NewMexiKen

It’s at least half-a-holiday. You should spend some time today listening to Duke Ellington.

Edward Kennedy Ellington was born in Washington, D.C., on this date in 1899. Duke was a childhood nickname.

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 Today in History page from the Library of Congress has much about Ellington. The Red Hot Jazz Archive has a number of Ellington recordings on line [RealAudio files].

Today is also the birthday

… of Celeste Holm. She’s 93. Ms. Holm was three times nominated for the best supporting actress Oscar, winning for Gentleman’s Agreement in 1948.

… of Luis Aparicio, 76.

Following his debut in 1956, Luis Aparicio helped to redefine the role and expectations of Major League shortstops with agile fielding, spray-hitting and speedy baserunning. He took Rookie of the Year honors in 1956, collected nine Gold Glove Awards, led the American League in stolen bases nine seasons and was named to the All-Star squad 10 times. When he retired in 1973, he held the career record for shortstops for games played, double plays and assists.

Baseball Hall of Fame

… of Jerry Seinfeld. He’s 56.

… of four-time Oscar nominee, two-time winner Daniel Day-Lewis. He’s 53. Lewis won for My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown and for There Will Be Blood.

… of three-time Oscar nominee Michelle Pfeiffer. She’s 52. Once upon a time, before she gave it all up to go to Hollywood, Michelle was a checker at our local Von’s supermarket.

… of Jan Brady. Eve Plumb is 52.

… of one-time Oscar nominee (Pulp Fiction) Uma Thurman. She’s 40.

… of Andre Agassi, 40.

William Randolph Hearst was born on this date in 1863. His father, George Hearst, was 42, his mother Phoebe Apperson Hearst was 20. Was Hearst the model for Charles Foster Kane? Here is what Orson Welles had to say in 1975.

… then what’s the point of even having holidays?

Harper Lee, the author of one the great classics of American literature, To Kill A Mockingbird, is 84 today. 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 had a nice essay about Lee four years ago (it includes the quotation above). There was another slightly longer variation of it the year before that NewMexiKen replicated.

And, absolutely, you must read Garrison Keillor’s essay (ostensibly a book review).

Today is also the birthday

… of James A. Baker III. The former Secretary of State is 80. 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. 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 Ann-Margret, 69.

… of Jay Leno. He’s 60.

… of golfer John Daly. He’s 44.

… of Penélope Cruz Sánchez, 36. Winner of several best actress awards in Europe for Non ti muovere, she’s been nominated for an acting Oscar three times, winning best supporting actress for her performance in Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

[A] recent night out at a bar in Santa Monica after an award-giving event, with Daniel Day-Lewis, Javier Bardem, Benicio Del Toro, and Sean Penn, during which “we got hammered and we all came to the conclusion we wanted to be Javier Bardem.”

George Clooney quoted in a profile, Somebody Has to Be in Control, The New Yorker, April 2008.

… of Jessica Alba. She’s 29.

Carolyn Jones was born on this date in 1929. The one-time Oscar nominee has nearly 100 credits to her name despite dying of colon cancer at age 54. She was, of course, Morticia Addams in the classic TV show.

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.

Lionel Barrymore once estimated that members of his famous family of the Drews and the Barrymores had appeared on the stage for 200 continuous years. He, himself, despite his protests that his interest in acting had arisen only from a necessity to eat, accounted for 61 of these years.

Mr. Barrymore, although he would have preferred to be an artist and composer, became an outstanding success of stage, screen and radio. His yearly radio interpretation of Scrooge in Dickens’ “Christmas Carol” became traditional. In his later years when a hip injury confined him to a wheelchair, it was a tribute to his popularity and ability that parts were written around him and audiences never questioned the appearance of an actor in a wheelchair.

The New York Times

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.