Birthdays: Antonio Salieri, Frederick Ludwig Jahn 1778- founder of the Gymnastics Movement, Alex Haley, Jack Haley, Rev Jerry Falwell, Hulk Hogan- real name Terry Bollier-is 74, Dick Browne the creator of Hagar the Horrible, Steve Wozniak the co-founder of Apple Computers, Raymond Leppard, Lloyd Nolan, Mike Douglas, Patti Duke Astin, Chris Helmsworth is 38, Animation director Rob Minkoff
1866 - World's 1st roller skating rink opens (Newport RI)
1908- The Hearst syndicate press published a story today that Annie Oakley was destitute and was arrested in Chicago trying to buy cocaine from a black man! The story was a phony. The woman arrested was a burlesque dancer who had previously impersonated Annie Oakley. The real Annie Oakley, one of the first big media stars, spent the next 6 years suing 55 newspapers. She won all but one lawsuit.
1909-The first S.O.S.-'Save Our Ship' Morse signal sent by the liner S.S. Arapahoe off Cape Hatteras North Carolina.
1932- The original Rin Tin Tin died. The German shepherd dog was the first animal movie star. Legend was he was rescued from a WWI battlefield by a doughboy named Lee Duncan who called him "Rinty". Later in Hollywood people joked he was more spoiled than any human star. Before sound he was the main moneymaker of struggling little Warner Bros studio. Jack Warner called him “Our little rent check.” When the Academy Award was created in 1927 there was a semi-serious discussion whether to give the very first Best Actor Oscar to Rin Tin Tin. In 1967 Warners admitted they had bred 16 duplicate dogs in case anything happened to him.
1934- The Mickey Mouse cartoon The Orphan’s Benefit. The first cartoon where Donald Duck lost his temper and did his fighting stance, and they started calling Dippy Dog by his new name- The Goof, or Goofy.
1942- Hollywood actress Hedy Lamarr is awarded a patent for her radio-guided torpedo. It was ignored in her time, but many years later the principles became the basis of Spread Spectrum Technology, revolutionizing wireless communications.
1946- Playwright Moss Hart married Miss America Kittie Carlisle.
1949- Margaret Mitchell, author of "Gone With the Wind" was hit by a taxicab crossing Peachtree Street in Atlanta, and died 5 days later. Her last request was for her husband to burn the original manuscript of Gone With The Wind, which he did. Once accused of being a racist, it came out later Mitchell quietly paid for scholarships for dozens of black students to attend medical school and become doctors.
1956- Abstract artist Jackson Pollack died when he drunkenly crashed his car into a tree near East Hampton Long Island. He was 44.
1957- The Toyota Car Company of Japan introduces itself to the United States with a car called the Toyopet. It's first year’s sales were so bad; they almost gave up on the U.S.
1962- Actor Sir Lawrence Olivier founded the National Theatre in London.
1972- San Antonio Texas holds its first annual Cheech & Chong Day.
1973- American Graffiti opened nationwide. Despite good previews Universal exec Ned Tannen hated the film and threatened to shelve it or cut his losses by sending it direct to TV. Francis Ford Coppola, coming off his Godfather success, offered to buy the rights to the movie and take it elsewhere. Tannen backed down. American Graffitti cost $777,000 to make. And it made $140 million. Making George Lucas a serious Hollywood player. Ned Tannen’s name was used as the bad guy bully Biff Tannen in Back to The Future.
1995- The Walt Disney short Runaway Brain, featuring Mickey Mouse, premiered. Directed by Chris Bailey and written by Tim Hauser.
2001- First day shooting on the film Hero, directed by Zhang Yimou.
2014- Comedian/Actor Robin Williams committed suicide in his San Francisco home. He had been battling depression and could feel something was wrong with his body. It was later discovered he had Diffuse Lewy Body Dementia, a form of early onset Alzheimer’s. Then incurable. He was 63.
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