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351st day of 2010 - 14 remaining
Friday, December 17, 2010
TIPTOE DOWN THE AISLE DAY
We pause for a moment in remembrance of Tiny Tim (Herbert Buchingham Khaury) marrying Miss Vickie (Victoria Budinger) this night in 1969 on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson. This is the Tiny Tim of the falsetto version of Tiptoe Through the Tulips fame.
The NBC-TV program earned the second-highest, all-time audience rating; second only to Neil Armstrong’s walking on the the moon. No, Armstrong did not sing Tiptoe Through the Tulips on the lunar surface.
Mr. Tiny Tim and Miss Vickie had a daughter, Tulip. Then in 1977 they stopped tiptoeing together.
Tiny Tim died Saturday, November 30, 1996. He died as he lived, performing Tiptoe Through the Tulips to an audience at a benefit in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He cut the song short, commenting to his wife, Miss Sue (they were married in 1995), that he felt ill. As he was making his way with Sue to her table -- amidst the applause of his loyal fans -- he collapsed, was taken to a Minneapolis hospital and died without regaining consciousness.
Events December 17
1843 - A Christmas Carol by Charles ****ens was published in London and immediately sold out. He wrote the story in just two months, beginning in October, 1843 and finishing at the end of November. It was the first of five Christmas books by ****ens. Its successors were The Chimes (1844), The Cricket on the Hearth (1845), The Battle of Life (1846), and The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain (1848).
1895 - George L. Brownell of Worcester, MA made history by getting a patent for his paper-twine machine.
1903 - The first successful powered airplane flight took place near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. First Orville, then Wilbur Wright kept their invention flying ... each flight lasted just under one minute.
1926 - Benny Goodman played a clarinet solo. This was not unusual for Benny except that it was his first time playing solo within a group recording session. Goodman was featured with Ben Pollack and His Californians on He’s the Last Word.
1936 - Ventriloquist Edgar Bergen kidded around with his PAL , Charlie McCarthy (who was a bit wooden, we remember...), for the first time on radio. The two debuted on The Rudy Vallee Show on NBC. Soon, Bergen became one of radio’s hottest properties, and was called Vallee’s greatest talent discovery.
1940 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt outlined his Lend-Lease Plan to get arms and equipment to Britain during World War II.
1941 - Admiral Husband Kimmel, commander of Pearl Harbor, was replaced by Admiral Chester Nimitz as commander of the Pacific Fleet.
1944 - The U.S. Army announced it was ending its policy of excluding Japanese-Americans from residing on the West Coast. Effective Jan. 2, 1945 the evacuees were allowed to return home. For almost two years, they had been detained in various camps because the government questioned their loyalty. During the war, ten Americans were convicted of spying for Japan. All of them were Caucasian.
1948 - The Smithsonian Institution accepted the Wright brothers’ plane, the Kitty Hawk. U.S. President Harry S Truman participated in the ceremonies.
1953 - Following an earlier decision that favored CBS-TV, the wise minds at the Federal Communications Commission changed opinions and decided to approve RCA’s color television specifications. Guess who benefited most? That’s right, NBC, parent company (then) of RCA. NBC stations soon took the lead in displaying programs "...presented in living color."
1955 - Carl Perkins wrote Blue Suede Shoes. Less than 48 hours later, he recorded it at the Sun Studios in Memphis. The tune became one of the first records to be popular simultaneously on rock, country and rhythm & blues charts.
1959 - On the Beach premiered this day at the Astor Theatre in New York City -- and in 17 other cities. It was the first motion picture to debut simultaneously in major cities around the world.
1962 - American character actor Thomas Mitchell died at 70 years of age. Mitchell appeared in over sixty films, including Lost Horizon, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Gone with the Wind, It’s a Wonderful Life, and High Noon. Mitchell won the Supporting Actor Oscar in 1940 for his role as the drunken Doc Boone in John Ford’s Stagecoach.
1969 - Chicago Transit Authority became a gold record for the group of the same name (they later changed their name to Chicago). When the album was released by Columbia Records, it marked the first time an artist’s debut LP was a double record.
1969 - The U.S. Air Force Closed its Project Blue Book by concluding there was no evidence of extraterrestrial spaceships behind thousands of UFO sightings. Air Force Secretary Robert C. Seamans, Jr. announced closure of the 21-year old investigation. Seamans said, “Continuation of the project cannot be justified either on the ground of national security or in the interest of science.”
1970 - The Beach Boys played to royalty at Royal Albert Hall in London. Princess Margaret was in attendance and shook the royal jewelry to such classics as Good Vibrations, I Get Around and Help Me, Rhonda.
1976 - WTCG-TV, Atlanta, Georgia, owned by Ted Turner, changed call letters to WTBS, and was uplinked via satellite, to become the first commercial TV station to cover the entire U.S. WTBS started on four cable systems, available in 24,000 homes.
1977 - Elvis Costello, making a rare TV appearance, agreed to perform on NBC’s Saturday Night Live when Sid Vicious and the Sex Pistols failed to show up for the gig.
1979 - Former Hollywood stuntman Stan Barrett became the first person to break the sound barrier on land. He reached a top speed of 739.666 miles per hour in a 60,000 horsepower rocket vehicle at Rogers Dry Lake, CA.
1983 - The Alcalá 20 disco in Madrid, Spain caught fire. 82 people were killed.
1984 - John McEnroe and Peter Fleming lost a doubles tennis match in the Davis Cup competition for the first time in 14 matches. Anders Jarryd and Stefan Edberg lead the Swedish team to the title. It marked the worst defeat for the United States team since 1973.
1991 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev agreed to dissolve the Soviet Union by the new year.
1992 - U.S. President George Bush (I), Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in separate ceremonies.
1993 - Fox Television outbid CBS-TV for the NFL NFC broadcast package.
1994 - Ini Kamoze’s Here Comes the Hotstepper was the #1. It was the biggest single in the U.S. for two weeks: “Hit it. Nah, na na na nah, na na na nah, Na na nah, na na nah, na na na nah...”
1996 - Kofi Atta Annan was named seventh secretary-general of the United Nations by acclamation during ceremony in the General Assembly Hall, attended by representatives of the world organization’s 185 members.
1997 - A U.S. court ordered Cuba to pay $187.6 million for three men killed when their planes were shot down in 1996 by MiG fighters.
1999 - These flicks flickered on U.S. screens for the first time: Bicentennial Man (“One robot’s 200 year journey to become an ordinary man.”), with Robin Williams, Sam Neill, Embeth Davidtz and Oliver Platt; and Stuart Little (“The Little Family Just Got Bigger”), combining live action with digital character creation, starring the voice of Michael J. Fox, Geena Davis, Hugh Laurie, Jonathan Lipnicki, Julia Sweeney and and many other famous voices.
2000 - President George W. Bush (II) named Stanford professor Condoleezza Rice his national security adviser and Texas Supreme Court Justice Alberto Gonzales to the White House counsel’s job.
2001 - Marines raised the Stars and Stripes over the long-abandoned American Embassy in Kabul. U.S. envoy James F. Dobbins promised a long commitment to the rebuilding of war-wrecked Afghanistan.
2002 - New York Governor George Pataki signed a bill extending civil rights protections to gays and lesbians.
2003 - The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King opened in the U.S. Peter Jackson’s (screenplay) much-lauded and lucrative multi-part adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s (novel) classic trilogy comes to a close; stars Elijah Wood, Sir Ian McKellen, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, Orlando Bloom, Kevin Conway, Hugo Weaving, Brad Dourif, Martin Csoka, Bernard Hill, Sir Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Dominic Monaghan, Viggo Mortensen, John Rhys-Davies, John Noble, Liv Tyler, Karl Urban, Cate Blanchett, David Wenham.
2004 - New movies in U.S. theatres: The Aviator, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, John C. Reilly, Kate Beckinsale, Jude Law, Adam Scott, Kelli Garner, Gwen Stefani, Nellie Sciutto, Alec Baldwin, Danny Huston, Matt Ross, Ian Holm, Alan Alda, Frances Conroy, Vincent Laresca, Justin Shilton, Brent Spiner, Josie Maran, Sam Hennings, Willem Dafoe and Stanley DeSantis; Beyond the Sea, starring Kevin Spacey (he also directed the film), Kate Bosworth, John Goodman, Bob Hoskins, Brenda Blethyn, Greta Scacchi and Caroline Aaron; Flight of the Phoenix, with Dennis Quaid, Giovanni Ribisi, Tyrese Gibson, Miranda Otto and Hugh Laurie; Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, starring Jim Carrey, Meryl Streep, Jude Law, Jennifer Coolidge, Liam Aiken, Emily Browning, Timothy Spall, Luis Guzman and Craig Ferguson; and Spanglish, starring dam Sandler, Téa Leoni, Paz Vega and Cloris Leachman.
2004 - New York City pop artist Tom Wesselman died at 73 years of age. Wesselman was known for his “bedroom still lifes”.
2005 - A group of some 40 people, dressed in Santa Claus costumes, went on a rampage through downtown Auckland, New Zealand, robbing stores and assaulting security guards.
2006 - Indian officials said a killer elephant, named after Osama BIN Laden by fearful villagers, was killed by sharpshooters. The animal was blamed for 14 deaths in the northeastern state of Assam.
2006 - Kelly James of Dallas, TX, one of three missing climbers, was found dead in a snow cave on Mount Hood in Oregon. James had made a four-minute call to his family a week early, saying he was in a snow cave, the climbing party was in trouble and that the other two climbers had headed back down.
2007 - New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine signed into law a measure that abolished the death penalty.
2007 - A U.S. judge ruled that the White House visitor logs are public. The ruling rebuffed President George Bush (II), who did not want visits by religious conservatives to disclosed.
2008 - The United Nations said it would double the budget of its Afghan mission, taking on hundreds of new staff and opening more offices.
2009 - The Obama administration handed out the first $182 million of a $7.2 billion fund of stimulus money. The initial dollars were intended for building high-speed Internet networks and encouraging more Americans to use them.
2009 - A St Matthews church billboard showing an apparently naked Virgin Mary and Joseph in bed together was erected in New Zealand. The poster quickly sparked the ire of conservative Christians. The church’s vicar, Archdeacon Glynn Cardy, said the billboard was meant to challenge stereotypes about the way Jesus was conceived.
2010 - Movies debuting in the U.S.: Casino Jack, starring Kevin Spacey, Kelly Preston, Rachelle Lefevre, Barry Pepper and Jon Lovitz; How Do You Know, starring Jack Nicholson, Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson and Andrew Wilson; Rabbit Hole, with Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart, Dianne Wiest, Sandra Oh and Jon Tenney; TRON: Legacy, starring Jeff Bridges, Michael Sheen, Olivia Wilde, Garrett Hedlund and Serinda Swan; and the 3D ‘live and animated’ Yogi Bear, featuring Anna Faris, T.J. Miller, Dan Aykroyd, Justin Timberlake and Tom Cavanagh.
Birthdays December 17
1797 - Joseph Henry
scientist: discovered the principle of self-induction; constructed 1st model of an electric telegraph with audible signal; president [1868-1878] and charter member of National Academy of Sciences; died May 14, 1878
1807 - John Greenleaf Whittier
poet: Barbara Frietchie, Maud Miller, Snowbound; Quaker: devoted to the abolitionist cause in U.S.; died Sep 7, 1892
1894 - Arthur Fiedler
conductor: The Boston Pops Orchestra; died July 10, 1979
1903 - Erskine Caldwell
novelist: Tobacco Road, God’s Little Acre; died Apr 11, 1987
1908 - Willard Libby
Nobel prize-winning atomic scientist [1960]: inventor of Carbon-14, the method for dating ancient plant, animal and mineral remains; died Sep 8, 1980
1910 - Sy (Melvin James) Oliver
trumpeter, singer, arranger, bandleader, composer: Easy Does It, Swing High, Well, Git It, Opus No. 1; died May 28, 1988
1915 - Joan (Joanne) Woodbury
actress: The Time Travelers, Northwest Trail, Song of the Gringo, Bulldog Courage; died Feb 22, 1989
1928 - Julia Meade (Kunza)
entertainer: Club Embassy; TV hostess: Spotlight Playhouse, Gas Company Playhouse
1929 - William Safire
journalist, author: Words of Wisdom, Coming to Terms; died Sep 27, 2009
1930 - Bob Guccione
publisher: Penthouse Magazine
1936 - Tommy Steele (Hicks)
singer: Rock with the Caveman; actor: The Happiest Millionaire, Half a Sixpence
1937 - Art Neville
musician: keyboards, percussion, singer: group: The Neville Brothers
1937 - Nat Stuckey
country singer: Got Leaving on Her Mind, Days of Sand and Shovels, She Wakes Me Every Morning with a Kiss, Young Love [w/Connie Smith]; songwriter: Sweet Thang, Oh Woman, Waitin’ in Your Welfare Line; died Aug 24, 1988
1938 - Leo (Leonardo Lazaro Alfonso) ‘Chico’ Cardenas
baseball: Cincinnati Reds [World Series: 1961/all-star: 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968], Minnesota Twins [all-star: 1971], California Angels, Cleveland Indians, Texas Rangers
1938 - Peter Snell
Olympic Gold Medalist: 800-meter run [1960, 1964] and 1500-meter run [1964]
1939 - Eddie Kendricks
singer: group: The Temptations: My Girl, I Can’t Get Next To You; solo: Keep on Truckin’, Boogie Down, Shoeshine Boy; died Oct 5, 1992
1942 - Paul Butterfield
musician: group: Paul Butterfield Blues Band: East-West; died May 4, 1987
1943 - Christopher Cazenove
actor: Aces: Iron Eagle 3, Three Men and a Little Lady, Windmills of the Gods, Mata Hari, Children of the Full Moon, Eye of the Needle, Zulu Dawn, Royal flash , A Fine Romance, Dynasty; died Apr 7, 2010
1943 - DAVE Dee (Harmon)
musician: tambourine, singer: group: DAVE Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich: You Make It Move, Hold Tight, Hideaway, Bend It, Save Me, Touch Me Touch Me, Okay, Zabadak, Legend of Xanadu, Last Night in Soho, Wreck of the Antoinette; solo: My Woman’s Man; record promoter
1944 - Bernard Hill
actor: Mountains of the Moon, Shirley Valentine, Bellman and True, Drowning by Numbers, No Surrender, The Bounty, Gandhi
1945 - Ernie Hudson
actor: Tornado!, The Substitute, Congo, Wild Palms, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, Ghostbusters series, Joy of Sex, The $5.20 an Hour Dream, Broken Badges
1946 - Eugene Levy
Emmy Award-winning writer: The Energy Ball/Sweeps Week, SCTV Network [1982-83]; actor: Second City TV, A Mighty Wind, Best in Show
1946 - Russ Washington
football; San Diego Chargers
1949 - Paul Rodgers
songwriter, singer: groups: Free: All Right Now; Bad Company: Shooting Star; solo: LPs: Cut Loose, Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters, The Hendrix Set, Live: The Loreley Tapes, Now, Live, Electric
1950 - Joe Rizzo
football: Denver Broncos linebacker: Super Bowl XII
1953 - Barry Livingston
actor: My Three Sons, Sons and Daughters
1958 - Mike Mills
musician: bass: group: R.E.M.: Radio Free Europe, Talk About the Passion, So Central Rain, Seven Chinese Brothers, [Don’t Go Back to] Rockville
1959 - Albert King
basketball: Univ. of Maryland, New Jersey Nets
1961 - Sarah Dallin
singer: group: Bananarama
1964 - Frank Musil
hockey: Minnesota North Stars, Calgary Flames, Ottawa Senators, Edmonton Oilers
1965 - Craig Berube
hockey [left wing]: NHL: Philadelphia Flyers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Calgary Flames, Washington Capitals, New York Islanders
1965 - Clive Robertson
actor: Sunset Beach, Starhunter, General Hospital, DARKSTAR - The Interactive Movie, Before the Killing Starts, Paparazzo, Cinderumplestiltskin, Topper [1992]
1970 - Sean Patrick Thomas
actor: The District, A Raisin in the Sun [2008], Halloween: Resurrection, Barbershop, Barbershop 2: Back in Business, Dracula 2000, Cruel Intentions, Conspiracy Theory
1971 - Tony Richardson
football [running back]: Auburn Univ; NFL: Kansas City Chiefs
1972 - Don Davis
football [linebacker]: Univ of Kansas; NFL: New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, St. Louis Rams, New England Patriots
1972 - Laurie Holden
actress: The X-Files: The Truth, Knights of Impossingworth Park, Fantastic Four, Dead Man’s Gun, The Majestic, Expect No Mercy, The Magnificent Seven
1974 - Marissa Ribisi
actress: Lightfield’s Home Videos, Lip Service, Some Girl, Hollywood Confidential, Encino Woman, According to Spencer
1984 - Shannon Marie Woodward
actress: Dot, Man of the House, True Women, Tornado!, Family Reunion: A Relative Nightmare
1986 - Vanessa Zima
actress: Murder One, The Far Side of Jericho, Cavedweller, Zoe, The Brainiacs.com, Wicked, Ulee’s Gold, The Baby-Sitters Club, The Absent
Chart Toppers December 17
1952I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - Jimmy Boyd
Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer - Gene Autry
White Christmas - Bing Crosby
Back Street Affair - Webb Pierce
1961Please Mr. Postman - The Marvelettes
The Twist - Chubby Checker
Let There Be Drums - Sandy Nelson
Walk on By - Leroy Van Dyke
1970The Tears of a Clown - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
Gypsy Woman - Brian Hyland
One Less Bell to Answer - The Fifth Dimension
Endlessly - Sonny James
1979Babe - Styx
Still - Commodores
Please Don’t Go - K.C. & The Sunshine Band
Happy Birthday Darlin’ - Conway Twitty
1988Look Away - Chicago
Every Rose Has Its Thorn - Poison
Giving You the Best that I Got - Anita Baker
A Tender Lie - Restless Heart
1997Something About the Way You Look Tonight/Candle in the Wind 1997 - Elton John
How Do I Live - LeAnn Rimes
My Body - LSG
From Here to Eternity - Michael Peterson
2006Irreplaceable - Beyoncé
My Love - Justin Timberlake featuring T.I.
How to Save a Life - The Fray
My Wish - Rascal Flatts
enjoy all
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Born On This Day 1939...Eddie Kendricks of The Temptations...R.I.P.
Friday, December 17, 2010
TIPTOE DOWN THE AISLE DAY
We pause for a moment in remembrance of Tiny Tim (Herbert Buchingham Khaury) marrying Miss Vickie (Victoria Budinger) this night in 1969 on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson. This is the Tiny Tim of the falsetto version of Tiptoe Through the Tulips fame.
The NBC-TV program earned the second-highest, all-time audience rating; second only to Neil Armstrong’s walking on the the moon. No, Armstrong did not sing Tiptoe Through the Tulips on the lunar surface.
Mr. Tiny Tim and Miss Vickie had a daughter, Tulip. Then in 1977 they stopped tiptoeing together.
Tiny Tim died Saturday, November 30, 1996. He died as he lived, performing Tiptoe Through the Tulips to an audience at a benefit in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He cut the song short, commenting to his wife, Miss Sue (they were married in 1995), that he felt ill. As he was making his way with Sue to her table -- amidst the applause of his loyal fans -- he collapsed, was taken to a Minneapolis hospital and died without regaining consciousness.
Events December 17
1843 - A Christmas Carol by Charles ****ens was published in London and immediately sold out. He wrote the story in just two months, beginning in October, 1843 and finishing at the end of November. It was the first of five Christmas books by ****ens. Its successors were The Chimes (1844), The Cricket on the Hearth (1845), The Battle of Life (1846), and The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain (1848).
1895 - George L. Brownell of Worcester, MA made history by getting a patent for his paper-twine machine.
1903 - The first successful powered airplane flight took place near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. First Orville, then Wilbur Wright kept their invention flying ... each flight lasted just under one minute.
1926 - Benny Goodman played a clarinet solo. This was not unusual for Benny except that it was his first time playing solo within a group recording session. Goodman was featured with Ben Pollack and His Californians on He’s the Last Word.
1936 - Ventriloquist Edgar Bergen kidded around with his PAL , Charlie McCarthy (who was a bit wooden, we remember...), for the first time on radio. The two debuted on The Rudy Vallee Show on NBC. Soon, Bergen became one of radio’s hottest properties, and was called Vallee’s greatest talent discovery.
1940 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt outlined his Lend-Lease Plan to get arms and equipment to Britain during World War II.
1941 - Admiral Husband Kimmel, commander of Pearl Harbor, was replaced by Admiral Chester Nimitz as commander of the Pacific Fleet.
1944 - The U.S. Army announced it was ending its policy of excluding Japanese-Americans from residing on the West Coast. Effective Jan. 2, 1945 the evacuees were allowed to return home. For almost two years, they had been detained in various camps because the government questioned their loyalty. During the war, ten Americans were convicted of spying for Japan. All of them were Caucasian.
1948 - The Smithsonian Institution accepted the Wright brothers’ plane, the Kitty Hawk. U.S. President Harry S Truman participated in the ceremonies.
1953 - Following an earlier decision that favored CBS-TV, the wise minds at the Federal Communications Commission changed opinions and decided to approve RCA’s color television specifications. Guess who benefited most? That’s right, NBC, parent company (then) of RCA. NBC stations soon took the lead in displaying programs "...presented in living color."
1955 - Carl Perkins wrote Blue Suede Shoes. Less than 48 hours later, he recorded it at the Sun Studios in Memphis. The tune became one of the first records to be popular simultaneously on rock, country and rhythm & blues charts.
1959 - On the Beach premiered this day at the Astor Theatre in New York City -- and in 17 other cities. It was the first motion picture to debut simultaneously in major cities around the world.
1962 - American character actor Thomas Mitchell died at 70 years of age. Mitchell appeared in over sixty films, including Lost Horizon, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Gone with the Wind, It’s a Wonderful Life, and High Noon. Mitchell won the Supporting Actor Oscar in 1940 for his role as the drunken Doc Boone in John Ford’s Stagecoach.
1969 - Chicago Transit Authority became a gold record for the group of the same name (they later changed their name to Chicago). When the album was released by Columbia Records, it marked the first time an artist’s debut LP was a double record.
1969 - The U.S. Air Force Closed its Project Blue Book by concluding there was no evidence of extraterrestrial spaceships behind thousands of UFO sightings. Air Force Secretary Robert C. Seamans, Jr. announced closure of the 21-year old investigation. Seamans said, “Continuation of the project cannot be justified either on the ground of national security or in the interest of science.”
1970 - The Beach Boys played to royalty at Royal Albert Hall in London. Princess Margaret was in attendance and shook the royal jewelry to such classics as Good Vibrations, I Get Around and Help Me, Rhonda.
1976 - WTCG-TV, Atlanta, Georgia, owned by Ted Turner, changed call letters to WTBS, and was uplinked via satellite, to become the first commercial TV station to cover the entire U.S. WTBS started on four cable systems, available in 24,000 homes.
1977 - Elvis Costello, making a rare TV appearance, agreed to perform on NBC’s Saturday Night Live when Sid Vicious and the Sex Pistols failed to show up for the gig.
1979 - Former Hollywood stuntman Stan Barrett became the first person to break the sound barrier on land. He reached a top speed of 739.666 miles per hour in a 60,000 horsepower rocket vehicle at Rogers Dry Lake, CA.
1983 - The Alcalá 20 disco in Madrid, Spain caught fire. 82 people were killed.
1984 - John McEnroe and Peter Fleming lost a doubles tennis match in the Davis Cup competition for the first time in 14 matches. Anders Jarryd and Stefan Edberg lead the Swedish team to the title. It marked the worst defeat for the United States team since 1973.
1991 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev agreed to dissolve the Soviet Union by the new year.
1992 - U.S. President George Bush (I), Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in separate ceremonies.
1993 - Fox Television outbid CBS-TV for the NFL NFC broadcast package.
1994 - Ini Kamoze’s Here Comes the Hotstepper was the #1. It was the biggest single in the U.S. for two weeks: “Hit it. Nah, na na na nah, na na na nah, Na na nah, na na nah, na na na nah...”
1996 - Kofi Atta Annan was named seventh secretary-general of the United Nations by acclamation during ceremony in the General Assembly Hall, attended by representatives of the world organization’s 185 members.
1997 - A U.S. court ordered Cuba to pay $187.6 million for three men killed when their planes were shot down in 1996 by MiG fighters.
1999 - These flicks flickered on U.S. screens for the first time: Bicentennial Man (“One robot’s 200 year journey to become an ordinary man.”), with Robin Williams, Sam Neill, Embeth Davidtz and Oliver Platt; and Stuart Little (“The Little Family Just Got Bigger”), combining live action with digital character creation, starring the voice of Michael J. Fox, Geena Davis, Hugh Laurie, Jonathan Lipnicki, Julia Sweeney and and many other famous voices.
2000 - President George W. Bush (II) named Stanford professor Condoleezza Rice his national security adviser and Texas Supreme Court Justice Alberto Gonzales to the White House counsel’s job.
2001 - Marines raised the Stars and Stripes over the long-abandoned American Embassy in Kabul. U.S. envoy James F. Dobbins promised a long commitment to the rebuilding of war-wrecked Afghanistan.
2002 - New York Governor George Pataki signed a bill extending civil rights protections to gays and lesbians.
2003 - The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King opened in the U.S. Peter Jackson’s (screenplay) much-lauded and lucrative multi-part adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s (novel) classic trilogy comes to a close; stars Elijah Wood, Sir Ian McKellen, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, Orlando Bloom, Kevin Conway, Hugo Weaving, Brad Dourif, Martin Csoka, Bernard Hill, Sir Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Dominic Monaghan, Viggo Mortensen, John Rhys-Davies, John Noble, Liv Tyler, Karl Urban, Cate Blanchett, David Wenham.
2004 - New movies in U.S. theatres: The Aviator, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, John C. Reilly, Kate Beckinsale, Jude Law, Adam Scott, Kelli Garner, Gwen Stefani, Nellie Sciutto, Alec Baldwin, Danny Huston, Matt Ross, Ian Holm, Alan Alda, Frances Conroy, Vincent Laresca, Justin Shilton, Brent Spiner, Josie Maran, Sam Hennings, Willem Dafoe and Stanley DeSantis; Beyond the Sea, starring Kevin Spacey (he also directed the film), Kate Bosworth, John Goodman, Bob Hoskins, Brenda Blethyn, Greta Scacchi and Caroline Aaron; Flight of the Phoenix, with Dennis Quaid, Giovanni Ribisi, Tyrese Gibson, Miranda Otto and Hugh Laurie; Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, starring Jim Carrey, Meryl Streep, Jude Law, Jennifer Coolidge, Liam Aiken, Emily Browning, Timothy Spall, Luis Guzman and Craig Ferguson; and Spanglish, starring dam Sandler, Téa Leoni, Paz Vega and Cloris Leachman.
2004 - New York City pop artist Tom Wesselman died at 73 years of age. Wesselman was known for his “bedroom still lifes”.
2005 - A group of some 40 people, dressed in Santa Claus costumes, went on a rampage through downtown Auckland, New Zealand, robbing stores and assaulting security guards.
2006 - Indian officials said a killer elephant, named after Osama BIN Laden by fearful villagers, was killed by sharpshooters. The animal was blamed for 14 deaths in the northeastern state of Assam.
2006 - Kelly James of Dallas, TX, one of three missing climbers, was found dead in a snow cave on Mount Hood in Oregon. James had made a four-minute call to his family a week early, saying he was in a snow cave, the climbing party was in trouble and that the other two climbers had headed back down.
2007 - New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine signed into law a measure that abolished the death penalty.
2007 - A U.S. judge ruled that the White House visitor logs are public. The ruling rebuffed President George Bush (II), who did not want visits by religious conservatives to disclosed.
2008 - The United Nations said it would double the budget of its Afghan mission, taking on hundreds of new staff and opening more offices.
2009 - The Obama administration handed out the first $182 million of a $7.2 billion fund of stimulus money. The initial dollars were intended for building high-speed Internet networks and encouraging more Americans to use them.
2009 - A St Matthews church billboard showing an apparently naked Virgin Mary and Joseph in bed together was erected in New Zealand. The poster quickly sparked the ire of conservative Christians. The church’s vicar, Archdeacon Glynn Cardy, said the billboard was meant to challenge stereotypes about the way Jesus was conceived.
2010 - Movies debuting in the U.S.: Casino Jack, starring Kevin Spacey, Kelly Preston, Rachelle Lefevre, Barry Pepper and Jon Lovitz; How Do You Know, starring Jack Nicholson, Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson and Andrew Wilson; Rabbit Hole, with Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart, Dianne Wiest, Sandra Oh and Jon Tenney; TRON: Legacy, starring Jeff Bridges, Michael Sheen, Olivia Wilde, Garrett Hedlund and Serinda Swan; and the 3D ‘live and animated’ Yogi Bear, featuring Anna Faris, T.J. Miller, Dan Aykroyd, Justin Timberlake and Tom Cavanagh.
Birthdays December 17
1797 - Joseph Henry
scientist: discovered the principle of self-induction; constructed 1st model of an electric telegraph with audible signal; president [1868-1878] and charter member of National Academy of Sciences; died May 14, 1878
1807 - John Greenleaf Whittier
poet: Barbara Frietchie, Maud Miller, Snowbound; Quaker: devoted to the abolitionist cause in U.S.; died Sep 7, 1892
1894 - Arthur Fiedler
conductor: The Boston Pops Orchestra; died July 10, 1979
1903 - Erskine Caldwell
novelist: Tobacco Road, God’s Little Acre; died Apr 11, 1987
1908 - Willard Libby
Nobel prize-winning atomic scientist [1960]: inventor of Carbon-14, the method for dating ancient plant, animal and mineral remains; died Sep 8, 1980
1910 - Sy (Melvin James) Oliver
trumpeter, singer, arranger, bandleader, composer: Easy Does It, Swing High, Well, Git It, Opus No. 1; died May 28, 1988
1915 - Joan (Joanne) Woodbury
actress: The Time Travelers, Northwest Trail, Song of the Gringo, Bulldog Courage; died Feb 22, 1989
1928 - Julia Meade (Kunza)
entertainer: Club Embassy; TV hostess: Spotlight Playhouse, Gas Company Playhouse
1929 - William Safire
journalist, author: Words of Wisdom, Coming to Terms; died Sep 27, 2009
1930 - Bob Guccione
publisher: Penthouse Magazine
1936 - Tommy Steele (Hicks)
singer: Rock with the Caveman; actor: The Happiest Millionaire, Half a Sixpence
1937 - Art Neville
musician: keyboards, percussion, singer: group: The Neville Brothers
1937 - Nat Stuckey
country singer: Got Leaving on Her Mind, Days of Sand and Shovels, She Wakes Me Every Morning with a Kiss, Young Love [w/Connie Smith]; songwriter: Sweet Thang, Oh Woman, Waitin’ in Your Welfare Line; died Aug 24, 1988
1938 - Leo (Leonardo Lazaro Alfonso) ‘Chico’ Cardenas
baseball: Cincinnati Reds [World Series: 1961/all-star: 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968], Minnesota Twins [all-star: 1971], California Angels, Cleveland Indians, Texas Rangers
1938 - Peter Snell
Olympic Gold Medalist: 800-meter run [1960, 1964] and 1500-meter run [1964]
1939 - Eddie Kendricks
singer: group: The Temptations: My Girl, I Can’t Get Next To You; solo: Keep on Truckin’, Boogie Down, Shoeshine Boy; died Oct 5, 1992
1942 - Paul Butterfield
musician: group: Paul Butterfield Blues Band: East-West; died May 4, 1987
1943 - Christopher Cazenove
actor: Aces: Iron Eagle 3, Three Men and a Little Lady, Windmills of the Gods, Mata Hari, Children of the Full Moon, Eye of the Needle, Zulu Dawn, Royal flash , A Fine Romance, Dynasty; died Apr 7, 2010
1943 - DAVE Dee (Harmon)
musician: tambourine, singer: group: DAVE Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich: You Make It Move, Hold Tight, Hideaway, Bend It, Save Me, Touch Me Touch Me, Okay, Zabadak, Legend of Xanadu, Last Night in Soho, Wreck of the Antoinette; solo: My Woman’s Man; record promoter
1944 - Bernard Hill
actor: Mountains of the Moon, Shirley Valentine, Bellman and True, Drowning by Numbers, No Surrender, The Bounty, Gandhi
1945 - Ernie Hudson
actor: Tornado!, The Substitute, Congo, Wild Palms, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, Ghostbusters series, Joy of Sex, The $5.20 an Hour Dream, Broken Badges
1946 - Eugene Levy
Emmy Award-winning writer: The Energy Ball/Sweeps Week, SCTV Network [1982-83]; actor: Second City TV, A Mighty Wind, Best in Show
1946 - Russ Washington
football; San Diego Chargers
1949 - Paul Rodgers
songwriter, singer: groups: Free: All Right Now; Bad Company: Shooting Star; solo: LPs: Cut Loose, Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters, The Hendrix Set, Live: The Loreley Tapes, Now, Live, Electric
1950 - Joe Rizzo
football: Denver Broncos linebacker: Super Bowl XII
1953 - Barry Livingston
actor: My Three Sons, Sons and Daughters
1958 - Mike Mills
musician: bass: group: R.E.M.: Radio Free Europe, Talk About the Passion, So Central Rain, Seven Chinese Brothers, [Don’t Go Back to] Rockville
1959 - Albert King
basketball: Univ. of Maryland, New Jersey Nets
1961 - Sarah Dallin
singer: group: Bananarama
1964 - Frank Musil
hockey: Minnesota North Stars, Calgary Flames, Ottawa Senators, Edmonton Oilers
1965 - Craig Berube
hockey [left wing]: NHL: Philadelphia Flyers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Calgary Flames, Washington Capitals, New York Islanders
1965 - Clive Robertson
actor: Sunset Beach, Starhunter, General Hospital, DARKSTAR - The Interactive Movie, Before the Killing Starts, Paparazzo, Cinderumplestiltskin, Topper [1992]
1970 - Sean Patrick Thomas
actor: The District, A Raisin in the Sun [2008], Halloween: Resurrection, Barbershop, Barbershop 2: Back in Business, Dracula 2000, Cruel Intentions, Conspiracy Theory
1971 - Tony Richardson
football [running back]: Auburn Univ; NFL: Kansas City Chiefs
1972 - Don Davis
football [linebacker]: Univ of Kansas; NFL: New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, St. Louis Rams, New England Patriots
1972 - Laurie Holden
actress: The X-Files: The Truth, Knights of Impossingworth Park, Fantastic Four, Dead Man’s Gun, The Majestic, Expect No Mercy, The Magnificent Seven
1974 - Marissa Ribisi
actress: Lightfield’s Home Videos, Lip Service, Some Girl, Hollywood Confidential, Encino Woman, According to Spencer
1984 - Shannon Marie Woodward
actress: Dot, Man of the House, True Women, Tornado!, Family Reunion: A Relative Nightmare
1986 - Vanessa Zima
actress: Murder One, The Far Side of Jericho, Cavedweller, Zoe, The Brainiacs.com, Wicked, Ulee’s Gold, The Baby-Sitters Club, The Absent
Chart Toppers December 17
1952I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - Jimmy Boyd
Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer - Gene Autry
White Christmas - Bing Crosby
Back Street Affair - Webb Pierce
1961Please Mr. Postman - The Marvelettes
The Twist - Chubby Checker
Let There Be Drums - Sandy Nelson
Walk on By - Leroy Van Dyke
1970The Tears of a Clown - Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
Gypsy Woman - Brian Hyland
One Less Bell to Answer - The Fifth Dimension
Endlessly - Sonny James
1979Babe - Styx
Still - Commodores
Please Don’t Go - K.C. & The Sunshine Band
Happy Birthday Darlin’ - Conway Twitty
1988Look Away - Chicago
Every Rose Has Its Thorn - Poison
Giving You the Best that I Got - Anita Baker
A Tender Lie - Restless Heart
1997Something About the Way You Look Tonight/Candle in the Wind 1997 - Elton John
How Do I Live - LeAnn Rimes
My Body - LSG
From Here to Eternity - Michael Peterson
2006Irreplaceable - Beyoncé
My Love - Justin Timberlake featuring T.I.
How to Save a Life - The Fray
My Wish - Rascal Flatts
enjoy all
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Born On This Day 1939...Eddie Kendricks of The Temptations...R.I.P.