BROWNNOSE
BOOTLICKER
346th day of 2010 - 19 remaining
Sunday, December 12, 2010
CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD DAY
Francis Albert Sinatra came into this world this day in 1915, in Hoboken, NJ, without making a sound or opening his eyes. In fact, he didn’t even sing a note until his grandmother held him under some cold running water. Then, for 82 years, he, with the blue eyes so famous that he was often referred to as Ol’ Blue Eyes, never stopped singing.
The Voice sang his way through weddings, local Union functions and made his commercial media debut singing the hits on radio’s The Lucky Strike Hit Parade. He then made his own hits, recording over 1500 songs, including the favorites: All or Nothing at All (Frank’s first), I’ll Never Smile Again, In the Blue of the Evening, I’ll be Seeing You, Five Minutes More, The Loneliest Night of the Week, I’m a Fool to Want You, I’ve Got the World on a String, I’ve Got You Under My Skin, You Make Me Feel So Young, Strangers in the Night, Witchcraft, That’s Life, New York, New York and My Way; taking home ten Grammy awards including the Lifetime Achievement Award.
For Frankie, being a singing idol wasn’t enough. The silver screen beckoned and he became bigger than life in over fifty films, including On the Town, Guys and Dolls, Ocean’s Eleven, Not as a Stranger, The Manchurian Candidate, None But the Brave, Young at Heart, The Tender Trap, High Society, PAL Joey and The Joker is Wild. Hollywood rewarded him with a Special Oscar for The House I Live In, a short he made to promote racial and religious tolerance; an Oscar nomination for The Man with the Golden Arm, and the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his performance in From Here to Eternity; plus the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1970.
The television industry embraced Frank, too, presenting him with an Emmy in 1965 for Outstanding Musical Special, Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music. Not to be outdone, the President of the United States of America, Ronald Reagan, presented Francis Albert Sinatra with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985.
Mr. S. died of a heart attack on May 14, 1998 in Los Angeles, California. He remains the Chairman of the Board in the memories of the four generations of his fans wordwide.
Events December 12
1787 - Pennsylvania was ratifed on this day as the second of the United States of America. Also one of the original 13 colonies, Pennsylvania is geographically located in the keystone position in relation to the other 12 colonies, earning the nickname, the Keystone State. The state capital is Harrisburg, a city almost midway between Pennsylvania’s two most well-known cites, Pittsburgh in Western Pennsylvania and Philadelphia in the east. Philadelphia is also where the first Continental Congress met and where the Declaration of Independence was signed. Not so famous is the state Bird , the ruffed grouse and the state flower, the mountain laurel.
1850 - Wide, Wide World, the novel by Elizabeth Wetherell (whose real name was Susan Warner), was published on this day. The book was called a bestseller by many folks; the first bestseller in America. There were 14 editions printed during the first two years of publication.
1897 - The Katzenjammer Kids (Hans and Fritz) appeared for the first time in The New York Journal. The Rudolph Dirks comic strip became one of the most durable ever produced.
1899 - George Grant of Boston, MA patented the golf tee. Fore!
1900 - Charles M. Schwab formed the United States Steel Corporation; bringing together John Pierpont Morgan and Andrew Carnegie to create one of the richest and most powerful companies in the world. Is it the same Charles M. Schwab of private investment fame? Yes ... along with his son, in fact.
1936 - George VI acceded to the British throne following the abdication of his brother, King Edward VIII, who stepped down over his love for Mrs. Wallis Simpson.
1937 - The Federal Communications Commission was a bit upset with NBC radio. The FCC scolded the radio network for a skit that starred Mae West. The satirical routine was based on the biblical tale of Adam and Eve. As she flirted with Charlie McCarthy, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen’s dummy, West said, “Charles, I remember our date and have the splinters to prove it.” Following its scolding by the FCC, NBC banned Miss West from its airwaves for 15 years.
1947 - The United Mine Workers union withdrew from the American Federation of Labor (for the second time) as UMW President John L. Lewis refused to sign the non-Communist affidavit required by the Taft-Hartley Labor Act.
1948 - Michigan State was admitted to the Western Conference; making it the Big 10 Conference once again.
1953 - U.S. test pilot Chuck Yeager reached Mach 2.4 in his Bell X-1A rocket plane. At an altitude of 70,000 ft. the aircraft suddenly rolled out of control and began tumblingfor 36,000 ft. It eventually went into an inverted spin, knocking Yeager into semiconsciousness. Fighting the controls, he managed to pull it out at 30,000 ft. (After this, high speed flights were no longer undertaken in the X-1A, although the plane did reach an altitude of 90,440 ft. in Aug, 1954.)
1957 - 22-year-old rocker Jerry Lee Lewis secretly said “I do” for the third time. Lewis married 13-year-old Myra Gale Brown, his third cousin, in Hernando, Tennessee.
1959 - At 22 years and 104 days of age, Bruce McLaren became the youngest driver to win a Grand Prix race as he earned first place at Sebring, Florida.
1961 - Former big band singer (with Kay Kyser) Mike Douglas began a variety TV show from Cleveland. The show became most successful when KYW-TV moved from Cleveland to Philadelphia. Then, when the Douglas show left Philly for Hollywood, it folded. All things considered, it was a successful syndication effort, nationally, for Westinghouse Productions.
1963 - John Fitzgerald Kennedy - A Memorial Album became the fastest-selling record of all time when 4 million copies of the disk, each selling for 99 cents, were sold in six days -- between December 7-12. The memorial tribute was recorded November 22, the day President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.
1964 - Kenya formally became a republic.
1971 - David Sarnoff, U.S. TV pioneer (RCA), died. He was 80 years old. Sarnoff was a Russian immigrant who transformed NBC from a radio to a TV network.
1980 - Oil tycoon Armand Hammer bought a notebook of writings by Leonardo da Vinci for $5.28 million at auction in London. It was the highest price ever paid for a manuscript. It was 36 pages long and dated back to 1508.
1980 - The U.S. Congress amended the Copyright Act in 1980 to explicitly recognize that computer programs were protected as literary works.
1983 - Football’s Jim Brown showed up in Sports Illustrated again. This time, he was not on the cover as in September, 1960, but inside the magazine -- a record span of more than 23 years between spreads, as they say in the publishing biz.
1984 - The group known as Band Aid -- 38 of Britain’s top rock musicians -- recorded Do They Know It’s Christmas? for Ethiopian famine victims. Despite the best of intentions, much of the food raised never got to the starving Ethiopians. In fact, much of it was found rotting on docks, not fit for human consumption. More than a Band-Aid was needed to fix that political mess.
1985 - A chartered Arrow Air DC-8, bringing American soldiers home for Christmas, crashed on takeoff from Gander, Newfoundland. All 256 aboard died.
1986 - James ‘Bonecrusher’ Smith became the first college graduate to win the world heavyweight boxing crown. “If I only had a bwain...,” he said, as he beat the brains out of Tim Witherspoon so badly, poor Tim couldn’t count to ten. “One, duh. Eight. Six. Duh. I’m out.”
1988 - 35 people were killed in a triple train collision during morning rush-hour in south London in what became known as the Clapham Junction rail disaster.
1992 - The soundtrack from the movie The Bodyguard was the #1 album in the U.S. A smash, as they say, it was number one for twenty weeks. The track listing: I Will Always Love You, I Have Nothing, I’m Every Woman, Run to You, Queen of the Night, Jesus Loves Me, all by Whitney Houston; Even If My Heart Would Break, by Kenny G & Aaron Neville; Someday (I’m Coming Back), by Lisa Stansfield; It’s Gonna Be a Lovely Day, by The S.O.U.L S.Y.S.T.E.M.; Peace, Love And Understanding (What's So Funny ’Bout), by Curtis Stigers; Theme from The Bodyguard, by Alan Silvestri; and Trust in Me, by Joe Cocker featuring Sass Jordan.
1994 - IBM stopped shipments of personal computers that contained Intel’s flawed Pentium chip, saying the processor’s problems were worse than earlier believed.
1995 - The International Olympic Committee announced that NBC had successfully bid a record $2.3 billion for the exclusive U.S. TV (broadcast and cable) rights to the 2004 and 2008 Summer Games and the 2006 Winter Games. $894 million is for the 2008 games alone. And the deal calls for a 50-50 revenue sharing program with the IOC.
1996 - Hollywood power broker Michael Ovitz resigned as Walt Disney Company’s #2 executive.
1996 - Uday Hussein, eldest son of Sadam, was wounded in a car ambush in Iraq. Assailants using machine guns and grenades carried out the attack. The ‘Mohammed Madhlum Dulaimi’ group later claimed responsibility.
1997 - These films opened in U.S. theatres: For Richer or Poorer (dir: Bryan Spicer), with Tim Allen, Kirstie Alley, Jay O. Sanders and Michael Lerner; Home Alone 3 (dir: Raja Gosnell), starring Alex D. Linz, Haviland Morris, Olek Krupa and Rya Kihlstedt; and Scream 2 (dir: Wes Craven), with Neve Campball, Courteney Cox, Jerry O'connell and Liev Schreiber.
1998 - Florida Governor Lawton Chiles died in Tallahassee at the age of 68. Chiles had acquired wealth as one of the original investors in the Red Lobster chain of restaurants.
1999 - Author Joseph Heller (Catch-22) died in East Hampton, NY. He was 76 years old. Heller’s 1998 memoir was titled Now and Then: From Coney Island to Here. Other novels included God Knows (1984) and Closing Time (1994). His final work was Portrait of an Artist as an Old Man.
1999 - The International Olympic Committee enacted sweeping reforms, included a ban on visits by members to bid cities.
2000 - A divided U.S. Supreme Court reversed a Florida court decision for recounts in Florida’s contested election, effectively transforming George W. Bush into the president-elect. The high court agreed, 7-to-2, to reverse the Florida court’s order of a state recount and voted 5-to-4 that there was no acceptable procedure by which a timely new recount could take place.
2000 - Actor George Montgomery died in Rancho Mirage, CA at 84 years of age. The actor, a brawny leading man who started acting in low-budget Western horse operas later starred in musicals and romantic comedies. Montgomery appeared in 87 motion pictures in a six-decade career that also included the "Cimarron City" TV series. He was married to the late Dinah Shore for 19 years and counted Ronald Reagan as one of his best friends.
2001 - A $200-million U.S. Air Force B-1 bomber crashed into the India Ocean near Diego Garcia Island. The four crewmen were rescued.
2002 - U.S. President George Bush (II) named Wall Street investment banker Stephen Friedman to head the National Economic Council, replacing Lawrence Lindsey, who had been ousted along with Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill.
2002 - Actor Nick Nolte pleaded no contest in Malibu, CA to one count of driving under the influence of drugs. He was placed on probation for three years.
2003 - Mick Jagger (The Rolling Stones) was knighted in London, England.
2003 - Paul Martin was sworn in as Canada’s 21st prime minister. He vowed to make drastic changes in the way his country was run.
2003 - Movies debuting in the U.S.: Love Don’t Cost a Thing, with Nick Cannon, Christina Milian, Steve Harvey, Kenan Thompson and Kal Penn; and Something’s Gotta Give, starring Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton, Keanu Reeves, Amanda Peet, Frances McDormand and Jon Favreau.
2004 - Researchers said they thought they had discovered the causes of psoriasis, a common and irritating skin ailment. The scientists said they had identified a protein called STAT3 that initiates psoriasis when the body’s immune system is activated to fight off a wound, burn or some other invasion.
2005 - The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe grossed $65.6 million in the U.S. and Canada ($107 million worldwide) on its opening weekend, making it the #2 December opening weekend film of all time -- behind The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King and in front of the first two The Lord of the Rings films.
2006 - A U.S. immigration sweep of Swift meat plants in in six states resulted in nearly 1,300 arrests of illegal immigrants. The action concluded a 10-month investigation targeting the use of stolen social security numbers.
2006 - Alan Shugart, disk drive pioneer and founder of Seagate Technology, died in Monterey, CA. He was 76 years old. Shugart led a team of IBM engineers in 1969 that developed the floppy disk.
2006 - Peter Boyle, the actor who played the hilariously grouchy father on Everybody Loves Raymond, died at 71 years of age; his films included Joe (1970), Young Frankenstein (1974) and Taxi Driver (1976).
2007 - The Perfect Holiday opened in U.S. movie houses. the Christmas family flick features Gabrielle Union, Morris Chestnut, Queen Latifah, Terrence Howard, Malik Hammond, Charlie Murphy, Faizon Love, Jeremy Gumbs, Jill Marie Jones and Rachel True.
2008 - New movies in U.S. theatres: The Day the Earth Stood Still, starring Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly and Kathy Bates; and Defiance, with Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell, Alexa Davalos, Allan Corduner and Mark Feuerstein.
2008 - General Motors said it would close 20 factories across North America and make sweeping cuts to its vehicle production as it tried to adjust to weaker demand for cars and trucks.
2008 - Long-time Hollywood film star Van Johnson died in Nyack, New York at 92 years of age. Johnson’s boy-next-door wholesomeness made him popular in the 1940s and 1950s with such films as 30 Seconds over Tokyo, A Guy Named Joe and The Caine Mutiny and many more.
2009 - Human Rights Watch reported that Libya was continuing to subject political dissidents to arbitrary detention and unfair trials. This, despite having made some improvements in freedom of expression since the country began to shed its pariah status in 2003.
2009 - University of Alabama running back Mark Ingram won the 2009 Heisman trophy. In the closest Heisman race ever, Ingram beat out Stanford running back Toby Gerhart, Texas quarterback Colt McCoy, Nebraska defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh and Florida quarterback Tim Tebow. It was the the first Heisman trophy in University of Alabama history.
Birthdays December 12
1745 - John Jay
statesman: 1st Chief Justice of U.S. Supreme Court [1789-1795]; co-author of the Federalist papers; died May 17, 1829
1805 - William Garrison
poet, journalist: editor: National Philanthropist; antislavery activist: publisher: The Liberator; died May 24, 1879
1806 - Stand Watie
Indian Chief: Cherokee; signer of the Treaty of Echota; brigadier general: 1st Cherokee regiment for the Confederate Army during the U.S. Civil War; died Sep 9, 1871
1821 - Gustave Flaubert
author: Madame Bovary; died May 8, 1880
1890 - Buck Jones
Early Western movie actor: his fans were known as Buck Jones Rangers; died [as a result of burns suffered in Boston’s Cocoanut Grove Nightclub fire] Nov 30, 1942
1893 - Edward G. Robinson (Emmanuel Goldenberg)
actor: Soylent Green, MacKenna’s Gold, The Prize, Key Largo, Double Indemnity, Kid Galahad, Barbary Coast, Little Caesar, Scarlet Street; died Jan 26, 1973
1913 - Winston Burdett
newscaster: CBS: World News Roundup; “I don’t want to be quoted, and don’t quote me that I don’t want to be quoted.”; died May 19, 1993
1913 - Clint Smith
Hockey Hall of Famer: New York Rangers, Chicago Blackhawks; career: one Stanley Cup, two Lady Byng Trophies; player-coach: Tulsa Oilers (USHL); coach: St. Paul Saints
1915 - Frank (Francis Albert) Sinatra
see Chairman of the Board Day [above]; died May 14, 1998
1918 - Joe Williams (Joseph Goreed)
jazz singer: Every Day [I Have the Blues], Party Blues, Goin’ to Chicago; sang with Count Basie: LP: Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings; actor: The Bill Cosby Show; died Mar 29, 1999
1923 - Bob Barker
TV game show host: The Price Is Right [Sep 1972-Jun 2007]
1924 - Ed Koch
politician: mayor: New York City; judge: TV’s The People’s Court
1927 - Honor Blackman
actress: Goldfinger, The Avengers, A Night to Remember, The Square Peg, A Matter of Who, Jason and the Argonauts, Life at the Top, Colour Me Kubrick, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Age of Innocence; Broadway: Wait Until Dark, Mr and Mrs
1929 - John (James) Osborne
Academy Award-winning playwright: Tom Jones [1963]; The Entertainer, Look Back in Anger; Tony Award-winner: Luther [1964]; died Dec 24, 1994
1932 - Bob Pettit
Basketball Hall of Famer: St. Louis Hawks: Rookie of the Year [1954-1955], MVP Award [1956, 1959]; the first NBA player to score 20,000 points; NBA Silver Anniversary Team [1971]; NBA 50th Anniversary All-Time Team [1996]
1936 - Wally Dallenbach
auto racer: Fastest Ontario 100 Indy racer [1973]; founder and president of Colorado 500 Invitational Charity Motorcycle Rides
1938 - Connie Francis (Concetta Franconero)
singer: Stupid Cupid, Where the Boys Are, Lipstick on Your Collar, I’ll Follow the Boys, My Happiness, Who’s Sorry Now, Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool
1940 - Shirley Englehorn
golf: winner: 1970 LPGA Championship
1941 - Terry Kirkman
musician: wind instruments, keyboards: group: The Association: Along Comes Mary, Cherish, Windy, Never My Love
1941 - Dionne Warwick
Grammy Award-winning singer: Do You Know the Way to San Jose [1968], I’ll Never Fall in Love Again [1970], I’ll Never Love This Way Again [1979]; Then Came You [w/Spinners], Walk on By, I Say a Little Prayer, Promises, Promises, Anyone Who Had a Heart
1942 - Mike Pindar
musician: keyboards: group: The Moody Blues: Nights in White Satin; solo: LP: Thomas from Mighty Oaks, The Promise, Hopes Dreams and Wishes
1943 - ****ie Betts
musician: guitar: group: The Allman Brothers: Ramblin’ Man; solo: LP: Highway Call; group: Great Southern: LP: ****ie Betts and Great Southern, Atlanta Burning Down
1943 - Mike Smith
musician: organs, singer: group: The DAVE Clark Five: Do You Love Me, Glad All Over, Bits and Pieces, Red Balloon, Everybody Get Together
1943 - Grover Washington Jr.
musician: saxophone: Just the Two of Us [w/Bill Withers]; died Dec 17, 1999
1945 - Ralph Garr
baseball: Atlanta Braves [all-star: 1974], Chicago White Sox, California Angels
1946 - Clive Bunker
musician: drums: group: Jethro Tull: Living in the Past, Sweet Dream, Witch’s Promise
1946 - Emerson Fittipaldi
race car driver: F1 World Championships [Lotus: 1972, McLaren: 1974]; Indianapolis 500 winner [1989, 1993]; career: races: 144, wins: 14, poles: 6, fastest laps: 6, points: 281
1947 -Buck Dharma (Donald Roeser)
songwriter, musician: guitar: group: Blue Oyster Cult: [Don’t Fear] The Reaper, Burnin’ for You, Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll, The Red and the Black, Flaming Telepaths, Astronomy, I Love the Night
1947 - Wings Hauser
actor: Irish Eyes, The Blue Lizard, The Insider, Broken Bars, Watchers III, Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time
1949 - Paul Rodgers
musician: piano, vocals: Cut Loose; groups: Free, Bad Company, The Firm
1950 - Billy Smith
Hockey Hall of Famer [goalie]: New York Islanders: won four Stanley Cups, had 305 wins, 22 shutouts, 3.17 goals-against average; goaltending coach: NY Islanders, Florida Panthers
1952 - Rubin Carter
football: Denver Broncos defensive tackle: Super Bowl XII
1952 - Cathy Rigby
gymnast: 1968 & 1972 U.S. Olympic Team, World Champion silver medalist [1970]; TV commercials; actress: Peter Pan
1953 - Rafael Septien
football: Dallas Cowboys kicker: Super Bowl XIII
1956 - Ana Alicia
actress: Falcon Crest, Romero, Coward of the County
1957 - Sheila E. (Escovedo)
musician: drums, singer: The Glamorous Life
1958 - Sheree J. Wilson
actress: Walker, Texas Ranger, Dallas, Killing Down, Past Tense, Midnight Expression, Hellbound, News at Eleven, Kane and Abel, Fraternity Vacation
1959 - Paul Rutherford
singer: group: Frankie Goes to Hollywood: Relax!, Two Tribes, The Power of Love
1962 - Tracy Austin
International Tennis Hall of Famer: US Open [and youngest] Singles champion [1979 and 1981]; youngest player to enter Wimbledon; AP Female Athlete of the Year [1979, 1981]; first siblings to win Wimbledon mixed doubles championship [w/brother John] [1980]; USA net, BBC TV tennis analyst
1962 - Ray Brown
football [guard]: Arkansas State Univ; NFL: St. Louis/Phoenix Cardinals, Washington Redskins, San Francisco 49ers, Detroit Lions
1967 - John Randle
football [defensive tackle]: Texas A&M Univ; NFL: Minnesota Vikings, Seattle Seahawks
1968 - Kurt Schulz
football [safety]: Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions
1968 - Chris Walsh
football [wide receiver]: Stanford Univ; NFL: Buffalo Bills, Minnesota Vikings
1970 - Madchen Amick
actress: Lies and Deception, Global Effect, Face to Face, Mr. Rock ’n’ Roll: The Alan Freed Story, Heartless, Twist of Fate
1970 - Jennifer Connelly
actress: Mulholland Falls, The Rocketeer, Labyrinth, Once Upon a Time in America
1975 - Mayim Bialik
actress: Blossom, Molloy
1977 - Erica Dahm
one of the identical Dahm triplets; actress: Juwanna Mann, Robocop: Prime Directives; Playboy model; sisters are Jaclyn and Nicole Dahm
1977 - Jaclyn Dahm
one of the identical Dahm triplets; actress: Juwanna Mann, Robocop: Prime Directives; Playboy model; sisters are Erica and Nicole Dahm
1977 - Nicole Dahm
one of the identical Dahm triplets; actress: Juwanna Mann, Robocop: Prime Directives; Playboy model; sisters are Erica and Jaclyn Dahm
1977 - Bridget Hall
supermodel: on over 60 International covers, listed in Forbes Magazine as one of the top ten moneymaking Supermodels of the world
1977 - Orlando Hudson
baseball [second base]: Toronto Blue Jays, Arizona Diamondbacks
1979 - Erin Fritch
actress: Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Imaginary Heroes, Pandora, Just a Kiss, Igby Goes Down, Will and Grace, Cyberchase
Chart Toppers December 12
1947Near You - The Francis Craig Orchestra (vocal: Bob Lamm)
You Do - Dinah Shore
And Mimi - **** Haymes
I’ll Hold You in My Heart (Till I Can Hold You in My Arms) - Eddy Arnold
1956Singing the Blues - Guy Mitchell
A Rose and a Baby Ruth - George Hamilton IV
Rock-A-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody - Jerry Lewis
Singing the Blues - Marty Robbins
1965Turn! Turn! Turn! - The Byrds
Let’s Hang On! - The 4 Seasons
I Got You (I Feel Good) - James Brown
Make the World Go Away - Eddy Arnold
1974Kung Fu Fighting - Carl Douglas
When Will I See You Again - The Three Degrees
Cat’s in the Cradle - Harry Chapin
I Can Help - Billy Swan
1983Say Say Say - Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson
Uptown Girl - Billy Joel
Say It Isn’t So - Daryl Hall-John Oates
Tell Me a Lie - Janie Fricke
1992I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston
Rump Shaker - Wreckx-N-Effect
In the Still of the Night (I’ll Remember) - Boyz II Men
I Cross My Heart - George Strait
2001Hero - Enrique Iglesias
Get The Party Started (facts) - Pink
Family Affair - Mary J. Blige
I Wanna Talk About Me - Toby Keith
Enjoy All
Chart Topper December 12th, 1965...Turn! Turn! Turn! - The Byrds
Sunday, December 12, 2010
CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD DAY
Francis Albert Sinatra came into this world this day in 1915, in Hoboken, NJ, without making a sound or opening his eyes. In fact, he didn’t even sing a note until his grandmother held him under some cold running water. Then, for 82 years, he, with the blue eyes so famous that he was often referred to as Ol’ Blue Eyes, never stopped singing.
The Voice sang his way through weddings, local Union functions and made his commercial media debut singing the hits on radio’s The Lucky Strike Hit Parade. He then made his own hits, recording over 1500 songs, including the favorites: All or Nothing at All (Frank’s first), I’ll Never Smile Again, In the Blue of the Evening, I’ll be Seeing You, Five Minutes More, The Loneliest Night of the Week, I’m a Fool to Want You, I’ve Got the World on a String, I’ve Got You Under My Skin, You Make Me Feel So Young, Strangers in the Night, Witchcraft, That’s Life, New York, New York and My Way; taking home ten Grammy awards including the Lifetime Achievement Award.
For Frankie, being a singing idol wasn’t enough. The silver screen beckoned and he became bigger than life in over fifty films, including On the Town, Guys and Dolls, Ocean’s Eleven, Not as a Stranger, The Manchurian Candidate, None But the Brave, Young at Heart, The Tender Trap, High Society, PAL Joey and The Joker is Wild. Hollywood rewarded him with a Special Oscar for The House I Live In, a short he made to promote racial and religious tolerance; an Oscar nomination for The Man with the Golden Arm, and the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his performance in From Here to Eternity; plus the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1970.
The television industry embraced Frank, too, presenting him with an Emmy in 1965 for Outstanding Musical Special, Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music. Not to be outdone, the President of the United States of America, Ronald Reagan, presented Francis Albert Sinatra with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985.
Mr. S. died of a heart attack on May 14, 1998 in Los Angeles, California. He remains the Chairman of the Board in the memories of the four generations of his fans wordwide.
Events December 12
1787 - Pennsylvania was ratifed on this day as the second of the United States of America. Also one of the original 13 colonies, Pennsylvania is geographically located in the keystone position in relation to the other 12 colonies, earning the nickname, the Keystone State. The state capital is Harrisburg, a city almost midway between Pennsylvania’s two most well-known cites, Pittsburgh in Western Pennsylvania and Philadelphia in the east. Philadelphia is also where the first Continental Congress met and where the Declaration of Independence was signed. Not so famous is the state Bird , the ruffed grouse and the state flower, the mountain laurel.
1850 - Wide, Wide World, the novel by Elizabeth Wetherell (whose real name was Susan Warner), was published on this day. The book was called a bestseller by many folks; the first bestseller in America. There were 14 editions printed during the first two years of publication.
1897 - The Katzenjammer Kids (Hans and Fritz) appeared for the first time in The New York Journal. The Rudolph Dirks comic strip became one of the most durable ever produced.
1899 - George Grant of Boston, MA patented the golf tee. Fore!
1900 - Charles M. Schwab formed the United States Steel Corporation; bringing together John Pierpont Morgan and Andrew Carnegie to create one of the richest and most powerful companies in the world. Is it the same Charles M. Schwab of private investment fame? Yes ... along with his son, in fact.
1936 - George VI acceded to the British throne following the abdication of his brother, King Edward VIII, who stepped down over his love for Mrs. Wallis Simpson.
1937 - The Federal Communications Commission was a bit upset with NBC radio. The FCC scolded the radio network for a skit that starred Mae West. The satirical routine was based on the biblical tale of Adam and Eve. As she flirted with Charlie McCarthy, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen’s dummy, West said, “Charles, I remember our date and have the splinters to prove it.” Following its scolding by the FCC, NBC banned Miss West from its airwaves for 15 years.
1947 - The United Mine Workers union withdrew from the American Federation of Labor (for the second time) as UMW President John L. Lewis refused to sign the non-Communist affidavit required by the Taft-Hartley Labor Act.
1948 - Michigan State was admitted to the Western Conference; making it the Big 10 Conference once again.
1953 - U.S. test pilot Chuck Yeager reached Mach 2.4 in his Bell X-1A rocket plane. At an altitude of 70,000 ft. the aircraft suddenly rolled out of control and began tumblingfor 36,000 ft. It eventually went into an inverted spin, knocking Yeager into semiconsciousness. Fighting the controls, he managed to pull it out at 30,000 ft. (After this, high speed flights were no longer undertaken in the X-1A, although the plane did reach an altitude of 90,440 ft. in Aug, 1954.)
1957 - 22-year-old rocker Jerry Lee Lewis secretly said “I do” for the third time. Lewis married 13-year-old Myra Gale Brown, his third cousin, in Hernando, Tennessee.
1959 - At 22 years and 104 days of age, Bruce McLaren became the youngest driver to win a Grand Prix race as he earned first place at Sebring, Florida.
1961 - Former big band singer (with Kay Kyser) Mike Douglas began a variety TV show from Cleveland. The show became most successful when KYW-TV moved from Cleveland to Philadelphia. Then, when the Douglas show left Philly for Hollywood, it folded. All things considered, it was a successful syndication effort, nationally, for Westinghouse Productions.
1963 - John Fitzgerald Kennedy - A Memorial Album became the fastest-selling record of all time when 4 million copies of the disk, each selling for 99 cents, were sold in six days -- between December 7-12. The memorial tribute was recorded November 22, the day President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.
1964 - Kenya formally became a republic.
1971 - David Sarnoff, U.S. TV pioneer (RCA), died. He was 80 years old. Sarnoff was a Russian immigrant who transformed NBC from a radio to a TV network.
1980 - Oil tycoon Armand Hammer bought a notebook of writings by Leonardo da Vinci for $5.28 million at auction in London. It was the highest price ever paid for a manuscript. It was 36 pages long and dated back to 1508.
1980 - The U.S. Congress amended the Copyright Act in 1980 to explicitly recognize that computer programs were protected as literary works.
1983 - Football’s Jim Brown showed up in Sports Illustrated again. This time, he was not on the cover as in September, 1960, but inside the magazine -- a record span of more than 23 years between spreads, as they say in the publishing biz.
1984 - The group known as Band Aid -- 38 of Britain’s top rock musicians -- recorded Do They Know It’s Christmas? for Ethiopian famine victims. Despite the best of intentions, much of the food raised never got to the starving Ethiopians. In fact, much of it was found rotting on docks, not fit for human consumption. More than a Band-Aid was needed to fix that political mess.
1985 - A chartered Arrow Air DC-8, bringing American soldiers home for Christmas, crashed on takeoff from Gander, Newfoundland. All 256 aboard died.
1986 - James ‘Bonecrusher’ Smith became the first college graduate to win the world heavyweight boxing crown. “If I only had a bwain...,” he said, as he beat the brains out of Tim Witherspoon so badly, poor Tim couldn’t count to ten. “One, duh. Eight. Six. Duh. I’m out.”
1988 - 35 people were killed in a triple train collision during morning rush-hour in south London in what became known as the Clapham Junction rail disaster.
1992 - The soundtrack from the movie The Bodyguard was the #1 album in the U.S. A smash, as they say, it was number one for twenty weeks. The track listing: I Will Always Love You, I Have Nothing, I’m Every Woman, Run to You, Queen of the Night, Jesus Loves Me, all by Whitney Houston; Even If My Heart Would Break, by Kenny G & Aaron Neville; Someday (I’m Coming Back), by Lisa Stansfield; It’s Gonna Be a Lovely Day, by The S.O.U.L S.Y.S.T.E.M.; Peace, Love And Understanding (What's So Funny ’Bout), by Curtis Stigers; Theme from The Bodyguard, by Alan Silvestri; and Trust in Me, by Joe Cocker featuring Sass Jordan.
1994 - IBM stopped shipments of personal computers that contained Intel’s flawed Pentium chip, saying the processor’s problems were worse than earlier believed.
1995 - The International Olympic Committee announced that NBC had successfully bid a record $2.3 billion for the exclusive U.S. TV (broadcast and cable) rights to the 2004 and 2008 Summer Games and the 2006 Winter Games. $894 million is for the 2008 games alone. And the deal calls for a 50-50 revenue sharing program with the IOC.
1996 - Hollywood power broker Michael Ovitz resigned as Walt Disney Company’s #2 executive.
1996 - Uday Hussein, eldest son of Sadam, was wounded in a car ambush in Iraq. Assailants using machine guns and grenades carried out the attack. The ‘Mohammed Madhlum Dulaimi’ group later claimed responsibility.
1997 - These films opened in U.S. theatres: For Richer or Poorer (dir: Bryan Spicer), with Tim Allen, Kirstie Alley, Jay O. Sanders and Michael Lerner; Home Alone 3 (dir: Raja Gosnell), starring Alex D. Linz, Haviland Morris, Olek Krupa and Rya Kihlstedt; and Scream 2 (dir: Wes Craven), with Neve Campball, Courteney Cox, Jerry O'connell and Liev Schreiber.
1998 - Florida Governor Lawton Chiles died in Tallahassee at the age of 68. Chiles had acquired wealth as one of the original investors in the Red Lobster chain of restaurants.
1999 - Author Joseph Heller (Catch-22) died in East Hampton, NY. He was 76 years old. Heller’s 1998 memoir was titled Now and Then: From Coney Island to Here. Other novels included God Knows (1984) and Closing Time (1994). His final work was Portrait of an Artist as an Old Man.
1999 - The International Olympic Committee enacted sweeping reforms, included a ban on visits by members to bid cities.
2000 - A divided U.S. Supreme Court reversed a Florida court decision for recounts in Florida’s contested election, effectively transforming George W. Bush into the president-elect. The high court agreed, 7-to-2, to reverse the Florida court’s order of a state recount and voted 5-to-4 that there was no acceptable procedure by which a timely new recount could take place.
2000 - Actor George Montgomery died in Rancho Mirage, CA at 84 years of age. The actor, a brawny leading man who started acting in low-budget Western horse operas later starred in musicals and romantic comedies. Montgomery appeared in 87 motion pictures in a six-decade career that also included the "Cimarron City" TV series. He was married to the late Dinah Shore for 19 years and counted Ronald Reagan as one of his best friends.
2001 - A $200-million U.S. Air Force B-1 bomber crashed into the India Ocean near Diego Garcia Island. The four crewmen were rescued.
2002 - U.S. President George Bush (II) named Wall Street investment banker Stephen Friedman to head the National Economic Council, replacing Lawrence Lindsey, who had been ousted along with Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill.
2002 - Actor Nick Nolte pleaded no contest in Malibu, CA to one count of driving under the influence of drugs. He was placed on probation for three years.
2003 - Mick Jagger (The Rolling Stones) was knighted in London, England.
2003 - Paul Martin was sworn in as Canada’s 21st prime minister. He vowed to make drastic changes in the way his country was run.
2003 - Movies debuting in the U.S.: Love Don’t Cost a Thing, with Nick Cannon, Christina Milian, Steve Harvey, Kenan Thompson and Kal Penn; and Something’s Gotta Give, starring Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton, Keanu Reeves, Amanda Peet, Frances McDormand and Jon Favreau.
2004 - Researchers said they thought they had discovered the causes of psoriasis, a common and irritating skin ailment. The scientists said they had identified a protein called STAT3 that initiates psoriasis when the body’s immune system is activated to fight off a wound, burn or some other invasion.
2005 - The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe grossed $65.6 million in the U.S. and Canada ($107 million worldwide) on its opening weekend, making it the #2 December opening weekend film of all time -- behind The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King and in front of the first two The Lord of the Rings films.
2006 - A U.S. immigration sweep of Swift meat plants in in six states resulted in nearly 1,300 arrests of illegal immigrants. The action concluded a 10-month investigation targeting the use of stolen social security numbers.
2006 - Alan Shugart, disk drive pioneer and founder of Seagate Technology, died in Monterey, CA. He was 76 years old. Shugart led a team of IBM engineers in 1969 that developed the floppy disk.
2006 - Peter Boyle, the actor who played the hilariously grouchy father on Everybody Loves Raymond, died at 71 years of age; his films included Joe (1970), Young Frankenstein (1974) and Taxi Driver (1976).
2007 - The Perfect Holiday opened in U.S. movie houses. the Christmas family flick features Gabrielle Union, Morris Chestnut, Queen Latifah, Terrence Howard, Malik Hammond, Charlie Murphy, Faizon Love, Jeremy Gumbs, Jill Marie Jones and Rachel True.
2008 - New movies in U.S. theatres: The Day the Earth Stood Still, starring Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly and Kathy Bates; and Defiance, with Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell, Alexa Davalos, Allan Corduner and Mark Feuerstein.
2008 - General Motors said it would close 20 factories across North America and make sweeping cuts to its vehicle production as it tried to adjust to weaker demand for cars and trucks.
2008 - Long-time Hollywood film star Van Johnson died in Nyack, New York at 92 years of age. Johnson’s boy-next-door wholesomeness made him popular in the 1940s and 1950s with such films as 30 Seconds over Tokyo, A Guy Named Joe and The Caine Mutiny and many more.
2009 - Human Rights Watch reported that Libya was continuing to subject political dissidents to arbitrary detention and unfair trials. This, despite having made some improvements in freedom of expression since the country began to shed its pariah status in 2003.
2009 - University of Alabama running back Mark Ingram won the 2009 Heisman trophy. In the closest Heisman race ever, Ingram beat out Stanford running back Toby Gerhart, Texas quarterback Colt McCoy, Nebraska defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh and Florida quarterback Tim Tebow. It was the the first Heisman trophy in University of Alabama history.
Birthdays December 12
1745 - John Jay
statesman: 1st Chief Justice of U.S. Supreme Court [1789-1795]; co-author of the Federalist papers; died May 17, 1829
1805 - William Garrison
poet, journalist: editor: National Philanthropist; antislavery activist: publisher: The Liberator; died May 24, 1879
1806 - Stand Watie
Indian Chief: Cherokee; signer of the Treaty of Echota; brigadier general: 1st Cherokee regiment for the Confederate Army during the U.S. Civil War; died Sep 9, 1871
1821 - Gustave Flaubert
author: Madame Bovary; died May 8, 1880
1890 - Buck Jones
Early Western movie actor: his fans were known as Buck Jones Rangers; died [as a result of burns suffered in Boston’s Cocoanut Grove Nightclub fire] Nov 30, 1942
1893 - Edward G. Robinson (Emmanuel Goldenberg)
actor: Soylent Green, MacKenna’s Gold, The Prize, Key Largo, Double Indemnity, Kid Galahad, Barbary Coast, Little Caesar, Scarlet Street; died Jan 26, 1973
1913 - Winston Burdett
newscaster: CBS: World News Roundup; “I don’t want to be quoted, and don’t quote me that I don’t want to be quoted.”; died May 19, 1993
1913 - Clint Smith
Hockey Hall of Famer: New York Rangers, Chicago Blackhawks; career: one Stanley Cup, two Lady Byng Trophies; player-coach: Tulsa Oilers (USHL); coach: St. Paul Saints
1915 - Frank (Francis Albert) Sinatra
see Chairman of the Board Day [above]; died May 14, 1998
1918 - Joe Williams (Joseph Goreed)
jazz singer: Every Day [I Have the Blues], Party Blues, Goin’ to Chicago; sang with Count Basie: LP: Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings; actor: The Bill Cosby Show; died Mar 29, 1999
1923 - Bob Barker
TV game show host: The Price Is Right [Sep 1972-Jun 2007]
1924 - Ed Koch
politician: mayor: New York City; judge: TV’s The People’s Court
1927 - Honor Blackman
actress: Goldfinger, The Avengers, A Night to Remember, The Square Peg, A Matter of Who, Jason and the Argonauts, Life at the Top, Colour Me Kubrick, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Age of Innocence; Broadway: Wait Until Dark, Mr and Mrs
1929 - John (James) Osborne
Academy Award-winning playwright: Tom Jones [1963]; The Entertainer, Look Back in Anger; Tony Award-winner: Luther [1964]; died Dec 24, 1994
1932 - Bob Pettit
Basketball Hall of Famer: St. Louis Hawks: Rookie of the Year [1954-1955], MVP Award [1956, 1959]; the first NBA player to score 20,000 points; NBA Silver Anniversary Team [1971]; NBA 50th Anniversary All-Time Team [1996]
1936 - Wally Dallenbach
auto racer: Fastest Ontario 100 Indy racer [1973]; founder and president of Colorado 500 Invitational Charity Motorcycle Rides
1938 - Connie Francis (Concetta Franconero)
singer: Stupid Cupid, Where the Boys Are, Lipstick on Your Collar, I’ll Follow the Boys, My Happiness, Who’s Sorry Now, Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool
1940 - Shirley Englehorn
golf: winner: 1970 LPGA Championship
1941 - Terry Kirkman
musician: wind instruments, keyboards: group: The Association: Along Comes Mary, Cherish, Windy, Never My Love
1941 - Dionne Warwick
Grammy Award-winning singer: Do You Know the Way to San Jose [1968], I’ll Never Fall in Love Again [1970], I’ll Never Love This Way Again [1979]; Then Came You [w/Spinners], Walk on By, I Say a Little Prayer, Promises, Promises, Anyone Who Had a Heart
1942 - Mike Pindar
musician: keyboards: group: The Moody Blues: Nights in White Satin; solo: LP: Thomas from Mighty Oaks, The Promise, Hopes Dreams and Wishes
1943 - ****ie Betts
musician: guitar: group: The Allman Brothers: Ramblin’ Man; solo: LP: Highway Call; group: Great Southern: LP: ****ie Betts and Great Southern, Atlanta Burning Down
1943 - Mike Smith
musician: organs, singer: group: The DAVE Clark Five: Do You Love Me, Glad All Over, Bits and Pieces, Red Balloon, Everybody Get Together
1943 - Grover Washington Jr.
musician: saxophone: Just the Two of Us [w/Bill Withers]; died Dec 17, 1999
1945 - Ralph Garr
baseball: Atlanta Braves [all-star: 1974], Chicago White Sox, California Angels
1946 - Clive Bunker
musician: drums: group: Jethro Tull: Living in the Past, Sweet Dream, Witch’s Promise
1946 - Emerson Fittipaldi
race car driver: F1 World Championships [Lotus: 1972, McLaren: 1974]; Indianapolis 500 winner [1989, 1993]; career: races: 144, wins: 14, poles: 6, fastest laps: 6, points: 281
1947 -Buck Dharma (Donald Roeser)
songwriter, musician: guitar: group: Blue Oyster Cult: [Don’t Fear] The Reaper, Burnin’ for You, Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll, The Red and the Black, Flaming Telepaths, Astronomy, I Love the Night
1947 - Wings Hauser
actor: Irish Eyes, The Blue Lizard, The Insider, Broken Bars, Watchers III, Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time
1949 - Paul Rodgers
musician: piano, vocals: Cut Loose; groups: Free, Bad Company, The Firm
1950 - Billy Smith
Hockey Hall of Famer [goalie]: New York Islanders: won four Stanley Cups, had 305 wins, 22 shutouts, 3.17 goals-against average; goaltending coach: NY Islanders, Florida Panthers
1952 - Rubin Carter
football: Denver Broncos defensive tackle: Super Bowl XII
1952 - Cathy Rigby
gymnast: 1968 & 1972 U.S. Olympic Team, World Champion silver medalist [1970]; TV commercials; actress: Peter Pan
1953 - Rafael Septien
football: Dallas Cowboys kicker: Super Bowl XIII
1956 - Ana Alicia
actress: Falcon Crest, Romero, Coward of the County
1957 - Sheila E. (Escovedo)
musician: drums, singer: The Glamorous Life
1958 - Sheree J. Wilson
actress: Walker, Texas Ranger, Dallas, Killing Down, Past Tense, Midnight Expression, Hellbound, News at Eleven, Kane and Abel, Fraternity Vacation
1959 - Paul Rutherford
singer: group: Frankie Goes to Hollywood: Relax!, Two Tribes, The Power of Love
1962 - Tracy Austin
International Tennis Hall of Famer: US Open [and youngest] Singles champion [1979 and 1981]; youngest player to enter Wimbledon; AP Female Athlete of the Year [1979, 1981]; first siblings to win Wimbledon mixed doubles championship [w/brother John] [1980]; USA net, BBC TV tennis analyst
1962 - Ray Brown
football [guard]: Arkansas State Univ; NFL: St. Louis/Phoenix Cardinals, Washington Redskins, San Francisco 49ers, Detroit Lions
1967 - John Randle
football [defensive tackle]: Texas A&M Univ; NFL: Minnesota Vikings, Seattle Seahawks
1968 - Kurt Schulz
football [safety]: Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions
1968 - Chris Walsh
football [wide receiver]: Stanford Univ; NFL: Buffalo Bills, Minnesota Vikings
1970 - Madchen Amick
actress: Lies and Deception, Global Effect, Face to Face, Mr. Rock ’n’ Roll: The Alan Freed Story, Heartless, Twist of Fate
1970 - Jennifer Connelly
actress: Mulholland Falls, The Rocketeer, Labyrinth, Once Upon a Time in America
1975 - Mayim Bialik
actress: Blossom, Molloy
1977 - Erica Dahm
one of the identical Dahm triplets; actress: Juwanna Mann, Robocop: Prime Directives; Playboy model; sisters are Jaclyn and Nicole Dahm
1977 - Jaclyn Dahm
one of the identical Dahm triplets; actress: Juwanna Mann, Robocop: Prime Directives; Playboy model; sisters are Erica and Nicole Dahm
1977 - Nicole Dahm
one of the identical Dahm triplets; actress: Juwanna Mann, Robocop: Prime Directives; Playboy model; sisters are Erica and Jaclyn Dahm
1977 - Bridget Hall
supermodel: on over 60 International covers, listed in Forbes Magazine as one of the top ten moneymaking Supermodels of the world
1977 - Orlando Hudson
baseball [second base]: Toronto Blue Jays, Arizona Diamondbacks
1979 - Erin Fritch
actress: Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Imaginary Heroes, Pandora, Just a Kiss, Igby Goes Down, Will and Grace, Cyberchase
Chart Toppers December 12
1947Near You - The Francis Craig Orchestra (vocal: Bob Lamm)
You Do - Dinah Shore
And Mimi - **** Haymes
I’ll Hold You in My Heart (Till I Can Hold You in My Arms) - Eddy Arnold
1956Singing the Blues - Guy Mitchell
A Rose and a Baby Ruth - George Hamilton IV
Rock-A-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody - Jerry Lewis
Singing the Blues - Marty Robbins
1965Turn! Turn! Turn! - The Byrds
Let’s Hang On! - The 4 Seasons
I Got You (I Feel Good) - James Brown
Make the World Go Away - Eddy Arnold
1974Kung Fu Fighting - Carl Douglas
When Will I See You Again - The Three Degrees
Cat’s in the Cradle - Harry Chapin
I Can Help - Billy Swan
1983Say Say Say - Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson
Uptown Girl - Billy Joel
Say It Isn’t So - Daryl Hall-John Oates
Tell Me a Lie - Janie Fricke
1992I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston
Rump Shaker - Wreckx-N-Effect
In the Still of the Night (I’ll Remember) - Boyz II Men
I Cross My Heart - George Strait
2001Hero - Enrique Iglesias
Get The Party Started (facts) - Pink
Family Affair - Mary J. Blige
I Wanna Talk About Me - Toby Keith
Enjoy All
Chart Topper December 12th, 1965...Turn! Turn! Turn! - The Byrds