Birthdays: Johannes Kepler, Linwood Dunn, Marlene Dietrich, Louis Pasteur, Oscar Levant, Sidney Greenstreet, Anna Russell, Dr. William Masters of Masters & Johnson, Leslie Maguire, John Amos, Tovah Feldshuh, Heather O’Rourke, Cokie Roberts, Bollywood star Salman Khan, Gerard Depardieu is 76
1887- Beginning of the Sherlock Holmes story, The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle.
1903- The Barbershop Quartet standard “Sweet Adeline” sung for the first time. It was written in praise of opera star Adelina Patti.
1904- PETER PAN, OR, THE BOY WHO WOULDN’T GROW UP, a play by James M. Barrie, opened at the Duke of York Theatre in London. Barrie reserved seats in the opening night performance for orphaned children who laughed and cheered all night.He placed the kids all amongst the London theatre critics. Michael Llewelyn Davies, the little boy Barrie befriended who was the basis for Pan, used to say:” I am not Peter Pan. Mr Barrie is.” Barrie stipulated in his will that all monies earned from the play go to the Great St. Ormond Street Home for Boys, where he was raised. Peter Pan also made the name Wendy popular for girls. Barrie said he got from “Fwendy-Wendy” a nickname he had in the home.
1927-"ShowBoat" debuted at the Ziegfeld theater. Based on a novel by Edna Ferber, the musical was written by Jerome Kern & Oscar Hammerstein. The play was written for black baritone Paul Robeson but he could not appear in it until 1932.” Ol’ Man River” became his signature song.
1935- Radio City Music Hall opened. The Art Deco masterpiece was for many years the largest indoor theater in the world, seating over 6,000.
1940- Al Jolson and Ruby Keeler announced their separation.
1940- The Pantry Pirate opened. Pluto cartoon directed by Clyde Geronimi.
1943- The movie The Song of Bernadette premiered.
1947- “ Hey Kids, What Time is It?” The "Howdy-Doody Show” debuted on NBC. Buffalo Bob, Howdy and Clarabell the Clown, also known as the Puppet Playhouse. The live audience of children was called the Peanut Gallery. Gumby was debuted on the show in 1957.
1951- The Crosley car goes into service for the post office in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is the funny little jeep with the steering wheel on the right side, so the mail deliverer didn’t have to get out of his vehicle to reach every curbside mailbox.
1968- Apollo 8 landed safely on Earth after being the first ship to reach the Moon and come back. The brought back spectacular photos of the Earth from space. One of the three astronauts was also the first to barf in deep space, but they aren’t saying which.
1988- Director Hal Ashby died of colon cancer. He was 59. One of the top Hollywood directors along with Spielberg, Lucas and Coppola, he did not live long enough to be celebrated as much as they would be.
2016- Actress-screenwriter Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia in Star Wars), died of cardiac arrest due to sleep apnea while flying from London to Los Angeles. She stopped breathing 15 minutes to landing. The coroner’s report said it was cardiac arrest/deferred. She was 60. Her mother Debbie Reynolds had a stroke and died the next day at age 84. After her acting career, Fisher was one of the better script doctors in Hollywood. A lot of the witty banter in Don Bluth's Fantasia is hers.
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