Birthdays: Pilgrim leader John Winthrop, Charles Perrault (Mother Goose), John Hancock, Edmund Burke, John Singer Sargent, Jack London, James Farmer the founder of CORE, Herman Goering, Eddie Selzer, "Smokin' Joe" Frazier, Tex Ritter, Martin Agronsky, animator John Sibley, animator Ray Aragon, Howard Stern is 69, Rush Limbaugh, Oliver Platt is 64, Wayne Wang, Tiffany, Kirstie Alley, John Lasseter is 67
1809- A group of Viennese businessmen convinced Ludwig Van Beethoven not to move to another city by paying him a yearly allowance. Beethoven constantly worried about money and pleaded poverty, yet after his death people found thousands of silver coins hidden in little pots and cupboards throughout his home. He used to charge people three marks to look at him through his window while he composed.
1928- NY police raid Alfred Knopf publishing offices and seized 852 copies of the novel “The Well of Loneliness” by Radclyffe Hall, because reading it was thought to turn young girls into lesbians!
1928- Henry Grey and Ruth Snyder are electrocuted in Sing-Sing Prison for the murder of Mrs. Snyder's husband. The love triangle was the inspiration for the films 'Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice' and 'Body Heat". Press photographer Thomas Howard taped a small camera to his ankle and snapped a photo of Mrs Snyder frying in the chair. The New York Daily News published the photo on its front page.
1960-” The Scent of Mystery”- the first film in Smell-O-Vision.
1965- NBC TV premiered Hullabaloo, a Rock & Roll dance show with lots of mini-skirted go-go dancers. ABC responded with Shindig.
1966- Holy Cult Classic! The TV show "Batman" with Adam West and Burt Ward, premiered.
1969- Super Bowl III at the Orange Bowl, Broadway Joe Namath and the underdog NY Jets upset the Baltimore Colts led by the legendary Johnny Unitas 16-7.
1971- “ALL IN THE FAMILY” Norman Lear's TV sitcom debuted. Based on a popular British show Till Death Do Us Part, it broke new ground for American sitcoms by frankly discussing working class prejudice, menopause, rape and other taboo subjects. The first show featured the sound of a toilet flushing. The networks were so worried about its explosive content ABC rejected the show twice, and CBS ran the first episodes with a long apologetic disclaimer. Carrol O’Connor, the actor who played Archie Bunker, was so convinced the show would flop, he demanded as part of his contract a round trip plane ticket home. The show ran for 13 years, a bushel of Emmy Awards and made the name Archie Bunker famous.
1987- No mystery, Agatha Christie died at 88 of natural causes.
1995- Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen announced the name of their new partnership would be 'Dreamworks SKG'. Someone in Florida immediately bought the domain name “Dreamworks.com” and waited for their buyout offer. I heard it was $5,000.
1997-According to Arthur C. Clarkes 1968 book "2001, a Space Odyssey", the HAL-9000 computer was booted up today.
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