BROWNNOSE
BOOTLICKER
20th day of 2011 - 345 remaining
Thursday, January 20, 2011
ENTERTAINER OF THE CENTURY DAY
With cigar in hand, seemingly always accompanied by a young and beautiful woman, George Burns, made millions of us laugh with his quick wit and easy style.
Born Nathan Birnbaum on this day in 1896 in New York City, Burns’ show biz career got started with his straight man act for zany Gracie Allen back in 1922.
On January 7, 1926 the two were wed and the Burns and Allen team made history from vaudeville to radio (1932) to films and then, TV beginning in 1950. Several generations used Mr. Burns’ trademark close, “Say goodnight, Gracie,” whenever someone made a ditzy comment. Hollywood cast the duo with their inspired lunacy in a slew of films in the ’30s including: International House, We’re Not Dressing, A Damsel in Distress, College Swing and Honolulu.
Three decades passed before George Burns made another movie. This one was a winner. In fact, The Sunshine Boys won George Burns his first Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (1975). Other films followed in rapid succession: Oh, God! [1977], Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band [1978], Going in Style [1979], Oh, God! Book 2 [1980], Two of a Kind [1982], Oh, God! You Devil [1984] and Radioland Murders [1994].
At the age of 93, George Burns was making hits with the song, I Wish I Was Eighteen Again from his 1988 film, 18 Again!. And he was playing Vegas to rave revues.
The 20th century’s premier entertainer, George Burns, continued to show all of us how to live life to its fullest, still singing and story-telling to his 100th birthday. Mr. Burns died on March 9, 1996.
Events January 20
1885 - The roller coaster was patented by La Marcus Thompson of, where else, Coney Island, NY. His coaster was 450 feet long with the highest drop being 30 feet.
1892 - The first organized basketball game was played by students at the Springfield, MA YMCA Training School.
1920 - The American Civil Liberties Union was organized. 64 people, including Helen Keller and Felix Frankfurter served on the first Board. Founder Roger Baldwin served as the Executive Director, a position he held for thirty years.
1929 - In Old Arizona was released. The movie was the first full-length talkie to be filmed outdoors. Mainly, the great outdoors of the states of Utah and California.
1937 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt became the first U.S. President to be inaugurated on January 20th. The 20th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution set the date, officially, for the swearing in of the President and Vice President. The amendment was ratified by Congress in 1933.
1941 - Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated for his third term as U.S President.
1942 - Harry Babbitt sang as Kay Kyser and his orchestra recorded, Who Wouldn’t Love You, on Columbia Records. The record went on to be a big hit for Kyser.
1944 - The Royal Air Force raided Berlin, dropping 2300 tons of bombs.
1945 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt was sworn into office for an unprecedented fourth term as President of the United States.
1949 - U.S. President Harry S Truman was sworn in for a second term of office. In his inaugural address, Truman branded communism a “false philosophy” as he outlined his program for U.S. leadership of the world.
1952 - Patricia McCormick debuted as the first professional woman bullfighter! She got herself two bulls in the contest held in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
1953 - A television show was transmitted from the United States to Canada for the first time. The CBS Television production of Studio One was transmitted to CBLT-TV in Canada.
1953 - Dwight D. Eisenhower took the oath of office as president of the United States. Richard Nixon was sworn in as vice president. The event was the first live coast-to-coast inauguration address.
1954 - The National Negro Network was formed on this date. Some 40 radio stations were charter members of the network.
1954 - The lowest temperature ever recorded in the 48 contiguous states happened at Rogers Pass, in Lewis and Clark County, Montana: minus 69.7 degrees (Fahrenheit).
1957 - Dwight D. Eisenhower took the oath of office for the second time as president of the United States. It was a private ceremony in the East Room of the White House. Why so private? Jan 20, 1957 was a Sunday, but the country still neeeded a president. The big blowout was held the following day on the east portico of the U.S. Capitol.
1958 - The rock ’n’ roll classic, Get a Job, by The Silhouettes, was released.
1958 - Elvis Presley reported to the Memphis draft board and was declared 1A. He told the assembled horde of press, “It’s a duty I’ve got to fill and I’m going to do it...” After a sixty-day deferment because of his contracted film for Paramount, King Creole, Elvis was indeed off to join the army.
1959 - Alcoa Presents was seen for the first time on ABC-TV. Later, the show would be renamed One Step Beyond. The program was based on “true events that are strange, frightening and unexplainable in terms of normal human experience.” A lot like this stuff you are reading right now...
1961 - John F. Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th U.S. president. He said as part of his brief address, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” Robert Frost recited Gift Outright at the inauguration.
1961 - The second pilot episode of The **** Van Dyke Show was filmed. The first pilot had been filmed back in 1958. The show actually got on the air on Oct 3, 1961.
1964 - This was a big day in U.S. record stores as the first album by The Beatles was released. The LP, Meet the Beatles, became a huge success and was #1 on the charts by February 15, 1964. The British Invasion had begun. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
1965 - Alan Freed, the ‘Father of Rock ’n’ Roll’, died in Palm Springs, CA. Freed was one of the first radio disc jockeys to program black music, or race music, as it was termed, for white audiences. In the 1950s, Freed, called ‘Moon Doggy’ at WJW Radio in Cleveland, coined the phrase, “rock ’n’ roll,” before moving to WABC in New York. He was fired by WABC for allegedly accepting payola (being paid to play records by certain artists and record companies). The 1959-1960 congressional investigation into payola made Freed the scapegoat for what was a wide spread practice. Freed, not so incidentally, died nearly penniless after the scandal was exposed.
1965 - Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as president of the United States by Chief Justice Earl Warren. Johnson had first taken the oath of office on board Air Force One on November 22, 1963, the day President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. The election of 1964 was a landslide victory for the Democratic Party.
1969 - Richard M. Nixon was inaugurated as the 37th U.S. president. The election of 1968 had been the culmination of a wrenching national experience that included the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, violence at the Democratic National Convention, and widespread demonstrations against the Vietnam War. In the end, Nixon won on a campaign of “law and order.”
1973 - U.S. President Richard M. Nixon was inaugurated for his second term.
1974 - After an auto accident that had almost taken his life five months earlier, Stevie Wonder was back at work, playing a gig at the Rainbow Theatre in London.
1974 - Golfing great Johnny Miller won the Tucson Open Golf Tournament and became the first pro golfer to win four consecutive major tournaments.
1977 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter was sworn in. After the inaugural ceremony, the president and his family walked down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House.
1978 - Fred Silverman quit as head honcho of programming for ABC-TV. He accepted an offer to be president of NBC. Silverman had developed shows like Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, Charlie’s Angels and Three’s Company to earn ABC its highest ratings ever. His magic, however, didn’t work as well at NBC. Silverman’s Waterloo, so to speak, was a most expensive TV bomb: Super Train, starring Steve Lawrence. Grant Tinker replaced Silverman and took the Peacock Network to number one in a few years. Silverman went on to become one of Hollywood’s top, independent producers.
1980 - Super Bowl XIV (at Pasadena): Pittsburgh Steelers 31, Los Angeles Rams 19. The Rams led 13-10 at the half and 19-17 at the end of the third quarter. A 73-yard pass completion to John Stallworth and a Franco Harris 1-yard run changed that in the fourth quarter. MVP: Steelers’ QB Terry Bradshaw. Tickets: $30.00.
1981 - Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as the 40th president of the United States. That same day, 52 American hostages were released by Iran after 444 days in captivity.
1985 - Super Bowl XIX (at Palo Alto): San Francisco 49ers 38, Miami Dolphins 16. The only Super Bowl played at Stanford University Stadium saw Bill Walsh’s 49ers overwhelm Don Shula’s Dolphins. The 1984 49ers, the first team to win 15 games in a regular season (15-1), outscored opponents by 2 to 1 and had ten players voted to the Pro Bowl. MVP: 49ers QB Joe Montana. Tickets: $60.00. It was the most-watched Super Bowl game in history, seen by an estimated 115.9 million people. The program with the largest audience ever (aside from man landing on the moon) was the final episode of "M*A*S*H" in 1983. Super Bowl XIX also marked the first time that TV commericals sold for a million dollars a minute! That breaks down to less than a penny a person or a CPM (cost per thousand) under $9 or, in other words... not such a bad advertising deal... if you could remember the sponsors.
1985 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan was sworn in for a second term at a private Sunday ceremony in the North Entrance Hall of the White House. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren E. Burger administered the oath, as he did at the public inauguration at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda the next day.
1986 - New footage of the 1931 horror classic, Frankenstein, was found. It depicted the monster, played by Boris Karloff, throwing a girl into a lake and showed a hypodermic needle in the monster’s arm! Yeeeeeow! The scenes had been cut because they were considered too shocking for the 1930’s theatre crowd. They have since been put back in and the film has been rereleased.
1987 - Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite was kidnapped while on a mission to Beirut negotiating the release of westerners being held hostage in Lebanon. He would not be released until November 1991.
1989 - George Bush was sworn in as the 41st president of the U.S. Dan Quayle was sworn in as VP.
1990 - Actress Barbara Stanwyck died in Santa Monica, CA. She was 82 years old. Stanwyck appeared in over 80 films, was nominated four times for an Academy Award (Stella Dallas [1937], Ball of Fire [1941], Double Indemnity [1944] and Sorry, Wrong Number [1948]), and starred in several TV series, including The Big Valley, The Thorn Birds and The Colbys.
1992 - A French Airbus A-320 crashed near Strasbourg (northeastern France), killing 87 people.
1993 - U.S. President Bill Clinton picked up his saxophone to jam with Ben E. King, Clarence Clemons, Herbie Hancock, Dionne Warwick, Chuck Berry and others at several of the dozen balls honoring his inauguration.
1994 - Shannon Faulkner became the first woman to attend classes at the Citadel in South Carolina. She joined the cadet corps in Aug 1995, under court order, but soon dropped out, citing isolation and stress.
1996 - Yasser Arafat was elected president in the first Palestinian elections. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians turned out to vote in the festive first election, solidly endorsing Arafat and his peace policies.
1997 - U.S. President Bill Clinton and VP Al Gore were sworn in for second terms of office. In his inaugural address, Clinton called for an end to “the politics of petty bickering and extreme partisanship.”
1998 - The headline read, “Cloned Calves Offer Promise of Medicines.” The calves were cloned from the cells of cow fetuses by University of Massachusetts scientists, James Robl and Steven Stice, who also worked for Advanced Cell Technology Inc., a biotech start-up in Worcester, MA. The hope is for genetically customized calves that will be able to safely, easily and cheaply produce medicines for humans in their milk.
1999 - The Malcolm X postage stamp went on sale. It was the 22nd in the U.S. Black heritage series.
2000 - Census 2000 officially got under way as U.S. Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt knocked on the door of a small wood-frame house in Unalakleet, Alaska, to begin the nationwide head count.
2001 - Movies opening in the U.S.: The American Astronaut, with Cory McAbee, Rocco Sisto, Gregory Russell Cook, Annie Golden, James Ransone and Joshua Taylor; and L.I.E., starring Brian Cox, Paul Dano, Billy Kay, Bruce Altman and James Costa.
2001 - George W. Bush, son of former President George H.W. Bush, was sworn in as 43rd President of the United States. Richard Cheney was sworn in as vice president.
2002 - Ron Howard’s A Beautiful Mind was named best drama and its star, Russell Crowe, the top dramatic actor at the 59th annual Golden Globes ceremony. Sissy Spacek was named best dramatic actress for In the Bedroom while Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge won three awards including best musical or comedy.
2003 - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, faced with stiff resistance and calls to go slow, bluntly told the U.N. Security Council that the United Nations “cannot shrink” from its responsibility to disarm Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.
2004 - Salvation Army officials announced a $1.5 billion donation by the late Joan Kroc, heiress to the McDonald’s fortune.
2005 - The inauguration ceremony for U.S. President George Bush (II) was held in Washington DC. The event was estimated to have cost $40 million. The Bush administration asked the District of Columbia to use $11.9 million of its federal homeland security funds to help pay costs. Meanwhile, inaugural protests were held in cities across the U.S.
2006 - Movies opening in the U.S.: End of the Spear, with Louie Leonardo, Chad Allen, Jack Guzman, Christina Souza, Chase Ellison, Sean McGowan, Cara Stoner, Beth Bailey, Stephen Caudill, Matt Lutz, Cheno Mepaquito, Jose Liberto Caizamo, Patrick Zeller and Magdalena Condoba Traci Dinwiddie; and Underworld: Evolution, starring Kate Beckinsale, Michael Sheen, Scott Speedman, Shane Brolly, Bill Nighy and Derek Jacobi.
2006 - Iraq’s election commission released the final vote results from the Dec 2005 legislative elections. The United Iraqi Alliance, a combination of Shiite religious parties, won the most seats in the new National Assembly.
2006 - Israel Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said Israeli authorities had “decisive proof that the attack (on a fast-food restaurant) in Tel Aviv was a direct result of the Axis of Terror that operates between Iran and Syria.”
2007 - George Smathers, former 3-term U.S. Senator from Florida, died at 93 years of age. While in the Senate, Smathers helped pass bills to create Medicare, the Small Business Administration and Everglades National Park. He also pushed for federal holidays to be moved to Mondays and ardently supported the war in Vietnam.
2008 - A bus carrying Hindus on a religious pilgrimage skidded off a hill and plunged into a gorge in western India. The crash killed 38 people and injured 40 others.
2009 - Vacancy 2: The First Cut, opened in the U.S. The horror, thriller stars features Agnes Bruckner, Lola Davidson, Angel Oquendo, David Moscow, Nelson Lee, Brian Klugman, Gwendoline Yeo and Trevor Wright.
2009 - Toyota selected Akio Toyoda, grandson of the automaker’s founder, to be its president.
2009 - Some two-million people packed the National Mall in Washington, DC to celebrate the inauguration of Barack Obama. He was sworn into office by Chief Supreme Court Justice John Roberts and then give his inaugural address. “The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works,” said America’s 44th president.
2010 - New movies in the U.S.: Shrinking Charlotte, starring Brittany Murphy, Matthew Lillard, Kathleen Turner, Sam Trammell, Sunny Mabrey, Fred Willard and Elizabeth Peña; amd Room and a Half, with Grigoriy Dityatkovskiy, Aleksandr Bargman, Sergei Barkovsky and Aleksei Devotchenko.
2010 - President Hugo Chavez opened the new 1.8 km. cable system in Caracas Venezuela. Cable Caracas Metro is a network of cable cars running to the poorest areas of the capital, allowing inhabitants of the neighborhoods in the mountainous regions to be transported quickly and safely to the city center.
2010 - U.S. researchers estimated that shaving 3 grams (half a teaspoon) off their daily salt intake could save Americans up to 66,000 strokes, 99,000 heart attacks and 92,000 deaths, while saving $24 billion in health costs per year.
Birthdays January 20
1896 - George Burns (Nathan Birnbaum)
entertainer; died Mar 9, 1996; see Entertainer of the Century Day [above]
1901- Wolfgang Zilzer
actor: Casablanca, FDR: A One Man Show, Neunzig Minuten nach Mitternacht, Women in the Night, Enemy of Women, The Strange Death of Adolf Hitler; died Jun 26, 1991
1910 - Joy Adamson (Gessner)
naturalist, writer: Born Free, Living Free,Forever Free; died (murdered by an irate former employee) Jan 3, 1980
1920 - Federico Fellini
director, screenwriter: Oscar-winning Best foreign-language [Italian] films: La Strada [1956], The Nights of Cabiria [1957], 8 1/2 [1963], Amarcord [1974]; died Oct 31, 1993
1920 - DeForest Kelley
actor: Star Trek series, Apache Uprising, The Law and Jake Wade, Gunfight at O.K. Corral, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, Fear in the Night; died June 11, 1999
1922 - Ray Anthony (Antonini)
bandleader: themes from Dragnet, Peter Gunn; Bunny Hop, Dancing in the Dark, Melody of Love; host of 1950s TV show; film: Daddy Long Legs, ex of Mamie Van Doren
1924 - Slim Whitman
singer: Indian Love Call, Secret Love, Rose-Marie, Cattle Call, More Than Yesterday, Guess Who, Something Beautiful [To Remember]; has sold 70,000,000 records worldwide
1926 - Patricia Neal
Academy Award-winning actress: Hud [1963]; All Quiet on the Western Front, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Heidi, In Harm’s Way; died Aug 8, 2010
1928 - Lionel Hebert
golf champ: PGA [1957]; died Dec 30, 2000
1929 - Arte Johnson
Emmy Award-winning comedian: Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In [1968-1969]; actor: Love at First Bite, Evil Toons
1930 - Buzz (Edwin) Aldrin Jr.
astronout: Gemini 12 [Nov 11, 1966]: made then-record 5.5 hour space walk; Apollo 11: one of first trio of American men to land on the moon [July 16, 1969]
1931 - Fireball (Edward) Roberts
stock car driver: Daytona 500 winner [1962]; died July 2, 1964 from injuries sustained May 24 during the World 600 race at Charlotte Motor Speedway
1933 - Earl Grant
singer: [At] The End [Of a Rainbow], Ebb Tide; killed in car crash June 11, 1970
1934 - Tom Baker
actor: Doctor Who, Dungeons and Dragons, Backtime, The Law Lord, The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, The Zany Adventures of Robin Hood, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Monarch of the Glen
1934 - Camilo (Alberto Lus) Pascual
‘Little Potato’: baseball: pitcher: Washington Nationals, Washington Senators [all-star: 1959, 1960], Minnesota Twins [World Series: 1965/all-star: 1961, 1962, 1964/AL strikeout leader: 1963 (202 in 18 games)], Cincinnati Reds, LA Dodgers, Cleveland Indians
1935 - Buddy Blake (Buddy Cunningham)
recording artist: recorded for Sun Records as B.B. Cunningham and Buddy Blake; record executive: Cover Record Co., Sam Phillips’ Holiday Inn label
1935 - Milt Plum
football [quarterback]: Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, LA Rams, NY Giants
1937 - Bailey Howell
Basketball Hall of Famer: (Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons, Baltimore Bullets, Philadelphia 76ers; career: 950 games, scored 17,770 points, 9,383 rebounds, two NBA Championships
1937 - Dorothy Provine
actress: It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World; died Apr 25, 2010
1937 - William Wellman Jr.
actor: The Puppet Masters, Lies of the Heart: The Story of Laurie Kellogg, Image of the Beast, A Love Affair: The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig Story
1939 - Murle Lindstrom Breer
golf: U.S. Women’s Open Champion: 1962
1940 - Carol Heiss
skater: five women’s world titles for figure skating [1956-1960], Olympic silver medal [1956], Olympic gold medal [1960]; married 1956 men’s gold medalist Hayes Jenkins
1941 - Ron Townson
singer: group: The 5th Dimension: Up Up and Away, Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In, One Less Bell to Answer, [Last Night] I Didn’t Get to Sleep at All; died Aug 2, 2000
1945 - Eric Stewart
guitarist: group: Mindbenders: Game of Love; Hotlegs then 10cc: Donna, I’m Not in Love, The Things We Do for Love
1946 - David Lynch
director: twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, Dune, The Elephant Man
1947 - George Grantham
drummer: group: Poco: Crazy Eyes, A Good Feelin’ to Know
1950 - Chuck Lefley
hockey: NHL: Montreal Canadiens, SL Blues
1952 - Paul Stanley (Eisen)
singer: formed group: Kiss [the clown]: Rock and Roll All Nite
1956 - Bill Maher
TV host, commentator: Politically Incorrect, Real Time with Bill Maher
1958 - Lorenzo Lamas
actor: Falcon Crest, Renegade, SnakeEater, Bad Blood
1963 - James Denton
actor: Desperate Housewives, The Pretender, Jumbo Girl, Primary Colors, Face/Off, That Old Feeling, Hunter’s Moon, Theives Quartet, Ally McBeal, The West Wing, Threat Matrix
1964 - Ozzie Guillen
baseball: Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Atlanta Braves, TB Devil Rays
1964 - Ron Harper
basketball: Univ of Miami; Cleveland Cavaliers, LA Clippers, Chicago Bulls, LA Lakers
1965 - John Michael Montgomery
country singer: CMA Single of the Year [I Swear: 1994], ACM Song of the Year [I Love The Way You Love Me: 1994]
1966 - Stacey Dash
actress: Clueless, Moving, Mo’ Money, Renaissance Man, Cold Around the Heart, Illegal in Blue, The Strip
1966 - Tracii Guns
musician: guitar: groups: Guns N' Roses, Brides of Destruction, L.A. Guns: Bricks, Electric Gypsy, Rip N Tear, Heartful of Soul, One More Reason, Disbelief
1966 - Chris Morris
basketball [forward]: University of Auburn; NBA: New Jersey Nets, Utah Jazz, Phoenix Suns
1968 - Melissa Rivers
TV host, comedienne: E! Academy Awards Preshow; daughter of comedienne Joan Rivers
1970 - Edwin McCain
singer: I’ll Be, Solitude, Coming Down, Couldn’t Love You More, Save the Rain, Darwin’s Children, Holy City
1970 - Skeet Ulrich
actor: Jericho, Into the West, Kevin of the North, Takedown, The Newton Boys, As Good as It Gets, The Craft, Last Dance
1971 - Brian Giles
baseball [right, center field]: Cleveland Indians, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres
1971 - Jane Hall
actress: Code 11-14, Finding Hope, Dead Letter Office, Halifax f.p: Someone You Know, Kangaroo Palace
1973 - Eddie Kennison
football: Louisiana State Univ; NFL: SL Rams, NO Saints, Chicago Bears, KC Chiefs
1973 - Julio Santana
baseball [pitcher]: Texas Rangers, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Boston Red Sox, Montreal Expos, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers, Philadelphia Phillies
1975 - Eric Landry
hockey: Calgary Flames, Montreal Canadiens
1979 - Rob Bourdon
musician: drums: group: Linkin Park: Numb, Encore, One Step Closer, Crawling, Faint, Lying From You, Breaking the Habit, Somewhere I Belong
Chart Toppers January 20
1950Dear Hearts and Gentle People - Dinah Shore
A Dreamer’s Holiday - Perry Como
The Old Master Painter - Snooky Lanson
Blues Stay Away from Me - Delmore Brothers
1959Smoke Gets in Your Eyes - The Platters
My Happiness - Connie Francis
Donna - Ritchie Valens
Billy Bayou - Jim Reeves
1968Judy in Disguise (With Glasses) - John Fred & His Playboy Band
Chain of Fools - Aretha Franklin
Green Tambourine - The Lemon Pipers
Sing Me Back Home - Merle Haggard
1977You Make Me Feel Like Dancing - Leo Sayer
Car Wash - Rose Royce
Dazz - Brick
You Never Miss a Real Good Thing (Till He Says Goodbye) - Crystal Gayle
1986That’s What Friends are For - Dionne & Friends
Talk to Me - Stevie Nicks
Burning Heart - Survivor
Bop - Dan Seals
1995On Bended Knee - Boyz II Men
Another Night - Real McCoy
Always - Bon Jovi
Not a Moment Too Soon - Tim McGraw
2004The Way You Move - Outkast
Milkshake - Kelis
You Don’t Know My Name - Alicia Keys
There Goes My Life - Kenny Chesney
Happy Birthday Paul Stanley of Kiss
View attachment 9777
Thursday, January 20, 2011
ENTERTAINER OF THE CENTURY DAY
With cigar in hand, seemingly always accompanied by a young and beautiful woman, George Burns, made millions of us laugh with his quick wit and easy style.
Born Nathan Birnbaum on this day in 1896 in New York City, Burns’ show biz career got started with his straight man act for zany Gracie Allen back in 1922.
On January 7, 1926 the two were wed and the Burns and Allen team made history from vaudeville to radio (1932) to films and then, TV beginning in 1950. Several generations used Mr. Burns’ trademark close, “Say goodnight, Gracie,” whenever someone made a ditzy comment. Hollywood cast the duo with their inspired lunacy in a slew of films in the ’30s including: International House, We’re Not Dressing, A Damsel in Distress, College Swing and Honolulu.
Three decades passed before George Burns made another movie. This one was a winner. In fact, The Sunshine Boys won George Burns his first Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (1975). Other films followed in rapid succession: Oh, God! [1977], Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band [1978], Going in Style [1979], Oh, God! Book 2 [1980], Two of a Kind [1982], Oh, God! You Devil [1984] and Radioland Murders [1994].
At the age of 93, George Burns was making hits with the song, I Wish I Was Eighteen Again from his 1988 film, 18 Again!. And he was playing Vegas to rave revues.
The 20th century’s premier entertainer, George Burns, continued to show all of us how to live life to its fullest, still singing and story-telling to his 100th birthday. Mr. Burns died on March 9, 1996.
Events January 20
1885 - The roller coaster was patented by La Marcus Thompson of, where else, Coney Island, NY. His coaster was 450 feet long with the highest drop being 30 feet.
1892 - The first organized basketball game was played by students at the Springfield, MA YMCA Training School.
1920 - The American Civil Liberties Union was organized. 64 people, including Helen Keller and Felix Frankfurter served on the first Board. Founder Roger Baldwin served as the Executive Director, a position he held for thirty years.
1929 - In Old Arizona was released. The movie was the first full-length talkie to be filmed outdoors. Mainly, the great outdoors of the states of Utah and California.
1937 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt became the first U.S. President to be inaugurated on January 20th. The 20th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution set the date, officially, for the swearing in of the President and Vice President. The amendment was ratified by Congress in 1933.
1941 - Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated for his third term as U.S President.
1942 - Harry Babbitt sang as Kay Kyser and his orchestra recorded, Who Wouldn’t Love You, on Columbia Records. The record went on to be a big hit for Kyser.
1944 - The Royal Air Force raided Berlin, dropping 2300 tons of bombs.
1945 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt was sworn into office for an unprecedented fourth term as President of the United States.
1949 - U.S. President Harry S Truman was sworn in for a second term of office. In his inaugural address, Truman branded communism a “false philosophy” as he outlined his program for U.S. leadership of the world.
1952 - Patricia McCormick debuted as the first professional woman bullfighter! She got herself two bulls in the contest held in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
1953 - A television show was transmitted from the United States to Canada for the first time. The CBS Television production of Studio One was transmitted to CBLT-TV in Canada.
1953 - Dwight D. Eisenhower took the oath of office as president of the United States. Richard Nixon was sworn in as vice president. The event was the first live coast-to-coast inauguration address.
1954 - The National Negro Network was formed on this date. Some 40 radio stations were charter members of the network.
1954 - The lowest temperature ever recorded in the 48 contiguous states happened at Rogers Pass, in Lewis and Clark County, Montana: minus 69.7 degrees (Fahrenheit).
1957 - Dwight D. Eisenhower took the oath of office for the second time as president of the United States. It was a private ceremony in the East Room of the White House. Why so private? Jan 20, 1957 was a Sunday, but the country still neeeded a president. The big blowout was held the following day on the east portico of the U.S. Capitol.
1958 - The rock ’n’ roll classic, Get a Job, by The Silhouettes, was released.
1958 - Elvis Presley reported to the Memphis draft board and was declared 1A. He told the assembled horde of press, “It’s a duty I’ve got to fill and I’m going to do it...” After a sixty-day deferment because of his contracted film for Paramount, King Creole, Elvis was indeed off to join the army.
1959 - Alcoa Presents was seen for the first time on ABC-TV. Later, the show would be renamed One Step Beyond. The program was based on “true events that are strange, frightening and unexplainable in terms of normal human experience.” A lot like this stuff you are reading right now...
1961 - John F. Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th U.S. president. He said as part of his brief address, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” Robert Frost recited Gift Outright at the inauguration.
1961 - The second pilot episode of The **** Van Dyke Show was filmed. The first pilot had been filmed back in 1958. The show actually got on the air on Oct 3, 1961.
1964 - This was a big day in U.S. record stores as the first album by The Beatles was released. The LP, Meet the Beatles, became a huge success and was #1 on the charts by February 15, 1964. The British Invasion had begun. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
1965 - Alan Freed, the ‘Father of Rock ’n’ Roll’, died in Palm Springs, CA. Freed was one of the first radio disc jockeys to program black music, or race music, as it was termed, for white audiences. In the 1950s, Freed, called ‘Moon Doggy’ at WJW Radio in Cleveland, coined the phrase, “rock ’n’ roll,” before moving to WABC in New York. He was fired by WABC for allegedly accepting payola (being paid to play records by certain artists and record companies). The 1959-1960 congressional investigation into payola made Freed the scapegoat for what was a wide spread practice. Freed, not so incidentally, died nearly penniless after the scandal was exposed.
1965 - Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as president of the United States by Chief Justice Earl Warren. Johnson had first taken the oath of office on board Air Force One on November 22, 1963, the day President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. The election of 1964 was a landslide victory for the Democratic Party.
1969 - Richard M. Nixon was inaugurated as the 37th U.S. president. The election of 1968 had been the culmination of a wrenching national experience that included the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, violence at the Democratic National Convention, and widespread demonstrations against the Vietnam War. In the end, Nixon won on a campaign of “law and order.”
1973 - U.S. President Richard M. Nixon was inaugurated for his second term.
1974 - After an auto accident that had almost taken his life five months earlier, Stevie Wonder was back at work, playing a gig at the Rainbow Theatre in London.
1974 - Golfing great Johnny Miller won the Tucson Open Golf Tournament and became the first pro golfer to win four consecutive major tournaments.
1977 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter was sworn in. After the inaugural ceremony, the president and his family walked down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House.
1978 - Fred Silverman quit as head honcho of programming for ABC-TV. He accepted an offer to be president of NBC. Silverman had developed shows like Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, Charlie’s Angels and Three’s Company to earn ABC its highest ratings ever. His magic, however, didn’t work as well at NBC. Silverman’s Waterloo, so to speak, was a most expensive TV bomb: Super Train, starring Steve Lawrence. Grant Tinker replaced Silverman and took the Peacock Network to number one in a few years. Silverman went on to become one of Hollywood’s top, independent producers.
1980 - Super Bowl XIV (at Pasadena): Pittsburgh Steelers 31, Los Angeles Rams 19. The Rams led 13-10 at the half and 19-17 at the end of the third quarter. A 73-yard pass completion to John Stallworth and a Franco Harris 1-yard run changed that in the fourth quarter. MVP: Steelers’ QB Terry Bradshaw. Tickets: $30.00.
1981 - Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as the 40th president of the United States. That same day, 52 American hostages were released by Iran after 444 days in captivity.
1985 - Super Bowl XIX (at Palo Alto): San Francisco 49ers 38, Miami Dolphins 16. The only Super Bowl played at Stanford University Stadium saw Bill Walsh’s 49ers overwhelm Don Shula’s Dolphins. The 1984 49ers, the first team to win 15 games in a regular season (15-1), outscored opponents by 2 to 1 and had ten players voted to the Pro Bowl. MVP: 49ers QB Joe Montana. Tickets: $60.00. It was the most-watched Super Bowl game in history, seen by an estimated 115.9 million people. The program with the largest audience ever (aside from man landing on the moon) was the final episode of "M*A*S*H" in 1983. Super Bowl XIX also marked the first time that TV commericals sold for a million dollars a minute! That breaks down to less than a penny a person or a CPM (cost per thousand) under $9 or, in other words... not such a bad advertising deal... if you could remember the sponsors.
1985 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan was sworn in for a second term at a private Sunday ceremony in the North Entrance Hall of the White House. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren E. Burger administered the oath, as he did at the public inauguration at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda the next day.
1986 - New footage of the 1931 horror classic, Frankenstein, was found. It depicted the monster, played by Boris Karloff, throwing a girl into a lake and showed a hypodermic needle in the monster’s arm! Yeeeeeow! The scenes had been cut because they were considered too shocking for the 1930’s theatre crowd. They have since been put back in and the film has been rereleased.
1987 - Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite was kidnapped while on a mission to Beirut negotiating the release of westerners being held hostage in Lebanon. He would not be released until November 1991.
1989 - George Bush was sworn in as the 41st president of the U.S. Dan Quayle was sworn in as VP.
1990 - Actress Barbara Stanwyck died in Santa Monica, CA. She was 82 years old. Stanwyck appeared in over 80 films, was nominated four times for an Academy Award (Stella Dallas [1937], Ball of Fire [1941], Double Indemnity [1944] and Sorry, Wrong Number [1948]), and starred in several TV series, including The Big Valley, The Thorn Birds and The Colbys.
1992 - A French Airbus A-320 crashed near Strasbourg (northeastern France), killing 87 people.
1993 - U.S. President Bill Clinton picked up his saxophone to jam with Ben E. King, Clarence Clemons, Herbie Hancock, Dionne Warwick, Chuck Berry and others at several of the dozen balls honoring his inauguration.
1994 - Shannon Faulkner became the first woman to attend classes at the Citadel in South Carolina. She joined the cadet corps in Aug 1995, under court order, but soon dropped out, citing isolation and stress.
1996 - Yasser Arafat was elected president in the first Palestinian elections. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians turned out to vote in the festive first election, solidly endorsing Arafat and his peace policies.
1997 - U.S. President Bill Clinton and VP Al Gore were sworn in for second terms of office. In his inaugural address, Clinton called for an end to “the politics of petty bickering and extreme partisanship.”
1998 - The headline read, “Cloned Calves Offer Promise of Medicines.” The calves were cloned from the cells of cow fetuses by University of Massachusetts scientists, James Robl and Steven Stice, who also worked for Advanced Cell Technology Inc., a biotech start-up in Worcester, MA. The hope is for genetically customized calves that will be able to safely, easily and cheaply produce medicines for humans in their milk.
1999 - The Malcolm X postage stamp went on sale. It was the 22nd in the U.S. Black heritage series.
2000 - Census 2000 officially got under way as U.S. Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt knocked on the door of a small wood-frame house in Unalakleet, Alaska, to begin the nationwide head count.
2001 - Movies opening in the U.S.: The American Astronaut, with Cory McAbee, Rocco Sisto, Gregory Russell Cook, Annie Golden, James Ransone and Joshua Taylor; and L.I.E., starring Brian Cox, Paul Dano, Billy Kay, Bruce Altman and James Costa.
2001 - George W. Bush, son of former President George H.W. Bush, was sworn in as 43rd President of the United States. Richard Cheney was sworn in as vice president.
2002 - Ron Howard’s A Beautiful Mind was named best drama and its star, Russell Crowe, the top dramatic actor at the 59th annual Golden Globes ceremony. Sissy Spacek was named best dramatic actress for In the Bedroom while Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge won three awards including best musical or comedy.
2003 - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, faced with stiff resistance and calls to go slow, bluntly told the U.N. Security Council that the United Nations “cannot shrink” from its responsibility to disarm Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.
2004 - Salvation Army officials announced a $1.5 billion donation by the late Joan Kroc, heiress to the McDonald’s fortune.
2005 - The inauguration ceremony for U.S. President George Bush (II) was held in Washington DC. The event was estimated to have cost $40 million. The Bush administration asked the District of Columbia to use $11.9 million of its federal homeland security funds to help pay costs. Meanwhile, inaugural protests were held in cities across the U.S.
2006 - Movies opening in the U.S.: End of the Spear, with Louie Leonardo, Chad Allen, Jack Guzman, Christina Souza, Chase Ellison, Sean McGowan, Cara Stoner, Beth Bailey, Stephen Caudill, Matt Lutz, Cheno Mepaquito, Jose Liberto Caizamo, Patrick Zeller and Magdalena Condoba Traci Dinwiddie; and Underworld: Evolution, starring Kate Beckinsale, Michael Sheen, Scott Speedman, Shane Brolly, Bill Nighy and Derek Jacobi.
2006 - Iraq’s election commission released the final vote results from the Dec 2005 legislative elections. The United Iraqi Alliance, a combination of Shiite religious parties, won the most seats in the new National Assembly.
2006 - Israel Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said Israeli authorities had “decisive proof that the attack (on a fast-food restaurant) in Tel Aviv was a direct result of the Axis of Terror that operates between Iran and Syria.”
2007 - George Smathers, former 3-term U.S. Senator from Florida, died at 93 years of age. While in the Senate, Smathers helped pass bills to create Medicare, the Small Business Administration and Everglades National Park. He also pushed for federal holidays to be moved to Mondays and ardently supported the war in Vietnam.
2008 - A bus carrying Hindus on a religious pilgrimage skidded off a hill and plunged into a gorge in western India. The crash killed 38 people and injured 40 others.
2009 - Vacancy 2: The First Cut, opened in the U.S. The horror, thriller stars features Agnes Bruckner, Lola Davidson, Angel Oquendo, David Moscow, Nelson Lee, Brian Klugman, Gwendoline Yeo and Trevor Wright.
2009 - Toyota selected Akio Toyoda, grandson of the automaker’s founder, to be its president.
2009 - Some two-million people packed the National Mall in Washington, DC to celebrate the inauguration of Barack Obama. He was sworn into office by Chief Supreme Court Justice John Roberts and then give his inaugural address. “The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works,” said America’s 44th president.
2010 - New movies in the U.S.: Shrinking Charlotte, starring Brittany Murphy, Matthew Lillard, Kathleen Turner, Sam Trammell, Sunny Mabrey, Fred Willard and Elizabeth Peña; amd Room and a Half, with Grigoriy Dityatkovskiy, Aleksandr Bargman, Sergei Barkovsky and Aleksei Devotchenko.
2010 - President Hugo Chavez opened the new 1.8 km. cable system in Caracas Venezuela. Cable Caracas Metro is a network of cable cars running to the poorest areas of the capital, allowing inhabitants of the neighborhoods in the mountainous regions to be transported quickly and safely to the city center.
2010 - U.S. researchers estimated that shaving 3 grams (half a teaspoon) off their daily salt intake could save Americans up to 66,000 strokes, 99,000 heart attacks and 92,000 deaths, while saving $24 billion in health costs per year.
Birthdays January 20
1896 - George Burns (Nathan Birnbaum)
entertainer; died Mar 9, 1996; see Entertainer of the Century Day [above]
1901- Wolfgang Zilzer
actor: Casablanca, FDR: A One Man Show, Neunzig Minuten nach Mitternacht, Women in the Night, Enemy of Women, The Strange Death of Adolf Hitler; died Jun 26, 1991
1910 - Joy Adamson (Gessner)
naturalist, writer: Born Free, Living Free,Forever Free; died (murdered by an irate former employee) Jan 3, 1980
1920 - Federico Fellini
director, screenwriter: Oscar-winning Best foreign-language [Italian] films: La Strada [1956], The Nights of Cabiria [1957], 8 1/2 [1963], Amarcord [1974]; died Oct 31, 1993
1920 - DeForest Kelley
actor: Star Trek series, Apache Uprising, The Law and Jake Wade, Gunfight at O.K. Corral, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, Fear in the Night; died June 11, 1999
1922 - Ray Anthony (Antonini)
bandleader: themes from Dragnet, Peter Gunn; Bunny Hop, Dancing in the Dark, Melody of Love; host of 1950s TV show; film: Daddy Long Legs, ex of Mamie Van Doren
1924 - Slim Whitman
singer: Indian Love Call, Secret Love, Rose-Marie, Cattle Call, More Than Yesterday, Guess Who, Something Beautiful [To Remember]; has sold 70,000,000 records worldwide
1926 - Patricia Neal
Academy Award-winning actress: Hud [1963]; All Quiet on the Western Front, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Heidi, In Harm’s Way; died Aug 8, 2010
1928 - Lionel Hebert
golf champ: PGA [1957]; died Dec 30, 2000
1929 - Arte Johnson
Emmy Award-winning comedian: Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In [1968-1969]; actor: Love at First Bite, Evil Toons
1930 - Buzz (Edwin) Aldrin Jr.
astronout: Gemini 12 [Nov 11, 1966]: made then-record 5.5 hour space walk; Apollo 11: one of first trio of American men to land on the moon [July 16, 1969]
1931 - Fireball (Edward) Roberts
stock car driver: Daytona 500 winner [1962]; died July 2, 1964 from injuries sustained May 24 during the World 600 race at Charlotte Motor Speedway
1933 - Earl Grant
singer: [At] The End [Of a Rainbow], Ebb Tide; killed in car crash June 11, 1970
1934 - Tom Baker
actor: Doctor Who, Dungeons and Dragons, Backtime, The Law Lord, The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, The Zany Adventures of Robin Hood, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Monarch of the Glen
1934 - Camilo (Alberto Lus) Pascual
‘Little Potato’: baseball: pitcher: Washington Nationals, Washington Senators [all-star: 1959, 1960], Minnesota Twins [World Series: 1965/all-star: 1961, 1962, 1964/AL strikeout leader: 1963 (202 in 18 games)], Cincinnati Reds, LA Dodgers, Cleveland Indians
1935 - Buddy Blake (Buddy Cunningham)
recording artist: recorded for Sun Records as B.B. Cunningham and Buddy Blake; record executive: Cover Record Co., Sam Phillips’ Holiday Inn label
1935 - Milt Plum
football [quarterback]: Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, LA Rams, NY Giants
1937 - Bailey Howell
Basketball Hall of Famer: (Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons, Baltimore Bullets, Philadelphia 76ers; career: 950 games, scored 17,770 points, 9,383 rebounds, two NBA Championships
1937 - Dorothy Provine
actress: It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World; died Apr 25, 2010
1937 - William Wellman Jr.
actor: The Puppet Masters, Lies of the Heart: The Story of Laurie Kellogg, Image of the Beast, A Love Affair: The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig Story
1939 - Murle Lindstrom Breer
golf: U.S. Women’s Open Champion: 1962
1940 - Carol Heiss
skater: five women’s world titles for figure skating [1956-1960], Olympic silver medal [1956], Olympic gold medal [1960]; married 1956 men’s gold medalist Hayes Jenkins
1941 - Ron Townson
singer: group: The 5th Dimension: Up Up and Away, Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In, One Less Bell to Answer, [Last Night] I Didn’t Get to Sleep at All; died Aug 2, 2000
1945 - Eric Stewart
guitarist: group: Mindbenders: Game of Love; Hotlegs then 10cc: Donna, I’m Not in Love, The Things We Do for Love
1946 - David Lynch
director: twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, Dune, The Elephant Man
1947 - George Grantham
drummer: group: Poco: Crazy Eyes, A Good Feelin’ to Know
1950 - Chuck Lefley
hockey: NHL: Montreal Canadiens, SL Blues
1952 - Paul Stanley (Eisen)
singer: formed group: Kiss [the clown]: Rock and Roll All Nite
1956 - Bill Maher
TV host, commentator: Politically Incorrect, Real Time with Bill Maher
1958 - Lorenzo Lamas
actor: Falcon Crest, Renegade, SnakeEater, Bad Blood
1963 - James Denton
actor: Desperate Housewives, The Pretender, Jumbo Girl, Primary Colors, Face/Off, That Old Feeling, Hunter’s Moon, Theives Quartet, Ally McBeal, The West Wing, Threat Matrix
1964 - Ozzie Guillen
baseball: Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Atlanta Braves, TB Devil Rays
1964 - Ron Harper
basketball: Univ of Miami; Cleveland Cavaliers, LA Clippers, Chicago Bulls, LA Lakers
1965 - John Michael Montgomery
country singer: CMA Single of the Year [I Swear: 1994], ACM Song of the Year [I Love The Way You Love Me: 1994]
1966 - Stacey Dash
actress: Clueless, Moving, Mo’ Money, Renaissance Man, Cold Around the Heart, Illegal in Blue, The Strip
1966 - Tracii Guns
musician: guitar: groups: Guns N' Roses, Brides of Destruction, L.A. Guns: Bricks, Electric Gypsy, Rip N Tear, Heartful of Soul, One More Reason, Disbelief
1966 - Chris Morris
basketball [forward]: University of Auburn; NBA: New Jersey Nets, Utah Jazz, Phoenix Suns
1968 - Melissa Rivers
TV host, comedienne: E! Academy Awards Preshow; daughter of comedienne Joan Rivers
1970 - Edwin McCain
singer: I’ll Be, Solitude, Coming Down, Couldn’t Love You More, Save the Rain, Darwin’s Children, Holy City
1970 - Skeet Ulrich
actor: Jericho, Into the West, Kevin of the North, Takedown, The Newton Boys, As Good as It Gets, The Craft, Last Dance
1971 - Brian Giles
baseball [right, center field]: Cleveland Indians, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres
1971 - Jane Hall
actress: Code 11-14, Finding Hope, Dead Letter Office, Halifax f.p: Someone You Know, Kangaroo Palace
1973 - Eddie Kennison
football: Louisiana State Univ; NFL: SL Rams, NO Saints, Chicago Bears, KC Chiefs
1973 - Julio Santana
baseball [pitcher]: Texas Rangers, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Boston Red Sox, Montreal Expos, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers, Philadelphia Phillies
1975 - Eric Landry
hockey: Calgary Flames, Montreal Canadiens
1979 - Rob Bourdon
musician: drums: group: Linkin Park: Numb, Encore, One Step Closer, Crawling, Faint, Lying From You, Breaking the Habit, Somewhere I Belong
Chart Toppers January 20
1950Dear Hearts and Gentle People - Dinah Shore
A Dreamer’s Holiday - Perry Como
The Old Master Painter - Snooky Lanson
Blues Stay Away from Me - Delmore Brothers
1959Smoke Gets in Your Eyes - The Platters
My Happiness - Connie Francis
Donna - Ritchie Valens
Billy Bayou - Jim Reeves
1968Judy in Disguise (With Glasses) - John Fred & His Playboy Band
Chain of Fools - Aretha Franklin
Green Tambourine - The Lemon Pipers
Sing Me Back Home - Merle Haggard
1977You Make Me Feel Like Dancing - Leo Sayer
Car Wash - Rose Royce
Dazz - Brick
You Never Miss a Real Good Thing (Till He Says Goodbye) - Crystal Gayle
1986That’s What Friends are For - Dionne & Friends
Talk to Me - Stevie Nicks
Burning Heart - Survivor
Bop - Dan Seals
1995On Bended Knee - Boyz II Men
Another Night - Real McCoy
Always - Bon Jovi
Not a Moment Too Soon - Tim McGraw
2004The Way You Move - Outkast
Milkshake - Kelis
You Don’t Know My Name - Alicia Keys
There Goes My Life - Kenny Chesney
Happy Birthday Paul Stanley of Kiss
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