Birthdays: Genghis Khan, Byzantine Emperor Leo IV the Khazar, Robert Burns, Somerset Maugham, Virginia Woolf, Vice Pres Charles “Goodtime Charlie” Curtis, Edwin Newman, Jean Image, Dean Jones, Ava Gardner, Etta James, Corazon Aquino, Anita Pallenberg, Disney Animator John Sibley, Tobe Hooper
Happy National Bubble Wrap Day.
1858- Queen Victoria & Prince Albert's eldest child, Victoria the Princess Royal (Vicky), married Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia (Fritzy) in a lavish ceremony. At this wedding, for the first time the "Bridal Chorus "Treulich geführt") from the 1850 opera Lohengrin by composer Richard Wagner was used as a processional. Like everything Victoria and Albert did, it soon became a custom, known in English was “Here Comes the Bride, All Dressed in White.” Queen Victoria in her own wedding started the custom of brides wearing all white.
1890- Newspaper reporter Nelly Bly (Elizabeth Cochrane) of the New York World is welcomed home after traveling around the world in 72 days. The stunt was inspired by the Jules Verne story Around the World in 80 days, which had become a hit stage play.
1924- The first Winter Olympics held in Charmonix, France. Winter sports were celebrated as early as 1901 as the Nordic Games in Scandinavia. Trying to hedge their bets the International Olympic Committee originally styled the Charmonix games the Winter Sports Week. It was so successful that in 1928 the IOC designed the games at St. Moritz the Second Winter Olympiad. These games did a lot to raise the public interest in the sport of ski running, now simply called skiing.
1925- In Prague, Karel Capek’s futuristic play R.U.R. opened. It featured electronic mechanical men, called by the Czech word for workers, “ roboti”, so robots.
1938- Walt Disney attempted to head off the rising tide of unionizing workers in Hollywood by forming a dummy company union called the Federation of Screen Cartoonists. No other artists but Disney employees joined, and Disney's chief attorney Gunther Lessing could veto any vote Walt or he did not like.
1947- Mobster Al Capone died in seclusion at his home in Biscayne Bay Florida at age 48. He was released from Alcatraz Prison early because of ill health, his mind was slowly destroyed by untreated syphilis. When another gangster was asked if Capone would resume leadership of the Chicago rackets, he replied:” Nah. Big Al is nuttier than a fruitcake.”
1949- The first Emmy Awards ceremony was held at the LA Athletic Club. Five awards were given out for shows like Mabel’s Fables, and Treasures of Literature. Rudy Vallee hosted. Tickets were $5 each. Mayor Fletcher Bowron declared it “ TV Day” in LA.
1960- Actress Diana Barrymore, the daughter of John Barrymore, overdosed on sleeping pills. The Barrymore family that had dominated the American theater since the 1850’s had a history of drug and alcohol abuse. Ancestor after ancestor drank themselves to death. Current leader of the family Drew Barrymore recovered after rehab at age 12. 1961- John F. Kennedy has his first televised Presidential press conference.
1961- Walt Disney’s 101 Dalmatians premiered.
1970- Robert Altman’s movie M*A*S*H premiered.
1971- Charles Manson and his followers convicted of 27 counts of murder. They were all sentenced to the Gas Chamber, but the death penalty had just been abolished in California.
1996- American composer-playwright Jonathan Larson died of a sudden aortic aneurism at age 35. After a night of bar-hopping his roommate returned to find him dead on his kitchen floor. Larson spent years waiting tables and living in a coldwater loft in lower New York. Just three months after his death his musical Rent opened and became a major Broadway hit, earning $250 million dollars, Tony awards and a Pulitzer Prize. It ran for 12 years.
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