BIRTHDAYS-Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin are born on the same day in 1809, although an ocean apart; Austrian Emperor Francis II, Tadeusz Kosciuszko, Joe Garagiola, Luigi Boccherini, John L. Lewis, Bill Russell, Franco Zeffirelli, Rudy Larriva, Lorne Greene, Joe Don Baker, Arsenio Hall, Christina Ricci is 45, Josh Brolin is 57.
1809 -Happy Lincoln's Birthday, Because of Richard Nixon’s 1970 law creating President’s Day you do not have today off as a holiday. One of my favorite Lincoln quotes is:" Some people say I’m two-faced. If I'm supposed to be two-faced, why did I settle for this one?"
1924- RHAPSODY IN BLUE- Band leader Paul Whiteman had commissioned a rhapsody for Jazz Band from the famous composer George Gershwin. Tonight at a concert at the Aeolian Hall in New York City it premiered in a long bill of "Modern Music". Also on the bill was jazz interpretations of "Yes We have no Bananas" and "Kitten on the Keys." Sergei Rachmaninoff, Fritz Kriesler, Igor Stravinsky and Leopold Stokowski were in attendance.
Gershwin’s orchestrator was Ferde Grofe’, the composer famous for the Grand Canyon Suite. It was Grofes’ idea to bring in a jazzman named Ross Gorman to do the opening clarinet solo. While rehearsing the piece, Gorman took Gershwin’s opening 17 note ascent and ‘smeared’ the riff to the long high note, creating the famous opening. Gershwin liked it so much he told him to always play it that way.
Gershwin was originally going to call his piece Concert Rhapsody for Jazz Band & Piano or American Rhapsody. But his brother Ira Gershwin was inspired by some Whistler paintings he saw at a museum called Nocturne in Blue and Green and Harmony in Grey and Green. He suggested Rhapsody in Blue.
1947- THE BIRTH OF THE 'NEW LOOK' The Paris fashion show where designer Christian Dior defined the look for women of the 1950s into the early 60's: Wasp waists, gloves and patent leather accessories, pleated mid length skirts.
1964- Miles Davis and his band played Carnegie Hall.
1967- The Redlands Bust. Police arrested Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Marianne Faithful for doing LSD among other drugs. Marianne had just taken a bath and was wearing nothing but a fur throw rug, which he let drop in front of the constables. It was when the British public first saw how extensive the use of drugs among pop stars was.
1976- actor Sal Mineo was killed outside his car port in West Hollywood. Marilyn Monroe and Shelley Winters once shared an apartment in the same building. Mineo's murder remained unsolved for many years. There were rumors that he was done in by a gay acquaintance, but the killer turned out to be a routine robber who wanted money.
1994-"WHY ME! WHY ME?!" The Winter Olympics at Lillehammer began, which are remembered mainly for figure skater Tanya Harding hiring a hit man to break her rival Nancy Kerrigan's kneecaps with a steel pipe. Despite all the hub-bubb, the gold was won by Ukrainian skater Oksana Baiyul who was arrested a year later for drunk driving.
Nancy Kerrigan signed a multi-million dollar endorsement contract with Disney, which she succeeded in blowing within a month by making fun of Disneyworld during a parade. Within range of a microphone she whispered." This is all so corny! I can’t believe I’m doing this." When someone asked if Tanya Harding could get any commercial endorsements, it was pointed out that she was an asthmatic who smokes Marlboros.
1999- Rushmore released, the first quirky movie by quirky director Wes Anderson.
2001- The Near Spacecraft landed on Eros, an orbiting asteroid. The first
landing on an asteroid.
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