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347th day of 2010 - 18 remaining
Monday, December 13, 2010
AMERICAN IN PARIS DAY
It was on this day in 1928 that the George Gershwin composition, An American in Paris, was presented to the public. The debut was performed by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under the Direction of Walter Damrosch.
A tone poem, An American in Paris was used as a ballet for Gene Kelly’s 1951 performance in the movie of the same name. Unfortunately, George Gershwin did not live to see his composition being danced to in the Academy Award-winning An American in Paris. It won six Oscars: Best Art Direction/Set Direction [Color], Best Color Cinematography, Best Costume Design [Color], Best Story and Screenplay, Best Picture ... and Best Score.
Events December 13
1809 - The first abdominal surgical procedure was performed -- in Danville, Kentucky. The patient was Jane Todd Crawford and the operation was performed without the aid of an anesthetic. However, during the operation, Ms. Crawford did say, “Eeeeeeeeeee owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwchhhhhhhhhhhh!” We can’t say that we blame her.
1816 - John Adamson of Boston, MA received a patent for a dry dock.
1913 - Leonardo da Vinci’s La Gioconda or, Mona Lisa for us art neophytes, was returned to the Louvre Museum in Paris after a two-year absence. The stolen painting was recovered and was valued at that time at $5,000,000. In 1962, appraisers set the value at one hundred million dollars. It is said that Mrs. Gioconda’s only payment for four years of modeling was free entertainment by jesters, players and singers.
1918 - President Woodrow Wilson arrived in France, becoming the first U.S. president to visit a European country while in office. Wilson had travelled to the Paris Peace Conference to “insure that the peace that would be signed would be both fair and lasting...”
1929 - Hoagy Carmichael recorded with Louis Armstrong. They did Rockin’ Chair on Columbia records and cylinders.
1936 - Green Bay beat the Boston Redskins, 21-6, to capture the National Football League championship. It was the last game for the Boston Redskins. The team became the Washington Redskins in 1937.
1940 - The two-sided jump tune, The Anvil Chorus, was recorded by Glenn Miller and his orchestra for Bluebird Records in New York. The 10-inch, 78 rpm record ran six minutes (including flipping).
1942 - The characters of Allen’s Alley were presented for the first time on The Fred Allen Show. This particular segment of the show became very popular and was used by Allen until 1949. Remember the stops along the way in Allen’s Alley? They were at the Brooklyn tenement of Mrs. Nussbaum, the farmhouse of Titus Moody, the shack of Ajax Cassidy and the antebellum mansion of Senator Beauregard Claghorn.
1944 - The U.S. Navy cruiser Nashville, flagship of an invasion fleet headed for Mindoro Island in the Philippines, was badly damaged in a Japanese kamikaze suicide attack in the Sulu Sea. 138 aboard the Nashville and a destroyer in the fleet were killed.
1948 - The American Federation of Musicians went back to work after an 11½-month strike. During the strike, there was an 11½-month ban on phonograph records as well.
1949 - The American League voted down a proposal to revive the spitball, which had been outlawed since 1920. Gaylord Perry and others didn’t much give a hoot. They tossed the spitter anyway.
1951 - Future British prime minister Margaret Roberts married Denis Thatcher.
1961 - Grandma Moses (Anna Mary Robertson Moses) died at the age of 101. The self-taught artist took up painting in her sixties; having her first showing in New York City at the ripe, young age of eighty. Her style was nostalgic and primitive -- mostly rural scenes: The Old Oaken Bucket, Christmas at Home, The Quilting Bee.
1963 - Capitol Records signed a right of first refusal agreement with The Beatles.
1966 - The first U.S. bombing of Hanoi took place on this day.
1967 - King Constantine of Greece and his family fled the country after a counter-coup failed to topple the military-backed government.
1973 - Detroit became the first city to receive a franchise in the fabulously unsuccessful World Football League.
1974 - Former Beatle George Harrison was greeted at the White House. President Gerald R. Ford invited Harrison to lunch. The two exchanged buttons -- Ford giving George a WIN (Whip Inflation Now) pin and Harrison gave the President an OM (Hindu mantra word expressing creation) button.
1977 - An improperly loaded chartered DC-3 airliner crashed during takeoff at Evansville, Indiana. All 29 persons on board were killed, including the 14-member University of Evansville basketball team and their coach, Bobby Watson. Also killed were radio broadcaster Marv Bates, three crew members, and two Air Indianapolis officials.
1978 - The Philadelphia Mint struck the first Susan B. Anthony dollar coins, with 1979 dates and the first “P” mintmark since the silver nickels of World War II. Denver production began on January 9, 1979, and San Francisco minting began on February 2, 1979. The Susan B. Anthony dollar, the first coin to honor a woman, was not a hit with the public for several reasons, most importantly because it was often mistaken for a quarter, which was about and eighth of an inch smaller in diameter.
1982 - An earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale claimed nearly 3,000 lives and injured 2,000 people in North Yemen. The quake devastated Dhamar province 60 miles southeast of San’a.
1983 - Detroit and Denver played for 3 hours, 11 minutes in pro basketball. The Pistons finally won, 186-183, in triple overtime. NBA single-game records were set for most points by two teams; by one team; assists; and field goals -- plus, hot dogs sold; pennants snapped up by fans; popcorn, peanuts, nachos, too! And, Kiki Vandeweghe of the Denver Nuggets had a career-high night with 51 points.
1985 - In a movie first, the murder mystery, Clue, opened nationally. The film featured three different endings. Newspaper ads indicated which ending was playing at which theatre.
1986 - Duke University won its first NCAA team championship in the school’s 62-year history. The Blue Devils’ soccer team beat Akron, 1-0, to win the crown.
1986 - The Way It Is, by Bruce Hornsby and the Range, hit #1 for a week in the U.S.: “That’s just the way it is; Some things will never change. That’s just the way it is; Aw, but don’t you believe them.”
1988 - PLO chairman Yasser Arafat addressed the United Nations in Geneva, where it had reconvened after the United States refused to grant Arafat a visa to visit New York.
1991 - Five central Asian republics of the Soviet Union agreed to join the new Commonwealth of Independent States being organized by Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
1991 - North Korea and South Korea signed a historic non-aggression agreement, aimed at eventual reconciliation.
1994 - An American Eagle commuter plane carrying twenty people crashed short of the Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina, killing 15. The crash was later blamed on pilot error.
1996 - These motion pictures opened in the U.S.: Mars Attacks (“Nice planet. We’ll take it!”), with an all-star cast that includes Jack Nicholson Glenn Close Annette Bening Pierce Brosnan Danny DeVito Martin Short Sarah Jessica Parker Michael J. Fox Rod Steiger, to name a few; Jerry Maguire (“Show me the money!”), starring Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Renee Zellweger; The Preacher’s Wife (“They needed help. What they got was a miracle.”), with Denzel Washington, Whitney Houston, Courtney B. Vance, Gregory Hines and Jenifer Lewis.
1997 - The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Getty Center museum complex, built on a hilltop overlooking the San Diego Freeway in Los Angeles, was held this day. The public opening was held three days later (Dec 16) for the billion-dollar monument to art and architecture -- one of the largest arts centers in the United States.
1998 - Voters in Puerto Rico rejected U.S. statehood. In the nonbinding plebiscite giving Puerto Ricans the opportunity to express a preference to the future of political status of the island, the “none of the above” option was supported by 50 percent of voters -- indicating that most wished to retain Puerto Rico’s status as a U.S. commonwealth.
1999 - In a presidential campaign debate, Texas Governor George W. Bush and U.S. Senator John McCain fought over tax policy and farm subsidies, while McCain was pushed to defend his centerpiece campaign finance proposals.
2000 - Republican George W. Bush claimed the U.S. presidency five weeks after the election and a day after the U.S. Supreme Court shut down further recounts of disputed ballots in Florida. Democrat Al Gore conceded the election and delivered a call for national unity.
2001 - Five suspected Islamic militants attacked India’s parliament. The militants killed nine policemen and parliament staffers before being killed themselves.
2001 - U.S. President George Bush (II) served formal notice that the United States was pulling out of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia.
2002 - Movies debuting in the U.S.: About Schmidt, starring Jack Nicholson, Kathy Bates, Hope Davis, Dermot Mulroney, Howard Hesseman and Len Cariou; and Star Trek: Nemesis, with Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Levar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates Mcfadden, Marina Sirtis, Ron Perlman, Tom Hardy, Dina Meyer and Kate Mulgrew.
2003 - Oklahoma University senior quarterback Jason White won the Heisman Trophy.
2003 - The basketball U.S. and World attendance record was set on this day as the Michigan State Spartans played the Kentucky Wildcats in a college basketball game -- played on the football field of the NFL Detroit Lions. The attendance was 78,129. (No. 8 Kentucky beat No. 21 Michigan State 79-74.) Besides the 65,000 spectators the stadium holds for a Lions football game, there were about 5,000 students -- without seats -- standing, jumping and lounging on the artificial turf. Another 5,000 fans had seats on the floor, some paying as much as $500, as did hundreds of band members from both schools. Others spent $8 for seats in the upper deck that were so far away jersey numbers could only be seen with binoculars. In one end zone, students looked like they were at an outdoor concert. Some sat behind Kentucky’s band and “The Izzone”, Michigan State’s student section, and could only see the heads and shoulders of the players despite the court being elevated on a three-foot platform. Other fans simply laid on their backs and watched the game on the video screens.
2004 - Web search engine Google announced plans to digitally scan the book collections of the libraries of the Univ of Michigan, Stanford, Harvard, New York Public Library and Oxford. The libraries had agreed to allow books published before 1900 to be scanned.
2005 - U.S. President George Bush (II) acknowledged the deaths of 30,000 Iraqi civilians since the start of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.
2005 - Swiss senator **** Marty, commissioned by the Council of Europe to investigate CIA ‘black sites’ (secret prisons) and prisoner abuse in Europe, said the CIA “disregarded all standards of legality.”
2006 - Jeffrey Skilling, former CEO of Enron Corporation, reported to prison in Minnesota to begin serving a 24-year sentence for his crimes as a top executive at the Houston-based energy company. Skilling was convicted of conspiracy, insider trading, making false statements to auditors and securities fraud.
2007 - Opposition leader (and former world chess champion) Garry Kasparov said the Kremlin had stopped him from running for president because his political movement had been unable to rent a hall in Moscow for a nominating convention -- a requirement under Russian law.
2007 - U.S. Senator George Mitchell presented his report on steroid use among professional baseball players. The 409-page report described wide-spread use and recommended tough measures for testing and investigating.
2008 - Cuban President Raúl Castro arrived in Venezuela on his first international visit as Cuba’s president (he took office Feb 24, 2008).
2009 - A grimy, three-car train pulled out of Belgrade, Serbia’s railway station on the first direct trip to Sarajevo in nearly 18 years, restoring a link broken at the start of ethnic warfare in the former Yugoslavia.
2009 - U.S. President Barack Obama took aim at bankers and their aggressive lobbying efforts to defeat financial reform in an interview for TV’s "60 Minutes". Obama said, “I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat-cat bankers on Wall Street.”
Birthdays December 13
1797 - Heinrich Heine
poet: The Lorelei, Atta Troll, A Midsummer’s Night Dream, Germany A Winter’s Tale, Romacero; author: Travel Pictures, The Romantic School, On the History of Religion and Philosophy in Germany; died Feb 17, 1856
1818 - Mary Todd Lincoln
First Lady: wife of 16th U.S. President Abraham Lincoln; died July 16, 1882
1835 - Phillips Brooks
lyricist: O Little Town of Bethlehem; died Jan 23, 1893
1897 - Drew Pearson
syndicated newspaper columnist: Merry-Go-Round; died Sep 1, 1969
1903 - Carlos Montoya
flamenco guitarist; died Mar 3, 1993
1910 - Van Heflin (Emmett Evan Heflin Jr.)
Academy Award-winning actor: Johnny Eager [1942]; died July 23, 1971
1913 - Archie Moore
Boxing Hall of Famer: Light Heavyweight Champ: only boxer to have fought both Rocky Marciano and Muhammad Ali; career: won 194, lost 26, drew 8, KOs 141 [world record], no contest 1; died Dec 9, 1998
1914 - Larry Parks
actor: The Jolson Story, Jolson Sings Again; died Apr 13, 1975
1915 - Curt Jurgens (Curd Jürgens)
actor: The Spy Who Loved Me, And God Created Woman, The Longest Day, Enemy Below; died June 18, 1982
1917 - John Hart
actor: The Lone Ranger, Blood Voyage, Simon, King of the Witches, Hold On!, Marnie, The Horizontal Lieutenant, Diary of a High School Bride; died Sep 20, 2009
1917 - Ann Richards
actress: Sorry Wrong Number, Random Harvest, Three Hearts for Julia, Don’t Call Me Girlie; died Aug 24, 2006
1918 - Bill Vukovich (William Vucerivoch)
race car driver: Indianapolis 500 winner [1953, 1954]; killed in Indy crash May 30, 1955
1920 - George Shultz
Secretary of State under U.S. President Ronald Reagan [1982-1988]
1923 - Larry (Lawrence Eugene) Doby
Baseball Hall of Famer: Cleveland Indians center fielder {World Series: 1948, 1954/all-star: 1949-1955]; AL home run [32] leader [1952, 1954], runs [104] scored [1952], RBIs [126 in 1954]; Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers; died Jun 18, 2003
1925 - **** Van Dyke
Emmy Award-winning actor/comedian: The **** Van Dyke Show, [1959-1960], [1963-1964], [1965-1966]; Diagnosis Murder
1925 - Wayne Walker
songwriter: first big hit: I've Got a New Heartache [performed by Ray Price]; Are You Sincere, Leaving on Your Mind, Memory No. 1; died Jan 2, 1979
1926 - Carl (Daniel) ‘Oisk’ Erskine
baseball: pitcher: Brooklyn Dodgers [World Series: 1949, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956/all-star: 1954], LA Dodgers
1929 - Christopher Plummer (Orme)
Emmy Award-winning actor: The Moneychangers [1976-1977], Madeline [1993-1994]; The Sound of Music
1930 - Robert Prosky
actor: The Natural, Mrs. Doubtfire, Broadcast News, Hill Street Blues; appeared in 220 plays, 38 movies, hundreds of TV shows; died Dec 8, 2008
1934 - Richard D. (Darryl) Zanuck
producer: Jaws, The Sting
1941 - John Davidson
actor, singer; TV game show host: Hollywood Squares
1943 - Fergie (Ferguson Arthur) Jenkins
Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher: Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs [all-star: 1967, 1971, 1972/Cy Young Award: 1971], Texas Rangers, Boston Red Sox; 20-game winner 7 times; only major league pitcher to strike out more than 3,000 batters while walking fewer than 1,000; Canada’s first Hall-of-Famer
1946 - Mike Mosley
auto racer: winner of 5 Indy Car races, competed in 15 Indianapolis 500s; killed in highway accident Mar 3, 1984
1947 - Lemar Parrish
football: Cincinnati Bengals [1970-77], Washington Redskins [1978-81], Buffalo Bills [1982]
1948 - Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter
musician: guitarist: groups: Steely Dan, The Doobie Brothers: What a Fool Believes
1948 - Ted Nugent
musician: guitar, singer: group: Amboy Dukes; solo: Cat Scratch Fever
1949 - Randy Owen
musician: guitar, singer: group: Alabama: I Want to Be with You, I Wanna Come Over, My Home’s in Alabama, Tennessee River, Why Lady Why, Old Flame, Feels So Right, Love in the First Degree, Mountain Music, Close Enough to Perfect, The Closer You Get, Dixieland Delight, When We Make Love, Roll on Eighteen Wheeler, 40 Hour Week
1949 - Robert Lindsay
Tony Award-winning actor: Me and My Girl [1987]; film: Ghengis Cohn, Strike It Rich, Bert Rigby You’re a Fool
1949 - Tom Verlaine (Miller)
musician: guitar, singer: group: Television: Little Johnny Jewel, Venus, Torn Curtain
1950 - Brad Dusek
football: Washington Redskins [1974-1981]
1953 - Bob Gainey
Hockey Hall of Famer [left wing]: NHL: Montreal Canadiens: won five Stanley Cups, scored 239 goals, won Frank J. Selke and Conn Smythe Trophies; coach: Minnesota North Stars
1954 - John Anderson
musician: guitar, singer: Money in the Bank, Seminole Wind, Straight Tequila Night, I Wish I Could Have Been There, I Fell in the Water, I’ve Got It Made
1957 - Steve Buscemi
actor: Lonesome Dove, Tales from the Darkside: The Movie, The Hudsucker Proxy, Pulp Fiction, Desperado, Escape from L.A., Con Air, The Wedding Singer, The Big Lebowski, Armageddon, Franky Goes to Hollywood, The Laramie Project
1959 - Pat Torpey
musician: drums: group: Mr. Big: Addicted to That Rush, Big Love, Take a Walk, Strike Like Lightning, Green-Tinted Sixties Mind, Daddy, Brother, Lover
1959 - Johnny Whitaker
actor: Family Affair, The Biscuit Eater, Mulligan’s Stew
1960 - Richard Dent
football: Chicago Bears defensive end: Super Bowl XX; San Francisco 49ers
1967 - Jamie Foxx
comedian, actor: The Jamie Foxx Show, In Living Color, Booty Call, The Players Club, Any Given Sunday
1967 - Mike Mordecai
baseball: Atlanta Braves, Montreal Expos, Florida Marlins
1968 - Sergei Fedorov
hockey: NHL: Detroit Red Wings, Anaheim Mighty Ducks
1974 - Sara Cox
British model, presenter, TV and radio personality: appeared on such shows as Fashion Snoopers, Make My Day, The Big Breakfast, Food Fight, Exclusive, The Girlie Show, Airport, MTV Hot
1989 - Taylor Swift
songwriter, singer: LPs: Taylor Swift, Fearless; singles: Tim McGraw, Teardrops On My Guitar, Our Song, I’m Only Me When I’m With You, Picture To Burn; she was highest-selling artist of 2008 in the U.S. with combined sales of more than four million albums; CMA Entertainer of the Year [2009]
Chart Toppers December 13
1948Buttons and Bows - Dinah Shore
On a Slow Boat to China - The Kay Kyser Orchestra (vocal: Harry Babbitt & Gloria Wood
Hair of Gold, Eyes of Blue - Gordon MacRae
One Has My Name (The Other Has My Heart) - Jimmy Wakely
1957Jailhouse Rock - Elvis Presley
Raunchy - Bill Justis
Peggy Sue - Buddy Holly
My Special Angel - Bobby Helms
1966Good Vibrations - The Beach Boys
Mellow Yellow - Donovan
Devil with a Blue Dress On & Good Golly Miss Molly - Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels
Somebody Like Me - Eddy Arnold
1975Fly, Robin, Fly - Silver Convention
Let’s Do It Again - The Staple Singers
Saturday Night - Bay City Rollers
Love Put a Song in My Heart - Johnny Rodriguez
1984Out of Touch - Daryl Hall & John Oates
The Wild Boys - Duran Duran
All Through the Night - Cyndi Lauper
Chance of Lovin’ You - Earl Thomas Conley
1993Again - Janet Jackson
All that She Wants - Ace of Base
Hero - Mariah Carey
My Second Home - Tracy Lawrence
2002Lose Yourself - Eminem
Die Another Day - Madonna
Jenny from the Block - Jennifer Lopez
These Days - Rascal Flatts
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Happy Birthday Jeff Baxter of Steely Dan
Monday, December 13, 2010
AMERICAN IN PARIS DAY
It was on this day in 1928 that the George Gershwin composition, An American in Paris, was presented to the public. The debut was performed by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under the Direction of Walter Damrosch.
A tone poem, An American in Paris was used as a ballet for Gene Kelly’s 1951 performance in the movie of the same name. Unfortunately, George Gershwin did not live to see his composition being danced to in the Academy Award-winning An American in Paris. It won six Oscars: Best Art Direction/Set Direction [Color], Best Color Cinematography, Best Costume Design [Color], Best Story and Screenplay, Best Picture ... and Best Score.
Events December 13
1809 - The first abdominal surgical procedure was performed -- in Danville, Kentucky. The patient was Jane Todd Crawford and the operation was performed without the aid of an anesthetic. However, during the operation, Ms. Crawford did say, “Eeeeeeeeeee owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwchhhhhhhhhhhh!” We can’t say that we blame her.
1816 - John Adamson of Boston, MA received a patent for a dry dock.
1913 - Leonardo da Vinci’s La Gioconda or, Mona Lisa for us art neophytes, was returned to the Louvre Museum in Paris after a two-year absence. The stolen painting was recovered and was valued at that time at $5,000,000. In 1962, appraisers set the value at one hundred million dollars. It is said that Mrs. Gioconda’s only payment for four years of modeling was free entertainment by jesters, players and singers.
1918 - President Woodrow Wilson arrived in France, becoming the first U.S. president to visit a European country while in office. Wilson had travelled to the Paris Peace Conference to “insure that the peace that would be signed would be both fair and lasting...”
1929 - Hoagy Carmichael recorded with Louis Armstrong. They did Rockin’ Chair on Columbia records and cylinders.
1936 - Green Bay beat the Boston Redskins, 21-6, to capture the National Football League championship. It was the last game for the Boston Redskins. The team became the Washington Redskins in 1937.
1940 - The two-sided jump tune, The Anvil Chorus, was recorded by Glenn Miller and his orchestra for Bluebird Records in New York. The 10-inch, 78 rpm record ran six minutes (including flipping).
1942 - The characters of Allen’s Alley were presented for the first time on The Fred Allen Show. This particular segment of the show became very popular and was used by Allen until 1949. Remember the stops along the way in Allen’s Alley? They were at the Brooklyn tenement of Mrs. Nussbaum, the farmhouse of Titus Moody, the shack of Ajax Cassidy and the antebellum mansion of Senator Beauregard Claghorn.
1944 - The U.S. Navy cruiser Nashville, flagship of an invasion fleet headed for Mindoro Island in the Philippines, was badly damaged in a Japanese kamikaze suicide attack in the Sulu Sea. 138 aboard the Nashville and a destroyer in the fleet were killed.
1948 - The American Federation of Musicians went back to work after an 11½-month strike. During the strike, there was an 11½-month ban on phonograph records as well.
1949 - The American League voted down a proposal to revive the spitball, which had been outlawed since 1920. Gaylord Perry and others didn’t much give a hoot. They tossed the spitter anyway.
1951 - Future British prime minister Margaret Roberts married Denis Thatcher.
1961 - Grandma Moses (Anna Mary Robertson Moses) died at the age of 101. The self-taught artist took up painting in her sixties; having her first showing in New York City at the ripe, young age of eighty. Her style was nostalgic and primitive -- mostly rural scenes: The Old Oaken Bucket, Christmas at Home, The Quilting Bee.
1963 - Capitol Records signed a right of first refusal agreement with The Beatles.
1966 - The first U.S. bombing of Hanoi took place on this day.
1967 - King Constantine of Greece and his family fled the country after a counter-coup failed to topple the military-backed government.
1973 - Detroit became the first city to receive a franchise in the fabulously unsuccessful World Football League.
1974 - Former Beatle George Harrison was greeted at the White House. President Gerald R. Ford invited Harrison to lunch. The two exchanged buttons -- Ford giving George a WIN (Whip Inflation Now) pin and Harrison gave the President an OM (Hindu mantra word expressing creation) button.
1977 - An improperly loaded chartered DC-3 airliner crashed during takeoff at Evansville, Indiana. All 29 persons on board were killed, including the 14-member University of Evansville basketball team and their coach, Bobby Watson. Also killed were radio broadcaster Marv Bates, three crew members, and two Air Indianapolis officials.
1978 - The Philadelphia Mint struck the first Susan B. Anthony dollar coins, with 1979 dates and the first “P” mintmark since the silver nickels of World War II. Denver production began on January 9, 1979, and San Francisco minting began on February 2, 1979. The Susan B. Anthony dollar, the first coin to honor a woman, was not a hit with the public for several reasons, most importantly because it was often mistaken for a quarter, which was about and eighth of an inch smaller in diameter.
1982 - An earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale claimed nearly 3,000 lives and injured 2,000 people in North Yemen. The quake devastated Dhamar province 60 miles southeast of San’a.
1983 - Detroit and Denver played for 3 hours, 11 minutes in pro basketball. The Pistons finally won, 186-183, in triple overtime. NBA single-game records were set for most points by two teams; by one team; assists; and field goals -- plus, hot dogs sold; pennants snapped up by fans; popcorn, peanuts, nachos, too! And, Kiki Vandeweghe of the Denver Nuggets had a career-high night with 51 points.
1985 - In a movie first, the murder mystery, Clue, opened nationally. The film featured three different endings. Newspaper ads indicated which ending was playing at which theatre.
1986 - Duke University won its first NCAA team championship in the school’s 62-year history. The Blue Devils’ soccer team beat Akron, 1-0, to win the crown.
1986 - The Way It Is, by Bruce Hornsby and the Range, hit #1 for a week in the U.S.: “That’s just the way it is; Some things will never change. That’s just the way it is; Aw, but don’t you believe them.”
1988 - PLO chairman Yasser Arafat addressed the United Nations in Geneva, where it had reconvened after the United States refused to grant Arafat a visa to visit New York.
1991 - Five central Asian republics of the Soviet Union agreed to join the new Commonwealth of Independent States being organized by Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
1991 - North Korea and South Korea signed a historic non-aggression agreement, aimed at eventual reconciliation.
1994 - An American Eagle commuter plane carrying twenty people crashed short of the Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina, killing 15. The crash was later blamed on pilot error.
1996 - These motion pictures opened in the U.S.: Mars Attacks (“Nice planet. We’ll take it!”), with an all-star cast that includes Jack Nicholson Glenn Close Annette Bening Pierce Brosnan Danny DeVito Martin Short Sarah Jessica Parker Michael J. Fox Rod Steiger, to name a few; Jerry Maguire (“Show me the money!”), starring Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Renee Zellweger; The Preacher’s Wife (“They needed help. What they got was a miracle.”), with Denzel Washington, Whitney Houston, Courtney B. Vance, Gregory Hines and Jenifer Lewis.
1997 - The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Getty Center museum complex, built on a hilltop overlooking the San Diego Freeway in Los Angeles, was held this day. The public opening was held three days later (Dec 16) for the billion-dollar monument to art and architecture -- one of the largest arts centers in the United States.
1998 - Voters in Puerto Rico rejected U.S. statehood. In the nonbinding plebiscite giving Puerto Ricans the opportunity to express a preference to the future of political status of the island, the “none of the above” option was supported by 50 percent of voters -- indicating that most wished to retain Puerto Rico’s status as a U.S. commonwealth.
1999 - In a presidential campaign debate, Texas Governor George W. Bush and U.S. Senator John McCain fought over tax policy and farm subsidies, while McCain was pushed to defend his centerpiece campaign finance proposals.
2000 - Republican George W. Bush claimed the U.S. presidency five weeks after the election and a day after the U.S. Supreme Court shut down further recounts of disputed ballots in Florida. Democrat Al Gore conceded the election and delivered a call for national unity.
2001 - Five suspected Islamic militants attacked India’s parliament. The militants killed nine policemen and parliament staffers before being killed themselves.
2001 - U.S. President George Bush (II) served formal notice that the United States was pulling out of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia.
2002 - Movies debuting in the U.S.: About Schmidt, starring Jack Nicholson, Kathy Bates, Hope Davis, Dermot Mulroney, Howard Hesseman and Len Cariou; and Star Trek: Nemesis, with Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Levar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates Mcfadden, Marina Sirtis, Ron Perlman, Tom Hardy, Dina Meyer and Kate Mulgrew.
2003 - Oklahoma University senior quarterback Jason White won the Heisman Trophy.
2003 - The basketball U.S. and World attendance record was set on this day as the Michigan State Spartans played the Kentucky Wildcats in a college basketball game -- played on the football field of the NFL Detroit Lions. The attendance was 78,129. (No. 8 Kentucky beat No. 21 Michigan State 79-74.) Besides the 65,000 spectators the stadium holds for a Lions football game, there were about 5,000 students -- without seats -- standing, jumping and lounging on the artificial turf. Another 5,000 fans had seats on the floor, some paying as much as $500, as did hundreds of band members from both schools. Others spent $8 for seats in the upper deck that were so far away jersey numbers could only be seen with binoculars. In one end zone, students looked like they were at an outdoor concert. Some sat behind Kentucky’s band and “The Izzone”, Michigan State’s student section, and could only see the heads and shoulders of the players despite the court being elevated on a three-foot platform. Other fans simply laid on their backs and watched the game on the video screens.
2004 - Web search engine Google announced plans to digitally scan the book collections of the libraries of the Univ of Michigan, Stanford, Harvard, New York Public Library and Oxford. The libraries had agreed to allow books published before 1900 to be scanned.
2005 - U.S. President George Bush (II) acknowledged the deaths of 30,000 Iraqi civilians since the start of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.
2005 - Swiss senator **** Marty, commissioned by the Council of Europe to investigate CIA ‘black sites’ (secret prisons) and prisoner abuse in Europe, said the CIA “disregarded all standards of legality.”
2006 - Jeffrey Skilling, former CEO of Enron Corporation, reported to prison in Minnesota to begin serving a 24-year sentence for his crimes as a top executive at the Houston-based energy company. Skilling was convicted of conspiracy, insider trading, making false statements to auditors and securities fraud.
2007 - Opposition leader (and former world chess champion) Garry Kasparov said the Kremlin had stopped him from running for president because his political movement had been unable to rent a hall in Moscow for a nominating convention -- a requirement under Russian law.
2007 - U.S. Senator George Mitchell presented his report on steroid use among professional baseball players. The 409-page report described wide-spread use and recommended tough measures for testing and investigating.
2008 - Cuban President Raúl Castro arrived in Venezuela on his first international visit as Cuba’s president (he took office Feb 24, 2008).
2009 - A grimy, three-car train pulled out of Belgrade, Serbia’s railway station on the first direct trip to Sarajevo in nearly 18 years, restoring a link broken at the start of ethnic warfare in the former Yugoslavia.
2009 - U.S. President Barack Obama took aim at bankers and their aggressive lobbying efforts to defeat financial reform in an interview for TV’s "60 Minutes". Obama said, “I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat-cat bankers on Wall Street.”
Birthdays December 13
1797 - Heinrich Heine
poet: The Lorelei, Atta Troll, A Midsummer’s Night Dream, Germany A Winter’s Tale, Romacero; author: Travel Pictures, The Romantic School, On the History of Religion and Philosophy in Germany; died Feb 17, 1856
1818 - Mary Todd Lincoln
First Lady: wife of 16th U.S. President Abraham Lincoln; died July 16, 1882
1835 - Phillips Brooks
lyricist: O Little Town of Bethlehem; died Jan 23, 1893
1897 - Drew Pearson
syndicated newspaper columnist: Merry-Go-Round; died Sep 1, 1969
1903 - Carlos Montoya
flamenco guitarist; died Mar 3, 1993
1910 - Van Heflin (Emmett Evan Heflin Jr.)
Academy Award-winning actor: Johnny Eager [1942]; died July 23, 1971
1913 - Archie Moore
Boxing Hall of Famer: Light Heavyweight Champ: only boxer to have fought both Rocky Marciano and Muhammad Ali; career: won 194, lost 26, drew 8, KOs 141 [world record], no contest 1; died Dec 9, 1998
1914 - Larry Parks
actor: The Jolson Story, Jolson Sings Again; died Apr 13, 1975
1915 - Curt Jurgens (Curd Jürgens)
actor: The Spy Who Loved Me, And God Created Woman, The Longest Day, Enemy Below; died June 18, 1982
1917 - John Hart
actor: The Lone Ranger, Blood Voyage, Simon, King of the Witches, Hold On!, Marnie, The Horizontal Lieutenant, Diary of a High School Bride; died Sep 20, 2009
1917 - Ann Richards
actress: Sorry Wrong Number, Random Harvest, Three Hearts for Julia, Don’t Call Me Girlie; died Aug 24, 2006
1918 - Bill Vukovich (William Vucerivoch)
race car driver: Indianapolis 500 winner [1953, 1954]; killed in Indy crash May 30, 1955
1920 - George Shultz
Secretary of State under U.S. President Ronald Reagan [1982-1988]
1923 - Larry (Lawrence Eugene) Doby
Baseball Hall of Famer: Cleveland Indians center fielder {World Series: 1948, 1954/all-star: 1949-1955]; AL home run [32] leader [1952, 1954], runs [104] scored [1952], RBIs [126 in 1954]; Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers; died Jun 18, 2003
1925 - **** Van Dyke
Emmy Award-winning actor/comedian: The **** Van Dyke Show, [1959-1960], [1963-1964], [1965-1966]; Diagnosis Murder
1925 - Wayne Walker
songwriter: first big hit: I've Got a New Heartache [performed by Ray Price]; Are You Sincere, Leaving on Your Mind, Memory No. 1; died Jan 2, 1979
1926 - Carl (Daniel) ‘Oisk’ Erskine
baseball: pitcher: Brooklyn Dodgers [World Series: 1949, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956/all-star: 1954], LA Dodgers
1929 - Christopher Plummer (Orme)
Emmy Award-winning actor: The Moneychangers [1976-1977], Madeline [1993-1994]; The Sound of Music
1930 - Robert Prosky
actor: The Natural, Mrs. Doubtfire, Broadcast News, Hill Street Blues; appeared in 220 plays, 38 movies, hundreds of TV shows; died Dec 8, 2008
1934 - Richard D. (Darryl) Zanuck
producer: Jaws, The Sting
1941 - John Davidson
actor, singer; TV game show host: Hollywood Squares
1943 - Fergie (Ferguson Arthur) Jenkins
Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher: Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs [all-star: 1967, 1971, 1972/Cy Young Award: 1971], Texas Rangers, Boston Red Sox; 20-game winner 7 times; only major league pitcher to strike out more than 3,000 batters while walking fewer than 1,000; Canada’s first Hall-of-Famer
1946 - Mike Mosley
auto racer: winner of 5 Indy Car races, competed in 15 Indianapolis 500s; killed in highway accident Mar 3, 1984
1947 - Lemar Parrish
football: Cincinnati Bengals [1970-77], Washington Redskins [1978-81], Buffalo Bills [1982]
1948 - Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter
musician: guitarist: groups: Steely Dan, The Doobie Brothers: What a Fool Believes
1948 - Ted Nugent
musician: guitar, singer: group: Amboy Dukes; solo: Cat Scratch Fever
1949 - Randy Owen
musician: guitar, singer: group: Alabama: I Want to Be with You, I Wanna Come Over, My Home’s in Alabama, Tennessee River, Why Lady Why, Old Flame, Feels So Right, Love in the First Degree, Mountain Music, Close Enough to Perfect, The Closer You Get, Dixieland Delight, When We Make Love, Roll on Eighteen Wheeler, 40 Hour Week
1949 - Robert Lindsay
Tony Award-winning actor: Me and My Girl [1987]; film: Ghengis Cohn, Strike It Rich, Bert Rigby You’re a Fool
1949 - Tom Verlaine (Miller)
musician: guitar, singer: group: Television: Little Johnny Jewel, Venus, Torn Curtain
1950 - Brad Dusek
football: Washington Redskins [1974-1981]
1953 - Bob Gainey
Hockey Hall of Famer [left wing]: NHL: Montreal Canadiens: won five Stanley Cups, scored 239 goals, won Frank J. Selke and Conn Smythe Trophies; coach: Minnesota North Stars
1954 - John Anderson
musician: guitar, singer: Money in the Bank, Seminole Wind, Straight Tequila Night, I Wish I Could Have Been There, I Fell in the Water, I’ve Got It Made
1957 - Steve Buscemi
actor: Lonesome Dove, Tales from the Darkside: The Movie, The Hudsucker Proxy, Pulp Fiction, Desperado, Escape from L.A., Con Air, The Wedding Singer, The Big Lebowski, Armageddon, Franky Goes to Hollywood, The Laramie Project
1959 - Pat Torpey
musician: drums: group: Mr. Big: Addicted to That Rush, Big Love, Take a Walk, Strike Like Lightning, Green-Tinted Sixties Mind, Daddy, Brother, Lover
1959 - Johnny Whitaker
actor: Family Affair, The Biscuit Eater, Mulligan’s Stew
1960 - Richard Dent
football: Chicago Bears defensive end: Super Bowl XX; San Francisco 49ers
1967 - Jamie Foxx
comedian, actor: The Jamie Foxx Show, In Living Color, Booty Call, The Players Club, Any Given Sunday
1967 - Mike Mordecai
baseball: Atlanta Braves, Montreal Expos, Florida Marlins
1968 - Sergei Fedorov
hockey: NHL: Detroit Red Wings, Anaheim Mighty Ducks
1974 - Sara Cox
British model, presenter, TV and radio personality: appeared on such shows as Fashion Snoopers, Make My Day, The Big Breakfast, Food Fight, Exclusive, The Girlie Show, Airport, MTV Hot
1989 - Taylor Swift
songwriter, singer: LPs: Taylor Swift, Fearless; singles: Tim McGraw, Teardrops On My Guitar, Our Song, I’m Only Me When I’m With You, Picture To Burn; she was highest-selling artist of 2008 in the U.S. with combined sales of more than four million albums; CMA Entertainer of the Year [2009]
Chart Toppers December 13
1948Buttons and Bows - Dinah Shore
On a Slow Boat to China - The Kay Kyser Orchestra (vocal: Harry Babbitt & Gloria Wood
Hair of Gold, Eyes of Blue - Gordon MacRae
One Has My Name (The Other Has My Heart) - Jimmy Wakely
1957Jailhouse Rock - Elvis Presley
Raunchy - Bill Justis
Peggy Sue - Buddy Holly
My Special Angel - Bobby Helms
1966Good Vibrations - The Beach Boys
Mellow Yellow - Donovan
Devil with a Blue Dress On & Good Golly Miss Molly - Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels
Somebody Like Me - Eddy Arnold
1975Fly, Robin, Fly - Silver Convention
Let’s Do It Again - The Staple Singers
Saturday Night - Bay City Rollers
Love Put a Song in My Heart - Johnny Rodriguez
1984Out of Touch - Daryl Hall & John Oates
The Wild Boys - Duran Duran
All Through the Night - Cyndi Lauper
Chance of Lovin’ You - Earl Thomas Conley
1993Again - Janet Jackson
All that She Wants - Ace of Base
Hero - Mariah Carey
My Second Home - Tracy Lawrence
2002Lose Yourself - Eminem
Die Another Day - Madonna
Jenny from the Block - Jennifer Lopez
These Days - Rascal Flatts
Enjoy All
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Happy Birthday Jeff Baxter of Steely Dan