BROWNNOSE
BOOTLICKER
361st day of 2010 - 4 remaining
Monday, December 27, 2010
SHOW BOAT DAY
The Jerome Kern (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics) musical, Show Boat, opened on this day in 1927 at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City. Its star, Helen Morgan, received excellent reviews from critics of the show; a musical about riverboat show people and their romances and disappointments. It was inspired by the novel, Show Boat, written by Edna Ferber in 1926.
Ms. Ferber was inspired by the 19th century steam boats that traveled up and down the Mississippi and other large rivers, carrying entertainers to rural communities where the performers presented on-board shows. The largest showboat that traveled Ol’ Man River could seat 3,400 showgoers and was called the Floating Circus Palace.
It’s amazing what a little inspiration can accomplish. Show Boat went showboatin’ along for 572 performances; then Hollywood got into the act, filming its first version in 1929; then Ziegfeld put it on stage again in 1932 as Life Aboard a Real Showboat. Hollywood, not to be outdone, did it for the silver screen again in 1936, starring Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Paul Robeson, Hattie McDaniel, Joe E. Brown and Helen Morgan.
In 1951, a third version of Show Boat was made. This time, Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, Ava Gardner, William Warfield, Joe E. Brown, Agnes Moorehead and Gower Champion were in the spotlight. Cotton Blossom, the showboat in the film, cost $126,468 to build. Nineteen years later, it sold at auction for $15,000. Talk about depreciation...
Events December 27
1845 - Dr. Crawford Williamson Long used anesthesia for childbirth for the first time, when he delivered his own child in Jefferson, Georgia.
1900 - Carrie Nation staged her first raid on a saloon at the Carey Hotel in Wichita, Kansas. She broke each and every one of the liquor bottles she could see, which means, about all of them behind the bar, for sure. Nation usually did her damage with a hatchet; calling her vandalism, hatchetation.
1903 - The barbershop quartet favorite, Sweet Adeline, was sung for the first time -- in New York City. The song was composed by Henry Armstrong with the words of Richard Gerard. The title of the song came from a theatre marquee that promoted the great operatic soprano, Adelina Patti. Now female barbershop quartets call themselves Sweet Adelines.
1932 - Radio City Music Hall, in New York City, opened. It was the largest indoor theatre in the world. The gala grand opening show was a six-hour extravaganza that lost half a million dollars within three weeks. The theatre has since been renovated to recapture its original decorative charm. An Art Deco cathedral of entertainment, it seats more than 6,200 people and is still a must-see for those visiting New York. During the holiday season, audiences continue to get a kick out of seeing the world-famous Rockettes perform in precision on Radio City Music Hall’s nearly 10,000-square-foot stage.
1938 - The first skimobile course in America opened -- in North Conway, New Hampshire.
1939 - The Glenn Miller Show, also known as Music that Satisfies, started on CBS radio. The 15-minute, twice-a-week show was sponsored by Chesterfield cigarettes and was heard for nearly three years.
1940 - Singer Al Jolson and actress Ruby Keeler were divorced after 12 years of marriage. They had separated a year earlier; but Jolson talked Keeler into co-starring with him in the Broadway show, Hold on to Your Hats. She left the show before the opening and then left the marriage.
1945 - The International Monetary Fund was established in Washington DC. 28 nations signed an agreement creating the World Bank.
1946 - The American team won the Davis Cup for the first time since 1938. The competition was held at Melbourne, Australia.
1947 - “Hey kids... What time is it? It’s Howdy Doody time!” Buffalo Bob (Smith), Clarabelle the Clown (Bob Keeshan), Judy Canova and a host of others joined Howdy Doody on NBC-TV. The show stayed on the air for 13 years.
1949 - Queen Juliana of the Netherlands signed an act granting sovereignty to Indonesia after more than three centuries of Dutch rule.
1954 - Gian Carlo Menotti’s opera The Saint of Bleecker Street premiered on Broadway.
1961 - The Styne-Comden-Green musical Subways are for Sleeping premiered in the Big Apple.
1968 - The Breakfast Club signed off for the last time on ABC radio, after 35 years on the air.
1968 - Frank Borman, J. A. Lovell, Jr. and W.A. Anders became the first U.S. astronauts to land at night. Their space capsule, Apollo 8, made a safe nighttime spashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
1971 - Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy and Woodstock of Charles Schulz’ famous Peanuts comic strip made the cover of Newsweek magazine this day.
1975 - The Staple Singers reached the top spot on the pop music charts for the second time in their career. This time with Let’s Do It Again. The song, the theme from the movie soundtrack of the same name, was the last hit the group would have. I’ll Take You There was The Staple Singers’ first number one hit (June 3, 1972).
1978 - King Juan Carlos ratified Spain’s first democratic constitution.
1978 - The South Pole had a record high temperature of 7.5° F (-13.6° C).
1979 - Soviet forces seized control of Afghanistan. President Hafizullah Amin, who was overthrown and executed, was replaced by Babrak Karmal. The action resulted in the U.S. boycotting the Summer Olympics the following year.
1980 - The John Lennon hit, (Just Like) Starting Over, began a five-week stay at #1 on the pop charts. The hit was from the album, Double Fantasy. Lennon was murdered on December 8th of that year, as the single and LP had started their climb up the charts.
1983 - Pope John Paul II visited Mehmet Ali Agca at Rome’s Rebibbia prison and personally pardoned him for the 1981 attempt on the Pope’s life.
1983 - A propane gas fire devastated sixteen blocks of Buffalo, NY.
1984 - British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was the woman most admired by the American people, according to a Gallup Poll. It marked the third consecutive year that the ‘Iron Lady’ received that honor.
1986 - Corazon Aquino, President of the Philippines, was named TIME magazine’s Man of the Year. The only other women who had been so named were Queen Elizabeth II in 1952; and the Duchess of Windsor, Wallis Warfield Simpson, in 1936.
1989 - U.S. President George Bush (I), on a visit to Beeville, TX, said he was determined to bring deposed Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega to justice “for poisoning the children of the United States of America and people around the world” with illegal drugs.
1991 - Amid strained U.S.-Philippine relations, the Philippine government ordered the U.S. to close its Subic Bay naval base near Manila by January 12, 1992.
1994 - The NFL set a regular-season paid attendance record for the second consecutive year, topping 14 million for the first time (14,034,977).
1995 - Disregarding world criticism and some violent protests, France set off a fifth nuclear bomb on Mururoa Atoll in the South Pacific.
2001 - U.S. officials announced that Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners captured in Afghanistan would be held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
2001 - U.S. President George Bush (II) extended permanent trade status (formerly called “most-favored-nation” status) to China. Bush’s proclamation this day ended a long history of an annual review in the U.S. Congress of China’s permanent trade status.
2002 - Film director George Roy Hill, 81, died. His films included The Sting and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
2002 - Max debuted in U.S. theatres. The war drama stars John Cusack, Noah Taylor, Leelee Sobieski, Molly Parker and Paul Hipp.
2003 - British stage and film actor Alan Bates died. He was 69 years old. His films included Zorba the Greek and Georgy Girl.
2005 - Andrei Illarionov, adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin quit, saying Russia “is no longer free.”
2006 - Telephone lines and Internet service went down across much of Asia after two powerful earthquakes off Taiwan damaged undersea cables.
2007 - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held a summit, seeking to resolve a dispute over planned Israeli construction in east Jerusalem.
2007 - Pakistan’s leading opposition candidate, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated in a suicide attack in Rawalpindi. The attack, at the end of a campaign rally, also killed 20 others. After climbing in to her bulletproof vehicle, Bhutto had stood up through its sunroof to wave to the crowds. Doctors reported that Bhutto died from a bullet wound.
2008 - Israel began retaliating for rocket fire from militants in the Gaza Strip. Warplanes pounded dozens of security compounds across the Hamas-ruled territory in waves of airstrikes, killing nearly 200 people and wounding 270 others in the single bloodiest day of fighting in years.
2008 - Experts estimated that the mountain pine beetle was expected to kill virtually every mature lodgepole pine in Colorado. The beetle had destroyed pine forests from Mexico to Canada.
2009 - The United States was reported to have quietly opened a third, largely covert front against the Al-Qaeda terror network in Yemen. The Pentagon was spending more than 70 million dollars in 18 months, and using teams of special forces to train and equip Yemeni military, Interior Ministry and coast guard forces.
2009 - A South Korean consortium, led by Korea Electric Power (KEPCO), won a $20 billion contract to build four nuclear reactors in the United Arab Emirates.
Birthdays December 27
1571 - Johannes Kepler
‘founder of modern optics’: formulated eyeglass design for nearsightedness and farsightedness; coined term: Dioptrice, describing real, virtual, upright and inverted images and magnification; discovered the properties of total internal reflection; astronomer: 1st to correctly explain planetary motion; used stellar parallax caused by the Earth’s orbit to measure distance to the stars; suggested that Sun rotates about its axis, that tides are caused by the Moon; formed basis of integral calculus; derived the universally accepted birth year of Christ; writer: Astronomia Pars Optica, Dioptrice, Stereometrica Doliorum; died Nov 15, 1630
1773 - Sir George Cayley
pilot: first manned glider flight; scientist: ‘father of aerodynamics’: designed gliders, helicopters, airplanes; died Dec 15, 1857
1822 - Louis Pasteur
chemist, scientist: developed pasteurization process, rabies vaccination; died Sep 28, 1895
1879 - Sydney Greenstreet
actor: Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, Across the Pacific, Passage to Marseilles, Malaya; died Jan 18, 1954
1901 - Marlene Dietrich (Maria Magdelene von Losch)
actress: The Blue Angel, 1st German talkie; Morocco, Kismet, Destry Rides Again, Judgment at Nuremberg, Witness for the Prosecution; died May 6, 1992
1906 - Oscar Levant
musician, actor: An American in Paris, The Bandwagon, Romance on the High Seas; died Aug 14, 1972
1911 - Anna Russell
comedienne: operatic parodies: The Ring of the Nibelungs, How to Write Your Own Gilbert and Sullivan Opera; died Oct 18, 2006
1915 - William H. Masters
physician: Masters of Masters and Johnson: Human Sexual Response, On Sex and Human Loving; died Feb 16, 2001
1926 - Lee Salk
child psychologist, writer: Preparing for parenthood : understanding your feelings about pregnancy, childbirth, and your baby; died May 2, 1992
1931 - Scotty Moore
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame musician: guitar: Elvis Presley’s guitarist from 1954 to 1958 [Blue Suede Shoes, Hound Dog, All Shook Up]; ranked in Rolling Stone magazine’s 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time
1931 - Walter Norris
pianist, composer: Drifting
1933 - DAVE Marr
golf champion: PGA [1965]; died Oct 5, 1997
1939 - John Amos
actor: Good Times, Die Hard 2: Die Harder, Coming to America, Future Cop
1940 - Jerry Lambert
horse jockey
1941 - Phil (Philip Joseph) Gagliano
baseball: SL Cardinals [World Series: 1967, 1968], Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox, Cincinnati Reds
1941 - Les Maguire
musician: piano: group: Gerry and The Pacemakers: Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying, I Like It
1941 - Mike Pinder
musician: piano; songwriter, singer: group: The Moody Blues: Go Now, Tuesday Afternoon [Forever Afternoon], Ride My See-Saw, Voices in the Sky, Question, Story In Your Eyes, Nights in White Satin
1943 - Cokie Roberts
TV news: ABC News Nightline, senior news analyst: National Public Radio
1943 - Diane Stanley
author, illustrator: The Giant and the Beanstalk, The Farmer in the Dell, Charles ****ens, Saladin
1943 - Roy (Hilton) White
baseball: NY Yankees [World Series: 1976-1978/all-star: 1969, 1970]
1944 - Mick Jones
musician: guitar: group: Foreigner: Feels like the First Time, Cold as Ice, Long Long Way from Home, Hot Blooded, Blue Morning Blue Day, Double Vision, Waiting for a Girl like You, I Want to Know What Love Is, That Was Yesterday
1946 - Rich Jones
basketball: San Antonio Spurs
1947 - Bob McKay
football: Univ. of Texas; NFL: Cleveland Browns, New England Patriots
1947 - Mickey Redmond
hockey: Detroit Red Wings player/broadcast color analyst
1948 - Gerard Depardieu
actor: A Pure Formality, My Father the Hero, Cyrano deBergerac, Jean De Florette, The Return of Martin Guerre, Tartuffe, Choice of Arms, Loulou, Going Places, The Holes
1951 - Karla Bonoff
songwriter: Home [Bonnie Raitt]; Tell Me Why [Wynonna Judd]; Isn’t It Always Love [Lynn Anderson]; Someone To Lay Down Beside Me, Lose Again, If He’s Ever Near [Linda Ronstadt]
1952 - Tovah Feldshuh
actress: Holocaust, The Triangle Factory Fire Scandal, Brewster’s Millions, Blue Iguana, A Day in October
1952 - David Knopfler
musician: guitar, singer: group: Dire Straits: Sultans of Swing; solo: Romeo & Juliet, Tunnel of Love, Skateaway; LPs: Release, Behind the Lines, Cut the Wine
1952 - (Gordon) Craig Reynolds
baseball: pitcher: Pittsburgh Pirates, Seattle Mariners [all-star: 1978], Houston Astros [all-star: 1979]
1955 - E.E. Bell
actor: I Am Stamos, 61*, My Giant, Grizzly Mountain, Air Force One, Forget Paris, Moment of Truth: Cradle of Conspiracy
1958 - Steve Jones
golf pro: Indiana Senior PGA Player of the Year [1998, 1999]; coach: Butler University men’s golf squad
1962 - Sherri Steinhauer
golf: LPGA: career earnings: $2,042,381
1964 - Ian Gomez
actor: The Drew Carey Show, Underclassman, Connie and Carla, ****ie Roberts: Former Child Star, Chasing Papi, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Jake in Progress, Celebrity Poker Showdown
1970 - Lorenzo Neal
football [running back]: Fresno State Univ; NFL: New Orleans Saints, New York Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tennessee Titans, Cincinnati Bengals, San Diego Chargers
1971 - Bryan Smolinski
hockey: Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Islanders, LA Kings, Ottawa Senators
1971 - James Stewart football [running back]: Univ of Tennessee; NFL: Jacksonville Jaguars, Detroit Lions
1972 - Thomas Wilson Brown
actor: Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Diggstown, Days of Our Lives, Knots Landing
1972 - Kevin Ollie
basketball [guard]: Univ of Conneticut; NBA: Dallas Mavericks, Orlando Magic, Sacramento Kings, Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Nets, Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks, Seattle SuperSonics, Cleveland Cavaliers
1972 - Dewayne Washington
football [cornerback]: North Carolina State; NFL: Minnesota Vikings, Pittsburgh Steelers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs
1973 - Tabatha Cash
actress: X-rated films: Emmanuelle’s Secret, Emmanuelle in Venice, Up and Cummers: The Movie, The Erotic Adventures of Aladdin X, Bad Hair Day
1975 - Jeff D’Amico
baseball [pitcher]: Milwaukee Brewers, New York Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cleveland Indians
1979 - Carson Palmer
football [quarterback]: Univ of Southern California; NFL: Cincinnati Bengals
1981 - Emilie de Ravin
actress: Brick, Carrie [2002], Lost, Roswell, BeastMaster
1988 - Hayley Williams
songwriter, singer: group: Paramore: Misery Business, Crushcrushcrush, That’s What You Get, Decode, Ignorance
Chart Toppers December 27
1944White Christmas - Bing Crosby
Santa Claus is Coming to Town - Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters
Don’t Fence Me In - Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters
I’m Wastin’ My Tears on You - Tex Ritter
1953Ebb Tide - The Frank Chacksfield Orchestra
White Christmas - Bing Crosby
Ricochet - Teresa Brewer
Let Me Be the One - Hank Locklin
1962Telstar - The Tornados
Limbo Rock - Chubby Checker
Bobby’s Girl - Marcie Blane
Don’t Let Me Cross Over - Carl Butler & Pearl
1971Brand New Key - Melanie
American Pie - Don McLean
An Old Fashioned Love Song - Three Dog Night
Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’ - Charley Pride
1980(Just Like) Starting Over - John Lennon
More Than I Could Say - Leo Sayer
Love on the Rocks - Neil Diamond
One in a Million - Johnny Lee
1989Another Day in Paradise - Phil Collins
Don’t Know Much - Linda Ronstadt (featuring Aaron Neville)
Rhythm Nation - Janet Jackson
A Woman in Love - Ronnie Milsap
1998Lullaby - Shawn Mullins
Jumper - Third Eye Blind
Hands - Jewel
You’re Easy on the Eyes - Terri Clark
2007No One - Alicia Keys
Kiss Kiss - Chris Brown featuring T-Pain
Clumsy - Fergie
Our Song - Taylor Swift
Happy Birthday Mick Jones of Foreigner
Monday, December 27, 2010
SHOW BOAT DAY
The Jerome Kern (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics) musical, Show Boat, opened on this day in 1927 at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City. Its star, Helen Morgan, received excellent reviews from critics of the show; a musical about riverboat show people and their romances and disappointments. It was inspired by the novel, Show Boat, written by Edna Ferber in 1926.
Ms. Ferber was inspired by the 19th century steam boats that traveled up and down the Mississippi and other large rivers, carrying entertainers to rural communities where the performers presented on-board shows. The largest showboat that traveled Ol’ Man River could seat 3,400 showgoers and was called the Floating Circus Palace.
It’s amazing what a little inspiration can accomplish. Show Boat went showboatin’ along for 572 performances; then Hollywood got into the act, filming its first version in 1929; then Ziegfeld put it on stage again in 1932 as Life Aboard a Real Showboat. Hollywood, not to be outdone, did it for the silver screen again in 1936, starring Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Paul Robeson, Hattie McDaniel, Joe E. Brown and Helen Morgan.
In 1951, a third version of Show Boat was made. This time, Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, Ava Gardner, William Warfield, Joe E. Brown, Agnes Moorehead and Gower Champion were in the spotlight. Cotton Blossom, the showboat in the film, cost $126,468 to build. Nineteen years later, it sold at auction for $15,000. Talk about depreciation...
Events December 27
1845 - Dr. Crawford Williamson Long used anesthesia for childbirth for the first time, when he delivered his own child in Jefferson, Georgia.
1900 - Carrie Nation staged her first raid on a saloon at the Carey Hotel in Wichita, Kansas. She broke each and every one of the liquor bottles she could see, which means, about all of them behind the bar, for sure. Nation usually did her damage with a hatchet; calling her vandalism, hatchetation.
1903 - The barbershop quartet favorite, Sweet Adeline, was sung for the first time -- in New York City. The song was composed by Henry Armstrong with the words of Richard Gerard. The title of the song came from a theatre marquee that promoted the great operatic soprano, Adelina Patti. Now female barbershop quartets call themselves Sweet Adelines.
1932 - Radio City Music Hall, in New York City, opened. It was the largest indoor theatre in the world. The gala grand opening show was a six-hour extravaganza that lost half a million dollars within three weeks. The theatre has since been renovated to recapture its original decorative charm. An Art Deco cathedral of entertainment, it seats more than 6,200 people and is still a must-see for those visiting New York. During the holiday season, audiences continue to get a kick out of seeing the world-famous Rockettes perform in precision on Radio City Music Hall’s nearly 10,000-square-foot stage.
1938 - The first skimobile course in America opened -- in North Conway, New Hampshire.
1939 - The Glenn Miller Show, also known as Music that Satisfies, started on CBS radio. The 15-minute, twice-a-week show was sponsored by Chesterfield cigarettes and was heard for nearly three years.
1940 - Singer Al Jolson and actress Ruby Keeler were divorced after 12 years of marriage. They had separated a year earlier; but Jolson talked Keeler into co-starring with him in the Broadway show, Hold on to Your Hats. She left the show before the opening and then left the marriage.
1945 - The International Monetary Fund was established in Washington DC. 28 nations signed an agreement creating the World Bank.
1946 - The American team won the Davis Cup for the first time since 1938. The competition was held at Melbourne, Australia.
1947 - “Hey kids... What time is it? It’s Howdy Doody time!” Buffalo Bob (Smith), Clarabelle the Clown (Bob Keeshan), Judy Canova and a host of others joined Howdy Doody on NBC-TV. The show stayed on the air for 13 years.
1949 - Queen Juliana of the Netherlands signed an act granting sovereignty to Indonesia after more than three centuries of Dutch rule.
1954 - Gian Carlo Menotti’s opera The Saint of Bleecker Street premiered on Broadway.
1961 - The Styne-Comden-Green musical Subways are for Sleeping premiered in the Big Apple.
1968 - The Breakfast Club signed off for the last time on ABC radio, after 35 years on the air.
1968 - Frank Borman, J. A. Lovell, Jr. and W.A. Anders became the first U.S. astronauts to land at night. Their space capsule, Apollo 8, made a safe nighttime spashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
1971 - Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy and Woodstock of Charles Schulz’ famous Peanuts comic strip made the cover of Newsweek magazine this day.
1975 - The Staple Singers reached the top spot on the pop music charts for the second time in their career. This time with Let’s Do It Again. The song, the theme from the movie soundtrack of the same name, was the last hit the group would have. I’ll Take You There was The Staple Singers’ first number one hit (June 3, 1972).
1978 - King Juan Carlos ratified Spain’s first democratic constitution.
1978 - The South Pole had a record high temperature of 7.5° F (-13.6° C).
1979 - Soviet forces seized control of Afghanistan. President Hafizullah Amin, who was overthrown and executed, was replaced by Babrak Karmal. The action resulted in the U.S. boycotting the Summer Olympics the following year.
1980 - The John Lennon hit, (Just Like) Starting Over, began a five-week stay at #1 on the pop charts. The hit was from the album, Double Fantasy. Lennon was murdered on December 8th of that year, as the single and LP had started their climb up the charts.
1983 - Pope John Paul II visited Mehmet Ali Agca at Rome’s Rebibbia prison and personally pardoned him for the 1981 attempt on the Pope’s life.
1983 - A propane gas fire devastated sixteen blocks of Buffalo, NY.
1984 - British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was the woman most admired by the American people, according to a Gallup Poll. It marked the third consecutive year that the ‘Iron Lady’ received that honor.
1986 - Corazon Aquino, President of the Philippines, was named TIME magazine’s Man of the Year. The only other women who had been so named were Queen Elizabeth II in 1952; and the Duchess of Windsor, Wallis Warfield Simpson, in 1936.
1989 - U.S. President George Bush (I), on a visit to Beeville, TX, said he was determined to bring deposed Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega to justice “for poisoning the children of the United States of America and people around the world” with illegal drugs.
1991 - Amid strained U.S.-Philippine relations, the Philippine government ordered the U.S. to close its Subic Bay naval base near Manila by January 12, 1992.
1994 - The NFL set a regular-season paid attendance record for the second consecutive year, topping 14 million for the first time (14,034,977).
1995 - Disregarding world criticism and some violent protests, France set off a fifth nuclear bomb on Mururoa Atoll in the South Pacific.
2001 - U.S. officials announced that Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners captured in Afghanistan would be held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
2001 - U.S. President George Bush (II) extended permanent trade status (formerly called “most-favored-nation” status) to China. Bush’s proclamation this day ended a long history of an annual review in the U.S. Congress of China’s permanent trade status.
2002 - Film director George Roy Hill, 81, died. His films included The Sting and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
2002 - Max debuted in U.S. theatres. The war drama stars John Cusack, Noah Taylor, Leelee Sobieski, Molly Parker and Paul Hipp.
2003 - British stage and film actor Alan Bates died. He was 69 years old. His films included Zorba the Greek and Georgy Girl.
2005 - Andrei Illarionov, adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin quit, saying Russia “is no longer free.”
2006 - Telephone lines and Internet service went down across much of Asia after two powerful earthquakes off Taiwan damaged undersea cables.
2007 - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held a summit, seeking to resolve a dispute over planned Israeli construction in east Jerusalem.
2007 - Pakistan’s leading opposition candidate, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated in a suicide attack in Rawalpindi. The attack, at the end of a campaign rally, also killed 20 others. After climbing in to her bulletproof vehicle, Bhutto had stood up through its sunroof to wave to the crowds. Doctors reported that Bhutto died from a bullet wound.
2008 - Israel began retaliating for rocket fire from militants in the Gaza Strip. Warplanes pounded dozens of security compounds across the Hamas-ruled territory in waves of airstrikes, killing nearly 200 people and wounding 270 others in the single bloodiest day of fighting in years.
2008 - Experts estimated that the mountain pine beetle was expected to kill virtually every mature lodgepole pine in Colorado. The beetle had destroyed pine forests from Mexico to Canada.
2009 - The United States was reported to have quietly opened a third, largely covert front against the Al-Qaeda terror network in Yemen. The Pentagon was spending more than 70 million dollars in 18 months, and using teams of special forces to train and equip Yemeni military, Interior Ministry and coast guard forces.
2009 - A South Korean consortium, led by Korea Electric Power (KEPCO), won a $20 billion contract to build four nuclear reactors in the United Arab Emirates.
Birthdays December 27
1571 - Johannes Kepler
‘founder of modern optics’: formulated eyeglass design for nearsightedness and farsightedness; coined term: Dioptrice, describing real, virtual, upright and inverted images and magnification; discovered the properties of total internal reflection; astronomer: 1st to correctly explain planetary motion; used stellar parallax caused by the Earth’s orbit to measure distance to the stars; suggested that Sun rotates about its axis, that tides are caused by the Moon; formed basis of integral calculus; derived the universally accepted birth year of Christ; writer: Astronomia Pars Optica, Dioptrice, Stereometrica Doliorum; died Nov 15, 1630
1773 - Sir George Cayley
pilot: first manned glider flight; scientist: ‘father of aerodynamics’: designed gliders, helicopters, airplanes; died Dec 15, 1857
1822 - Louis Pasteur
chemist, scientist: developed pasteurization process, rabies vaccination; died Sep 28, 1895
1879 - Sydney Greenstreet
actor: Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, Across the Pacific, Passage to Marseilles, Malaya; died Jan 18, 1954
1901 - Marlene Dietrich (Maria Magdelene von Losch)
actress: The Blue Angel, 1st German talkie; Morocco, Kismet, Destry Rides Again, Judgment at Nuremberg, Witness for the Prosecution; died May 6, 1992
1906 - Oscar Levant
musician, actor: An American in Paris, The Bandwagon, Romance on the High Seas; died Aug 14, 1972
1911 - Anna Russell
comedienne: operatic parodies: The Ring of the Nibelungs, How to Write Your Own Gilbert and Sullivan Opera; died Oct 18, 2006
1915 - William H. Masters
physician: Masters of Masters and Johnson: Human Sexual Response, On Sex and Human Loving; died Feb 16, 2001
1926 - Lee Salk
child psychologist, writer: Preparing for parenthood : understanding your feelings about pregnancy, childbirth, and your baby; died May 2, 1992
1931 - Scotty Moore
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame musician: guitar: Elvis Presley’s guitarist from 1954 to 1958 [Blue Suede Shoes, Hound Dog, All Shook Up]; ranked in Rolling Stone magazine’s 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time
1931 - Walter Norris
pianist, composer: Drifting
1933 - DAVE Marr
golf champion: PGA [1965]; died Oct 5, 1997
1939 - John Amos
actor: Good Times, Die Hard 2: Die Harder, Coming to America, Future Cop
1940 - Jerry Lambert
horse jockey
1941 - Phil (Philip Joseph) Gagliano
baseball: SL Cardinals [World Series: 1967, 1968], Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox, Cincinnati Reds
1941 - Les Maguire
musician: piano: group: Gerry and The Pacemakers: Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying, I Like It
1941 - Mike Pinder
musician: piano; songwriter, singer: group: The Moody Blues: Go Now, Tuesday Afternoon [Forever Afternoon], Ride My See-Saw, Voices in the Sky, Question, Story In Your Eyes, Nights in White Satin
1943 - Cokie Roberts
TV news: ABC News Nightline, senior news analyst: National Public Radio
1943 - Diane Stanley
author, illustrator: The Giant and the Beanstalk, The Farmer in the Dell, Charles ****ens, Saladin
1943 - Roy (Hilton) White
baseball: NY Yankees [World Series: 1976-1978/all-star: 1969, 1970]
1944 - Mick Jones
musician: guitar: group: Foreigner: Feels like the First Time, Cold as Ice, Long Long Way from Home, Hot Blooded, Blue Morning Blue Day, Double Vision, Waiting for a Girl like You, I Want to Know What Love Is, That Was Yesterday
1946 - Rich Jones
basketball: San Antonio Spurs
1947 - Bob McKay
football: Univ. of Texas; NFL: Cleveland Browns, New England Patriots
1947 - Mickey Redmond
hockey: Detroit Red Wings player/broadcast color analyst
1948 - Gerard Depardieu
actor: A Pure Formality, My Father the Hero, Cyrano deBergerac, Jean De Florette, The Return of Martin Guerre, Tartuffe, Choice of Arms, Loulou, Going Places, The Holes
1951 - Karla Bonoff
songwriter: Home [Bonnie Raitt]; Tell Me Why [Wynonna Judd]; Isn’t It Always Love [Lynn Anderson]; Someone To Lay Down Beside Me, Lose Again, If He’s Ever Near [Linda Ronstadt]
1952 - Tovah Feldshuh
actress: Holocaust, The Triangle Factory Fire Scandal, Brewster’s Millions, Blue Iguana, A Day in October
1952 - David Knopfler
musician: guitar, singer: group: Dire Straits: Sultans of Swing; solo: Romeo & Juliet, Tunnel of Love, Skateaway; LPs: Release, Behind the Lines, Cut the Wine
1952 - (Gordon) Craig Reynolds
baseball: pitcher: Pittsburgh Pirates, Seattle Mariners [all-star: 1978], Houston Astros [all-star: 1979]
1955 - E.E. Bell
actor: I Am Stamos, 61*, My Giant, Grizzly Mountain, Air Force One, Forget Paris, Moment of Truth: Cradle of Conspiracy
1958 - Steve Jones
golf pro: Indiana Senior PGA Player of the Year [1998, 1999]; coach: Butler University men’s golf squad
1962 - Sherri Steinhauer
golf: LPGA: career earnings: $2,042,381
1964 - Ian Gomez
actor: The Drew Carey Show, Underclassman, Connie and Carla, ****ie Roberts: Former Child Star, Chasing Papi, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Jake in Progress, Celebrity Poker Showdown
1970 - Lorenzo Neal
football [running back]: Fresno State Univ; NFL: New Orleans Saints, New York Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tennessee Titans, Cincinnati Bengals, San Diego Chargers
1971 - Bryan Smolinski
hockey: Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Islanders, LA Kings, Ottawa Senators
1971 - James Stewart football [running back]: Univ of Tennessee; NFL: Jacksonville Jaguars, Detroit Lions
1972 - Thomas Wilson Brown
actor: Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Diggstown, Days of Our Lives, Knots Landing
1972 - Kevin Ollie
basketball [guard]: Univ of Conneticut; NBA: Dallas Mavericks, Orlando Magic, Sacramento Kings, Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Nets, Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks, Seattle SuperSonics, Cleveland Cavaliers
1972 - Dewayne Washington
football [cornerback]: North Carolina State; NFL: Minnesota Vikings, Pittsburgh Steelers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs
1973 - Tabatha Cash
actress: X-rated films: Emmanuelle’s Secret, Emmanuelle in Venice, Up and Cummers: The Movie, The Erotic Adventures of Aladdin X, Bad Hair Day
1975 - Jeff D’Amico
baseball [pitcher]: Milwaukee Brewers, New York Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cleveland Indians
1979 - Carson Palmer
football [quarterback]: Univ of Southern California; NFL: Cincinnati Bengals
1981 - Emilie de Ravin
actress: Brick, Carrie [2002], Lost, Roswell, BeastMaster
1988 - Hayley Williams
songwriter, singer: group: Paramore: Misery Business, Crushcrushcrush, That’s What You Get, Decode, Ignorance
Chart Toppers December 27
1944White Christmas - Bing Crosby
Santa Claus is Coming to Town - Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters
Don’t Fence Me In - Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters
I’m Wastin’ My Tears on You - Tex Ritter
1953Ebb Tide - The Frank Chacksfield Orchestra
White Christmas - Bing Crosby
Ricochet - Teresa Brewer
Let Me Be the One - Hank Locklin
1962Telstar - The Tornados
Limbo Rock - Chubby Checker
Bobby’s Girl - Marcie Blane
Don’t Let Me Cross Over - Carl Butler & Pearl
1971Brand New Key - Melanie
American Pie - Don McLean
An Old Fashioned Love Song - Three Dog Night
Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’ - Charley Pride
1980(Just Like) Starting Over - John Lennon
More Than I Could Say - Leo Sayer
Love on the Rocks - Neil Diamond
One in a Million - Johnny Lee
1989Another Day in Paradise - Phil Collins
Don’t Know Much - Linda Ronstadt (featuring Aaron Neville)
Rhythm Nation - Janet Jackson
A Woman in Love - Ronnie Milsap
1998Lullaby - Shawn Mullins
Jumper - Third Eye Blind
Hands - Jewel
You’re Easy on the Eyes - Terri Clark
2007No One - Alicia Keys
Kiss Kiss - Chris Brown featuring T-Pain
Clumsy - Fergie
Our Song - Taylor Swift
Happy Birthday Mick Jones of Foreigner
