ALSO TODAY IN 1912 - Lillian Russell, famed theatrical actress, married for the fourth time on this day and said that she was retiring from the stage. Marriage will sometimes do that to people. 1923 - Harry Houdini, while in a straitjacket, suspended 40 feet in the air, amazed a large and quite disbelieving audience as he freed himself of the constraints. 1935 - Ella Fitzgerald recorded her first sides for Brunswick Records. The tunes were Love and Kisses and I’ll Chase the Blues Away. She was featured with Chick Webb and his band. Ella was 17 at the time and conducted the Webb band for three years following his death in 1939. 1939 - The Baseball Hall of Fame was formally dedicated at Cooperstown, NY. The shrine to major-league baseball stands in honor of baseball greats of the past. 1942 - Paul Whiteman and his orchestra recorded Travelin’ Light on Capitol Records of Hollywood, California. On the track with Whiteman’s orchestra was the vocal talent of ‘Lady Day’, Billie Holiday. 1947 - People gathered around the radio to listen to Sergeant Preston of The Yukon for the first time. The show, with the Canadian Mountie and his trusty dog, King, continued on the radio until 1955 (and on TV from 1955-1958). Sgt. Preston was created by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker, who also created The Lone Ranger and The Green Hornet. 1948 - Ben Hogan won his first U.S. Open golf classic on this day. 1957 - Stan ‘The Man’ Musial of the St. Louis Cardinals set a National-League baseball record by appearing in his 823rd consecutive game. The old record (822) had been held by Gus Suhr of the Pirates (& Phillies). Musial went on to extend his consecutive game streak to 895 in late August 1957. 1963 - Elizabeth Taylor starred in the $40,000,000 film epic, Cleopatra. The movie certainly gave ticket buyers their money’s worth. It lasted for four hours, three minutes. Cleopatra opened at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City on this day. Richard Burton starred as Marc Antony, Rex Harrison played Julius Caesar, Hume Cronyn played Sosigines, Carroll O’Connor was Casa and Roddy McDowell appeared as Octavian. We were at a loss, however, to find the name of the asp that bit Cleopatra. We do know where she was bitten -- just not what happened to the little snake. Sorry. 1965 - The Queen of England announced that The Beatles would receive the coveted MBE Award. The Order of the British Empire recognition had previously been bestowed only upon British military heroes, many of whom were so infuriated by the news, they returned their medals to the Queen. In fact, John Lennon wasn’t terribly impressed with receiving the honor. He returned it (for other reasons) four years later. 1981 - Larry Holmes, 31, defended his heavyweight boxing title by earning a third-round TKO (technical knockout) over Leon Spinks in Detroit, MI. Spinks, who had lost his two front teeth in previous bouts, was understandably discouraged at being beaten so early and was quoted as having said, “Thith ith weely, weely a thame, youth know? Like, I wuth weddy, weely weddy, but, I got whupped up pwetty badth, I gueth.” 1982 - A major political rally attracted the largest crowd ever to such an event in New York City’s Central Park. Entertainers Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen and Linda Ronstadt gathered before 750,000 to rally for the cause of nuclear disarmament. 1985 - The National Hockey League Celebration of Excellence recognized ‘The Great One’, hockey star Wayne Gretsky, by awarding him his sixth Hart Trophy. The honor is earned by the Most Valuable Player in the NHL each year. 1987 - President Ronald Reagan delivered a now-famous speech at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, “General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” Destruction began November 9, 1989 on the Berlin Wall that had divided the city for some 28 years. 1994 - The gruesomely-murdered bodies of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were discovered outside Nicole’s Brentwood, California condominium. Within days, actor/football legend O.J. Simpson was charged by police. He was acquitted in criminal court [1995], but found liable for the deaths in a civil suit [1997].
Posted on: Wed, 12 Jun 2013 11:58:37 +0000
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