Birthdays: Malcolm X- born Malcolm Little, Ho Chi Minh- born Ngyun Tat Tanth- Ho Chi Minh means the Enlightener, Giovanni Della Robbia, John Hopkins, Lord Waldorf Astor, Dame Nelly Melba, Frank Capra, Wilson Mizner, Elena Poniatowska, Jim Lehrer, Nora Ephron, Grace Jones, Peter Mahew, Nancy Kwan, Pete Townshend, Joey Ramone, Andre the Giant, Polly Walker, James Baxter, animator Tom Sito is 68.
1884 - Ringling Brothers circus premiered.
1886- First performance of Camille Saint Saen's Organ Symphony #3. Saint Saen's had written 6 such works but hated them all but three. He liked the third symphony so much he never wrote another. Composer Charles Gounod heard the symphony and exclaimed:" There is now a French Beethoven!"
1892 - Charles Brady King invented the pneumatic jackhammer- sleeping city dwellers rejoice.
1897- Writer Oscar Wilde was released from prison after doing two years of hard labor. The experience broke his health and he never completely recovered. He did use his experiences to write his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol in 1898.
1898 - Post Office authorizes the use of postcards.
1921- The U.S. Congress ended the system of unchecked immigration and sets up a quota system based on nationalities. The act was heavily influenced by experts in the pseudo-science of Eugenics, then very popular. Even today the system heavily favors Europeans..
1934- Mickey Mouse short cartoon Gulliver Mickey.
1956- Cecil B. de Milles film " The Ten Commandments" premiered. Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter and Edward G, Robinson.
1956- The Disney film Pollyana debuted, making a star of Haley Mills.
1958- The film,” The Attack of the 50 Ft Woman” premiered. A drive-in favorite.
1960 - DJ Alan Freed is accused of bribery in the radio payola scandal, the first scandal to hit the new world of Rock & Roll.
1962- Giant birthday party and rally held for President John F. Kennedy in New York's Madison Square Garden (his birthday was actually the following week). What made it memorable was Marilyn Monroe in a dress so tight she had to be sewn into it, singing her sexy version of the Happy Birthday song. 'Happy (exhale) Burth- Day, Mister - Prezz- a -dent (sigh), Happy, etc. "
1991- Willy T. Ribbs became the first African American racecar driver to qualify for the Indianapolis 500.
1992- The completion bond company Allied Filmmakers seized Richard Williams’ unfinished masterpiece Cobbler and the Thief. Producer Jack Eberts had the film’s remaining sequences completed by another studio (Fred Calvert, and one sequence subcontracted to Don Bluth) and released as Arabian Nights. A year later I asked Dick how he was doing? He replied, “Well, contrary to everyone’s best wishes, I am NOT suicidal.”
1997- Matthew Broderick married Sarah Jessica Parker.
1999- George Lucas’ much anticipated film Star Wars Episode One the Phantom Menace premiered, the first Star Wars sequel in over a decade. It was the first major film premiere to be projected digitally. Only two theaters in New York and two in Hollywood could do digital projection then. It featured Jarr Jarr Binks, a character so annoying, that web sites like www. I Want Jarr-Jarr to Die-Die.com soon racked up tens of thousands of hits.
2000- Walt Disney CG animated film Dinosaur opened.
2005- Star Wars: The Revenge of the Sith premiered.
2006- Dreamwork’s animated film ‘Over the Hedge’ premiered.
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