There are 19 days left in the year. [Two wks. 'til X-Mess, suckers! — Ed.]
In 1787, Pennsylvania became the second state to ratify the US Constitution.
In 1870, Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina became the first black lawmaker sworn into the US House of Representatives. In 1897, "The Katzenjammer Kids," the pioneering comic strip created by Rudolph Dirks, made its debut in the New York Journal.
In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt nominated Oscar Straus to be Secretary of Commerce and Labor; Straus became the first Jewish Cabinet member.
In 1913, authorities in Florence, Italy, announced that the "Mona Lisa," stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris in 1911, had been recovered.
In 1914, the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered its worst percentage drop in history - 24.39 percent - on the first day of trading in more than four months. (The New York Stock Exchange had shut down when World War I began in July.)
In 1917, Father Edward Flanagan founded Boys Town outside Omaha, Nebraska. [Perv Central, no doubt. — Ed.]
In 1925, the first motel -- the Motel Inn -- opened in San Luis Obispo, California. [Followed by the opening of the No-Tell Motel & The Snooty Fox on Figueroa not too much later. — Ed.]
In 1937, Japanese aircraft sank the US gunboat Panay on China's Yangtze River. (Japan apologized, and paid $2.2 million in reparations.)
In 1946, a United Nations committee voted to accept a six-block tract of Manhattan real estate offered as a gift by John D. Rockefeller Jr. to be the site of U.N. headquarters. [The first step to world domination by the CFR & The Trilateral Commission. — Ed.]
In 1963, Kenya gained its independence from Britain. [It takes a Mau Mau. — Ed.]
In 1975, Sara Jane Moore pleaded guilty to trying to kill President Gerald R. Ford. [Had she killed him, Nelson Rockefeller would have become President & who knows what would have happened? — Ed.]
In 1985, 248 American soldiers and eight crew members were killed when an Arrow Air charter crashed after takeoff from Gander, Newfoundland.
In 1998, the House Judiciary Committee approved a fourth and final article of impeachment against President Bill Clinton and submitted the case to the full House.
Ten years ago: Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, the international terrorist known as "Carlos the Jackal," went on trial in Paris on charges of killing two French investigators and a Lebanese national. (Ramirez was convicted, and is serving a life prison sentence.)
In 1999, "Catch-22" author Joseph Heller died at age 76.
In 2000, a divided US Supreme Court reversed a state court decision for recounts in Florida's contested election, transforming George W. Bush into the president-elect. The Marine Corps grounded all eight of its high-tech V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft following a fiery crash in North Carolina that killed four Marines.
Five years ago: President Bush publicly rebuked Senate Republican leader Trent Lott for his statement that appeared to embrace half-century-old segregationist politics, calling it "offensive" and "wrong." A defiant North Korea said it would immediately reactivate a nuclear power plant that US officials suspected was being used to develop weapons. Actor Nick Nolte pleaded no contest in Malibu, California, to one count of driving under the influence of drugs; he was sentenced to three years' probation.
In 2003, Keiko, the killer whale made famous by the "Free Willy" movies, died in the Norwegian fjord that he'd made his home.
One year ago: A suicide bomber struck a crowd of mostly poor Shiites in Baghdad, killing some five dozen people and wounding more than 200. A two-day conference questioning the existence of the Nazi Holocaust ended in Tehran.
Today's Birthdays: TV host Bob Barker is 84. Former New York City Mayor Edward Koch is 83. Singer Connie Francis is 69. Singer Dionne Warwick is 67. Rock singer-musician Dickey Betts is 64. Actor Wings Hauser is 60. Country singer LaCosta is 57. Gymnast-turned-actress Cathy Rigby is 55. Actress Sheree J. Wilson is 49. Singer-musician Sheila E. is 48. Actress Jennifer Connelly is 37. Actress Mädchen Amick is 37. Country singer Hank Williams III is 35. [Talent seems to skip a generation in the Williams family. — Ed.]
Born on This Date & Dead Already:
John Jay, statesman (1745); William Lloyd Garrison, abolitionist (1805); Gustave Flaubert, novelist (1821); Edvard Munch, painter (1863); Edward G. Robinson, actor (1893); Patrick O'Brian, novelist (1914); Frank Sinatra, singer, actor (1915)
On December 12th, 1967, Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones successfully appealed his nine-month jail sentence for a drug conviction. He was placed on probation instead.
In 1968, "The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus" was filmed in London, featuring the Stones, Eric Clapton, John Lennon and The Who. It remained unreleased for 28 years.
In 1974, the Rolling Stones announced guitarist Mick Taylor had left the band. That same day, the band began work on the "Black and Blue" album.
In 1981, singer Smokey Robinson was honored on an "American Bandstand" special.
In 1991, actor Richard Gere and model Cindy Crawford eloped in Las Vegas. They have since divorced.
In 1997, Autumn Jackson, who tried to blackmail Bill Cosby by claiming he was her father, was sentenced to two years in jail.
In 2001, actress Winona Ryder was arrested for shoplifting more than $5,000 worth of merchandise from a department store in Beverly Hills, California; Actress Ashley Judd married racing driver Dario Franchitti in Scotland.
In 2003, Mick Jagger was knighted by Prince Charles.
In 2006, actor Peter Boyle died in New York at age 71.
[If it's not the Beatles, it's the Stones. Stones win today. — Ed.]
2 comments:
Happy Birthday, Connie Francis.
The Editor Replies:
Yes, happy birthday to a nice & talented Italian-American girl, who's had some difficult times. Hope everything's good now.
And howdy to Buff. Another community heard from!
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