Birthdays: Meriwether
Lewis, Austrian Emperor Franz Josef II, Leo Slezak, Shelly Winters, Roberto
Clemente, Rafer Johnson, Enoch Light, Coco Channel, Roman Polanski is 81,
Patrick Swayze, Madeleine Stowe, Christian Slater, Edward Norton is 45, Martin
Mull, Denis Leary is 57, Robert Redford, born Charles Robert Redford Jr, is 78
1939- The movie the Wizard of Oz released and made a star of
Judy Garland. Frank Morgan, the actor playing the Wizard, needed to wear a
shabby old coat so a studio costume designer went through some L.A. thrift
stores until she found the good candidate. When Morgan looked in the lining he
discovered the coat was previously owned by L.Frank Baum, creator of the Oz
stories. Morgan was first president of
the Screen Actor's Guild, but stepped down when he was considered too lefty to
work with the Roosevelt administration. Lyricist Yip Harburg ( Somewhere over
the Rainbow ) was later blacklisted as a communist. "And yer little dog
,too!!"
1947- Hewlett-Packard file papers to incorporate their
electronics company. They began doing business in 1937.
1953- The first MacDonalds franchise restaurant opened in
Downey California.
1955- Folksinger Pete Seeger appeared before the House
UnAmerican Activities Committee. He refused to cooperate, and was blacklisted.
But he still managed to have a successful career on the folk scene, and
appeared on TV in 1967.
1956- Actress Vivien Leigh suffered a mental breakdown after
a miscarriage.
1958 - "Lolita," by
Vladimir Nabokov, published. The novel was rejected by four publishers before
Putnams picked it up. It became a best seller and allowed Nabokov to quit teaching
and focus on writing.
1958 – The TV Game Show Scandal
investigation starts. Allegations that popular quiz shows like 21 were rigged
turned out to be true.
1962 - Peter, Paul & Mary
release their famous folk song "If I Had a Hammer".
1966- HAPPY BIRTHDAY SLURPEE! The Ice Slurpee was invented by two Dallas
engineers for a failing Oklahoma ice cream store.
1974- The Xerox Company decided not to seriously market the
Alto, the first personal computer that had a graphic window interface, ethernet
and mouse, long before anyone else. Xerox decided to stick with copying
machines and let go of many of their Palo Alto development team Xerox PARC.
Most of their breakthroughs wound up in other computers like the Macintosh and
the IBM PC.
1977- The rock band the Police make their debut in a
Birmingham nightclub. The lead singer Gordon Sumner started to get the nickname
Sting, from the black & yellow striped shirt he habitually wore.
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