Birthdays: Chief Crazy Horse, Samuel Butler*, Thomas Carlyle, Lillian Russell, Vasilly Kandinsky, Buck Jones, Wink Martindale, Max Baer Jr., Robert Vesco, Charles Keating, Wally George, Deanna Durbin, Pappy Boyington, Horst Bucholtz, Rainer Maria Rilke, Jeff Bridges is 74, Marisa Tomei is 59, Tyrah Banks is 50, Johnny Lyon of the band Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Jay-Z is 54, Fred Armisen is 57
1791- The London Observer, called the oldest continually published newspaper in the world, first published. True, the Times was begun in 1788 but it had a spotty release it’s first few years while its publisher would be thrown in prison for libel.
1875- William Marcy “Boss Tweed” escaped Ludlow Street jail and fled to Cuba. He had been the corrupt boss of New York City politics throughout the 1860s and 70s. He was rearrested in Spain by a Spanish policeman who spoke no English. When asked by American diplomats why, the Spaniard said he saw a newspaper cartoon by Thomas Nast of Tweed in prison garb with his hands on two young boys. So, he thought he was a kidnapper! Tweed was brought to justice by the one crime he probably never did.
1881- First issue of the Los Angeles Times.
1909- The first Canadian Football League championship the Grey Cup, U of Toronto defeated Toronto Parkdale 26-6
1927- The Cotton Club opened as a speakeasy nightclub in Harlem. It was built on the site of a Club Deluxe, started by the old Boxing Champ Jack Johnson in 1909. New owners were New York gangsters Owney “The Killer” Madden and George “Big Frenchy” DeMange. Duke Ellington’s orchestra highlighted the opening night. When other gangsters tried to open a rival The Plantation Club, Owney had his hoods firebomb the place. The Cotton Club was one of the great centers of the Harlem Renaissance, but at first African Americans were banned from eating or drinking at the tables. Even W.C. Handy was turned away. The policy was changed in 1935 to allow all races in.
Max Fleischer’s brother Lou was a regular customer.There he befriended Cab Calloway, and convinced him to come downtown and lay down some tracks for Betty Boop cartoons.
1931- “ Its alive! Its alive!” James Whale’s macabre masterpiece “Frankenstein” opened at the Mayfair theater in NY. Universal Studios originally wanted Bela Lugosi to play the Monster, to follow up on his success as Dracula. But Lugosi loudly protested it wasn’t a good fit for him. Whale’s writing partner David Lewis just saw this British actor William Henry Pratt renamed Boris Karloff in a play called the Criminal Code, where he played a murderous convict. So they signed him to play the monster.
1932- “Good Evening Mr & Mrs. North and South America and All the Ships at Sea! Let’s Go To Press!” Newspaper columnist Walter Winchell began his famous radio broadcasts on the NBC Blue Network. Winchell became one of the most powerful voices in American society and politics for 23 years.
1941- The animated film “Hoppity Goes to Town" or Mr. Bug Goes to Town”-opened. Max Fleischer's last gamble to keep up with Walt Disney and keep his studio alive. Songs written by top pop song writer Hoagy Carmichael. However, the events of Pearl Harbor three days later not only sink the American Navy, but also Hoppity's box office and put Max out of a job.
1948- “Hey...Stella!! A Streetcar Named Desire opened on Broadway with Marlon Brando and Jessica Tandy.
1954- Jim McLamore and Dave Edgerton attended a demonstration of fast-food serving techniques by two California brothers named MacDonald. This day in Miami, McLamore and Edgerton opened the first Insta-Burger, later renamed Burger King.
1955- French mime Marcel Marceau appeared on American TV for the first time.
1958- Cocoa Puffs cereal invented.
1961- Someone at the Museum of Modern Art in NY noticed that they had hung Henri Matisse’s painting Le Bateau upside down. It had been that way for two months, and up until now nobody had noticed.
1963- The first Instant Replay camera used at a football game. It was an Army-Navy game.
1965 - Jerry Garcia, Bob, Phil, Bill, and Pigpen first convened as the Grateful Dead to play as the house band for Ken Kesey and the Prankster's Acid Test in San Jose, California. The Dead went on to break records, bend minds, and build a community that continued on for many years.
1985- The first Cray X-MP Supercomputer booted up.
1985- Steven Spielberg’s production Young Sherlock Holmes, directed by Barry Levinson premiered. It featured the CG breakthrough Stain Glass Knight animated by John Lasseter. Despite this, the film failed, and its failure made Disney change its movie title Basil of Baker Street to The Great Mouse Detective.
1988- Actor Gary Busey almost died in a motorcycle accident on Olympic Blvd. In Los Angeles. He was not wearing a helmet and suffered massive head trauma. He later claimed to have an out-of-the-body experience at the scene.
1993- Rocker Frank Zappa died of prostate cancer at age 52.
2012-Walt Disney announced it made a deal to show its Disney, Pixar and Marvel movies on Netflix instead of Starz Channel. First major studio to switch from cable to streaming. A few years later it set up its own streaming channel, Disney+.
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