January 20th

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.

Inauguration Day

The 57th presidential inauguration will be a year from today.

The 20th Amendment to the Constitution states that the “terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January.” The Amendment was ratified in 1933 — the first inauguration on the new date was January 20, 1937.

Before the 20th Amendment, the Constitution did not provide the date when the terms began and ended. The terms of the first President and Vice President were fixed by an act of the Continental Congress adopted September 13, 1788. That act called for “the first Wednesday in March next to be the time for commencing proceedings under the Constitution.” It happened that the first Wednesday in March was the 4th day of March, and hence the terms of the President and Vice President and Members of Congress began on March 4, 1789. (Washington did not take the oath of office until April 30, 1789, but technically his term began March 4th.)

The Constitution set the terms of the President and Vice President at four years. Accordingly, any change from March 4th required a constitutional amendment because a date change would mean that the incumbents would not serve exactly four years. Franklin Roosevelt’s and John Nance Garner’s first terms were 43 days less than four years — March 4, 1933 – January 20, 1937.

The 20th Amendment also moved the time for the new Congress from December forward 11 months to January: “The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall begin at noon on the 3d day of January, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.” Article I, Section 4 had read: “The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.”

January 19th

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.

The Card Players, 1890-1892

Acadia National Park (Maine)

… was renamed on this date in 1929. It has been Lafayette National Park since 1919 and Sieur de Monts National Monument from 1916 to 1919. Lafayette/Acadia was the first national park east of the Mississippi River.

Acadia.jpg

Located on the rugged coast of Maine, Acadia National Park encompasses over 47,000 acres of granite-domed mountains, woodlands, lakes and ponds, and ocean shoreline. Such diverse habitats create striking scenery and make the park a haven for wildlife and plants.

Entwined with the natural diversity of Acadia is the story of people. Evidence suggests native people first lived here at least 5,000 years ago. Subsequent centuries brought explorers from far lands, settlers of European descent, and, arising directly from the beauty of the landscape, tourism and preservation.

Acadia National Park is a land of contrast and diversity. Comprised of a cluster of islands on the Maine coast, Acadia is positioned within the broad transition zone between eastern deciduous and northern coniferous forests, and hosts several species and plant communities at the edge of their geographic range. Steep slopes rise above the rocky shore, including Cadillac Mountain, which at 1,530 feet is the highest point on the U.S. Atlantic coast. While surrounded by the ocean, the entire fabric of Acadia is interwoven with a wide variety of freshwater, estuarine, forest, and intertidal resources, many of which contain plant and animal species of international, national and state significance.

Acadia National Park

Best line of the day

“NBC has unleashed Tom Brokaw, the Man Who Invented World War II, on the voters of South Carolina. He ‘spent two days reporting’ among former Bush-Cheney hacks, Huckleberry Graham, and even some Ordinary Folks, to discover that tonight, we will see ‘what Mitt Romney is made of.’

“(The answer, of course, is ‘money.’ And ‘Velveeta.’)”

Charles P. Pierce

Johnny Otis 1921-2012

Johnny Otis performs his monster hit “Willie and the Hand Jive” on his TV show with Marie Adams, the Three Tons of Joy, and at the end, Lionel Hampton.

Or, the original song:

Bandleader Johnny Otis has been called “the Godfather of Rhythm and Blues.” Over the years he has exhibited an uncanny ear for talent, and by bringing that talent to the fore has served to advance the growth and development of rhythm & blues. His R&B stage revues and the numerous recordings made under his name have included such singing discoveries as Little Esther, Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton, Etta James and the Robins (who evolved into the Coasters). Beginning in the mid-Forties, Johnny Otis cut classic numbers including “Double Crossing Blues,” (a #1 R&B single for nine weeks!), “Mistrusting Blues,” “Barrelhouse Boogie” and “Rockin’ Blues” with his R&B orchestra. Otis recorded under his own name but also backed up acts on the Excelsior and Exclusive labels.

In addition to his skills as a producer, talent scout and songwriter (which led to his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a nonperformer), Otis was an accomplished percussionist who joined jazz bands in the Forties and played drums on such early R&B recordings as the Three Blazers’ landmark “Drifting Blues,” featuring vocalist Charles Brown. In the Fifties, Otis scouted talent for Syd Nathan’s King and Federal labels, discovering the Midnighters – then known as the Royals, later as Hank Ballard and the Midnighters – whose “Work With Me Annie” became a rock and roll cornerstone in 1954. He also crossed paths with Johnny Ace (Otis produced and played on “Pledging My Love”), Jackie Wilson, Little Willie John and Big Joe Turner, to name a few. Otis’ various achievements make him a key figure in the rise of rhythm & blues and rock & roll in the Fifties.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Robert E. Lee

… was born in Stratford, Virginia, on this date in 1807, the son of Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee and Ann Hill Carter Lee.

In 1810 the Lee family moved to Alexandria, then in the District of Columbia. The Lee’s lived first at 611 Cameron, but from 1811 or 1812 at 607 Oronoco.

Lee graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1829, second in his class and reputedly the only cadet to this day to have no demerits on his record. Lee married Mary Anna Randolph Custis, great granddaughter of Martha Washington, at Arlington House in 1831. Arlington House was in the District of Columbia from the time it was constructed until 1847 when the Virginia portion of the District of Columbia was receded to Virginia.

So, although Lee opposed slavery and supposedly supported preservation of the Union that his father and uncles had helped create, and although his residence had been in Virginia no more than 17 of his 54 years, in 1861 he turned down command of the Union forces to remain loyal to Virginia.

I suggest that nullifies his record of no demerits.

Appropriately enough Lee’s strategic vision was limited to the Virginia theater. This shortcoming, common among the Confederate leadership, contributed significantly to the rebellion’s ultimate failure.

After the surrender at Appomattox Court House Lee was a prisoner of war but paroled. He returned to Richmond. He was indicted for treason but, with the support of Grant argued that the parole superseded any prosecution. On June 13, 1865, Lee wrote to General Grant about the parole and to President Johnson to request a pardon under the requirements of Johnson’s amnesty proclamation.

Richmond, Virginia, June 13, 1865.

Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant, Commanding the Armies of the United States.

General: Upon reading the President’s proclamation of the 29th ult., I came to Richmond to ascertain what was proper or required of me to do, when I learned that, with others, I was to be indicted for treason by the grand jury at Norfolk. I had supposed that the officers and men of the Army of Northern Virginia were, by the terms of their surrender, protected by the United States Government from molestation so long as they conformed to its conditions. I am ready to meet any charges that may be preferred against me, and do not wish to avoid trial; but, if I am correct as to the protection granted by my parole, and am not to be prosecuted, I desire to comply with the provisions of the President’s proclamation, and, therefore, inclose the required application, which I request, in that event, may be acted on. I am, with great respect,

Your obedient servant,
R. E. LEE.

Richmond, Virginia, June 13, 1865.

His Excellency Andrew Johnson,
President of the United States.

Sir: Being excluded from the provisions of the amnesty and pardon contained in the proclamation of the 29th ult., I hereby apply for the benefits and full restoration of all rights and privileges extended to those included in its terms. I graduated at the Military Academy at West Point in June, 1829; resigned from the United States Army, April, 1861; was a general in the Confederate Army, and included in the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, April 9, 1865. I have the honor to be, very respectfully,

Your obedient servant,
R. E. LEE.

Possibly due to clerical error concerning the requirement for a loyalty oath (Lee’s 1865 oath was lost until 1970) Lee was never individually pardoned. Nor was he prosecuted for treason. His citizenship was restored in 1975 in conformance with his original appeal to Johnson.

Lee was offered and accepted the presidency of Washington College (now Washington and Lee) and served from September 1865 until his death in October 1870.

From Douglas Southall Freeman’s 4-volume biography of Lee.

General Lee was returning to his camp and was close to it when he met a cavalcade in blue and was greeted with a cheery “good morning, General” from a bearded man, who removed his cap as he spoke. For the moment Lee did not recognize the speaker, but the latter recalled himself as none other than George Gordon Meade, commanding the Army of the Potomac, and an old friend of kindly days.

“But what are you doing with all that gray in your beard?” Lee asked.

“You have to answer for most of it!” Meade magnanimously replied.

The Raven

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore–
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
“‘Tis some visiter,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door–
Only this and nothing more.”

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow;–vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow–sorrow for the lost Lenore–
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore–
Nameless here for evermore.

The first two of 18 stanzas of “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe, born on this date in 1809.

Project Gutenberg has an illustrated version from 1885. The poem was first published in 1845.

The Poe Museum has a nice, concise biography. It includes this:

The real Poe was born to traveling actors in Boston on January 19, 1809. Edgar was the second of three children. His other brother William Henry Leonard Poe would also become a poet before his early death, and Poe’s sister Rosalie Poe would grow up to teach penmanship at a Richmond girls’ school. Within three years of Poe’s birth both of his parents had died, and he was taken in by the wealthy tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan in Richmond, Virginia while Poe’s siblings went to live with other families. Mr. Allan would rear Poe to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman, but Poe had dreams of being a writer in emulation of his childhood hero the British poet Lord Byron. Early poetic verses found written in a young Poe’s handwriting on the backs of Allan’s ledger sheets reveal how little interest Poe had in the tobacco business. By the age of thirteen, Poe had compiled enough poetry to publish a book, but his headmaster advised Allan against allowing this.

In 1826 Poe left Richmond to attend the University of Virginia, where he excelled in his classes while accumulating considerable debt. The miserly Allan had sent Poe to college with less than a third of the money he needed, and Poe soon took up gambling to raise money to pay his expenses. By the end of his first term Poe was so desperately poor that he burned his furniture to keep warm.

Annabel Lee

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I see the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride
In her sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the side of the sea.

That is the last stanza of “Annabel Lee,” a poem by Edgar Allan Poe, born 203 years ago today (1809).

Use It or Lose It

From A Sharper Mind, Middle Age and Beyond:

Many researchers believe that human intelligence or brainpower consists of dozens of assorted cognitive skills, which they commonly divide into two categories. One bunch falls under the heading “fluid intelligence,” the abilities that produce solutions not based on experience, like pattern recognition, working memory and abstract thinking, the kind of intelligence tested on I.Q. examinations. These abilities tend to peak in one’s 20s.

“Crystallized intelligence,” by contrast, generally refers to skills that are acquired through experience and education, like verbal ability, inductive reasoning and judgment. While fluid intelligence is often considered largely a product of genetics, crystallized intelligence is much more dependent on a bouquet of influences, including personality, motivation, opportunity and culture.

January 18th

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.

White Sands National Monument (New Mexico)

… was established by President Herbert Hoover on this date in 1933.

Rising from the heart of the Tularosa Basin is one of the world’s great natural wonders – the glistening white sands of New Mexico. Here, dunes have engulfed 275 square miles of desert creating the world’s largest gypsum dunefield.

White Sands National Monument preserves this dunefield, along with the plants and animals that have adapted to this constantly changing environment.

The largest gypsum dune field in the world is located at White Sands National Monument in south-central New Mexico. This region of glistening white dunes is in the northern end of the Chihuahuan Desert within an “internally drained valley” called the Tularosa Basin. The monument ranges in elevation from 3890′ to 4116′ above sea level. There are approximately 275 total square miles of dune fields here, with 115 square miles (about 40%) located within White Sands National Monument. The remainder is on military land that is not open to the public. This dune field is very dynamic, with the most active dunes moving to the northeast at a rate of up to 30 feet per year, while the more stable areas of sand move very little. The pure gypsum (hydrous calcium sulfate) that forms these unusual dunes originates in the western portion of the monument from an ephemeral lake or playa with a very high mineral content. As the water evaporates (theoretically as much as 80″ per year!), the minerals are left behind to form gypsum deposits that eventually are wind-transported to form these white sand dunes. Many species of plants and animals have developed very specialized means of surviving in this area of cold winters, hot summers, with very little surface water and highly mineralized ground water.

White Sands National Monument

Best lines of someone born 306 years ago today

  • The use of money is all the advantage there is in having money.
  • He is not well-bred, that cannot bear ill-breeding in others.
  • You may talk too much on the best of subjects.
  • A good conscience is a continual Christmas.
  • All would live long, but none would be old.
  • One today is worth two tomorrows.
  • Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.
  • Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.
  • Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
  • Certainty? In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.
  • Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.
  • Many people die at twenty five and aren’t buried until they are seventy five.
  • I should have no objection to go over the same life from its beginning to the end: requesting only the advantage authors have, of correcting in a second edition the faults of the first.
  • If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing.
  • I wake up every morning at nine and grab for the morning paper. Then I look at the obituary page. If my name is not on it, I get up.

Benjamin Franklin

January 17th

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.

Wikipedia to go dark

“On January 18, 2012, in an unprecedented decision, the Wikipedia community has chosen to blackout the English version of Wikipedia for 24 hours, in protest against proposed legislation in the United States — the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and PROTECTIP (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate. If passed, this legislation will harm the free and open Internet and bring about new tools for censorship of international websites inside the United States.”

Press releases/English Wikipedia to go dark – Wikimedia Foundation

January 16th

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 and Tyrone Power from Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938)

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

Christiansted National Historic Site (Virgin Islands)

… was renamed from Virgin Islands National Historic Site on this date in 1961.

Christiansted National Historic Site is located on the island of St Croix in the Virgin Islands. This park has 5 preserved historic structures and interprets the Danish economy and way of life in existence there from 1733 to 1917. We invite you to explore this unique part of America’s heritage!

Christiansted National Historic Site, on the island of St Croix in the Virgin Islands, was established in 1952 through the initiative of concerned local citizens. The park’s mandate is twofold – to preserve the historic structure and grounds within its boundaries, and to interpret the Danish economy and way of life here between 1733 and 1917. The park consists of seven acres centered on the Christiansted waterfront/wharf area. On the grounds are five historic structures: Fort Christiansvaern (1738), the Danish West India & Guinea Company Warehouse (1749), the Steeple Building (1753), Danish Custom House (1844), and the Scale House (1856). The National Park Service uses these resources to interpret the drama and diversity of the human experience at Christiansted during Danish sovereignty – colonial administration, the military and naval establishment, international trade (including the slave trade), religious diversity, architecture, trades, and crime and punishment.

Pinnacles National Monument (California)

… was established on this date in 1908.

Rising out of the chaparral-covered Gabilan Mountains, east of central California’s Salinas Valley, are the spectacular remains of an ancient volcano. Massive monoliths, spires, sheer-walled canyons and talus passages define millions of years of erosion, faulting and tectonic plate movement. Within the monument’s boundaries lie 24,000 acres of diverse wildlands. The monument is renowned for the beauty and variety of its spring wildflowers. A rich diversity of wildlife can be observed throughout the year.

The rolling chaparral and dramatic rock faces of Pinnacles National Monument inspire loyalty in visitors, from picnickers to rock-climbers, and from stargazers to cave explorers. Pinnacles is visually stunning, as anyone who has seen the smooth orb of the moon glide from behind the crags of the High Peaks can attest, or who has watched the flashing black and white wings of acorn woodpeckers as they tuck acorns into the thick bark of gray pines. This striking beauty is attributable, in part, to the Monument’s geologic formations, showcase chaparral habitat, finely intergraded ecosystems, and protected native plant and animal diversity. Another special Pinnacles quality is its proximity to millions of people. . . .

Established in 1908 to preserve the incongruent and beautiful rock formations for which Pinnacles is named, the Monument originally protected only 2,060 acres. It now encompasses about 26,000 acres in the southern portion of the Gabilan Mountains, one of a series of parallel northwest-trending ridges and valleys that make up the Central Coast Range.

Pinnacles National Monument