BROWNNOSE
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227th day of 2010 - 138 remaining
Sunday, August 15, 2010
WOODSTOCK DAY
They came by the thousands. They came from every corner of the U.S. and many came from other countries. It was a pilgrimage to a farm owned by Max Yasgur in an area of Sullivan County, New York called Bethel. In a manner of speaking, this was a religious experience. It was a pilgrimage for love, and peace. And throughout it all, the music played.
The Woodstock Music and Art Fair opened on this day in 1969. Two dozen bands came to play on a wooden stage in the middle of a pasture. It was a happening unlike any other before it ... and, probably like none after. 450,000 people formed a love-in for three days and nights. Jimi Hendrix was there, Joan Baez, and Arlo Guthrie, too. Country Joe and the Fish, Santana, Crosby, Stills and Nash. Jefferson Airplane, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Who, and so many more. There were hippies, and bikers, Viet Nam war vets, and high school kids ... college kids and college grads, longhaired and short, young and old ... and the world watched and joined in through the magic of the media.
They came by the thousands. The music played, people danced and sang. And the memories went home with them. Woodstock marked an era.
Events August 15
1848 - Milton Waldo Hanchett of Syracuse, NY patented the dental chair. Interestingly, the fully-reclining dental chair was not patented until 1957. Ouch!
1877 - Thomas Edison wrote the president of the Telegraph Company in Pittsburgh, PA. The letter stated that the word, “hello” would be a more appropriate greeting than “ahoy,” as suggested by Alexander Graham Bell when answering the telephone. And so it is that we pick up the phone anywhere in the world and say: “Allo. Alo. Bueno. Pronto. Hallo. Aloha. Mo simosi. Hello.”
1896 - The Emporia Gazette published the editorial, “What’s the matter with Kansas?” And we thought everything was up-to-date in Kansas ... or at least in Kansas City...
1911 - Procter & Gamble Company of Cincinnati, OH introduced Crisco hydrogenated shortening. We still use the stuff for pie crusts today.
1914 - The Panama Canal opened. The U.S. steamship Ancon was the first ship through, sailing from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Before the Panama Canal was built, sea trade was forced to travel all the way around South America’s sometimes stormy Cape Horn. Some 14,000 ships use the Canal yearly.
1926 - The famous Three Men on Third play happened in Boston’s Fenway Park. Babe Herman came to bat in the bottom of the seventh inning. One man was out and the bases were loaded. Chick Fewster was on first base, Dazzy Vance on second and Hank DeBerry on third. Herman hit the ball off the right-field wall. DeBerry crossed the plate, Vance stopped at third and Fewster ran past second base on his way to third. Herman ran PAST Fewster on HIS way to third. Herman was declared out and Fewster was tagged out. Herman had hit into a double play. DeBerry’s score, however, was allowed -- and the Brooklyn Dodgers won, 2-1.
1941 - Au Revoir, Pleasant Dreams was recorded by Ben Bernie and his orchestra.
1943 - Because of his special talent to use food scraps in both unusual and appetizing recipes, the War Department awarded Sgt. Edward Dzuba the Legion of Merit.
1945 - South Korea was liberated from Japanese rule this day.
1947 - India declared its independence from the United Kingdom after some 200 years of British rule. Jawaharlal Nehru became India’s first prime minister. The Islamic part of India becames Pakistan.
1948 - CBS-TV inaugurated the first nightly news broadcast, with anchorman Douglas Edwards reporting the day’s events.
1950 - An earthquake, measuring 8.6 on the Richter scale, killed over 1,500 in Assam, India.
1954 - Bob Toski captured the richest prize in golf -- The Tam O’Shanter world pro golf title. Toski earned a cash prize of $50,000 and a $50,000 exhibition contract.
1957 - A Soviet Aeroflot Illushym 12 airliner crashed into the harbor at Copenhagen, Denmark. The aircraft had struck the chimney of a factory. The crash killed all 23 persons on board.
1960 - Congo (Congo-Brazzaville) declared Independence from France (Congolese National Day).
1965 - The Beatles played to 55,000 screaming fans at Shea Stadium. The box-office take was $304,000 with The Beatles getting $160,000.
1968 - Pirate station Radio Free London began transmitting.
1969 - Three Dog Night (Danny Hutton, Cory Wells and Chuck Negron) was awarded a gold record for the album, Three Dog Night. Where’d the name of the group come from? In Australia, the aborigine tribes of several regions slept outside all year. As the temperatures got colder, the tribesmen would sleep with a dog to keep warm. In colder weather, they would huddle with two dogs. It must have been an extremely cold night when the group was formed...
1970 - On this day, Patricia Palinkas became the first woman to play in a pro football game. She dropped a pass and was ridiculed by her Orlando (Florida) Panthers teammates -- and by the press.
1971 - Bahrain, a group of islands in the Persian Gulf midway between the tip of the Qatar Peninsula and the Saudi Arabian mainland, gained independence from Great Britain. It became the State of Bahrain.
1975 - The founding president of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was killed by army officers in a coup.
1980 - I Me Mine, an autobiography by former Beatle George Harrison, went on sale.
1981 - Lionel Richie and Diana Ross hit number one on the pop music charts with their beautiful duet, Endless Love. It was a huge success for the two singers. Endless Love was number one for 9, count ’em, nine weeks.
1984 - New York City turned out to honor the Team USA Olympic medalists. An estimated two million people lined the streets during the 10-block-long ticker-tape parade.
1984 - Pete Rose returned to become player and manager of the Cincinnati Reds after being away from his hometown for six years. Rose had been in Philadelphia and Montreal.
1989 - F.W. de Klerk was sworn in as acting president of South Africa, a day after P.W. Botha’s resignation.
1990 - Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev restored Soviet citizenship to author Alexander Solzhenitsyn. The Nobel Prize-winning writer had been expelled in 1974 for his novels attacking Stalinism.
1991 - Paul Simon performed a free concert in Central Park, New York. The show attracted some 750,000 people. The album, Paul Simon’s Concert in the Park is still attracting people.
1994 - Llich Ramirez Sanchez, the terrorist known as Carlos the Jackal was captured in Sudan, taken to Paris and jailed. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for three murders and held responsible for numerous terrorist attacks.
1995 - The U.S. Justice Department agreed to pay 3.1 million dollars to white separatist Randy Weaver and his family to settle their claims over the killing of Weaver’s wife and son during a 1992 siege by federal agents at Ruby Ridge, Idaho. Weaver received $100,000, while each of Vicki Weaver’s surviving three children received $1 million.
1995 - Pioneering TV newsman and Timex watch pitchman John Cameron Swayze died in Sarasota, FL. He was 89 years old.
1996 - Bob Dole won the Republican presidential nomination. At the party’s convention in San Diego, he offered himself as the “bridge to a time of tranquillity” and described himself as “the most optimistic man in America.”
1997 - The Los Angeles Dodgers retired player, scout, coach, manager, executive Tommy Lasorda’s uniform #2 in a pre-game ceremony at Dodger Stadium.
1997 - Films opening in the U.S.: Cop Land, starring Sylvester Stallone, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Janeane Garofalo, Robert Patrick, Michael Rapaport, Annabella Sciorra and Malik Yoba; Event Horizon, with Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan, Joely Richardson, Richard T. Jones, Jack Noseworthy, Jason Isaacs and Sean Pertwee; and Steel, starring Shaquille O’Neal, Annabeth Gish, Richard Roundtree, Judd Nelson, Irma P. Hall, Ray J and Charles Napier.
1999 - Tiger Woods won the PGA Championship and was the youngest player to win two majors since Seve Ballesteros.
2000 - The book Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2) was released in bookstores.
2001 - Astronomers announced the discovery of the first solar system outside of our own.
2002 - Some 600 family members of 9/11 victims filed a trillion-dollar federal lawsuit against Saudi officials, banks and charities. The families charged Saudi Arabia had financed Osama BIN Laden’s network and the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington.
2003 - These films were new in U.S. theatres: American Splendor, starring Paul Giamatti, Hope Davis, Judah Friedlander, James Urbaniak and Harvey Pekar; Open Range, starring Kevin Costner, Annette Bening, Abraham Benrubi, Robert Duvall, Michael Gambon, Diego Luna, Michael Jeter, Dean McDermott and James Russo; and Uptown Girls, with Brittany Murphy, Dakota Fanning, Marley Shelton, Donald Adeosun Faison, Heather Locklear, Michael Urie and Tony Devon.
2003 - Bouncing back from the largest blackout in U.S. history, cities from the Midwest to Manhattan restored power to millions of people.
2004 - International Olympic Committee officials, worried by the TV images of athletes competing in near empty stadiums, told the Athens Games organizers to give tickets away for free if necessary.
2005 - Many countries celebrated the 60th Anniversary of the Victory in the Pacific and the end of World War II, known at the time as Victory over Japan Day or V-J Day. Beijing held an arts performance gala. In Japan, in a large-scale ceremony led by the Emperor Akihito, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi apologized for the suffering Japan caused during World War II.
2005 - Phil Mickelson won the PGA Championship with a four-under-par 276. It was Mickelson’s second major title.
2006 - New York City’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the donation of $125 million of his own fortune to a worldwide anti-smoking campaign. The billionaire and former smoker described his donation as “a social investment” and said the dollars would go to existing organizations to implement anti-smoking measures.
2007 - A magnitude 8.0 earthquake rocked Peru’s coast, toppling buildings and killing hundreds of people. Ddoctors called off a national strike to handle the emergency. Two prisons collapsed and 600 prisoners escaped (about a third gave themselves up over the following week.) Tremors destroyed 80% of Pisco, where 148 people died when the city cathedral collapsed.
2007 - Former National Basketball Association referee Tim Donaghy pleaded guilty to felony charges in an NBA betting scheme. He faced up to 25 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.
2008 - New movies in the U.S.: The animated comedy Fly Me to the Moon, featuring the voices of Trevor Gagnon, Philip Daniel Bolden, David Gore, Christopher Lloyd, Kelly Ripa, Nicollette Sheridan, Ed Begley, Jr., Adrienne Barbeau, Tim Curry, Robert Patrick and Buzz Aldrin; Mirrors, starring Amy Smart, Kiefer Sutherland, Paula Patton, Jason Flemyng, Julian Glover, Ezra Buzzington and John Shrapnel; the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars, featuring the voices of Ian Abercrombie, Dee Bradley Baker, Anthony Daniels, Ashley Eckstein, Nika Futterman, Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Kane, Matt Lanter, Christopher Lee, Catherine Taber, James Arnold Taylor and Matthew Wood; and the Woody Allen romantic comedy Vicky Cristina Barcelona, starring Javier Bardem, Patricia Clarkson, Penelope Cruz, Kevin Dunn, Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johansson and Chris Messina.
2008 - Record producer Jerry Wexler died at 91 years of age. From 1953-1975 he worked for Atlantic Records and helped build the firm into a rhythm and blues powerhouse. During his time as an editor, reporter, and writer for Billboard Magazine, Wexler coined the term, “rhythm and blues.”
2008 - Employees at a Wal-Mart outlet in Canada won an arbitrator-imposed contract, becoming the giant retailer’s only location in North America with a collective bargaining agreement in place.
2009 - A fire at a wedding tent in Kuwait killed 57 women and children in an inferno that lasted just three minutes. The tent had only one exit, causing a stampede that compounded the death toll. The bridegroom’s ex-wife was later found to be the arsonist and was sentenced to death in 2010.
Birthdays August 15
1769 - Napolean Bonaparte
emperor of France; died May 5, 1821
1771 - Sir Walter Scott
writer: Ivanhoe, The Talisman, The Heart of Midlothian, Rob Roy, The Fortunes of Nigel; died Sep 21, 1832
1859 - Charlie Comiskey
baseball [first base] St. Louis Brown Stockings, Chicago Pirates, Cincinnati Reds; manager: St. Louis Browns, Chicago Pirates, Cincinnati Reds; he was instrumental in founding the American League; owner: Chicago White Sox; Comiskey Park [Chicago] built under his guidance and named for him; died Oct 26, 1931
1879 - Ethel Barrymore (Ethel Mae Blythe)
Academy Award-winning actress: None But the Lonely Heart [1944]; The Farmer’s Daughter, Pinky; died June 18, 1959
1885 - Edna Ferber
Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist: So Big [1925]; Show Boat, Cimarron, Saratoga Trunk, Ice Palace, Giant, Dawn O’Hara; playwright [w/George Kaufman]: The Royal Family, Dinner at Eight, Stage Door, The Land is Bright, Bravo; died Apr 16, 1968
1901 - Ned Washington
Academy Award-winning lyricist: When You Wish Upon a Star [Pinocchio 1940], High Noon [Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin’] [High Noon 1952]; The Nearness of You, Smoke Rings, Love Me, Wild Is the Wind, Green Dolphin Street, When You Wish Upon a Star; died Dec 20, 1976
1904 - Bil Baird
puppeteer: Bil Baird Puppets: Life with Snarky Parker; died Mar 18, 1987
1909 - Hugo Winterhalter
orchestra leader: Canadian Sunset, Rhapsody in Blue; died Sep 17, 1973
1912 - Julia Child (McWilliams)
Culinary Institute of America’s Hall of Famer: chef, author: The French Chef; TV host: Dinner with Julia; died Aug 13, 2004
1912 - Dame Wendy Hiller
Academy Award-winning actress: Separate Tables [1958]; A Man for All Seasons, Making Love, Murder on the Orient Express, Pygmalion, The Elephant Man, Toys in the Attic, David Copperfield; died May 14, 2003
1919 - Huntz Hall
actor: East Side Kids/Bowery Boys: Angels with Dirty Faces, Mr. Wise Guy, Smart Alecks, Bowery Champs, Mr. Muggs Rides Again, The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters; died Jan 30, 1999
1922 - Leonard Baskin
sculptor, book-illustrator, wood-engraver, printmaker, graphic artist, teacher, writer: Ten Times Better, Animals That Ought to Be, Did You Say Ghosts?; died Jun 3, 2000
1923 - Rose Marie (Mazetta)
comedienne, actress: The **** Van Dyke Show, Hollywood Squares, The Doris Day Show, My Sister Eileen, Ghetto Blaster, Witchboard, Memory of Us
1924 - Phyllis Schlafly
antifeminist; author
1925 - Mike Connors (Krekor Ohanian)
actor: Mannix, Tightrope, Today’s F.B.I., Sudden Fear
1925 - Oscar Peterson
jazz pianist: jazz trios, solos, played with all jazz greats, composer; biography: Oscar Peterson: The Will to Swing; died Dec 23, 2007
1925 - Bill Pinkney
musician: bass: group: The Drifters: Money Honey, Such a Night, Lucille, Honey Love, Bip Bam, What’cha Gonna Do, White Christmas; died July 4, 2007
1931 - Janice Rule
actress: American Flyers, L.A. Bad, Invitation to a Gunfighter, The Life You Save; died Oct 17, 2003
1933 - Bobby Helms
singer: My Special Angel, Jingle Bell Rock, Fraulein; died Jun 19, 1997
1935 - Abby Dalton
actress: Falcon Crest, Barney Miller, Hennesey, The Joey Bishop Show
1938 - Stephen Breyer
U.S. Supreme Court Justice [since 1994]
1938 - Lucille Soong
actress: Desperate Housewives, Nine Dead, Nora’s Hair Salon, Nancy Drew, My American Vacation, The Joy Luck Club, The Mini-Affair, Passions, All About the Andersons, Huff, Coronation Street, Dharma and Greg, According to Jim
1941 - Don Rich
country musician, songwriter: Waiting in Your Welfare Line; one of Buck Owens’ Buckaroos
1942 - Peter York
musician: drums: group: Spencer Davis Group: Gimme Some Lovin’, Keep on Runnin’, Somebody Help Me
1944 - Linda Ellerbee
journalist, TV co-host: Our World; Maxwell House commercials
1945 - Duffy (Don Robert) Dyer
baseball: NY Mets [World Series: 1969], Pittsburgh Pirates, Montreal Expos, Detroit Tigers
1945 - Jill Haworth
actress: Exodus, In Harm’s Way, Tower of Evil
1945 - Gene Upshaw
Pro Football Hall of Famer: Oakland Raiders guard: Super Bowl II, XI, XIV
1946 - Jimmy Webb
Grammy Award-winning songwriter: Up, Up and Away [1967]; MacArthur Park, By the Time I Get to Phoenix, Wichita Lineman, Galveston
1950 - Tommy Aldridge
musician: drums: groups: Ozzy Osbourne, Black Oak Arkansas, Gary Moore, Pat Travers, M.A.R.S., Whitesnake, House of Lords, Vinnie Moore, Yngwie Malmsteen, Ruby Starr, John Sykes, Warren De Martini, Steve Fister, Thin Lizzy, Elements of Friction, Ted Nugent
1950 - Princess Anne (Mountbatten)
British royalty: daughter of Philip Mountbatten [Duke of Edinburgh] and Alexandra Mary Windsor [Queen Elizabeth II], sister of Princes Charles, Andrew and Edward
1950 - Tess Harper (Washam)
actress: Tender Mercies, Flashpoint
1961 - Matt Johnson
musician: guitar, singer: solo as: The The: Controversial Subject, Untitled, Cold Spell Ahead, Uncertain Smile, Perfect, This is the Day, Giant, Heartland
1962 - Bubby Brister
football [quarterback]: Louisiana-Monroe; NFL: Pittsburgh Steelers, Philadelphia Eagles, NY Jets, Denver Broncos, Minnesota Vikings, KC Chiefs
1964 - Melinda Gates
wife of Microsoft founder Bill Gates
1964 - Jeff Huson
baseball: Univ of Wyoming; Montreal Expos, Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles, Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners, Anaheim Angels and Chicago Cubs
1966 - Scott Brosius
baseball [outfield, first, second, third base]: Oakland Athletics, New York Yankees
1967 - Mike James
baseball [pitcher]: California/Anaheim Angels, SL Cardinals, Colorado Rockies, TB Devil Rays
1967 - MCA (Adam Yauch)
rap artist: group: The Beastie Boys
1968 - Debra Messing
actress: Will & Grace, N.Y.P.D. Blue, Ned and Stacey
1969 - James Black
hockey: Hartford Whalers, Minnesota North Stars, Dallas Stars, Buffalo Sabres, Chicago Blackhawks, Washington Capitals
1969 - Yancey Thigpen
football [wide receiver]: Winston-Salem State; NFL: SD Chargers, Pittsburgh Steelers, Tennessee Oilers, Tennessee Titans
1972 - Ben Affleck
actor: Pearl Harbor, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Glory Daze, Good Will Hunting, Armageddon, Forces of Nature, Reindeer Games
1972 - Ken Walter
football [punter]: Kent State Univ' NFL: Carolina Panthers, New England Patriots, Seattle Seahawks
1973 - Kris Mangum
football [tight end]: Univ of Mississippi; NFL: Carolina Panthers
1977 - Nicole Paggi
actress: One on One, Campus Confidential, Frozen Impact, Hope and Faith, Pasadena
1979 - Carl Edwards
NASCAR race car champ: Golden Corral 500 [Atlanta, 2005], Citizens Bank 400 [Michigan, 2007]; in his first ten years of racing, Edwards accumulated two NASCAR sanctioned track championships, three Rookie-of-the-Year honors, and 75 feature wins
1981 - Brendan Hansen
U.S. Olympic swimmer: set world records in 100-, 200-meter breaststroke [2004]
ABA Birthdays Today
freesat , stclair (62) , compar (55) , airscrew (50) , mikesell (50) , patmccrotch (48) , troidat158 (48) , tatterbug3 (44) , jonathantrungdo (44) , tjwolfie568 , willyy1 (43) , pin6d8 (43) , platz87 (41) , hjcrawfordsr (40) , micok (36) , tom88833 (35) , sanlizafer (35) , cheruiz (34) , pinedac (30)
Chart Toppers
August 15
1945Dream - The Pied Pipers
I Wish I Knew - **** Haymes
If I Loved You - Perry Como
Oklahoma Hills - Jack Guthrie
1954Sh-Boom - The Crew Cuts
In the Chapel in the Moonlight - Kitty Kallen
The High and the Mighty - Les Baxter
One by One - Kitty Wells & Red Foley
1963Fingertips - Pt 2 - Little Stevie Wonder
Wipe Out - The Surfaris
(You’re the) Devil in Disguise - Elvis Presley
Ring of Fire - Johnny Cash
1972Alone Again (Naturally) - Gilbert O’Sullivan
Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl) - Looking Glass
(If Loving You is Wrong) I Don’t Want to Be Right - Luther Ingram
Bless Your Heart - Freddie Hart & The Heartbeats
1981Endless Love - Diana Ross & Lionel Richie
Theme from "Greatest American Hero" (Believe It or Not) - Joey Scarbury
Slow Hand - Pointer Sisters
I Don’t Need You - Kenny Rogers
1990Vision of Love - Mariah Carey
The Power - Snap!
Come Back to Me - Janet Jackson
Good Times - Dan Seals
1999All Star - Smash Mouth
I Will Remember You - Sarah McLachlan
Genie in a Bottle - Christina Aguilera
Amazed - Lonestar
2008I Kissed a Girl - Katy Perry
Forever - Chris Brown
Leavin’ - Jesse McCartney
All I Want to Do - Sugarland
Remembering Woodstock
enjoy all
Sunday, August 15, 2010
WOODSTOCK DAY
They came by the thousands. They came from every corner of the U.S. and many came from other countries. It was a pilgrimage to a farm owned by Max Yasgur in an area of Sullivan County, New York called Bethel. In a manner of speaking, this was a religious experience. It was a pilgrimage for love, and peace. And throughout it all, the music played.
The Woodstock Music and Art Fair opened on this day in 1969. Two dozen bands came to play on a wooden stage in the middle of a pasture. It was a happening unlike any other before it ... and, probably like none after. 450,000 people formed a love-in for three days and nights. Jimi Hendrix was there, Joan Baez, and Arlo Guthrie, too. Country Joe and the Fish, Santana, Crosby, Stills and Nash. Jefferson Airplane, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Who, and so many more. There were hippies, and bikers, Viet Nam war vets, and high school kids ... college kids and college grads, longhaired and short, young and old ... and the world watched and joined in through the magic of the media.
They came by the thousands. The music played, people danced and sang. And the memories went home with them. Woodstock marked an era.
Events August 15
1848 - Milton Waldo Hanchett of Syracuse, NY patented the dental chair. Interestingly, the fully-reclining dental chair was not patented until 1957. Ouch!
1877 - Thomas Edison wrote the president of the Telegraph Company in Pittsburgh, PA. The letter stated that the word, “hello” would be a more appropriate greeting than “ahoy,” as suggested by Alexander Graham Bell when answering the telephone. And so it is that we pick up the phone anywhere in the world and say: “Allo. Alo. Bueno. Pronto. Hallo. Aloha. Mo simosi. Hello.”
1896 - The Emporia Gazette published the editorial, “What’s the matter with Kansas?” And we thought everything was up-to-date in Kansas ... or at least in Kansas City...
1911 - Procter & Gamble Company of Cincinnati, OH introduced Crisco hydrogenated shortening. We still use the stuff for pie crusts today.
1914 - The Panama Canal opened. The U.S. steamship Ancon was the first ship through, sailing from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Before the Panama Canal was built, sea trade was forced to travel all the way around South America’s sometimes stormy Cape Horn. Some 14,000 ships use the Canal yearly.
1926 - The famous Three Men on Third play happened in Boston’s Fenway Park. Babe Herman came to bat in the bottom of the seventh inning. One man was out and the bases were loaded. Chick Fewster was on first base, Dazzy Vance on second and Hank DeBerry on third. Herman hit the ball off the right-field wall. DeBerry crossed the plate, Vance stopped at third and Fewster ran past second base on his way to third. Herman ran PAST Fewster on HIS way to third. Herman was declared out and Fewster was tagged out. Herman had hit into a double play. DeBerry’s score, however, was allowed -- and the Brooklyn Dodgers won, 2-1.
1941 - Au Revoir, Pleasant Dreams was recorded by Ben Bernie and his orchestra.
1943 - Because of his special talent to use food scraps in both unusual and appetizing recipes, the War Department awarded Sgt. Edward Dzuba the Legion of Merit.
1945 - South Korea was liberated from Japanese rule this day.
1947 - India declared its independence from the United Kingdom after some 200 years of British rule. Jawaharlal Nehru became India’s first prime minister. The Islamic part of India becames Pakistan.
1948 - CBS-TV inaugurated the first nightly news broadcast, with anchorman Douglas Edwards reporting the day’s events.
1950 - An earthquake, measuring 8.6 on the Richter scale, killed over 1,500 in Assam, India.
1954 - Bob Toski captured the richest prize in golf -- The Tam O’Shanter world pro golf title. Toski earned a cash prize of $50,000 and a $50,000 exhibition contract.
1957 - A Soviet Aeroflot Illushym 12 airliner crashed into the harbor at Copenhagen, Denmark. The aircraft had struck the chimney of a factory. The crash killed all 23 persons on board.
1960 - Congo (Congo-Brazzaville) declared Independence from France (Congolese National Day).
1965 - The Beatles played to 55,000 screaming fans at Shea Stadium. The box-office take was $304,000 with The Beatles getting $160,000.
1968 - Pirate station Radio Free London began transmitting.
1969 - Three Dog Night (Danny Hutton, Cory Wells and Chuck Negron) was awarded a gold record for the album, Three Dog Night. Where’d the name of the group come from? In Australia, the aborigine tribes of several regions slept outside all year. As the temperatures got colder, the tribesmen would sleep with a dog to keep warm. In colder weather, they would huddle with two dogs. It must have been an extremely cold night when the group was formed...
1970 - On this day, Patricia Palinkas became the first woman to play in a pro football game. She dropped a pass and was ridiculed by her Orlando (Florida) Panthers teammates -- and by the press.
1971 - Bahrain, a group of islands in the Persian Gulf midway between the tip of the Qatar Peninsula and the Saudi Arabian mainland, gained independence from Great Britain. It became the State of Bahrain.
1975 - The founding president of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was killed by army officers in a coup.
1980 - I Me Mine, an autobiography by former Beatle George Harrison, went on sale.
1981 - Lionel Richie and Diana Ross hit number one on the pop music charts with their beautiful duet, Endless Love. It was a huge success for the two singers. Endless Love was number one for 9, count ’em, nine weeks.
1984 - New York City turned out to honor the Team USA Olympic medalists. An estimated two million people lined the streets during the 10-block-long ticker-tape parade.
1984 - Pete Rose returned to become player and manager of the Cincinnati Reds after being away from his hometown for six years. Rose had been in Philadelphia and Montreal.
1989 - F.W. de Klerk was sworn in as acting president of South Africa, a day after P.W. Botha’s resignation.
1990 - Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev restored Soviet citizenship to author Alexander Solzhenitsyn. The Nobel Prize-winning writer had been expelled in 1974 for his novels attacking Stalinism.
1991 - Paul Simon performed a free concert in Central Park, New York. The show attracted some 750,000 people. The album, Paul Simon’s Concert in the Park is still attracting people.
1994 - Llich Ramirez Sanchez, the terrorist known as Carlos the Jackal was captured in Sudan, taken to Paris and jailed. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for three murders and held responsible for numerous terrorist attacks.
1995 - The U.S. Justice Department agreed to pay 3.1 million dollars to white separatist Randy Weaver and his family to settle their claims over the killing of Weaver’s wife and son during a 1992 siege by federal agents at Ruby Ridge, Idaho. Weaver received $100,000, while each of Vicki Weaver’s surviving three children received $1 million.
1995 - Pioneering TV newsman and Timex watch pitchman John Cameron Swayze died in Sarasota, FL. He was 89 years old.
1996 - Bob Dole won the Republican presidential nomination. At the party’s convention in San Diego, he offered himself as the “bridge to a time of tranquillity” and described himself as “the most optimistic man in America.”
1997 - The Los Angeles Dodgers retired player, scout, coach, manager, executive Tommy Lasorda’s uniform #2 in a pre-game ceremony at Dodger Stadium.
1997 - Films opening in the U.S.: Cop Land, starring Sylvester Stallone, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Janeane Garofalo, Robert Patrick, Michael Rapaport, Annabella Sciorra and Malik Yoba; Event Horizon, with Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan, Joely Richardson, Richard T. Jones, Jack Noseworthy, Jason Isaacs and Sean Pertwee; and Steel, starring Shaquille O’Neal, Annabeth Gish, Richard Roundtree, Judd Nelson, Irma P. Hall, Ray J and Charles Napier.
1999 - Tiger Woods won the PGA Championship and was the youngest player to win two majors since Seve Ballesteros.
2000 - The book Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2) was released in bookstores.
2001 - Astronomers announced the discovery of the first solar system outside of our own.
2002 - Some 600 family members of 9/11 victims filed a trillion-dollar federal lawsuit against Saudi officials, banks and charities. The families charged Saudi Arabia had financed Osama BIN Laden’s network and the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington.
2003 - These films were new in U.S. theatres: American Splendor, starring Paul Giamatti, Hope Davis, Judah Friedlander, James Urbaniak and Harvey Pekar; Open Range, starring Kevin Costner, Annette Bening, Abraham Benrubi, Robert Duvall, Michael Gambon, Diego Luna, Michael Jeter, Dean McDermott and James Russo; and Uptown Girls, with Brittany Murphy, Dakota Fanning, Marley Shelton, Donald Adeosun Faison, Heather Locklear, Michael Urie and Tony Devon.
2003 - Bouncing back from the largest blackout in U.S. history, cities from the Midwest to Manhattan restored power to millions of people.
2004 - International Olympic Committee officials, worried by the TV images of athletes competing in near empty stadiums, told the Athens Games organizers to give tickets away for free if necessary.
2005 - Many countries celebrated the 60th Anniversary of the Victory in the Pacific and the end of World War II, known at the time as Victory over Japan Day or V-J Day. Beijing held an arts performance gala. In Japan, in a large-scale ceremony led by the Emperor Akihito, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi apologized for the suffering Japan caused during World War II.
2005 - Phil Mickelson won the PGA Championship with a four-under-par 276. It was Mickelson’s second major title.
2006 - New York City’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the donation of $125 million of his own fortune to a worldwide anti-smoking campaign. The billionaire and former smoker described his donation as “a social investment” and said the dollars would go to existing organizations to implement anti-smoking measures.
2007 - A magnitude 8.0 earthquake rocked Peru’s coast, toppling buildings and killing hundreds of people. Ddoctors called off a national strike to handle the emergency. Two prisons collapsed and 600 prisoners escaped (about a third gave themselves up over the following week.) Tremors destroyed 80% of Pisco, where 148 people died when the city cathedral collapsed.
2007 - Former National Basketball Association referee Tim Donaghy pleaded guilty to felony charges in an NBA betting scheme. He faced up to 25 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.
2008 - New movies in the U.S.: The animated comedy Fly Me to the Moon, featuring the voices of Trevor Gagnon, Philip Daniel Bolden, David Gore, Christopher Lloyd, Kelly Ripa, Nicollette Sheridan, Ed Begley, Jr., Adrienne Barbeau, Tim Curry, Robert Patrick and Buzz Aldrin; Mirrors, starring Amy Smart, Kiefer Sutherland, Paula Patton, Jason Flemyng, Julian Glover, Ezra Buzzington and John Shrapnel; the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars, featuring the voices of Ian Abercrombie, Dee Bradley Baker, Anthony Daniels, Ashley Eckstein, Nika Futterman, Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Kane, Matt Lanter, Christopher Lee, Catherine Taber, James Arnold Taylor and Matthew Wood; and the Woody Allen romantic comedy Vicky Cristina Barcelona, starring Javier Bardem, Patricia Clarkson, Penelope Cruz, Kevin Dunn, Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johansson and Chris Messina.
2008 - Record producer Jerry Wexler died at 91 years of age. From 1953-1975 he worked for Atlantic Records and helped build the firm into a rhythm and blues powerhouse. During his time as an editor, reporter, and writer for Billboard Magazine, Wexler coined the term, “rhythm and blues.”
2008 - Employees at a Wal-Mart outlet in Canada won an arbitrator-imposed contract, becoming the giant retailer’s only location in North America with a collective bargaining agreement in place.
2009 - A fire at a wedding tent in Kuwait killed 57 women and children in an inferno that lasted just three minutes. The tent had only one exit, causing a stampede that compounded the death toll. The bridegroom’s ex-wife was later found to be the arsonist and was sentenced to death in 2010.
Birthdays August 15
1769 - Napolean Bonaparte
emperor of France; died May 5, 1821
1771 - Sir Walter Scott
writer: Ivanhoe, The Talisman, The Heart of Midlothian, Rob Roy, The Fortunes of Nigel; died Sep 21, 1832
1859 - Charlie Comiskey
baseball [first base] St. Louis Brown Stockings, Chicago Pirates, Cincinnati Reds; manager: St. Louis Browns, Chicago Pirates, Cincinnati Reds; he was instrumental in founding the American League; owner: Chicago White Sox; Comiskey Park [Chicago] built under his guidance and named for him; died Oct 26, 1931
1879 - Ethel Barrymore (Ethel Mae Blythe)
Academy Award-winning actress: None But the Lonely Heart [1944]; The Farmer’s Daughter, Pinky; died June 18, 1959
1885 - Edna Ferber
Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist: So Big [1925]; Show Boat, Cimarron, Saratoga Trunk, Ice Palace, Giant, Dawn O’Hara; playwright [w/George Kaufman]: The Royal Family, Dinner at Eight, Stage Door, The Land is Bright, Bravo; died Apr 16, 1968
1901 - Ned Washington
Academy Award-winning lyricist: When You Wish Upon a Star [Pinocchio 1940], High Noon [Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin’] [High Noon 1952]; The Nearness of You, Smoke Rings, Love Me, Wild Is the Wind, Green Dolphin Street, When You Wish Upon a Star; died Dec 20, 1976
1904 - Bil Baird
puppeteer: Bil Baird Puppets: Life with Snarky Parker; died Mar 18, 1987
1909 - Hugo Winterhalter
orchestra leader: Canadian Sunset, Rhapsody in Blue; died Sep 17, 1973
1912 - Julia Child (McWilliams)
Culinary Institute of America’s Hall of Famer: chef, author: The French Chef; TV host: Dinner with Julia; died Aug 13, 2004
1912 - Dame Wendy Hiller
Academy Award-winning actress: Separate Tables [1958]; A Man for All Seasons, Making Love, Murder on the Orient Express, Pygmalion, The Elephant Man, Toys in the Attic, David Copperfield; died May 14, 2003
1919 - Huntz Hall
actor: East Side Kids/Bowery Boys: Angels with Dirty Faces, Mr. Wise Guy, Smart Alecks, Bowery Champs, Mr. Muggs Rides Again, The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters; died Jan 30, 1999
1922 - Leonard Baskin
sculptor, book-illustrator, wood-engraver, printmaker, graphic artist, teacher, writer: Ten Times Better, Animals That Ought to Be, Did You Say Ghosts?; died Jun 3, 2000
1923 - Rose Marie (Mazetta)
comedienne, actress: The **** Van Dyke Show, Hollywood Squares, The Doris Day Show, My Sister Eileen, Ghetto Blaster, Witchboard, Memory of Us
1924 - Phyllis Schlafly
antifeminist; author
1925 - Mike Connors (Krekor Ohanian)
actor: Mannix, Tightrope, Today’s F.B.I., Sudden Fear
1925 - Oscar Peterson
jazz pianist: jazz trios, solos, played with all jazz greats, composer; biography: Oscar Peterson: The Will to Swing; died Dec 23, 2007
1925 - Bill Pinkney
musician: bass: group: The Drifters: Money Honey, Such a Night, Lucille, Honey Love, Bip Bam, What’cha Gonna Do, White Christmas; died July 4, 2007
1931 - Janice Rule
actress: American Flyers, L.A. Bad, Invitation to a Gunfighter, The Life You Save; died Oct 17, 2003
1933 - Bobby Helms
singer: My Special Angel, Jingle Bell Rock, Fraulein; died Jun 19, 1997
1935 - Abby Dalton
actress: Falcon Crest, Barney Miller, Hennesey, The Joey Bishop Show
1938 - Stephen Breyer
U.S. Supreme Court Justice [since 1994]
1938 - Lucille Soong
actress: Desperate Housewives, Nine Dead, Nora’s Hair Salon, Nancy Drew, My American Vacation, The Joy Luck Club, The Mini-Affair, Passions, All About the Andersons, Huff, Coronation Street, Dharma and Greg, According to Jim
1941 - Don Rich
country musician, songwriter: Waiting in Your Welfare Line; one of Buck Owens’ Buckaroos
1942 - Peter York
musician: drums: group: Spencer Davis Group: Gimme Some Lovin’, Keep on Runnin’, Somebody Help Me
1944 - Linda Ellerbee
journalist, TV co-host: Our World; Maxwell House commercials
1945 - Duffy (Don Robert) Dyer
baseball: NY Mets [World Series: 1969], Pittsburgh Pirates, Montreal Expos, Detroit Tigers
1945 - Jill Haworth
actress: Exodus, In Harm’s Way, Tower of Evil
1945 - Gene Upshaw
Pro Football Hall of Famer: Oakland Raiders guard: Super Bowl II, XI, XIV
1946 - Jimmy Webb
Grammy Award-winning songwriter: Up, Up and Away [1967]; MacArthur Park, By the Time I Get to Phoenix, Wichita Lineman, Galveston
1950 - Tommy Aldridge
musician: drums: groups: Ozzy Osbourne, Black Oak Arkansas, Gary Moore, Pat Travers, M.A.R.S., Whitesnake, House of Lords, Vinnie Moore, Yngwie Malmsteen, Ruby Starr, John Sykes, Warren De Martini, Steve Fister, Thin Lizzy, Elements of Friction, Ted Nugent
1950 - Princess Anne (Mountbatten)
British royalty: daughter of Philip Mountbatten [Duke of Edinburgh] and Alexandra Mary Windsor [Queen Elizabeth II], sister of Princes Charles, Andrew and Edward
1950 - Tess Harper (Washam)
actress: Tender Mercies, Flashpoint
1961 - Matt Johnson
musician: guitar, singer: solo as: The The: Controversial Subject, Untitled, Cold Spell Ahead, Uncertain Smile, Perfect, This is the Day, Giant, Heartland
1962 - Bubby Brister
football [quarterback]: Louisiana-Monroe; NFL: Pittsburgh Steelers, Philadelphia Eagles, NY Jets, Denver Broncos, Minnesota Vikings, KC Chiefs
1964 - Melinda Gates
wife of Microsoft founder Bill Gates
1964 - Jeff Huson
baseball: Univ of Wyoming; Montreal Expos, Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles, Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners, Anaheim Angels and Chicago Cubs
1966 - Scott Brosius
baseball [outfield, first, second, third base]: Oakland Athletics, New York Yankees
1967 - Mike James
baseball [pitcher]: California/Anaheim Angels, SL Cardinals, Colorado Rockies, TB Devil Rays
1967 - MCA (Adam Yauch)
rap artist: group: The Beastie Boys
1968 - Debra Messing
actress: Will & Grace, N.Y.P.D. Blue, Ned and Stacey
1969 - James Black
hockey: Hartford Whalers, Minnesota North Stars, Dallas Stars, Buffalo Sabres, Chicago Blackhawks, Washington Capitals
1969 - Yancey Thigpen
football [wide receiver]: Winston-Salem State; NFL: SD Chargers, Pittsburgh Steelers, Tennessee Oilers, Tennessee Titans
1972 - Ben Affleck
actor: Pearl Harbor, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Glory Daze, Good Will Hunting, Armageddon, Forces of Nature, Reindeer Games
1972 - Ken Walter
football [punter]: Kent State Univ' NFL: Carolina Panthers, New England Patriots, Seattle Seahawks
1973 - Kris Mangum
football [tight end]: Univ of Mississippi; NFL: Carolina Panthers
1977 - Nicole Paggi
actress: One on One, Campus Confidential, Frozen Impact, Hope and Faith, Pasadena
1979 - Carl Edwards
NASCAR race car champ: Golden Corral 500 [Atlanta, 2005], Citizens Bank 400 [Michigan, 2007]; in his first ten years of racing, Edwards accumulated two NASCAR sanctioned track championships, three Rookie-of-the-Year honors, and 75 feature wins
1981 - Brendan Hansen
U.S. Olympic swimmer: set world records in 100-, 200-meter breaststroke [2004]
ABA Birthdays Today
freesat , stclair (62) , compar (55) , airscrew (50) , mikesell (50) , patmccrotch (48) , troidat158 (48) , tatterbug3 (44) , jonathantrungdo (44) , tjwolfie568 , willyy1 (43) , pin6d8 (43) , platz87 (41) , hjcrawfordsr (40) , micok (36) , tom88833 (35) , sanlizafer (35) , cheruiz (34) , pinedac (30)
Chart Toppers
August 15
1945Dream - The Pied Pipers
I Wish I Knew - **** Haymes
If I Loved You - Perry Como
Oklahoma Hills - Jack Guthrie
1954Sh-Boom - The Crew Cuts
In the Chapel in the Moonlight - Kitty Kallen
The High and the Mighty - Les Baxter
One by One - Kitty Wells & Red Foley
1963Fingertips - Pt 2 - Little Stevie Wonder
Wipe Out - The Surfaris
(You’re the) Devil in Disguise - Elvis Presley
Ring of Fire - Johnny Cash
1972Alone Again (Naturally) - Gilbert O’Sullivan
Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl) - Looking Glass
(If Loving You is Wrong) I Don’t Want to Be Right - Luther Ingram
Bless Your Heart - Freddie Hart & The Heartbeats
1981Endless Love - Diana Ross & Lionel Richie
Theme from "Greatest American Hero" (Believe It or Not) - Joey Scarbury
Slow Hand - Pointer Sisters
I Don’t Need You - Kenny Rogers
1990Vision of Love - Mariah Carey
The Power - Snap!
Come Back to Me - Janet Jackson
Good Times - Dan Seals
1999All Star - Smash Mouth
I Will Remember You - Sarah McLachlan
Genie in a Bottle - Christina Aguilera
Amazed - Lonestar
2008I Kissed a Girl - Katy Perry
Forever - Chris Brown
Leavin’ - Jesse McCartney
All I Want to Do - Sugarland
Remembering Woodstock
enjoy all
