Birthdays: Sir Robert Peel founder
of London’s police force- the Bobbies, outlaw Belle Starr, John Carradine,
William Burroughs, Arthur Ochs Schulzburger, Hank Aaron is 84, Tim Holt,
Barbera Hershey, Charlotte Rampling, Roger Staubach, Michael Mann is 74, Bobby
Brown, H. R. Giger, Red Buttons, Christopher Guest, Jennifer Jason Leigh is 56,
Laura Linney is 53, Michael Sheen is 48
1887- Verdi’s opera
"Otello" debuted. Guiseppi Verdi had retired from composing after
1875, but was goaded by a new generation of composers like Arrigo Boito to take
up his pen once more.
1916- Enrico Caruso recorded O
Solo Mio for the Victor Talking Machine Co.
1919- Charlie Chaplin, Mary
Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith form the United Artists Studio.
1921- The Loews State Theater in
Chicago opened.
1936-THE BATTLE OF JARAMA -
Spanish General Franco’s Fascist army was thrown back from the gates of Madrid
with help from the Republic’s newly arrived foreign volunteers, called the
International Brigades. These idealistic young Europeans and Americans (the
Abraham Lincoln Brigade) were thrown into the battle with no training as they
had just arrived. They suffered 50% casualties, but still won the battle.
The Lincolns sang a tune to Popeye the Sailor
Man:
"In a green
little vale called Jarama, We made all the fascists cry "Mama!; we fight
for our pay, just six cents a day, and play football with a bomb-a "
1937- Charlie Chaplin’s film Modern Times opened in theaters. Chaplin
was inspired to lampoon modern technological madness when he was invited to
view the auto assembly production lines in Detroit and saw men moving like
machines.
1944- British scientists at
Bletchley Park booted up the Colossus Mark I, a huge early computer used to
decode Hitler’s secret messages. Eleven more Colossus computers were built.
After the war all but one were destroyed with sledgehammers, and the scientists
put under a vow of secrecy for thirty years.
1953- Walt Disney’s "Peter
Pan" premiered.
1956- Darryl Zanuck resigned from
20th Century Fox, the studio he built into a powerhouse. He later won back the
chairmanship in 1962 only to be ousted finally in 1970 by a consortium led by
his own wife and son.
1957- Mel Lazarus’ comic strip
Miss Peach debuted.
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