Birthdays: Camille Saint Saens, E. Howard Hunt, Jacques Tati, Alastair Sim, Bruce Catton, Joe Pepitone, cartoonist Mike Peters, Savannah, John Lennon would be 82, his son Sean Lennon, E. Howard Hunt, Scott Bakula, Peter Tosh, Charles Rudolph Walgren-the inventor of the modern Drugstore, Guillermo Del Toro is 58, Tony Schaloub is 70, Pete Doctor is 55.
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! Societies have celebrated bringing in the harvest since primitive times. About forty years before the pilgrims of Massachusetts, English explorer Martin Frobisher and his crew exploring Canada celebrated at a harvest feast with the indigenous peoples in 1578. The first official celebration of Canadian Thanksgiving was in November of 1879, and in 1957, it was set as celebrate the second Monday in October.
1809- The first Royal Jubilee celebrated in England. The monarchy had taken a number of hits lately. King George III was a blind, insane shut in and the Prince Regent and Princess of Wales were separated and quarreling. So, an old widow named Mrs Biggs came up with the idea of a celebration of King George's 50th anniversary of his reign as a way to boost morale. It worked and it's been a custom ever since.
1855- James Stoddard patents the steam calliope.
1888- The Washington Monument finally opened to the public. Construction on it was begun in 1840 and discontinued for a decade during the Civil War. Work was also held up when Protestant workmen refused to use marble donated by Pope Pius IX. It was dedicated the previous year by President Arthur. But he did it in February, and only 300 people showed up in the cold.
1899- Chicago writer and travelling salesman L. Frank Baum wrote a friend that he had just finished a new children’s book called The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. “It is the best thing I’ve written, so they tell me. We’ll see if the queer and fickle public will like it.” It became a huge bestseller.
1905- The World Series resumes after a one-year haggle between the owners of the American and National leagues. A best of seven contest between the N.Y. Giants and the Philadelphia Athletics. It would continue undisturbed until 1994 with the players strike.
1919- After a year overseas serving in WWI, young volunteer Walt Disney arrived back home in America and was mustered out.
1938- Eugene O'Neill's play 'The Iceman Cometh' opened.
1951- RKO Pictures asked Marilyn Monroe to please wear panties while working? She was distracting the film crew.
1981- Sir Hugh Hudson’s movie Chariots of Fire, about British Olympians at the 1924 Paris Olympics became a sleeper hit. The decision to let Greek composer Vangelis score the period film with an all-electronic synthesizer soundtrack became a sensation. Soon most of the movies of that time had synthesizer tracks. People said symphony orchestras, Jazz quintets and garage bands would all be obsolete.
1986- People said there would never be more than three networks. Today the first show of the fourth network, The Fox Network's the Late Show with Joan River's, premiered. That show failed, but future hits like The Simpson's, Married With Children and the X-Files made Fox a major network within ten years.
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