,

… of Mel Torme, born on this date in 1925. The “Velvet Fog” was a wonderful jazz singer, but his greatest legacy is “The Christmas Song” — “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…”.

… of Sherwood Anderson, born on this date in 1876 in Camden, Ohio.

[Anderson] is best known for his short stories, “brooding Midwest tales” which reveal “their author’s sympathetic insight into the thwarted lives of ordinary people.” Between World War I and World War II, Anderson helped to break down formulaic approaches to writing, influencing a subsequent generation of writers, most notably Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner. Anderson, who lived in New Orleans for a brief time, befriended Faulkner there in 1924 and encouraged him to write about his home county in Mississippi.

— From the Library of Congress, which has more on Anderson.

H(enry) L(ouis) Mencken

… essayist and editor, was born on this date in 1880. Some Mencken quotes:

  • The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with…
  • It is impossible to imagine Goethe or Beethoven being good at billiards or golf.
  • Courtroom—A place where Jesus Christ and Judas Iscariot would be equals, with the betting odds in favor of Judas.
  • It is even harder for the average ape to believe that he has descended from man.
  • The first kiss is stolen by the man; the last is begged by the woman.
  • The only really happy folk are married women and single men.
  • Misogynist: A man who hates women as much as women hate one another.
  • It is now quite lawful for a Catholic woman to avoid pregnancy by a resort to mathematics, though she is still forbidden to resort to physics or chemistry.
  • Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.
  • Say what you will about the Ten Commandments, you must always come back to the pleasant fact that there are only ten of them.
  • Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.
  • In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for. As for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican.

It’s the birthday

… of Arnold Palmer. Arnie is 76 today.

… of Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Bob Lanier. He’s 57.

… of future Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Randy Johnson. He’s 42.

And it’s the birthday of Roger Maris, born on this date in 1934. The following is from The Official Roger Maris Web Site:

Roger and teammate Mickey Mantle entertained baseball fans throughout the summer of ’61 as the two New York Yankee sluggers chased the record many called the most cherished in all of sports. Mickey dropped out of the home run race early due to an illness, but finished with a career high 54 home runs. Roger tied Ruth on September 26, hitting his 60th home run. He then hit his 61st home run on the final day of the season, October 1, 1961, against the Boston Red Sox to set a new record. The Yankees won the game, 1 to 0, and later went on to win the World Series.

Roger was voted the Most Valuable Player in the American league for the second straight year, as he led the league in home runs and RBI’s. He was also named the 1961 Associated Press’ Male Athlete of the Year.

During his career, Roger Maris played in seven World Series and seven All-Star games. He hit 275 career home runs and won the Gold Glove Award for outstanding defensive play. The New York Yankees retired his number “9” in 1984.

Two of country music’s immortals

… were born on this date.

Jimmie Rodgers, considered the “Father of Country Music,” was born in Meridian, Mississippi, on September 8, 1897. He died from TB in 1933. Jimmie Rodgers was the first person inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and among the first inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Patsy Cline, the most popular female country singer in recording history, was born in Winchester, Virginia, on September 8, 1932. She died in a plane crash in 1963. Patsy Cline is an inductee of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

It’s the birthday

… of Elizabeth, born in 1533. The queen Virginia is named after.

… of Grandma Moses (Anna Mary Robertson), born in 1860. She lived until 1961, but only started painting at age 76.

… of David Packard, born in 1912. The “P” in HP.

… of tenor saxaphonist Theodore Rollins. Sonny is 75 today.

… of Buddy Holly, born in 1936. Just 22 when the music died.

… of Gloria Gaynor, born in 1949. Still surviving.

… of Julie Kavner, born in 1951. NewMexiKen liked her best in Awakenings, but we all know her as the voice of Marge Simpson.

Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roche Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette

… was born on this date in 1757. Not yet 20, Lafayette was commissioned a major general in the American army by the Continental Congress. (It helped that he served without pay and funded his own troops.)

Lafayette was wounded at Brandywine, served Washington loyally at Valley Forge and during an attempted cabal against the Commander-in-Chief, saved American troops and supplies in Rhode Island, was instrumental in obtaining vital French assistance from Louis XVI, and was on the field at Yorktown in 1781 when the British surrendered. By then Lafayette was 24.

Jesse James

… was born on this date in 1847.

From the review at Amazon.com of T.J. Stiles’s Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War:

James is often grouped with famous frontier criminals like Billy the Kid and Butch Cassidy, but he’s best understood as a Southerner who forged partisan alliances in postwar Missouri and promoted himself as a latter-day Robin Hood. Stiles describes James as “a foul-mouthed killer who hated as fiercely as anyone on the planet” and places his life in the context of “the struggle for–or rather, against–black freedom.” Stiles’s fundamental point about James is as startling as it is convincing: “In his political consciousness and close alliance with a propagandist and power broker, in his efforts to win media attention with his crimes … Jesse James was a forerunner of the modern terrorist.”

Teddy Ballgame

Ted Williams is 87 today. He’s planning to spend the day hanging out and just chillin’.

Not counting games when he only pinch hit (i.e., only one at bat), there were just eight instances in Williams’s career that he went consecutive games without getting on base — seven times he failed to get on for two games, once it was for three.

It’s also the birthday

… of Warren Buffet. The billionaire “uncle” of Jimmy Buffet is 75. (Actually distant cousins.)

… of Jerry Tarkanian. The Shark is also 75.

… of John Phillips. The Papa is 70. (The other Papa was Denny Doherty.)

… of Molly Ivins. The columnist is 61.

… of Peggy Lipton. The Mod Squad member is 58.

… of Lewis Black. The comedian, and regular on The Daily Show, is 57.

… of Cameron Diaz. Princess Fiona is 33.

It’s the birthday

… of John McCain. The Senator who doesn’t know what he stands for is 69.

… of Elliott Gould. The original “Trapper” John McIntyre and former Mr. Barbra Streisand is 67.

… of William Friedkin. The Oscar-winning director (The French Connection) is 66.

… of Michael Jackson. He was born in 1958, but who knows what that is in Michael years.

… of Rebecca DeMornay. The actress is 43.

It’s the birthday

… of German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, born in Frankfurt on this date in 1749. Goethe said, “One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.”

… of Mother Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton, the first American-born saint, born in New York City on this date in 1774.

… of Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, born near Tula on this date in 1828.

… of ornithologist Roger Tory Peterson, born in Jamestown, New York, on this date in 1908.

Walt Kelly

… was born on this date in 1913. The tribute to Kelly at The International Museum of Cartoon Art Hall of Fame reads:

Like a number of other successful newspaper cartoonists of his day, Walt Kelly learned his craft as an animator at the Walt Disney Studios between 1935 and 1941, and the Disney style was always evident in his work. After a brief stint as a comic book artist and an editorial cartoonist, Kelly launched his masterpiece, Pogo, in 1949. The strip featured a colorful cast of furry and not-so-furry creatures who inhabited the Okefenokee Swamp, including Pogo, Albert, Howland Owl, P.T. Bridgeport, Beauregard and Churchy la Femme. Out of the mouths of these innocent animals came everything from profound musings on the human condition to downright nonsense. The superb artistry, satirical humor and playful language of Pogo enchanted millions of readers and even now, years after his death in 1973, Kelly still has a loyal following.

According to the web site I Go Pogo:

Walt Kelly first used the quote “We Have Met The Enemy and He Is Us” on a poster for Earth Day in 1970. … In 1971, he did a two panel version with Pogo and Porky in a trash filled swamp.

Pogo.jpg

A classic Pogo strip is published each week at Welcome to Pogo’s Website!

It’s the birthday

… of Barbara Eden. “Jeannie” is 71 and NewMexiKen stopped dreaming about her some time ago.

… of Linda Thompson. The folk/rock musician, who with then husband Richard made one of the great rock albums — Shoot Out the Lights, is 58 today.

… of Shelley Long. The star of Cheers and numerous films is 56.

… of Kobe Bryant. He’s 27.

… and of Gene Kelly. The wonderful singer/dancer/actor was born on this date in 1912. He died in 1996.

Oh, what a day

Hawaii entered the Union as the 50th state on this date in 1959. The eight major islands in the chain are Ni’ihau, Kaua’i, O’ahu, Moloka’i, Lana’i, Kaho’olawe, Maui and Hawai’i.

Kenny Rogers is 67.

Patty McCormack is 60. The actress, known now as Patricia McCormack, was nominated for the supporting actress Oscar as an 11-year-old for her performance in The Bad Seed.

Kim Cattrall of Sex in the City is 49.

William “Count” Basie was born on this date in 1904.

Count Basie was a leading figure of the swing era in jazz and, alongside Duke Ellington, an outstanding representative of big band style.

Quotation from the PBS website for Jazz: A Film by Ken Burns. The page has a nice biography of Basie with some audio clips, including Basie’s 1937 recording of “One O’Clock Jump,” one of NPR’s 100 “most important American musical works of the 20th century.”