BROWNNOSE
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335th day of 2010 - 30 remaining
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
CIVIL AIR PATROL DAY
“After the German surrender, one of Hitler’s high-ranking naval officers was asked why the Nazi U-boats had been withdrawn from U.S. coastal waters early in 1943. The answer was exploded in a curt guttural: ‘It was because of those ****ed little red and yellow planes!’” -- From Robert E. Neprud’s Flying Minute Men
Civil Air Patrol members became the Minutemen of World War II, volunteering their time, resources, and talents to defend the nation’s borders. They filled the gaps left by the men, women and resources mobilized to fight abroad. These Flying Minutemen, all volunteers, performed valiantly on many missions including coastal patrol to search for enemy submarines, search and rescue missions throughout the United States, cargo and courier flights to transfer critical materials and personnel. They even towed targets so Army Air Corps personnel could practice air-to-air gunnery techniques. In all, these volunteers amassed a stunning record -- flying more than half-a-million hours, sinking two enemy submarines, and saving hundreds of crash victims.
Where did these volunteers come from? Although Pearl Harbor propelled the United States into World War II, many Americans saw the AXIS threat long before Dec. 7, 1941. Among them were nearly 150,000 men and women involved in aviation.
As early as 1938, they began to argue for the creation of an organization to harness their experience in the event America entered the conflict. Their efforts, led by writer-aviator Gill Robb Wilson and supported by Gen. Henry ‘Hap’ Arnold, resulted in the creation of the Civil Air Patrol. The Director of Civilian Defense, former New York Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia, signed a formal order creating the CAP on this day in 1941 -- one week before Pearl Harbor.
A thankful nation recognized the vital role CAP played during the war and felt that it could continue to provide invaluable help to both local and national agencies. On July 1, 1946, U.S. President Harry S Truman signed Public Law 476 incorporating the CAP as a benevolent, nonprofit organization. And on May 26, 1948, Congress passed Public Law 557, permanently establishing the CAP as the Auxiliary of the new U.S. Air Force.
With more than 53,000 members, 535 light aircraft and an extensive communications capability, the Civil Air Patrol is fully equipped to continue its mission for America.
Happy birthday, CAP!
Events December 1
1879 - Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta, H.M.S. Pinafore, opened. Arthur Sullivan conducted the orchestra while William Gilbert played the role of a sailor in the chorus and in the Queen’s Nay-vee.
1887 - Sherlock Holmes first appeared in print in A Study in Scarlet.
1917 - Father Edward Flanagan opened Boys Town, a farm village for wayward boys (and for girls since 1979), in an area west of Omaha, Nebraska. In 1938, Spencer Tracy portrayed Father Flanagan in the movie, Boys Town, and won himself an Oscar.
1918 - Iceland became an independent state under the Danish crown.
1924 - Lady Be Good opened in New York City. George Gershwin wrote the music while Fred and Adele Astaire were well-received by the show’s audience for their dancing talents.
1929 - The game of Bingo was invented by New York toy salesman Edwin S. Lowe.
1930 - Ruth Nichols became the first woman pilot to cross the North American continent. She also set a transcontinental speed record -- 13 hours, 21 minutes -- beating the record set by Charles Lindbergh.
1940 - Glenn Miller got a call from ASCAP (American Society of Composers and Publishers). He was informed that he couldn’t use his Moonlight Serenade as his band’s theme song. He had to use Slumber Song instead because of an ASCAP ban.
1941 - With Emperor Hirohito in attendance, the ruling council of Japan unanimously voted to go to war with the United States, Britain and the Netherlands.
1942 - Mandatory gasoline rationing extended across the United States. Voluntary rationing had proved to be ineffective.
1945 - Burl Ives made his concert debut. He appeared at New York’s Town Hall. We lovingly listen every year for the voice of this old-time radio personality as the narrator and banjo-pickin’ snowman in TV’s Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
1951 - A tempest raged over San Francisco and forced the first-ever closure of the Golden Gate Bridge. As gusting winds reached 69 miles per hour, the Bridge was Closed for three hours. A team of engineers inspected the entire Bridge for damage and declared it structurally sound. They did, however, recommend that lateral bracing be installed. The project was completed in 1954 and the wind stability of the Bridge was increased by 35 percent.
1953 - Walter Alston was named manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers on this, his 42nd birthday. He became the dean of baseball managers before retiring in 1976.
1955 - Rosa Parks, a black seamstress, refused to give up her seat to a white man aboard a Montgomery, Alabama city bus. Mrs. Parks was arrested, sparking a yearlong boycott of the buses by blacks. The law requiring blacks to sit toward the rear of buses was eventually struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.
1959 - Twelve countries, including the U.S. and U.S.S.R., signed The Antarctic Treaty in Washington DC. The agreement set aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, free from military activity. (The Antarctic Treaty did not actually take effect until June 23, 1961.)
1960 - Patrice Lumumba was caught in the Congo. The African nationalist leader was the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (June-September 1960). He was forced out of office during a political crisis, and was assassinated a short time after his capture.
1968 - Promises, Promises opened on Broadway. The play ran for 1,281 performances, earning $35,000 in profits each week of 1969. Dionne Warwick had a hit version of the title song.
1969 - The U.S. held its first draft lottery since World War II.
1973 - ‘The Golden Bear’, Jack Nicklaus, won the Walt Disney World Open Golf Tournament and became the first golfer to win $2 million in career earnings.
1976 - The Sex Pistols used profanity on the British Today show, and became branded as “rotten punks.”
1978 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter more than doubled the size of the national park system, as he signed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) of 1980. The law designated 56-million acres of Alaska as national monuments, creating 14 new monuments and enlarging three existing ones.
1980 - George Rogers of the University of South Carolina was named the Heisman Trophy winner. Rogers went on to achieve great success for the Washington Redskins.
1981 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar surpassed Oscar Robertson as pro basketball’s second all-time leading scorer (second to Wilt Chamberlain). Kareem got to the total of 26,712 points as the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Utah Jazz 117-86. Chamberlain’s record fell in 1984, when Kareem’s scores reached 31,259. Kareem wound up his career in 1989 with 38,387 points.
1984 - Just eight days after his miracle pass to lead Boston College over Miami, Doug Flutie was named Heisman Trophy winner for the year. Flutie was only the 13th quarterback to receive the award.
1985 - Singer and actress Barbi Benton set a record as she appeared for the fourth time on the cover of Playboy magazine.
1988 - The World Health Organization sponsored the first World AIDS Day, celebrated with a concert in Beijing, a march through the streets of Harare, Zimbabwe, and a display of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt in seven countries.
1990 - British and French workers digging the Channel Tunnel between their countries met. They had knocked out a passage in a service tunnel large enough to walk through and shake hands.
1994 - PTL leader Jim Bakker was released from prison. In 1989, Bakker had drawn a 45-year sentence to the big house for defrauding PTL (Praise the Lord) Club contributors of millions of dollars.
1995 - Movies debuting in the U.S.: White Man’s Burden (“Two men at odds in a world turned upside down.”), starring John Travolta and Harry Belafonte; and Wild Bill (“The Name Is Legendary. The Man Is Real.”), with Jeff Bridges and Ellen Barkin.
1997 - Westinghouse Electric Corp. changed its name to CBS Inc., shortly after deciding to sell its traditional businesses such as power-generation equipment and light bulbs.
1998 - Exxon agreed to buy Mobil Oil for $73.7 billion. The deal created the world’s largest corporation.
1999 - An international team of scientists announced it had sequenced the first human chromosome. Just what does this mean? Very glad you asked. All human DNA is contained within 23 pairs of chromosomes. In the center of any normal human cell are 46 X-shaped chromosomes. Within each chromosome is bundled a double-stranded helix of DNA. That is where human genes reside. These genes carry instructions for everything from hair color and height to how the brain is organized. More than 30 human disorders are already associated with changes to genes of chromosome 22 (the one mapped this day). Researchers are hopeful that by using gene therapies, they will be able to make human cells work correctly. Scientists hope these therapies may one day be reliable enough to treat diseases without the sometimes debilitating side effects of some drugs. Dr. Francis Collins, chair of the National Human Genome Research Institute, said, “For the first time we can see the entire landscape of a human chromosome. I think this is probably the most important scientific effort that mankind has ever mounted. That includes splitting the atom and going to the moon.”
2000 - Vicente Fox was sworn in as president of Mexico, ending 71 years of ruling-party domination.
2001 - A baby girl was born to Japan’s Crown Princess Masako and Crown Prince Naruhito. Aiko was the royal couple’s first child in eight years of marriage.
2002 - Edward Latimer ‘Ned’ Beach died at the age of 84. Beach was a former Navy captain and author. His books included Run Silent, Run Deep (1955), Around the World Submerged (1962) and Scapegoats! A Defense of Kimmel and short at Pearl Harbor.
2002 - Russia completed the greatest comeback in a Davis Cup final for 38 years to beat defending champion France 3-2 and win its first-ever title.
2002 - World AIDS Day arrived again, and there were some 42-million HIV positive people around the world -- 75% of them in sub-Saharan Africa.
2003 - 50-year-old Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. was arrested in Crookston, MN. Rodriguez, described by authorities as a predatory sex offender, was charged with kidnapping Dru Sjodin, a North Dakota college student, who was abducted in Nov 2003 while talking on her cell phone.
2003 - Dignitaries from around the world, including former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, gathered in Geneva to sign what was called the Geneva Accords, drawn up between Israeli and Palestinian activists.
2004 - Tom Brokaw signed off as anchor of the NBC Nightly News for the final time after some 21 years.
2005 - South Africa’s Constitutional Court extended marriage to include same-sex couples. South Africa is the fifth country in the world where same-sex marriages are recognized -- after Canada, Spain, the Netherlands, and Belgium.
2006 - World AIDS Day was marked around the world by religious services, demonstrations and warnings that more needed to be done to treat and prevent AIDS.
2006 - Felipe Calderon took the oath of office as Mexico’s president, in a chaotic ceremony before congress.
2006 - The largest Roman Catholic archdiocese in the U.S. said it would pay $60 million to settle 45 sex abuse lawsuits. The payout was the largest ever by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and among the biggest resulting from the molestation crisis that had plagued the church.
2007 - At the 20th annual European Film Awards in Berlin Romanian director Cristian Mungiu’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days won the best film prize.
2007 - 23-year-old Zhang Zilin, Miss China, won the Miss World 2007 title in her own country in front of an estimated two billion viewers around the globe.
2008 - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama announced that Robert Gates would remain as Defense Secretary. Obama picked former campaign rival Hillary Rodham Clinton to be Secretary of State.
2008 - California’s Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a fiscal emergency and called legislators into a special session to try to trim a $11.2 billion budget deficit.
2009 - A rare, 5-carat pink diamond was auctioned off for a record $10.8 million in Hong Kong. The stone, of a ‘vivid pink’ hue and considered near perfect, triggered brisk bidding at Christie’s in Hong Kong.
2009 - Italian police broke up a major mafia clan, issuing 83 arrest warrants and seizing businesses, land, race horses and a London-based online betting company. Local politicians and businessmen in the southern city of Bari were among those implicated for collaborating with the Parisi clan.
2009 - California Hall of Fame: Governor Schwarzenegger and First-Lady Maria Shriver inducted Carol Burnett, Andy Grove, Hiram Johnson, Rafer Johnson, Henry J. Kaiser, Joan Kroc, George Lucas, John Madden, Harvey Milk, Fritz Scholder, Danielle Steel, Joe Weider and General Chuck Yeager.
Birthdays December 1
1761 - Marie Tussaud (Grosholtz)
museum curator and creator of wax figures: Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum in 1834; died Apr 16, 1850
1886 - Rex (Todhunter) Stout
mystery writer: Nero Wolfe series; died Oct 27, 1975
1890 - Etta McDaniel
actress: Society Mugs, Mokey, Tom Sawyer, Detective, Magnificent Brute, Smoking Guns; sister of actor Sam McDaniel and actress Hattie McDaniel; died Jan 13, 1946
1897 - Cyril Ritchard
Tony Award-winning actor: Peter Pan [1955]; films: Hans Brinker, Half a Sixpence, Peter Pan, Blackmail; Kraft Television Theatre, Goodyear TV Playhouse; died Dec 18, 1977
1911 - Walter Alston
baseball: SL Cardinals; Baseball Hall of Fame manager: Brooklyn Dodgers [World Series: 1955], LA Dodgers [World Series: 1959, 1963, 1965]; died Oct 1, 1984
1911 - Calvin Griffith
baseball owner: Washington Senators, Minnesota Twins; died Oct 20, 1999
1912 - Cookie (Harry Arthur) Lavagetto
baseball: Pittsburgh Pirates, Brooklyn Dodgers [all-star: 1938-1941/World Series: 1941, 1947: pinch hit game-4-winning double off right field wall]; died Aug 10, 1990
1913 - Mary Martin
Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress, singer: Peter Pan [1955]; South Pacific, I Do! I Do!, Sound of Music, Night and Day, Star Spangled Rhythm, Birth of the Blues, Rhythm on the River; singer: My Heart Belongs to Daddy, I’ll Walk Alone, Almost Like Being in Love; mother of actor Larry Hagman; died Nov 3, 1990
1923 - **** Shawn (Richard Schulefand)
comedian, actor: Bewitched, Rented Lips, Maid to Order, Check is in the Mail, The Secret Diary of Sigmund Freud, Love at First Bite, The Producers, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World; died Apr 17, 1987
1923 - Admiral Stansfield Turner
U.S. Navy Ret, CIA Director
1925 - Cal ‘Buster’ McLish (Calvin Coolidge Julius Caesar Tuskahoma McLish)
baseball: pitcher: Brooklyn Dodgers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians [all-star: 1959], Cincinnati Reds, Chicago White Sox, Philadelphia Phillies
1928 - Keith Michell
actor: Murder, She Wrote, The Prince and the Pauper, The Deceivers, The Miracle, The Gondoliers, The Pirates of Penzance, The Tenth Month
1929 - David Doyle
actor: Charlie’s Angels, Ghost Writer, Love or Money?, The Comeback, Paper Lion, Sweet Surrender, Rugrats, Bridget Loves Bernie; died Feb 26, 1997
1933 - Lou Rawls (Louis Allen)
Grammy Award-winning singer: Dead End Street [1967], A Natural Man [1972]; You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine, Your Good Thing is about to End, You’ve Made Me So Very Happy, Love is a Hurtin’ Thing, Budweiser commercials, TV regular: Dean Martin Presents; group: Soul Stirrers; died Jan 6, 2006
1934 - Billy Paul (Paul Williams)
singer: Me and Mrs. Jones
1935 - Woody Allen (Allen Konigsberg)
Academy Award-winning writer and director: Annie Hall [1977]; Radio Days, Alice; Academy Award-winning writer: Hannah and Her Sisters [1986]; actor, writer, director: Sleeper, Husbands and Wives, Annie Hall, Mighty Aphrodite, Manhattan Murder Mystery, New York Stories, Hannah and Her Sisters, Manhattan, Bananas; actor, writer: Play It Again, Sam, What’s New *****cat?; actor: Scenes from a Mall, Casino Royale; comedy writer; Your Show of Shows, The Pat Boone-Chevy Showroom
1938 - Sandy Nelson
musician: drums: Teen Beat, Let There be Drums; w/Teddy Bears: To Know Him is to Love Him
1939 - (Dianne) ‘Dee Dee’ Lennon
singer: group: The Lennon Sisters: The Lawrence Welk Show, Jimmy Durante Presents the Lennon Sisters
1939 - Lee Trevino
World Golf Hall of Famer: champion: US Open [1968, 1971], U.S. Senior Open [1990], British Open [1971, 1972], PGA: Rookie of the Year [1967], Varden Trophy-winner [1970], Player of the Year [1971], champion [1974, 1984], Seniors Champion [1992], Senior Player of the Year [1990, 1992]; AP Male Athlete of the Year [1971]
1940 - Richard Pryor
comedian, actor: Another You, See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Harlem Nights, Brewster’s Millions, Superman 3, The Toy, Some Kind of Hero, Silver Streak, The Wiz, California Suite, Blue Collar, Car Wash, Lady Sings the Blues, The Richard Pryor Show, On Broadway Tonight; Emmy Award-winning comedy-variety writer: Lily [1973-1974]; died Dec 10, 2005
1944 - Eric Bloom
singer, musician: guitar: group: Blue Oyster Cult
1945 - John (Paul) Densmore
musician: drums: group: The Doors: Light My Fire, People are Strange, Love Me Two Times, Riders on the Storm
1945 - Bette Midler
Grammy Award-winning singer: LP: The Divine Miss M [1972], You are the Wind Beneath My Wings [1989]; Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, The Rose; Emmy Award-winning entertainer: Bette Midler-Old Red Hair is Back [1977-1978], The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson [5/21/1992]; actress: From a Distance, Beaches, For the Boys, Down and Out in Beverly Hill Business, Ruthless People, Hawaii, Fiddler on the Roof, Tommy, The Edge of Night
1946 - Gilbert O’Sullivan (Raymond Edward O’Sullivan)
singer: Alone Again [Naturally], Clare, Get Down, What’s in a Kiss?; LP: Back to Front
1948 - George (Arthur) Foster
baseball: outfielder: SF Giants, Cincinnati Reds [World Series: 1972, 1975, 1976/all-star: 1976-1979, 1981/Baseball Writer’s Award (National League): 1977], NY Mets, Chicago White Sox
1951 - Treat Williams
actor: The Phantom, The Late Shift, Mulholland Falls, Final Verdict, J. Edgar Hoover, The Men’s Club, The Little Mermaid, Flashpoint, The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper, Prince of the City, Hair, The Eagle Has Landed, Eddie Dodd, Good Advice
1958 - Charlene Tilton
actress: Dallas, A Distant Thunder, Zombie Rights!, Bar Hopping, Favorite Deadly Sins, Center of the Web, For Parents Only
1960 - Carol Alt
supermodel, actress: Amazon, Beyond Justice, Thunder in Paradise, Private Parts, Grownups
1961 - Jeremy Northam
actor: The Net, Amistad, The Winslow Boy, The Golden Bowl, Enigma
1966 - Greg McMichael
baseball [pitcher]: Univ of Tennessee; Atlanta Braves, New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, Oakland Athletics
1970 - Golden Brooks
actress: Girlfriends, Beauty Shop, Motives, Imposter, Timecode, Hell’s Kitchen, Drive By: A Love Story
1970 - Julie Condra
actress: Final Approach, Beautiful, Michael Landon, the Father I Knew, Touch, Nixon, The Fulfillment of Mary Gray
1970 - Sarah Silverman
actress: I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With, Rent, The School of Rock, Run Ronnie Run, Heartbreakers, The Way of the Gun, The Sarah Silverman Program
1972 - Ron Melendez
actor: Outlaw Trail, Naked Hotel, Fight or Flight, For My Daughter’s Honor, Children of the Corn III, Voodoo, The Unborn II
1976 - Dean O’Gorman
actor: Mary Worth, Toy Love, Little Samurai, Fearless, When Love Comes, Doom Runners, Return to Treasure Island
Chart Toppers December 1
1945It’s Been a Long, Long Time - The Harry James Orchestra (vocal: Kitty Kallen)
Till the End of Time - Perry Como
I’ll Buy that Dream - The Pied Pipers
Shame on You - Lawrence Welk Orchestra with Red Foley
1954I Need You Now - Eddie Fisher
Mr. Sandman - The Chordettes
Teach Me Tonight - The De Castro Sisters
More and More - Webb Pierce
1963I’m Leaving It Up to You - Dale & Grace
Dominique - The Singing Nun
Everybody - Tommy Roe
Love’s Gonna Live Here - Buck Owens
1972I Can See Clearly Now - Johnny Nash
I’d Love You to Want Me - Lobo
I’ll Be Around - Spinners
She’s Too Good to Be True - Charley Pride
1981Physical - Olivia Newton-John
Waiting for a Girl Like You - Foreigner
Every Little Thing She Does is Magic - The Police
My Favorite Memory - Merle Haggard
1990I’m Your Baby Tonight - Whitney Houston
Because I Love You (The Postman Song) - Stevie B
From a Distance - Bette Midler
Come Next Monday - K.T. Oslin
1999(You Drive Me) Crazy - Britney Spears
Heartbreaker - Mariah Carey featuring Jay-Z
Waiting for Tonight - Jennifer Lopez
I Love You - Martina McBride
2008Hot N Cold - Katy Perry
Whatever You Like - T.I.
Live Your Life - T.I. featuring Rihanna
Love Story - Taylor Swift
Chart Topper December 1st, 1972...I’d Love You to Want Me - Lobo
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
CIVIL AIR PATROL DAY
“After the German surrender, one of Hitler’s high-ranking naval officers was asked why the Nazi U-boats had been withdrawn from U.S. coastal waters early in 1943. The answer was exploded in a curt guttural: ‘It was because of those ****ed little red and yellow planes!’” -- From Robert E. Neprud’s Flying Minute Men
Civil Air Patrol members became the Minutemen of World War II, volunteering their time, resources, and talents to defend the nation’s borders. They filled the gaps left by the men, women and resources mobilized to fight abroad. These Flying Minutemen, all volunteers, performed valiantly on many missions including coastal patrol to search for enemy submarines, search and rescue missions throughout the United States, cargo and courier flights to transfer critical materials and personnel. They even towed targets so Army Air Corps personnel could practice air-to-air gunnery techniques. In all, these volunteers amassed a stunning record -- flying more than half-a-million hours, sinking two enemy submarines, and saving hundreds of crash victims.
Where did these volunteers come from? Although Pearl Harbor propelled the United States into World War II, many Americans saw the AXIS threat long before Dec. 7, 1941. Among them were nearly 150,000 men and women involved in aviation.
As early as 1938, they began to argue for the creation of an organization to harness their experience in the event America entered the conflict. Their efforts, led by writer-aviator Gill Robb Wilson and supported by Gen. Henry ‘Hap’ Arnold, resulted in the creation of the Civil Air Patrol. The Director of Civilian Defense, former New York Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia, signed a formal order creating the CAP on this day in 1941 -- one week before Pearl Harbor.
A thankful nation recognized the vital role CAP played during the war and felt that it could continue to provide invaluable help to both local and national agencies. On July 1, 1946, U.S. President Harry S Truman signed Public Law 476 incorporating the CAP as a benevolent, nonprofit organization. And on May 26, 1948, Congress passed Public Law 557, permanently establishing the CAP as the Auxiliary of the new U.S. Air Force.
With more than 53,000 members, 535 light aircraft and an extensive communications capability, the Civil Air Patrol is fully equipped to continue its mission for America.
Happy birthday, CAP!
Events December 1
1879 - Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta, H.M.S. Pinafore, opened. Arthur Sullivan conducted the orchestra while William Gilbert played the role of a sailor in the chorus and in the Queen’s Nay-vee.
1887 - Sherlock Holmes first appeared in print in A Study in Scarlet.
1917 - Father Edward Flanagan opened Boys Town, a farm village for wayward boys (and for girls since 1979), in an area west of Omaha, Nebraska. In 1938, Spencer Tracy portrayed Father Flanagan in the movie, Boys Town, and won himself an Oscar.
1918 - Iceland became an independent state under the Danish crown.
1924 - Lady Be Good opened in New York City. George Gershwin wrote the music while Fred and Adele Astaire were well-received by the show’s audience for their dancing talents.
1929 - The game of Bingo was invented by New York toy salesman Edwin S. Lowe.
1930 - Ruth Nichols became the first woman pilot to cross the North American continent. She also set a transcontinental speed record -- 13 hours, 21 minutes -- beating the record set by Charles Lindbergh.
1940 - Glenn Miller got a call from ASCAP (American Society of Composers and Publishers). He was informed that he couldn’t use his Moonlight Serenade as his band’s theme song. He had to use Slumber Song instead because of an ASCAP ban.
1941 - With Emperor Hirohito in attendance, the ruling council of Japan unanimously voted to go to war with the United States, Britain and the Netherlands.
1942 - Mandatory gasoline rationing extended across the United States. Voluntary rationing had proved to be ineffective.
1945 - Burl Ives made his concert debut. He appeared at New York’s Town Hall. We lovingly listen every year for the voice of this old-time radio personality as the narrator and banjo-pickin’ snowman in TV’s Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
1951 - A tempest raged over San Francisco and forced the first-ever closure of the Golden Gate Bridge. As gusting winds reached 69 miles per hour, the Bridge was Closed for three hours. A team of engineers inspected the entire Bridge for damage and declared it structurally sound. They did, however, recommend that lateral bracing be installed. The project was completed in 1954 and the wind stability of the Bridge was increased by 35 percent.
1953 - Walter Alston was named manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers on this, his 42nd birthday. He became the dean of baseball managers before retiring in 1976.
1955 - Rosa Parks, a black seamstress, refused to give up her seat to a white man aboard a Montgomery, Alabama city bus. Mrs. Parks was arrested, sparking a yearlong boycott of the buses by blacks. The law requiring blacks to sit toward the rear of buses was eventually struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.
1959 - Twelve countries, including the U.S. and U.S.S.R., signed The Antarctic Treaty in Washington DC. The agreement set aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, free from military activity. (The Antarctic Treaty did not actually take effect until June 23, 1961.)
1960 - Patrice Lumumba was caught in the Congo. The African nationalist leader was the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (June-September 1960). He was forced out of office during a political crisis, and was assassinated a short time after his capture.
1968 - Promises, Promises opened on Broadway. The play ran for 1,281 performances, earning $35,000 in profits each week of 1969. Dionne Warwick had a hit version of the title song.
1969 - The U.S. held its first draft lottery since World War II.
1973 - ‘The Golden Bear’, Jack Nicklaus, won the Walt Disney World Open Golf Tournament and became the first golfer to win $2 million in career earnings.
1976 - The Sex Pistols used profanity on the British Today show, and became branded as “rotten punks.”
1978 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter more than doubled the size of the national park system, as he signed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) of 1980. The law designated 56-million acres of Alaska as national monuments, creating 14 new monuments and enlarging three existing ones.
1980 - George Rogers of the University of South Carolina was named the Heisman Trophy winner. Rogers went on to achieve great success for the Washington Redskins.
1981 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar surpassed Oscar Robertson as pro basketball’s second all-time leading scorer (second to Wilt Chamberlain). Kareem got to the total of 26,712 points as the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Utah Jazz 117-86. Chamberlain’s record fell in 1984, when Kareem’s scores reached 31,259. Kareem wound up his career in 1989 with 38,387 points.
1984 - Just eight days after his miracle pass to lead Boston College over Miami, Doug Flutie was named Heisman Trophy winner for the year. Flutie was only the 13th quarterback to receive the award.
1985 - Singer and actress Barbi Benton set a record as she appeared for the fourth time on the cover of Playboy magazine.
1988 - The World Health Organization sponsored the first World AIDS Day, celebrated with a concert in Beijing, a march through the streets of Harare, Zimbabwe, and a display of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt in seven countries.
1990 - British and French workers digging the Channel Tunnel between their countries met. They had knocked out a passage in a service tunnel large enough to walk through and shake hands.
1994 - PTL leader Jim Bakker was released from prison. In 1989, Bakker had drawn a 45-year sentence to the big house for defrauding PTL (Praise the Lord) Club contributors of millions of dollars.
1995 - Movies debuting in the U.S.: White Man’s Burden (“Two men at odds in a world turned upside down.”), starring John Travolta and Harry Belafonte; and Wild Bill (“The Name Is Legendary. The Man Is Real.”), with Jeff Bridges and Ellen Barkin.
1997 - Westinghouse Electric Corp. changed its name to CBS Inc., shortly after deciding to sell its traditional businesses such as power-generation equipment and light bulbs.
1998 - Exxon agreed to buy Mobil Oil for $73.7 billion. The deal created the world’s largest corporation.
1999 - An international team of scientists announced it had sequenced the first human chromosome. Just what does this mean? Very glad you asked. All human DNA is contained within 23 pairs of chromosomes. In the center of any normal human cell are 46 X-shaped chromosomes. Within each chromosome is bundled a double-stranded helix of DNA. That is where human genes reside. These genes carry instructions for everything from hair color and height to how the brain is organized. More than 30 human disorders are already associated with changes to genes of chromosome 22 (the one mapped this day). Researchers are hopeful that by using gene therapies, they will be able to make human cells work correctly. Scientists hope these therapies may one day be reliable enough to treat diseases without the sometimes debilitating side effects of some drugs. Dr. Francis Collins, chair of the National Human Genome Research Institute, said, “For the first time we can see the entire landscape of a human chromosome. I think this is probably the most important scientific effort that mankind has ever mounted. That includes splitting the atom and going to the moon.”
2000 - Vicente Fox was sworn in as president of Mexico, ending 71 years of ruling-party domination.
2001 - A baby girl was born to Japan’s Crown Princess Masako and Crown Prince Naruhito. Aiko was the royal couple’s first child in eight years of marriage.
2002 - Edward Latimer ‘Ned’ Beach died at the age of 84. Beach was a former Navy captain and author. His books included Run Silent, Run Deep (1955), Around the World Submerged (1962) and Scapegoats! A Defense of Kimmel and short at Pearl Harbor.
2002 - Russia completed the greatest comeback in a Davis Cup final for 38 years to beat defending champion France 3-2 and win its first-ever title.
2002 - World AIDS Day arrived again, and there were some 42-million HIV positive people around the world -- 75% of them in sub-Saharan Africa.
2003 - 50-year-old Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. was arrested in Crookston, MN. Rodriguez, described by authorities as a predatory sex offender, was charged with kidnapping Dru Sjodin, a North Dakota college student, who was abducted in Nov 2003 while talking on her cell phone.
2003 - Dignitaries from around the world, including former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, gathered in Geneva to sign what was called the Geneva Accords, drawn up between Israeli and Palestinian activists.
2004 - Tom Brokaw signed off as anchor of the NBC Nightly News for the final time after some 21 years.
2005 - South Africa’s Constitutional Court extended marriage to include same-sex couples. South Africa is the fifth country in the world where same-sex marriages are recognized -- after Canada, Spain, the Netherlands, and Belgium.
2006 - World AIDS Day was marked around the world by religious services, demonstrations and warnings that more needed to be done to treat and prevent AIDS.
2006 - Felipe Calderon took the oath of office as Mexico’s president, in a chaotic ceremony before congress.
2006 - The largest Roman Catholic archdiocese in the U.S. said it would pay $60 million to settle 45 sex abuse lawsuits. The payout was the largest ever by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and among the biggest resulting from the molestation crisis that had plagued the church.
2007 - At the 20th annual European Film Awards in Berlin Romanian director Cristian Mungiu’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days won the best film prize.
2007 - 23-year-old Zhang Zilin, Miss China, won the Miss World 2007 title in her own country in front of an estimated two billion viewers around the globe.
2008 - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama announced that Robert Gates would remain as Defense Secretary. Obama picked former campaign rival Hillary Rodham Clinton to be Secretary of State.
2008 - California’s Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a fiscal emergency and called legislators into a special session to try to trim a $11.2 billion budget deficit.
2009 - A rare, 5-carat pink diamond was auctioned off for a record $10.8 million in Hong Kong. The stone, of a ‘vivid pink’ hue and considered near perfect, triggered brisk bidding at Christie’s in Hong Kong.
2009 - Italian police broke up a major mafia clan, issuing 83 arrest warrants and seizing businesses, land, race horses and a London-based online betting company. Local politicians and businessmen in the southern city of Bari were among those implicated for collaborating with the Parisi clan.
2009 - California Hall of Fame: Governor Schwarzenegger and First-Lady Maria Shriver inducted Carol Burnett, Andy Grove, Hiram Johnson, Rafer Johnson, Henry J. Kaiser, Joan Kroc, George Lucas, John Madden, Harvey Milk, Fritz Scholder, Danielle Steel, Joe Weider and General Chuck Yeager.
Birthdays December 1
1761 - Marie Tussaud (Grosholtz)
museum curator and creator of wax figures: Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum in 1834; died Apr 16, 1850
1886 - Rex (Todhunter) Stout
mystery writer: Nero Wolfe series; died Oct 27, 1975
1890 - Etta McDaniel
actress: Society Mugs, Mokey, Tom Sawyer, Detective, Magnificent Brute, Smoking Guns; sister of actor Sam McDaniel and actress Hattie McDaniel; died Jan 13, 1946
1897 - Cyril Ritchard
Tony Award-winning actor: Peter Pan [1955]; films: Hans Brinker, Half a Sixpence, Peter Pan, Blackmail; Kraft Television Theatre, Goodyear TV Playhouse; died Dec 18, 1977
1911 - Walter Alston
baseball: SL Cardinals; Baseball Hall of Fame manager: Brooklyn Dodgers [World Series: 1955], LA Dodgers [World Series: 1959, 1963, 1965]; died Oct 1, 1984
1911 - Calvin Griffith
baseball owner: Washington Senators, Minnesota Twins; died Oct 20, 1999
1912 - Cookie (Harry Arthur) Lavagetto
baseball: Pittsburgh Pirates, Brooklyn Dodgers [all-star: 1938-1941/World Series: 1941, 1947: pinch hit game-4-winning double off right field wall]; died Aug 10, 1990
1913 - Mary Martin
Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress, singer: Peter Pan [1955]; South Pacific, I Do! I Do!, Sound of Music, Night and Day, Star Spangled Rhythm, Birth of the Blues, Rhythm on the River; singer: My Heart Belongs to Daddy, I’ll Walk Alone, Almost Like Being in Love; mother of actor Larry Hagman; died Nov 3, 1990
1923 - **** Shawn (Richard Schulefand)
comedian, actor: Bewitched, Rented Lips, Maid to Order, Check is in the Mail, The Secret Diary of Sigmund Freud, Love at First Bite, The Producers, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World; died Apr 17, 1987
1923 - Admiral Stansfield Turner
U.S. Navy Ret, CIA Director
1925 - Cal ‘Buster’ McLish (Calvin Coolidge Julius Caesar Tuskahoma McLish)
baseball: pitcher: Brooklyn Dodgers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians [all-star: 1959], Cincinnati Reds, Chicago White Sox, Philadelphia Phillies
1928 - Keith Michell
actor: Murder, She Wrote, The Prince and the Pauper, The Deceivers, The Miracle, The Gondoliers, The Pirates of Penzance, The Tenth Month
1929 - David Doyle
actor: Charlie’s Angels, Ghost Writer, Love or Money?, The Comeback, Paper Lion, Sweet Surrender, Rugrats, Bridget Loves Bernie; died Feb 26, 1997
1933 - Lou Rawls (Louis Allen)
Grammy Award-winning singer: Dead End Street [1967], A Natural Man [1972]; You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine, Your Good Thing is about to End, You’ve Made Me So Very Happy, Love is a Hurtin’ Thing, Budweiser commercials, TV regular: Dean Martin Presents; group: Soul Stirrers; died Jan 6, 2006
1934 - Billy Paul (Paul Williams)
singer: Me and Mrs. Jones
1935 - Woody Allen (Allen Konigsberg)
Academy Award-winning writer and director: Annie Hall [1977]; Radio Days, Alice; Academy Award-winning writer: Hannah and Her Sisters [1986]; actor, writer, director: Sleeper, Husbands and Wives, Annie Hall, Mighty Aphrodite, Manhattan Murder Mystery, New York Stories, Hannah and Her Sisters, Manhattan, Bananas; actor, writer: Play It Again, Sam, What’s New *****cat?; actor: Scenes from a Mall, Casino Royale; comedy writer; Your Show of Shows, The Pat Boone-Chevy Showroom
1938 - Sandy Nelson
musician: drums: Teen Beat, Let There be Drums; w/Teddy Bears: To Know Him is to Love Him
1939 - (Dianne) ‘Dee Dee’ Lennon
singer: group: The Lennon Sisters: The Lawrence Welk Show, Jimmy Durante Presents the Lennon Sisters
1939 - Lee Trevino
World Golf Hall of Famer: champion: US Open [1968, 1971], U.S. Senior Open [1990], British Open [1971, 1972], PGA: Rookie of the Year [1967], Varden Trophy-winner [1970], Player of the Year [1971], champion [1974, 1984], Seniors Champion [1992], Senior Player of the Year [1990, 1992]; AP Male Athlete of the Year [1971]
1940 - Richard Pryor
comedian, actor: Another You, See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Harlem Nights, Brewster’s Millions, Superman 3, The Toy, Some Kind of Hero, Silver Streak, The Wiz, California Suite, Blue Collar, Car Wash, Lady Sings the Blues, The Richard Pryor Show, On Broadway Tonight; Emmy Award-winning comedy-variety writer: Lily [1973-1974]; died Dec 10, 2005
1944 - Eric Bloom
singer, musician: guitar: group: Blue Oyster Cult
1945 - John (Paul) Densmore
musician: drums: group: The Doors: Light My Fire, People are Strange, Love Me Two Times, Riders on the Storm
1945 - Bette Midler
Grammy Award-winning singer: LP: The Divine Miss M [1972], You are the Wind Beneath My Wings [1989]; Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, The Rose; Emmy Award-winning entertainer: Bette Midler-Old Red Hair is Back [1977-1978], The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson [5/21/1992]; actress: From a Distance, Beaches, For the Boys, Down and Out in Beverly Hill Business, Ruthless People, Hawaii, Fiddler on the Roof, Tommy, The Edge of Night
1946 - Gilbert O’Sullivan (Raymond Edward O’Sullivan)
singer: Alone Again [Naturally], Clare, Get Down, What’s in a Kiss?; LP: Back to Front
1948 - George (Arthur) Foster
baseball: outfielder: SF Giants, Cincinnati Reds [World Series: 1972, 1975, 1976/all-star: 1976-1979, 1981/Baseball Writer’s Award (National League): 1977], NY Mets, Chicago White Sox
1951 - Treat Williams
actor: The Phantom, The Late Shift, Mulholland Falls, Final Verdict, J. Edgar Hoover, The Men’s Club, The Little Mermaid, Flashpoint, The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper, Prince of the City, Hair, The Eagle Has Landed, Eddie Dodd, Good Advice
1958 - Charlene Tilton
actress: Dallas, A Distant Thunder, Zombie Rights!, Bar Hopping, Favorite Deadly Sins, Center of the Web, For Parents Only
1960 - Carol Alt
supermodel, actress: Amazon, Beyond Justice, Thunder in Paradise, Private Parts, Grownups
1961 - Jeremy Northam
actor: The Net, Amistad, The Winslow Boy, The Golden Bowl, Enigma
1966 - Greg McMichael
baseball [pitcher]: Univ of Tennessee; Atlanta Braves, New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, Oakland Athletics
1970 - Golden Brooks
actress: Girlfriends, Beauty Shop, Motives, Imposter, Timecode, Hell’s Kitchen, Drive By: A Love Story
1970 - Julie Condra
actress: Final Approach, Beautiful, Michael Landon, the Father I Knew, Touch, Nixon, The Fulfillment of Mary Gray
1970 - Sarah Silverman
actress: I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With, Rent, The School of Rock, Run Ronnie Run, Heartbreakers, The Way of the Gun, The Sarah Silverman Program
1972 - Ron Melendez
actor: Outlaw Trail, Naked Hotel, Fight or Flight, For My Daughter’s Honor, Children of the Corn III, Voodoo, The Unborn II
1976 - Dean O’Gorman
actor: Mary Worth, Toy Love, Little Samurai, Fearless, When Love Comes, Doom Runners, Return to Treasure Island
Chart Toppers December 1
1945It’s Been a Long, Long Time - The Harry James Orchestra (vocal: Kitty Kallen)
Till the End of Time - Perry Como
I’ll Buy that Dream - The Pied Pipers
Shame on You - Lawrence Welk Orchestra with Red Foley
1954I Need You Now - Eddie Fisher
Mr. Sandman - The Chordettes
Teach Me Tonight - The De Castro Sisters
More and More - Webb Pierce
1963I’m Leaving It Up to You - Dale & Grace
Dominique - The Singing Nun
Everybody - Tommy Roe
Love’s Gonna Live Here - Buck Owens
1972I Can See Clearly Now - Johnny Nash
I’d Love You to Want Me - Lobo
I’ll Be Around - Spinners
She’s Too Good to Be True - Charley Pride
1981Physical - Olivia Newton-John
Waiting for a Girl Like You - Foreigner
Every Little Thing She Does is Magic - The Police
My Favorite Memory - Merle Haggard
1990I’m Your Baby Tonight - Whitney Houston
Because I Love You (The Postman Song) - Stevie B
From a Distance - Bette Midler
Come Next Monday - K.T. Oslin
1999(You Drive Me) Crazy - Britney Spears
Heartbreaker - Mariah Carey featuring Jay-Z
Waiting for Tonight - Jennifer Lopez
I Love You - Martina McBride
2008Hot N Cold - Katy Perry
Whatever You Like - T.I.
Live Your Life - T.I. featuring Rihanna
Love Story - Taylor Swift
Chart Topper December 1st, 1972...I’d Love You to Want Me - Lobo