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Friday, January 21, 2011
KIWANIS ANNIVERSARY DAY

It was on this day in 1915, in a little town called Detroit, Michigan (OK, it wasn’t such a little town), that the first Kiwanis club was formed. The name was taken from an old Indian term which, when translated, means “We make ourselves known.”

Kiwanis International now has over 260,000 members in some 8,000 clubs covering 96 countries worldwide.

The business and professional men and women of Kiwanis International are committed to volunteer service and fund raising for such projects as new hospitals and highways in each of their communities. Kiwanians are also active in public affairs, work toward promoting higher business and professional standards and sponsor youth activities through the high school student group, Key Club International and the college student organization, Circle K International.

The Kiwanis club motto is “We build.”

Events January 21

1789 - The Power of Sympathy, by William Hill Brown, was published (anonymously) in Boston, MA. The book has been called the first American novel.

1812 - The famous Y-bridge in Zanesville, OH was approved for construction. Good thing. The traffic tie-ups were a mess waiting for those ferry boats in the morning and afternoon trying to cross the Muskingum River.

1865 - For the first time, an oil well was drilled by a torpedo. Col. Edward A.L. Roberts of New York City successfully experimented with the torpedo to open an obstructed well bore at the Ladies’ Well on Watson Flats, near Titusville, PA. Roberts was issued a patent for the device on April 25 that year.

1908 - Smoking by women became illegal. The Sullivan Ordinance was enacted in New York City, but, from pictures we’ve seen, some women continued to smoke even though it was against the law.

1922 - The first slalom event in skiing was held -- in Murren (Mürren, Muerren), Switzerland.

1924 - Soviet leader Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov (Lenin) died of a cerebral hemorrhage. Lenin was founder of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks), inspirer and leader of the Bolshevik Revolution (1917) and its aftermath, and had grappled with anarchy and war.

1925 - Nome, Alaska alerted the world by radio to a diphtheria epidemic that threatened to wipe out its entire population. The famous Iditarod race is run each year to commemorate the emergency delivery of diphtheria antitoxin that saved the people of Nome.

1927 - The first opera to be broadcast over a national radio network was presented in Chicago, IL. Listeners heard selections from Faust.

1932 - Annunzio Paolo Mantovani gave a memorable concert at Queen’s Hall in England to ‘glowing notices’. This was the beginning of the musician’s successful recording career that provided beautiful music to radio stations for nearly five decades. Better known as just Mantovani, his music still entertains us with hits like, Red Sails in the Sunset, Serenade in the Night, Song from Moulin Rouge and Charmaine.

1936 - Edward VIII was proclaimed King of England following the death of his father, George V. Edward VIII abdicated in December that year and was succeeded by his brother who reigned as George VI.

1942 - Nostalgia buffs will want to grab the greatest hits CD of Count Basie (on Verve) and crank up One O’Clock Jump. Just one of the many signature tunes by Bill Basie; the tune was originally recorded on Okeh Records this day.

1946 - The Fat Man debuted on ABC radio. J. Scott Smart, who played the portly detective, weighed in at 270 pounds in real life.

1951 - A new women’s golf record was established by Mildred (Babe Didrikson) Zaharias as she won the Tampa Women’s Open. Her medal-play score was a record 288 for 72 holes. Medals and records were commonplace to Babe. She won two gold and one silver medal in the 1932 Olympics for the javelin throw, the 80-meter hurdles and the high jump, respectively. She was equally adept at basketball, baseball, billiards and golf; a member of the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame, LPGA Hall of Fame (Babe was a founding member of the LPGA), National Track and Field Hall of Fame, Olympic Hall of Fame and the World Golf Hall of Fame. We now refer to her as the Famous Babe Didrikson Zaharias.

1954 - The USS Nautilus, the first atomic-powered submarine, was launched in Groton, CT. First Lady Mamie Eisenhower christened the vessel with a bottle of champagne. We wonder if the Nautilus was ever used as an oil well-drilling submarine.

1954 - The gas turbine automobile was introduced in New York City. This baby packed a lot of punch, with a 370 horsepower, ‘whirlfire’ turbopower jet to power it. Racing gloves and helmet sold separately. Remember, your mileage may vary.

1957 - Singer Patsy Cline appeared on Arthur Godfrey’s nighttime TV show. She warbled the classic, Walking After Midnight, which quickly launched her career.

1959 - The Kingston Trio (Bob Shane, Nick Reynolds and DAVE Guard) received a gold record for Tom Dooley. The single could be considered an early folk-form of rap music, considering its less than wholesome message about a guy named Tom Dooley who was going to be hanged - “Poor boy, you’re bound to, die.” The Kingston Trio recorded many hits, including: Greenback Dollar, M.T.A., Reverend Mr. Black, Tijuana Jail, and the war protest song, Where Have All the Flowers Gone?.

1964 - Carl Rowan succeeded Edward R. Murrow as head of the United States Information Agency (USIA), which managed the worldwide Voice of America. Murrow had held the office for three years. Rowan came from a news background from NBC, as Murrow did over at CBS.

1966 - George Harrison of the Beatles married Pattie Anne Boyd in Surrey, England. The two met on the set of the movie, A Hard Day’s Night.

1970 - ABC-TV presented The Johnny Cash Show in prime time. Previously, the show had been a summer replacement. The regular season series was a big boost for country music. Johnny wore black in the all-color show, however.

1970 - The first Boeing 747, the largest jet airliner in the world, landed at London Heathrow Airport at the end of its maiden transatlantic flight.

1976 - The French Concorde SST aircraft, with its droopy nose and sound-barrier smashing speed, began regular commercial service for Air France and British Airways. Fasten your seat belts, please and hold on tight.

1978 - The soundtrack of Saturday Night Fever reached #1 on the album charts -- a position it held for the next six months. We wear our black shirt and white suit with a pair of John Travolta’s disco boots and, oh yes, a gold chain, too, as we write this! Boogie on, disco children!

1979 - Super Bowl XIII (at Miami): Pittsburgh Steelers 35, Dallas Cowboys 31. MVP: Steelers’ QB Terry Bradshaw -- he passed for 318 yards and 4 TDs (two to John Stallworth, one to Rocky Bleier and one to Lynn Swann, plus a hand off to Franco Harris for a 22-yard run up the middle for TD number five). Tickets: $30.00.

1980 - An Iran Air Boeing 727 flying from Mashad to Tehran crashed on a mountainside in fog, killing all 128 on board.

1984 - Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jackie Wilson died. On Sep 29, 1975, while performing at the Latin Casino near Cherry Hill, New Jersey, Wilson had suffered a massive heart attack that left him in a coma. He remained hospitalized until his death this day, at the age of forty-nine. Wilson’s first hit was Reet Petite, written by a then-unknown Berry Gordy, who would later create the Motown Records empire. Jackie Wilson’s biggest hit was his 1960 double-sided smash Doggin’ Around b/w Night.

1985 - Actor, Patrick Duffy, announced plans to leave the CBS show Dallas at the end of the TV season. He asked that the character of Bobby Ewing not be replaced by another actor. Good thing. Bobby showed up in the new season, miraculously rising from the dead; taking a shower; after being in a tremendous car crash the previous season. And Duffy returned to continue in the role of Bobby Ewing through the final episode in 1991.

1986 - Former major-league player Randy Bass signed to become the highest-paid baseball player in Japanese history. Bass signed a deal for three years at $3.25 million. He played for the Hanshin Tigers.

1987 - Thirty years after its release, Jackie Wilson’s single, Reet Petite (written by Motown founder Berry Gordy), ended a month at the top of England’s music charts. Three years earlier, on this same date, Jackie Wilson died after being in a coma (following a heart attack) for eight and a half years.

1989 - Steve Wahrer, the drummer who helped lift The Trashmen and their hit single Surfin’ Bird to number four on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964, died in Robbinsdale, Minnesota of throat cancer. He was 47 years old. Wahrer combined two songs by the Rivingtons (The Bird’s the Word and Pa Pa Ooh Mow Mow) to come up with Surfin’ Bird . And it was Wahrer’s voice that was heard snarling out, “the Bird is the word” in the recording.

1990 - Tennis bad boy John McEnroe was disqualified and expelled for throwing a temper tantrum while leading in his Australian Open match against Mike Pernfors. McEnroe holds the distinction of being the first player to be expelled from the Australian Open.

1991 - CBS News correspondent Bob Simon, CBS News London bureau chief Peter Bluff, a cameraman and soundman were captured by Iraqi forces (they were released six weeks later).

1994 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average passed 3900 for the first time -- to a record 3,914.48.

1996 - In skating news: Rudy Galindo was the upset winner of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in San Jose, California. He earned two perfect marks along the way to the crown. And Michelle Kwan, 15, captured her first national women’s title, hitting seven triple jumps for her fifth straight first-place finish of the season.

1996 - The 53rd annual Golden Globes: Sense and Sensibility won best dramatic picture; Babe won best comedy; best dramatic acting awards went to Nicolas Cage for Leaving Las Vegas and Sharon Stone for Casino, while awards for acting in a comedy or musical went to Nicole Kidman for To Die For and John Travolta for Get Shorty.

1997 - Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis Presley’s manager of 22 years, died of a stroke in Las Vegas (age 87). Parker wasn’t a real colonel and his real name wasn’t Tom Parker. According to James L. ****erson in his book Colonel Tom Parker, his colonelcy was bestowed upon him in 1948 by the governor of Louisiana and was purely of the honorary variety, though immediately upon receiving it Parker told an underling, “From now on, see to it that everyone addresses me as the Colonel.” His name may (or may not) have been Andreas Cornelius van Kuijk, and he may (or may not) have been born in the Netherlands in 1909, from which he may (or may not) have immigrated to the United States as a teenager. Parker became Presley’s manager in 1955 when Elvis was on the verge of becoming a rock ’n’ roll star. He had firm control over Elvis’ career, taking between 25 and 50 per cent of the singer’s earnings.

1998 - Actor Jack Lord, of Hawaii Five-O fame, died in Honolulu. Lord was at 77 years old.

2000 - Movies opening in the U.S,: Play It to the Bone (“No one hits as hard as your best friend.”), starring Woody Harrelson, Antonio Banderas, Lolita Davidovich and Tom Sizemore; and Down to You a comedy with Freddie Prinze Jr., Julia Stiles, Selma Blair and Shawn Hatosy.

2000 - A military junta seized power in Ecuador. The next day, following expressions of international concern, the junta leaders turned the government over to the country’s vice president.

2001 - The Roman epic Gladiator won best dramatic movie and the 1970s rock-and-roll story, Almost Famous, was awarded best comedy at the Golden Globes. Al Pacino was presented with the Cecil B. deMille Award for Lifetime Achievement.

2002 - Pop singer, songwriter Peggy Lee died at age 81 in Bel Air, CA. She is remebered for more than 40 hit songs, such as Why Don’t You do Right?, Lover, and Fever. In 1969 she won a Grammy for Is That All There Is?. Peggy Lee was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.

2003 - The U.S. Census Bureau reported that Hispanics had passed African-Americans as the largest U.S. minority group.

2004 - The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sued 532 music downloaders who it said were illegally distributing songs over the Internet.

2005 - Are We There Yet? debuted in U.S. theatres. The romantic comedy stars Ice Cube, Nia Long, Aleisha Allen, Philip Bolden, Jay Mohr, M.C. Gainey, C. Ernst Harth, Nichelle Nichols and Henry Simmons.

2006 - The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill fired warning shots and captured the crew of a pirate ship in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia. U.S. sailors boarded the ship and detained 26 men for questioning. The pirates had hijacked the vessel six days earlier near Mogadishu and had been using it to stage pirate attacks on merchant ships.

2006 - Jennifer Berry, a 22-year-old ballerina from Oklahoma, was crowned Miss America in Las Vegas NV. The beauty pageant was presented without coverage by a major TV network for the first time since 1954 (it aired on Country Music Television).

2007 - More than a foot of snow fell on parts of northern Arizona, while people as far south as Tucson got a rare chance to see (and touch) the white stuff.

2008 - India successfully launched an advanced Israeli spy satellite. The Bird made it possible to track events in Iran, the country Israel considered to be its top foe.

2009 - General Motors reported that it had relinquished its crown as the world’s biggest auto maker -- to Toyota -- after 77 years. GM said an 11% drop in 2008 vehicle sales was the reason.

2009 - Arizona’s Republican Secretary of State, Janice Brewer, took over as governor after Democrat Janet Napolitano vacated her office to become President Obama’s Secretary of Homeland Security.

2010 - Conan O’Brien said goodbye to NBC-TV good in a $45-million deal for his exit from The Tonight Show. The deal also allowed Jay Leno back in as host of the late-night program he had hosted for 17 years.

2010 - A Dutch airlift brought 106 children from quake-ravaged Haiti to new lives in the Netherlands and Luxembourg, as anxious families waited to hug children they had been in the process of adopting for months.

2010 - Toyota announced the recall of 2.3 million vehicles in the U.S. to fix accelerator pedals with mechanical problems that could cause them to become stuck. The recall came just months after Toyota recalled 4.2 million vehicles due to gas pedals that could get stuck under floor mats, causing sudden acceleration.

2011 - Movies opening in the U.S.: No Strings Attached, with Natalie Portman, Emma Kurtzman, Ashton Kutcher, Cary Elwes, Lake Bell and Kevin Kline; The Way Back, starring Colin Farrell and Jim Sturgess; and The Company Men, with Ben Affleck, Thomas Kee, Craig Mathers, Gary Galone and Tommy Lee Jones.

Birthdays January 21

1738 - Ethan Allen
U.S. Revolutionary War hero; died Feb 12, 1789

1824 - Stonewall (Thomas) Jackson
Confederate General: one of the Civil War’s most famous military officers; died May 10, 1863

1897 - J. (Joseph) Carrol Naish
actor: Guestward Ho!, The New Adventures of Charlie Chan, radio/TV series: Life with Luigi; died Jan 19, 1973

1905 - Christian Dior
fashion designer; died Oct 24, 1957

1917 - Billy Maxted
pianist, songwriter, arranger: many arrangements for Ray Eberle, Red Nichols, Will Bradley, Benny Goodman; bandleader: LP: Bourbon Street Billy Blues [w/Manhattan Jazz Band]; died Sep 27, 2001

1919 - Jinx (Eugenia) Falkenburg
actress, TV host [w/husband Tex McCrary]: Tex and Jinx, Preview with Tex and Jinx, The Tex and Jinx Film, At Home with Tex and Jinx; TV panelist: Masquerade Party; died Aug 27, 2003

1922 - Telly (Aristotle) Savalas
Emmy Award-winning actor: Kojak [1973-’74]; The Dirty Dozen, Birdman of Alcatraz, Battle of the Bulge, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Kelly’s Heroes; died Jan 22, 1994

1922 - Paul Scofield
Academy award-winning actor: A Man for All Seasons [1966]; Scorpio, Anna Karenina, King Lear, Henry V, Hamlet; died Mar 19, 2008

1924 - Benny Hill
commedian, TV host: The Benny Hill Show; died Apr 20, 1992

1925 - George Connor
Football Hall of Famer: Holy Cross, Notre Dame Univ; NFL: Chicago Bears; career: all-NFL at all three positions, four Pro Bowls; died Mar 31, 2003

1926 - Steve Reeves
Mr. Universe; actor: Hercules, Hercules Unchained, Goliath and the Barbarians, The Last Days of Pompeii; died May 1, 2000

1934 - Audrey Dalton
actress: Casanova’s Big Night, The Prodigal, Titanic

1938 - Wolfman Jack (Robert Weston Smith)
disc jockey: icon of ’60s radio, broadcasting from XERF, then XERB in Mexico and heard throughout a major part of the U.S.; TV announcer: The Midnight Special; actor: American Graffiti; author: Have Mercy! Confessions of the Original Rock ’n’ Roll Animal; died July 1, 1995

1940 - Jack Nicklaus
golf champion: holds the record for winning the most majors, 18 professional titles: 4 US Opens, 3 British Opens, 5 PGA and 6 Masters Championships; one of only 2 players to win back-to-back Masters

1941 - Plácido Domingo
singer: world-renowned operatic tenor: Perhaps Love; complete list of recordings

1941 - Richie Havens
singer: Here Comes the Sun

1942 - Mac (Scott) Davis
singer: Baby Don’t Get Hooked on Me; Friend, Lover, Woman, Wife; actor: North Dallas Forty; host: The Mac Davis Show; songwriter: In the Ghetto, Memories; ACM Entertainer of the Year [1975]

1945 - Martin Shaw
actor: The Murder Room, The Scarlet Pimpernel, For the Greater Good, The Most Dangerous Man in the World, The Last Place on Earth, Death in Holy Orders

1947 - Jill Eikenberry
actress: L.A. Law, Arthur, The Manhattan Project

1947 - Jimmy Ibbotson
musician: guitarist, songwriter: group: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: Sunny Side of the Mountain, Foggy Mountain Breakdown, Fishin’ in the Dark, American Dream, Will the Circle Be Unbroken

1950 - Billy Ocean
Grammy Award-winning R&B Male Vocal: Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run) [1984]; Love Really Hurts Without You, There’ll Be Sad Songs

1956 - Robby Benson (Robin David Segal)
actor: Search for Tomorrow, Ode to Billy Joe, National Lampoon Goes to the Movies, The Chosen

1956 - Geena Davis
Academy Award-winning supporting actress: The Accidental Tourist [1988]; Beetlejuice, Fletch, The Fly, Tootsie, Thelma and Louise, Buffalo Bill, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Commander in Chief

1963 - Hakeem Olajuwon
basketball: Houston Rockets, Toronto Raptors

1963 - Cindy Schreyer McCurdy
golf: LPGA

1963 - Detlef Schrempf
basketball [forward]: Univ of Washington; NBA: Dallas Mavericks, Indiana Pacers, Seattle SuperSonics, Portland Trail Blazers

1964 - Siobhan Hunter
actress: X-rated films: Rambone: The First Time, Sexually Altered States, Despicable Dames, Sex Derby, Little Shop of Whores, Shoot to Thrill, Satisfaction Jackson

1967 - Ulf Dahlen
hockey: NY Rangers, Minnesota North/Dallas Stars, SJ Sharks, Chicago Blackhawks, Washington Capitals

1968 - Charlotte Ross
actress: NYPD Blue, Days of Our Lives, The Five Mrs. Buchanans, A Will of Their Own

1969 - Matt Willig
football: Univ of Southern Cal; NFL: NY Jets, Atlanta Falcons, GB Packers, SL Rams, SF 49ers, Carolina Panthers

1970 - Ken Leung
actor: Lost, Shanghai Kiss, Rush Hour, X-Men: The Last Stand, Works of Art, Strip Search, Red Dragon, Keeping the Faith, Welcome to the Dollhouse

1971 - Doug Weight
hockey: NY Rangers, Edmonton Oilers, SL Blues

1973 - Grady Jackson
football [defensive tackle]: Univ of Knoxville; NFL: Oakland Raiders, New Orleans Saints, Green Bay Packers

1974 - Orpheus Roye
football: Florida State Univ; NFL: Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns

1974 - Jerald Sowell
football: Tulane Univ; NFL: NY Jets

1974 - Jerry Wunsch
football: Univ of Wisconsin; NFL: TB Buccaneers, Seattle Seahawks

1976 - Emma Bunton
singer: group: Spice Girls: LPs: Forever, Spice, Goodbye, Spiceworld

1977 - Michael Ruffin
basketball: Univ of Tulsa; NBA: Chicago Bulls, Philadelphia 76ers, Utah Jazz and Washington Wizards

1977 - Freya Stafford
actress: Head Start, White Collar Blue, The Clinic, Them, Small Claims, Hell Has Harbour Views

1978 - Andrei Zyuzin
hockey: SJ Sharks, TB Lightning, NJ Devils, Minnesota Wild

1979 - Byung-Hyun Kim
baseball [pitcher]: Arizona Diamondbacks, Boston Red Sox

1980 - Troy Dumais
Olympic diver; brother brother of diver Justin Dumais

1981 - Amanda Aday
actress: Carnivàle, Pledge This!, Mummy an’ the Armadillo, Meat Loaf: To Hell and Back, Crazy in Alabama, To Catch a Yeti; daughter of actor, musician Meat Loaf and Leslie Aday

1990 - Jacob Smith
actor: Small Soldiers, Nowhere to Go, Party of Five

1991 - Paige Kettner
actress: A Case for Life, How to Make an American Quilt, Days of Our Lives; twin sister of actress Ryanne Kettner

1991 - Ryanne Kettner
actress: A Case for Life, How to Make an American Quilt, Days of Our Lives; twin sister of actress Paige Kettner

Chart Toppers January 21

1951Tennessee Waltz - Patti Page
The Thing - Phil Harris
A Bushel and a Peck - Perry Como & Betty Hutton
The Shot Gun Boogie - Tennessee Ernie Ford

1960Running Bear - Johnny Preston
The Big Hurt - Miss Toni Fisher
Go, Jimmy, Go - Jimmy Clanton
El Paso - Marty Robbins

1969I Heard It Through the Grapevine - Marvin Gaye
Soulful Strut - Young-Holt Unlimited
Crimson and Clover - Tommy James & The Shondells
Daddy Sang Bass - Johnny Cash

1978Baby Come Back - Player
Here You Come Again - Dolly Parton
You’re in My Heart (The Final Acclaim) - Rod Stewart
What a Difference You’ve Made in My Life - Ronnie Milsap

1987Shake You Down - Gregory Abbott
C’est La Vie - Robbie Nevil
At This Moment - Billy Vera & The Beaters
What Am I Going to Do About You - Reba McEntire

1996One Sweet Day - Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men
Hey Lover - LL Cool J
Missing - Everything But The Girl
It Matters to Me - Faith Hill

2005Let Me Love You - Mario
1, 2 Step - Ciara featuring Missy Elliott
Since U Been Gone - Kelly Clarkson
Awful, Beautiful Life - Darryl Worley

Chart Topper January 21st, 1996...One Sweet Day - Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men

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