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Friday, December 31, 2010
AULD LANG SYNE DAY
Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians played Auld Lang Syne as a New Year’s Eve song for the first time on this night in 1929. Auld Lang Syne had been the band’s theme song long before 1929. However, this night was the start of a New Year’s Eve tradition as Lombardo’s famed orchestra played at the Hotel Roosevelt Grill in New York City to usher in the new year.
Where did it Auld begin? Scottish poet Robert Burns said he heard an old man singing the words, and wrote them down; but Burns is considered the original author. The literal translation means “old long since”; less literal: “days gone by”.
Auld Lang Syne and Happy New Year!
Events December 31
1841 - The State of Alabama enacted the first dental legislation in the United States on this day. Ever since, Alabama has been known as The Bicuspid State. Hmm, well, maybe.
1877 - President Rutherford B. Hayes became the first U.S. President to celebrate his silver wedding anniversary in the White House. The President and his wife reenacted their marriage ceremony on this, their 25th anniversary.
1879 - Thomas Edison delighted an audience in Menlo Park, New Jersey. He gave his first public demonstration of incandescent lighting with the words, “Now it’s on. Now it’s off.” He did this for hours and hours. Well, not quite. But he did turn the lights on and off a few times just to show folks that he could do it.
1879 - The cornerstone was laid for Honolulu’s Iolani Palace, the only royal palace in the U.S.
1904 - Fireworks were set off in celebration of the official opening of the new Times Building in New York City’s Times Square. And, since the timing coincided with the beginning of a new year, the party was doubly effective. The celebration was repeated yearly, and by 1907 included the dropping of a lighted ball. The tradition in Times Square has continued every New Year’s Eve since, except during the blackout years of World War II.
1923 - Singer Eddie Cantor opened in the lead role of Kid Boots. Broadway critics called the production, “A smash musical hit!” Eddie made several of the songs from that show into smash hits also, like, Alabamy Bound and If You Knew Susie. Three years later, If You Knew Susie became the title song for a movie starring Cantor.
1938 - Dr. Rolla N. Harger’s ‘drunkometer’, the first breath test for car drivers, was introduced in Indianapolis, Indiana.
1940 - As a result of a dispute between the radio networks and ASCAP (the American Society of Composers and Publishers), the radio industry was prevented from playing any ASCAP-licensed music. The ban lasted for ten months. An ASCAP competitor, BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated) made giant strides, expanding to include 36,000 copyrights. Many radio stations had to resort to playing public domain songs, such as marches and operas, to keep their stations on the air. Even kids songs were played over and over again until the ban was lifted. One of the most popular songs to be played was Happy Birthday to You; which was performed in many different languages just to get past the ban. The original song is now, in fact, a copyrighted piece of music, though it wasn’t at the time.
1944 - The Andrews Sisters starred in the debut of The Andrews Sisters’ Eight-to-the-Bar Ranch on ABC radio. Patty, Maxene and LaVerne ran a fictional dude ranch. George ‘Gabby’ Hayes was a regular guest along with Vic Schoen’s orchestra. The ranch stayed in operation until 1946.
1946 - U.S. President Harry S Truman formally declared an end to all hostilities in World War II.
1947 - Roy Rogers, ‘the King of the Cowboys’, and Dale Evans were hitched in marriage. They rode off into the sunset together for over fifty years. (Roy died July 6, 1998, Dale died Feb 7, 2001.)
1948 - Russell Long was sworn in as U.S. Senator from Louisiana. He was the first U.S. Senator to win a seat previously held by both his mother and father.
1950 - Willie Shoemaker and Joe Culmone, both 19 years of age, became the first jockeys to ride 388 winners in a single year.
1953 - Willie Shoemaker broke his own record as he won his 485th race of the year. Willie got his horse’s nose out in front at Santa Anita racetrack in Southern California.
1955 - General Motors became the first U.S. corporation to earn more than one billion dollars in a single year. The company’s annual report to stockholders listed a net income of $1,189,477,082 in revenues. How much was your father’s Oldsmobile?
1958 - The International Geophysical Year ended. The IGY took place during an 18-month period (from July, 1957) of maximum sunspot activity and was designated for cooperative study of the solar-terrestrial environment by the scientists of 67 nations.
1960 - After playing California nightclubs as The Pendletones, Kenny and the Cadets, and Carl and the Passions, a new group emerged this day: The Beach Boys. The group’s first national hit, Surfin’ Safari, was soon to be. They recorded for local (Los Angeles) Colpix Records and at the height of their popularity, Capitol Records. The Beach Boys also recorded under the Reprise Records banner. The revitalized group still tours and Capitol continues to reissue various greatest hits packages. The Beach Boys were inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. Surf’s (still) up!
1962 - Governor Edmund G. Brown of California announced that his state was the most populous of the 50 United States.
1965 - On this New Year’s Eve, Criswell made a TV appearance to announce his annual predictions for the coming year. Included in these predictions was one concerning Ronald Reagan. Criswell said Reagan would be the next governor of California. Criswell was right. Reagan was right, too.
1967 - Playing in a wind chill of 40 degrees below zero, the Green Bay Packers won the National Football League championship game by defeating Tom Landry’s Dallas Cowboys, 21-17. The game, played at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin was called the Ice Bowl. During the game, the whistles of the referees actually froze to their lips, which was no problem until the referees tried to remove those whistles (ouch!).
1972 - The Miami Dolphins edged the Pittsburgh Steelers 21-17 in the AFC championship game and the Washington Redskins trounced the Dallas Cowboys 26-3 in the NFC championship game.
1975 - Elvis Presley performed before 60,000 fans at the Silverdome in Pontiac, MI. He earned $800,000 for the concert -- a world record for a single concert by a single artist.
1975 - First class postage in the U.S. rose from 10 cents to 13 cents.
1981 - CNN Headline News was launched.
1984 - Bernhard Goetz surrendered to police in New Hampshire, identifying himself as the gunman being sought for the subway shootings in New York City nine days earlier.
1984 - Rajiv Gandhi took office as India’s sixth Prime Minister, succeeding his assassinated mother, Indira.
1985 - Ricky Nelson, his fiancee, Helen Blair, and five members of the Stone Canyon Band were killed in a plane crash a mile southeast of DeKalb, Texas. Nelson was 45. Fire in the pasenger cabin forced the pilots of Nelson’s DC-3 to attempt an emergency landing in a field. The aircraft hit wires and a pole, then crashed into trees where it was extensively damaged by impact and fire. The crew escaped through the cockpit windows, but none of the pasengers got out.
1986 - The State of Florida passed Illinois to become the fifth most populous state in the U.S. In the lead: California, New York, Texas, and Pennsylvania.
1987 - Robert Mugabe was sworn in as Zimbabwe’s first executive president in a ceremony before a cheering crowd of some 60,000 people at the national sports stadium in Harare.
1989 - Me and My Girl Closed at the Marquis Theater on Broadway after 1420 performances.
1990 - Pro Football Hall of Fame coach (LA Rams, Washington Redskins) George Allen died. He was 72 years old.
1991 - It was the last day of existence for the U.S.S.R.
1992 - Czechoslovakia was formally dissolved and the country was divided into the republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) and the Czech Republic.
1993 - Entertainer Barbra Streisand performed her first paid concert in 22 years, singing to a sellout crowd at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas. Tickets, priced from priced from $50 to $350, sold out in one hour.
1994 - Russian ground forces launched a massive tank and infantry assault on the Chechen capital of Grozny.
1995 - Cartoonist Bill Watterson ended his popular Calvin and Hobbes comic strip after ten years.
1996 - Former student leader Li Hai was sentenced to nine years in prison on charges of prying into Chinese state secrets. It seems Li Hai had committed the unspeakable offense of compiling a list of individuals in Beijing who were convicted for offenses related to the June 4, 1989 protests.
1997 - In an attempt to nudge its Microsoft Network into a more competetive position (vs. America Online), Microsoft announced the purchase of Hotmail, the free Web-based e-mail service.
1997 - Buffalo Bills head coach Marv Levy retired after 11 years and four consecutive Super Bowl appearances. His 123 victories with the Bills are a team record. He led the Bills to eight postseason appearances and five conference championship games, winning four.
1998 - A truck loaded with fireworks exploded prior to a New Years Eve show in New Orleans. Two technicians were killed.
1999 - Boris Yeltsin stunned Russia by announcing his resignation. Yeltsin said he wanted Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to succeed him. One of Putin’s first acts as president was to sign a grant of immunity to Yeltsin, creating speculation that a deal had been made to entice Yeltsin into early retirement.
2000 - Former U.S. Senator Alan Cranston died in Los Altos, CA at the age of 86.
2000 - Flamenco dancer José Greco died in Lancaster, PA. He was 82 years old.
2001 - New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani spent his final day in office. He praised police, firefighters, and other city employees for their response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Giuliani said he had no regrets about returning to private life.
2002 - The world’s first commercial magnetic-levitation train performed flawlessly on its maiden journey in China. The German-built high-tech marvel hit 260 mph between Shanghai’s financial district and the Pudong airport. The Shanghai train project was watched closely, for the speed and performance of its 21st century technology and for its $1.2 billion cost. Experts said the maglev makes sense as a link between close cities, like a proposed line between Shanghai and Hangzhou, a city 120 miles away. It has also been considered in busy U.S. travel corridors like Boston to Philadelphia.
2002 - Executions in the U.S. for the year rose from 66 to 71 -- with 33 in Texas.
2003 - Chicago regained the title of America’s murder capital. The city finished 2003 with 599 homicides. That number was down from 648 a year earlier, but the first time since 1967 that the total dipped below 600.
2003 - Japanese Story debuted in U.S. movie theatres. The drama stars Toni Collette, Gotaro Tsunashima, Matthew Dyktynski, Lynette Curran, Yumiko Tanaka, Kate Atkinson, John Howard, Bill Young, Reg Evans, George Shevtsov and Justine Clarke.
2004 - The U.S. pledged $350 million in grant aid for tsunami disaster relief, the World Bank committed $250 million, Great Britain offered $95 million.
2005 - Heavy rains in Northern California caused the worst flooding seen there in some twenty years.
2006 - Saddam Hussein was buried in Ouja, 24 hours after his execution; the death toll for Americans in the Iraq war reached 3,000; U.S. President George Bush (II) struggled to salvage a military campaign that had very little public support.
2006 - Japanese courts sentenced 44 people to death in 2006. The number of inmates on death row rose to 94. Both figures were record highs.
2007 - The International Federation of Journalists said at least 134 media workers had been killed on assignment in 2007. Most of the deaths occured in Iraq.
2007 - Venezuela President Hugo Chavez granted amnesty to many opponents who had been accused of supporting a failed 2002 coup. Chavez announced the signing of an amnesty decree that would pardon others accused of attempting to overthrow his government.
2008 - The Vatican announced that it would no longer automatically adopt new Italian laws as its own. The vast number of laws Italy churns out, many of which are at odds with Catholic doctrine, prompted the ruling.
2009 - The Montana Supreme Court reported that nothing in state law prevented patients from seeking physician assisted suicide. The ruling made Montana the third state to allow doctor-aided death.
2009 - South Korea’s President Lee Myung-bak pardoned former Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee, who was convicted of tax evasion in 2008. The president said the nation needed Lee’s help to win South Korea’s bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics. (Kun-hee was reinstated as Samsung Electronics chief in March 2010.)
2010 - Blue Valentine opened in U.S. theatres. The romantic drama stars Mike Vogel, Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams, Ben Shenkman and John Doman.
Birthdays December 31
1869 - Henri Matisse
master draughtsman, printmaker, sculptor, artist: La Danse, The Dessert: Harmony in Red, Woman With a Hat, Zorah on the Terrace, Robe violette et Anemones, The Snail; died Nov 3, 1954
1880 - George Marshall
U.S. Secretary of State [1947]; designer of Marshall Plan; Army Chief of Staff during WWII; died Oct 16, 1959
1905 - Jule Styne
Academy/Tony Award-winning songwriter: Three Coins in the Fountain [1954]/Hallelujah, Baby! [1968]; I’ve Heard That Song Before, I Should Care, It’s Been a Long, Long Time, Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!, The Christmas Waltz, Never Never Land, The Party’s Over, Together Wherever We Go, Small World, Just in Time, Make Someone Happy, People; died Sep 20, 1994
1908 - Jonah Jones (Robert Elliott Jones)
musician: trumpet, singer: played with Cab Calloway; threw spitball that got Dizzy Gillespie fired from band; died Apr 30, 2000
1914 - Pat Brady
musician: bass, comedian: group: Sons of the Pioneers: Tumbling Tumbleweeds, Cool Water, Way Out There, There’s a Roundup in the Sky, One More Ride, I’m an Old Cowhand [From the Rio Grande]; died Feb 27, 1972
1920 - Rex Allen
‘The Arizona Cowboy’: entertainer: rodeo star; singer; songwriter: published over 300 songs; died Dec 17, 1999
1928 - Ross Barbour
singer: group: The Four Freshmen: It’s a Blue World, Charmaine, Love is Just Around the Corner, Poincianna
1930 - Odetta (Holmes Felious Gordon)
blues/folk singer, musician, songwriter: Music, Give Me Your Hand, Got to Be Me; actress: The Medium, The Crucible, Sanctuary; died Dec 2, 2008
1937 - Sir Anthony Hopkins
Academy Award-winning actor: Silence of the Lambs [1991]; Emmy for Best Actor: The Bunker [1981] and The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case [1976]; Howards End, The Remains of the Day, Amistad, The Mask of Zorro, Meet Joe Black, Mission: Impossible II, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Hannibal
1938 - Rosalind Cash
actress: Tales from the Hood, The Offspring, Go Tell It on a Mountain, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension, Wrong is Right, Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde, Amazing Grace, Omega Man, Uptown Saturday Night; died Oct 31, 1995
1941 - Sarah Miles
actress: Ryan’s Daughter, Dynasty, Queenie, Hope and Glory, Blow-Up, The Servant
1942 - Terry Furlong
musician: guitar: group: The Grass Roots: Let’s Live for Today, Midnight Confessions, Temptation Eyes
1942 - Andy Summers (Somers)
musician: guitar, singer: group: The Police: Can’t Stand Losing You, Roxanne, Message in a Bottle, Walking on the Moon, Don’t Stand So Close to Me, Every Little Thing She Does is Magic, Invisible Sun, Every Breath You Take; solo: contributed to soundtracks of Down and Out in Beverly Hills, 2010
1943 - John Denver (Deutschendorf)
songwriter: Leavin’ on a Jet Plane; singer: Take Me Home Country Roads, Sunshine on my Shoulders, Annie’s Song, Rocky Mountain High, Fly Away, Calypso, Thank God I’m a Country Boy; actor: Oh, God! series killed Oct 12, 1997 [age 53] in crash of his home-built high-performance aircraft he was piloting over Monterey Bay, California
1943 - Ben Kingsley (Krishna Bhanji)
Academy Award-winning actor: Gandhi [1982]; Schindler’s List, Sneakers, Joseph, Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story, Searching for Bobby Fischer, Moses, Rules of Engagement
1943 - Pete Quaife
musician: bass: group: The Kinks: You Really Got Me, All Day & All of the Night, Tired of Waiting, Dedicated Follower of Fashion, A Well Respected Man, Sunny Afternoon, Dead End Street, Waterloo Sunset, Harry Rag, David Watts, Death of a Clown, Two Sisters, Autumn Almanac, Wonderboy, Days, Last of the Steam-Powered Trains, Do You Remember Walter?
1945 - Barbara Carrera
actress: Dallas, Paradise, Panic, Waking Up Horton, The Rockford Files: Godfather Knows Best, Night of the Archer, Loverboy, Emma: Queen of the South Seas
1945 - Diane von Fürstenberg
fashion designer: built multi-million-dollar empire around 1970s wrap dress
1946 - Cliff Richey
tennis: champ: Davis Cup [team w/Arthur Ashe, Stan Smith, Bob Lutz: 1970]
1947 - Burton Cummings Jr.
singer: group: The Guess Who: No Time, American Woman, These Eyes, Laughing; solo: Stand Tall, You Saved My Soul
1947 - Tim Matheson
actor: National Lampoon’s Animal House, Yours Mine and Ours, Magnum Force, Fletch, The Virginian, Bonanza
1948 - Donna Summer (LaDonna Gaines)
Grammy Award-winning singer: Last Dance [1978], Hot Stuff [1979], He’s a Rebel [1983], Forgive Me [1984]; Love to Love You Baby, I Feel Love, Bad Girls, She Works Hard for the Money, On the Radio; No More Tears (Enough is Enough) [w/Barbra Streisand]
1950 - Golden (John) Richards
football: Dallas Cowboys wide receiver: Super Bowls X, XII
1951 - Barbara Carrera
actress: Dallas, Centennial, Sawbones, Point of Impact, Loverboy, Never Say Never Again, Lone Wolf McQuade, Masada, Condorman, Island of Dr. Moreau, Embryo; model
1951 - Tom Hamilton
musician: bass: group: Aerosmith: LPs: Toys in the Attic, Rocks, Draw the Line, Live! Bootleg, Night in the Ruts, Rock in a Hard Place, Done with Mirrors, Permanent Vacation
1953 - James Remar
actor: The Quest, The Phantom, The Surgeon, Renaissance Man, Miracle on 34th Street [1994], Confessions of a Hit Man, Fatal Instinct, Drugstore Cowboy, Rent-A-Cop, The Clan of the Cave Bear, The Cotton Club, 48 Hrs., The Warriors
1958 - Bebe Neuwirth
actress: Cheers, Frasier, The Adventures of Pinocchio, Dash and Lilly, Liberty Heights, The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina
1959 - Val Kilmer
actor: The Island of Dr. Moreau, Heat, Batman Forever, Tombstone, The Doors, Gore Vidal’s Billy the Kid, Top Gun, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, Top Secret!
1961 - Rick Aguilera
baseball [pitcher]: Bringham Young Univ; New York Mets, Minnesota Twins, Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox
1965 - Nicholas Sparks
author: Nights in Rodanthe, The Notebook, A Walk to Remember, Message in a Bottle
1969 - Lance Red****
actor: Fringe, The Wire, Oz, Lost, The Way of War, Dirty Work, Keep the Faith, Baby, I Dreamed of Africa, The Fixer, What the Deaf Man Heard
1970 - Bryon Russell
basketball [forward]: Long Beach State Univ; NBA: Utah Jazz, Washington Wizards, LA Lakers, Denver Nuggets
1970 - Chandra West
actress: Murder on Her Mind, Badland, Canes, White Noise, Then Came Jones, The Perfect Son, Life in a Day, Moment of Truth: Into the Arms of Danger
1971 - Brent Barry
basketball [guard]: Oregon State Univ; NBA: LA Clippers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Chicago Bulls, Seattle SuperSonics, San Antonio Spurs
1971 - Esteban Loaiza
baseball [pitcher]: Pittsburgh Pirates, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees, Washington Nationals
1972 - Joe McIntyre
singer: group: New Kids on the Block
1982 - Jermaine Williams
actor: The Great Debaters, Extreme Movie, Stomp the Yard, Fat Albert, Bulworth, Moonlight, Veronica Mars, The Nightmare Room
Chart Toppers December 31
1948Buttons and Bows - Dinah Shore
On a Slow Boat to China - The Kay Kyser Orchestra (vocal: Harry Babbitt & Gloria Wood
My Darlin, My Darling - Jo Stafford & Gordon MacRae
A Heart Full of Love (For a Handful of Kisses) - Eddy Arnold
1957Jailhouse Rock - Elvis Presley
At the Hop - Danny & The Juniors
Great Balls of Fire - Jerry Lee Lewis
My Special Angel - Bobby Helms
1966I’m a Believer - The Monkees
Snoopy vs. the Red Baron - The Royal Guardsmen
That’s Life - Frank Sinatra
There Goes My Everything - Jack Greene
1975Let’s Do It Again - The Staple Singers
Saturday Night - Bay City Rollers
Love Rollercoaster - Ohio Players
Convoy - C.W. McCall
1984Like a Virgin - Madonna
The Wild Boys - Duran Duran
Sea of Love - The Honeydrippers
Why Not Me - The Judds
1993Hero - Mariah Carey
All That She Wants - Ace of Base
All for Love - Bryan Adams/Rod Stewart/Sting
I Don’t Call Him Daddy - Doug Supernaw
2002Beautiful - Christina Aguilera
Jenny from the Block - Jennifer Lopez
Lose Yourself - Eminem
She’ll Leave You with a Smile - George Strait
Happy Birthday Terry Furlong of The Grass Roots
Friday, December 31, 2010
AULD LANG SYNE DAY
Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians played Auld Lang Syne as a New Year’s Eve song for the first time on this night in 1929. Auld Lang Syne had been the band’s theme song long before 1929. However, this night was the start of a New Year’s Eve tradition as Lombardo’s famed orchestra played at the Hotel Roosevelt Grill in New York City to usher in the new year.
Where did it Auld begin? Scottish poet Robert Burns said he heard an old man singing the words, and wrote them down; but Burns is considered the original author. The literal translation means “old long since”; less literal: “days gone by”.
Auld Lang Syne and Happy New Year!
Events December 31
1841 - The State of Alabama enacted the first dental legislation in the United States on this day. Ever since, Alabama has been known as The Bicuspid State. Hmm, well, maybe.
1877 - President Rutherford B. Hayes became the first U.S. President to celebrate his silver wedding anniversary in the White House. The President and his wife reenacted their marriage ceremony on this, their 25th anniversary.
1879 - Thomas Edison delighted an audience in Menlo Park, New Jersey. He gave his first public demonstration of incandescent lighting with the words, “Now it’s on. Now it’s off.” He did this for hours and hours. Well, not quite. But he did turn the lights on and off a few times just to show folks that he could do it.
1879 - The cornerstone was laid for Honolulu’s Iolani Palace, the only royal palace in the U.S.
1904 - Fireworks were set off in celebration of the official opening of the new Times Building in New York City’s Times Square. And, since the timing coincided with the beginning of a new year, the party was doubly effective. The celebration was repeated yearly, and by 1907 included the dropping of a lighted ball. The tradition in Times Square has continued every New Year’s Eve since, except during the blackout years of World War II.
1923 - Singer Eddie Cantor opened in the lead role of Kid Boots. Broadway critics called the production, “A smash musical hit!” Eddie made several of the songs from that show into smash hits also, like, Alabamy Bound and If You Knew Susie. Three years later, If You Knew Susie became the title song for a movie starring Cantor.
1938 - Dr. Rolla N. Harger’s ‘drunkometer’, the first breath test for car drivers, was introduced in Indianapolis, Indiana.
1940 - As a result of a dispute between the radio networks and ASCAP (the American Society of Composers and Publishers), the radio industry was prevented from playing any ASCAP-licensed music. The ban lasted for ten months. An ASCAP competitor, BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated) made giant strides, expanding to include 36,000 copyrights. Many radio stations had to resort to playing public domain songs, such as marches and operas, to keep their stations on the air. Even kids songs were played over and over again until the ban was lifted. One of the most popular songs to be played was Happy Birthday to You; which was performed in many different languages just to get past the ban. The original song is now, in fact, a copyrighted piece of music, though it wasn’t at the time.
1944 - The Andrews Sisters starred in the debut of The Andrews Sisters’ Eight-to-the-Bar Ranch on ABC radio. Patty, Maxene and LaVerne ran a fictional dude ranch. George ‘Gabby’ Hayes was a regular guest along with Vic Schoen’s orchestra. The ranch stayed in operation until 1946.
1946 - U.S. President Harry S Truman formally declared an end to all hostilities in World War II.
1947 - Roy Rogers, ‘the King of the Cowboys’, and Dale Evans were hitched in marriage. They rode off into the sunset together for over fifty years. (Roy died July 6, 1998, Dale died Feb 7, 2001.)
1948 - Russell Long was sworn in as U.S. Senator from Louisiana. He was the first U.S. Senator to win a seat previously held by both his mother and father.
1950 - Willie Shoemaker and Joe Culmone, both 19 years of age, became the first jockeys to ride 388 winners in a single year.
1953 - Willie Shoemaker broke his own record as he won his 485th race of the year. Willie got his horse’s nose out in front at Santa Anita racetrack in Southern California.
1955 - General Motors became the first U.S. corporation to earn more than one billion dollars in a single year. The company’s annual report to stockholders listed a net income of $1,189,477,082 in revenues. How much was your father’s Oldsmobile?
1958 - The International Geophysical Year ended. The IGY took place during an 18-month period (from July, 1957) of maximum sunspot activity and was designated for cooperative study of the solar-terrestrial environment by the scientists of 67 nations.
1960 - After playing California nightclubs as The Pendletones, Kenny and the Cadets, and Carl and the Passions, a new group emerged this day: The Beach Boys. The group’s first national hit, Surfin’ Safari, was soon to be. They recorded for local (Los Angeles) Colpix Records and at the height of their popularity, Capitol Records. The Beach Boys also recorded under the Reprise Records banner. The revitalized group still tours and Capitol continues to reissue various greatest hits packages. The Beach Boys were inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. Surf’s (still) up!
1962 - Governor Edmund G. Brown of California announced that his state was the most populous of the 50 United States.
1965 - On this New Year’s Eve, Criswell made a TV appearance to announce his annual predictions for the coming year. Included in these predictions was one concerning Ronald Reagan. Criswell said Reagan would be the next governor of California. Criswell was right. Reagan was right, too.
1967 - Playing in a wind chill of 40 degrees below zero, the Green Bay Packers won the National Football League championship game by defeating Tom Landry’s Dallas Cowboys, 21-17. The game, played at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin was called the Ice Bowl. During the game, the whistles of the referees actually froze to their lips, which was no problem until the referees tried to remove those whistles (ouch!).
1972 - The Miami Dolphins edged the Pittsburgh Steelers 21-17 in the AFC championship game and the Washington Redskins trounced the Dallas Cowboys 26-3 in the NFC championship game.
1975 - Elvis Presley performed before 60,000 fans at the Silverdome in Pontiac, MI. He earned $800,000 for the concert -- a world record for a single concert by a single artist.
1975 - First class postage in the U.S. rose from 10 cents to 13 cents.
1981 - CNN Headline News was launched.
1984 - Bernhard Goetz surrendered to police in New Hampshire, identifying himself as the gunman being sought for the subway shootings in New York City nine days earlier.
1984 - Rajiv Gandhi took office as India’s sixth Prime Minister, succeeding his assassinated mother, Indira.
1985 - Ricky Nelson, his fiancee, Helen Blair, and five members of the Stone Canyon Band were killed in a plane crash a mile southeast of DeKalb, Texas. Nelson was 45. Fire in the pasenger cabin forced the pilots of Nelson’s DC-3 to attempt an emergency landing in a field. The aircraft hit wires and a pole, then crashed into trees where it was extensively damaged by impact and fire. The crew escaped through the cockpit windows, but none of the pasengers got out.
1986 - The State of Florida passed Illinois to become the fifth most populous state in the U.S. In the lead: California, New York, Texas, and Pennsylvania.
1987 - Robert Mugabe was sworn in as Zimbabwe’s first executive president in a ceremony before a cheering crowd of some 60,000 people at the national sports stadium in Harare.
1989 - Me and My Girl Closed at the Marquis Theater on Broadway after 1420 performances.
1990 - Pro Football Hall of Fame coach (LA Rams, Washington Redskins) George Allen died. He was 72 years old.
1991 - It was the last day of existence for the U.S.S.R.
1992 - Czechoslovakia was formally dissolved and the country was divided into the republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) and the Czech Republic.
1993 - Entertainer Barbra Streisand performed her first paid concert in 22 years, singing to a sellout crowd at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas. Tickets, priced from priced from $50 to $350, sold out in one hour.
1994 - Russian ground forces launched a massive tank and infantry assault on the Chechen capital of Grozny.
1995 - Cartoonist Bill Watterson ended his popular Calvin and Hobbes comic strip after ten years.
1996 - Former student leader Li Hai was sentenced to nine years in prison on charges of prying into Chinese state secrets. It seems Li Hai had committed the unspeakable offense of compiling a list of individuals in Beijing who were convicted for offenses related to the June 4, 1989 protests.
1997 - In an attempt to nudge its Microsoft Network into a more competetive position (vs. America Online), Microsoft announced the purchase of Hotmail, the free Web-based e-mail service.
1997 - Buffalo Bills head coach Marv Levy retired after 11 years and four consecutive Super Bowl appearances. His 123 victories with the Bills are a team record. He led the Bills to eight postseason appearances and five conference championship games, winning four.
1998 - A truck loaded with fireworks exploded prior to a New Years Eve show in New Orleans. Two technicians were killed.
1999 - Boris Yeltsin stunned Russia by announcing his resignation. Yeltsin said he wanted Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to succeed him. One of Putin’s first acts as president was to sign a grant of immunity to Yeltsin, creating speculation that a deal had been made to entice Yeltsin into early retirement.
2000 - Former U.S. Senator Alan Cranston died in Los Altos, CA at the age of 86.
2000 - Flamenco dancer José Greco died in Lancaster, PA. He was 82 years old.
2001 - New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani spent his final day in office. He praised police, firefighters, and other city employees for their response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Giuliani said he had no regrets about returning to private life.
2002 - The world’s first commercial magnetic-levitation train performed flawlessly on its maiden journey in China. The German-built high-tech marvel hit 260 mph between Shanghai’s financial district and the Pudong airport. The Shanghai train project was watched closely, for the speed and performance of its 21st century technology and for its $1.2 billion cost. Experts said the maglev makes sense as a link between close cities, like a proposed line between Shanghai and Hangzhou, a city 120 miles away. It has also been considered in busy U.S. travel corridors like Boston to Philadelphia.
2002 - Executions in the U.S. for the year rose from 66 to 71 -- with 33 in Texas.
2003 - Chicago regained the title of America’s murder capital. The city finished 2003 with 599 homicides. That number was down from 648 a year earlier, but the first time since 1967 that the total dipped below 600.
2003 - Japanese Story debuted in U.S. movie theatres. The drama stars Toni Collette, Gotaro Tsunashima, Matthew Dyktynski, Lynette Curran, Yumiko Tanaka, Kate Atkinson, John Howard, Bill Young, Reg Evans, George Shevtsov and Justine Clarke.
2004 - The U.S. pledged $350 million in grant aid for tsunami disaster relief, the World Bank committed $250 million, Great Britain offered $95 million.
2005 - Heavy rains in Northern California caused the worst flooding seen there in some twenty years.
2006 - Saddam Hussein was buried in Ouja, 24 hours after his execution; the death toll for Americans in the Iraq war reached 3,000; U.S. President George Bush (II) struggled to salvage a military campaign that had very little public support.
2006 - Japanese courts sentenced 44 people to death in 2006. The number of inmates on death row rose to 94. Both figures were record highs.
2007 - The International Federation of Journalists said at least 134 media workers had been killed on assignment in 2007. Most of the deaths occured in Iraq.
2007 - Venezuela President Hugo Chavez granted amnesty to many opponents who had been accused of supporting a failed 2002 coup. Chavez announced the signing of an amnesty decree that would pardon others accused of attempting to overthrow his government.
2008 - The Vatican announced that it would no longer automatically adopt new Italian laws as its own. The vast number of laws Italy churns out, many of which are at odds with Catholic doctrine, prompted the ruling.
2009 - The Montana Supreme Court reported that nothing in state law prevented patients from seeking physician assisted suicide. The ruling made Montana the third state to allow doctor-aided death.
2009 - South Korea’s President Lee Myung-bak pardoned former Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee, who was convicted of tax evasion in 2008. The president said the nation needed Lee’s help to win South Korea’s bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics. (Kun-hee was reinstated as Samsung Electronics chief in March 2010.)
2010 - Blue Valentine opened in U.S. theatres. The romantic drama stars Mike Vogel, Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams, Ben Shenkman and John Doman.
Birthdays December 31
1869 - Henri Matisse
master draughtsman, printmaker, sculptor, artist: La Danse, The Dessert: Harmony in Red, Woman With a Hat, Zorah on the Terrace, Robe violette et Anemones, The Snail; died Nov 3, 1954
1880 - George Marshall
U.S. Secretary of State [1947]; designer of Marshall Plan; Army Chief of Staff during WWII; died Oct 16, 1959
1905 - Jule Styne
Academy/Tony Award-winning songwriter: Three Coins in the Fountain [1954]/Hallelujah, Baby! [1968]; I’ve Heard That Song Before, I Should Care, It’s Been a Long, Long Time, Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!, The Christmas Waltz, Never Never Land, The Party’s Over, Together Wherever We Go, Small World, Just in Time, Make Someone Happy, People; died Sep 20, 1994
1908 - Jonah Jones (Robert Elliott Jones)
musician: trumpet, singer: played with Cab Calloway; threw spitball that got Dizzy Gillespie fired from band; died Apr 30, 2000
1914 - Pat Brady
musician: bass, comedian: group: Sons of the Pioneers: Tumbling Tumbleweeds, Cool Water, Way Out There, There’s a Roundup in the Sky, One More Ride, I’m an Old Cowhand [From the Rio Grande]; died Feb 27, 1972
1920 - Rex Allen
‘The Arizona Cowboy’: entertainer: rodeo star; singer; songwriter: published over 300 songs; died Dec 17, 1999
1928 - Ross Barbour
singer: group: The Four Freshmen: It’s a Blue World, Charmaine, Love is Just Around the Corner, Poincianna
1930 - Odetta (Holmes Felious Gordon)
blues/folk singer, musician, songwriter: Music, Give Me Your Hand, Got to Be Me; actress: The Medium, The Crucible, Sanctuary; died Dec 2, 2008
1937 - Sir Anthony Hopkins
Academy Award-winning actor: Silence of the Lambs [1991]; Emmy for Best Actor: The Bunker [1981] and The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case [1976]; Howards End, The Remains of the Day, Amistad, The Mask of Zorro, Meet Joe Black, Mission: Impossible II, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Hannibal
1938 - Rosalind Cash
actress: Tales from the Hood, The Offspring, Go Tell It on a Mountain, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension, Wrong is Right, Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde, Amazing Grace, Omega Man, Uptown Saturday Night; died Oct 31, 1995
1941 - Sarah Miles
actress: Ryan’s Daughter, Dynasty, Queenie, Hope and Glory, Blow-Up, The Servant
1942 - Terry Furlong
musician: guitar: group: The Grass Roots: Let’s Live for Today, Midnight Confessions, Temptation Eyes
1942 - Andy Summers (Somers)
musician: guitar, singer: group: The Police: Can’t Stand Losing You, Roxanne, Message in a Bottle, Walking on the Moon, Don’t Stand So Close to Me, Every Little Thing She Does is Magic, Invisible Sun, Every Breath You Take; solo: contributed to soundtracks of Down and Out in Beverly Hills, 2010
1943 - John Denver (Deutschendorf)
songwriter: Leavin’ on a Jet Plane; singer: Take Me Home Country Roads, Sunshine on my Shoulders, Annie’s Song, Rocky Mountain High, Fly Away, Calypso, Thank God I’m a Country Boy; actor: Oh, God! series killed Oct 12, 1997 [age 53] in crash of his home-built high-performance aircraft he was piloting over Monterey Bay, California
1943 - Ben Kingsley (Krishna Bhanji)
Academy Award-winning actor: Gandhi [1982]; Schindler’s List, Sneakers, Joseph, Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story, Searching for Bobby Fischer, Moses, Rules of Engagement
1943 - Pete Quaife
musician: bass: group: The Kinks: You Really Got Me, All Day & All of the Night, Tired of Waiting, Dedicated Follower of Fashion, A Well Respected Man, Sunny Afternoon, Dead End Street, Waterloo Sunset, Harry Rag, David Watts, Death of a Clown, Two Sisters, Autumn Almanac, Wonderboy, Days, Last of the Steam-Powered Trains, Do You Remember Walter?
1945 - Barbara Carrera
actress: Dallas, Paradise, Panic, Waking Up Horton, The Rockford Files: Godfather Knows Best, Night of the Archer, Loverboy, Emma: Queen of the South Seas
1945 - Diane von Fürstenberg
fashion designer: built multi-million-dollar empire around 1970s wrap dress
1946 - Cliff Richey
tennis: champ: Davis Cup [team w/Arthur Ashe, Stan Smith, Bob Lutz: 1970]
1947 - Burton Cummings Jr.
singer: group: The Guess Who: No Time, American Woman, These Eyes, Laughing; solo: Stand Tall, You Saved My Soul
1947 - Tim Matheson
actor: National Lampoon’s Animal House, Yours Mine and Ours, Magnum Force, Fletch, The Virginian, Bonanza
1948 - Donna Summer (LaDonna Gaines)
Grammy Award-winning singer: Last Dance [1978], Hot Stuff [1979], He’s a Rebel [1983], Forgive Me [1984]; Love to Love You Baby, I Feel Love, Bad Girls, She Works Hard for the Money, On the Radio; No More Tears (Enough is Enough) [w/Barbra Streisand]
1950 - Golden (John) Richards
football: Dallas Cowboys wide receiver: Super Bowls X, XII
1951 - Barbara Carrera
actress: Dallas, Centennial, Sawbones, Point of Impact, Loverboy, Never Say Never Again, Lone Wolf McQuade, Masada, Condorman, Island of Dr. Moreau, Embryo; model
1951 - Tom Hamilton
musician: bass: group: Aerosmith: LPs: Toys in the Attic, Rocks, Draw the Line, Live! Bootleg, Night in the Ruts, Rock in a Hard Place, Done with Mirrors, Permanent Vacation
1953 - James Remar
actor: The Quest, The Phantom, The Surgeon, Renaissance Man, Miracle on 34th Street [1994], Confessions of a Hit Man, Fatal Instinct, Drugstore Cowboy, Rent-A-Cop, The Clan of the Cave Bear, The Cotton Club, 48 Hrs., The Warriors
1958 - Bebe Neuwirth
actress: Cheers, Frasier, The Adventures of Pinocchio, Dash and Lilly, Liberty Heights, The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina
1959 - Val Kilmer
actor: The Island of Dr. Moreau, Heat, Batman Forever, Tombstone, The Doors, Gore Vidal’s Billy the Kid, Top Gun, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, Top Secret!
1961 - Rick Aguilera
baseball [pitcher]: Bringham Young Univ; New York Mets, Minnesota Twins, Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox
1965 - Nicholas Sparks
author: Nights in Rodanthe, The Notebook, A Walk to Remember, Message in a Bottle
1969 - Lance Red****
actor: Fringe, The Wire, Oz, Lost, The Way of War, Dirty Work, Keep the Faith, Baby, I Dreamed of Africa, The Fixer, What the Deaf Man Heard
1970 - Bryon Russell
basketball [forward]: Long Beach State Univ; NBA: Utah Jazz, Washington Wizards, LA Lakers, Denver Nuggets
1970 - Chandra West
actress: Murder on Her Mind, Badland, Canes, White Noise, Then Came Jones, The Perfect Son, Life in a Day, Moment of Truth: Into the Arms of Danger
1971 - Brent Barry
basketball [guard]: Oregon State Univ; NBA: LA Clippers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Chicago Bulls, Seattle SuperSonics, San Antonio Spurs
1971 - Esteban Loaiza
baseball [pitcher]: Pittsburgh Pirates, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees, Washington Nationals
1972 - Joe McIntyre
singer: group: New Kids on the Block
1982 - Jermaine Williams
actor: The Great Debaters, Extreme Movie, Stomp the Yard, Fat Albert, Bulworth, Moonlight, Veronica Mars, The Nightmare Room
Chart Toppers December 31
1948Buttons and Bows - Dinah Shore
On a Slow Boat to China - The Kay Kyser Orchestra (vocal: Harry Babbitt & Gloria Wood
My Darlin, My Darling - Jo Stafford & Gordon MacRae
A Heart Full of Love (For a Handful of Kisses) - Eddy Arnold
1957Jailhouse Rock - Elvis Presley
At the Hop - Danny & The Juniors
Great Balls of Fire - Jerry Lee Lewis
My Special Angel - Bobby Helms
1966I’m a Believer - The Monkees
Snoopy vs. the Red Baron - The Royal Guardsmen
That’s Life - Frank Sinatra
There Goes My Everything - Jack Greene
1975Let’s Do It Again - The Staple Singers
Saturday Night - Bay City Rollers
Love Rollercoaster - Ohio Players
Convoy - C.W. McCall
1984Like a Virgin - Madonna
The Wild Boys - Duran Duran
Sea of Love - The Honeydrippers
Why Not Me - The Judds
1993Hero - Mariah Carey
All That She Wants - Ace of Base
All for Love - Bryan Adams/Rod Stewart/Sting
I Don’t Call Him Daddy - Doug Supernaw
2002Beautiful - Christina Aguilera
Jenny from the Block - Jennifer Lopez
Lose Yourself - Eminem
She’ll Leave You with a Smile - George Strait
Happy Birthday Terry Furlong of The Grass Roots
