Through The Rear Window: TODAY IS ... 17 JANUARY

Sunday, January 17, 2010

TODAY IS ... 17 JANUARY

BIRTHDAYS -

1986 - Hale Appleman - an American actor best known for playing Tobey Cobb in the 2007 film Teeth. Appleman portrays Judd Winick in Pedro, Nick Oceano's 2008 film dramatizing the life of AIDS educator Pedro Zamora.

1981 - Scott Mechlowicz - an American actor. He began acting in 2003, and thus far is perhaps best known for his lead roles in the films EuroTrip, Mean Creek, Peaceful Warrior, and Gone.

1980 - Zooey Deschanel – American Actor / Singer who played Trillian/Trish in the movie version of Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005, with Mos Def).

1964 - Michelle Obama - the wife of the forty-fourth President of the United States, Barack Obama, and is the first African-American First Lady of the United States.

1962 - Jim Carrey - actor, comedian: The Mask, Ace Ventura series, Dumb & Dumber, Batman Forever, The Cable Guy, The Truman Show, Me, Myself & Irene, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Majestic

1956 – British pop star Paul Young is born in Bedfordshire, England. His biggest hit is “Everytime You Go Away” in 1985. The No. 1 song is written by Daryl Hall.

1949 - Andy Kaufman - actor: Taxi, The Midnight Special, Saturday Night Live, Andy’s Funhouse

1943 - Chris Montez - singer: She’s My Rockin’ Baby, Call Me, There Will Never Be Another You, Some Kinda Fun, Let’s Dance

1942 - Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay) - boxer: heavyweight champion: [1964, 1974, 1978], the only man to have regained this title twice

1933 - Shari Lewis - puppeteer: The Shari Lewis Show [featuring Lamb Chop, the puppet]

1932 - Sheree North - actress: Marilyn: The Untold Story, How to be Very Popular, Defenseless, Portrait of a Stripper

1931 - James Earl Jones - actor: Star Wars [Darth Vader], The Hunt for Red October, The Lion King, Sneakers, Roots, The Great White Hope; voice: “This... is CNN”

1928 - Vidal Sassoon - cosmetologist, developer of hair care products

1927 - Eartha Kitt - singer: C’est Si Bon, Santa Baby; actress: stage play: Faust, film: New Faces of 1952, Boomerang; note: Kitt’s birth certificate listing her actual birthdate as 1/17/27 was found in 1997. She has celebrated her birthday as Jan. 26 [1928] all of her life and says, “It’s been the 26th of January since the beginning of time and I’m not going to change it and confuse my fans.”

1926 - Moira Shearer - ballerina: appeared in ballet film: The Red Shoes; died Jan 31, 2006

1922 - Betty White - Emmy Award-winning actress: The Mary Tyler Moore Show [1974-1975, 1975-1976], The Golden Girls [1985-1986]; The Betty White Show, Ladies Man; singer

OTHER EVENTS –

2008 - The Police played the first nine dates in Australian and New Zealand at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington, New Zealand, on their 152-date Reunion tour.

2008 – The Kite Runner starring Khalid Abdalla, Atossa Leoni and Shaun Toub commences screening in Australia. After spending years in California, Amir returns to his homeland in Afghanistan to help his old friend Hassan, whose son is in trouble.

2003 – A new Bob Dylan original song, “Cross the Green Mountain,” makes its premiere in streaming audio form on AOL Music’s First Listen program.

2003 - A long-lost recording featuring John Lennon and Mick Jagger was set to spark a biding war at a London auction. The acetate record was recorded in 1974 with Jagger singing the blues song 'Too Many Cooks' and Lennon playing guitar. The track had never been release because the two artists were both signed to different record companies.

2001 - The US Surgeon General's office releases a report: "Youth and Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General". It concludes that media influences play a low role in contributing to youth violence.

2001 – As in previous years, Hong Kong and Taiwan acts dominate the sixth annual Channel V Music Awards, held in Beijing. Hong Kong’s Andy Lau is named most wellreceived singer, while Faye Wong and Jacky Cheung receive awards for most outstanding female and male singer of the new millennium, respectively.

2000-A Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton was offered for sale on E-Bay.

2000 – It’s a big night for country crossover into 2000 as Garth Brooks ropes three wins and no-show Shania Twain claims two at the 27th annual American Music Awards at the Shrine Auditorium.

2000 - British pharmaceutical firms Glaxo Wellcome PLC and SmithKline Beecham PLC announced a merger to form the world’s largest drug maker (combined sales of £15.0 billion/$24.9 billion). Now, that’s a lot of pills...

1999 _ UK boy band 911 went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with their version of the Dr Hook song 'A Little Bit More'.

1999 - Musical Revival "On the Town" closed at the Gershwin Theatre after 65 performances.

1999- Fatboy Slim started a four-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with 'You've Come A Long Way Baby'.

1998 - Savage Garden’s Truly, Madly, Deeply was the number-one single in the U.S. for the first of two weeks. “I want to stand with you on a mountain; I want to bathe with you in the sea; I want to lay like this forever; Until the sky falls down on me.”

1998 - All Saints scored their first UK No.1 single with 'Never Ever'. The track spent a total of twenty-four weeks on the UK chart and was the first of five No.1 singles for the London based girl group.

1996 - The Eleventh Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremonies are held in New York City. Inductees include David Bowie, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Jefferson Airplane, Little Willie John, Pink Floyd, The Shirelles, and The Velvet Underground.

1995 - A 7.2-magnitude earthquake hit Kobe, Japan. The ‘Great Hanshin Earthquake’ happened at 5:46 a.m., killing at least 6,000 people and injured more than 26,000. The quake damaged or destroyed more than 56,000 buildings.

1995 - "Carousel" closes at Beaumont Theater New York City after 322 performances

1994-The Great Northridge Earthquake rocked Los Angeles. 61 deaths and 20 billion dollars in damage. It was officially listed as 6.8 on the Richter Scale, although many rumors persist that in some areas it was as high as 7.2 . The epicenter was in the San Fernando Valleys so the valleys two major industries, animated cartoons and pornography, were temporarily disrupted.

1994 - Microsoft and Sega Enterprises for an agreement for Microsoft to supply portions of operating system software for controlling a new Sega video game system.

1994 - Actors Donny Osmond and Danny Bonaduce slugged it out in a three-round charity boxing match in Chicago, Illinois. The winner: Bonaduce, who bloodied Osmond’s nose in the two-to-one decision. The match was set up after Osmond taunted Bonaduce at the gym where both men were working out.

1993 - President William Jefferson Clinton's Inauguration ceremonies feature a free outdoor concert at which Aretha Franklin, Michael Bolton, Tony Bennett, Bob Dylan, and Diana Ross (among others) perform.

1991 – Look Who’s Talking Too starring John Travolta, Kirstie Alley and Olympia Dukakis commences screening in Australia. Small babies comment on the disagreements between a husband and wife.

1990 - The Fifth Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremonies are held at New York's Waldorf Astoria New York City. Inductees include Hank Ballard, Bobby Darin, The Four Seasons, The Four Tops, The Kinks, The Platters, Simon and Garfunkel, and The Who.

1987 - Kate Bush started a two-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with 'The Whole Story'.

1987 – Gregory Abbott went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Shake You Down’ a No.6 hit in the UK.

1984 - Recording TV broadcasts with your VCR is ruled legal by the U.S. Supreme Court.

1983 – The tallest department store in the world, Hudson's, flagship store in downtown Detroit closes due to high cost of operating.

1983 - BBC wakes up to morning TV -People have been switching on their televisions a little earlier than usual to catch Britain's first breakfast news programme. The BBC's new Breakfast Time programme went on air at 0630 GMT, presented by Nationwide's Frank Bough and former ITN news reader Selina Scott.

1981 – US President Reagan throws the most expensive inaugural celebration in American history, costing $11 million.

1980 – Starring Dudley Moore, Julie Andrews and Bo Derek star in 10 which starts screening in Australia. A Hollywood songwriter goes through a mid-life crisis and becomes infatuated with a sexy blonde newlywed.

1979 - Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton announce their intention to record what would be known as the Trio album together. It would be eight years before the recording was made, however.

1976, Earth Wind and Fire started a three-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Gratitude'.

1976 - Barry Manilow scored his second US No.1 single with 'I Write The Songs', written by Beach Boy Bruce Johnson.

1972 - A section of Bellevue Boulevard in Memphis was renamed Elvis Presley Boulevard. The remaining length of road kept its original name after protests from the Bellevue Baptist Church.

1969 - Lady Samantha, one of the very first recordings by Reginald Kenneth Dwight (aka Elton John), was released in England on Philips Records. The song floundered, then bombed. The rock group, Three Dog Night, however, thought Elton’s tune was nifty and recorded it for an album.

1967 - The Daily Mail ran the story about a local council survey finding 4,000 holes in the road in Lancashire inspiring John Lennon's contribution to The Beatles song 'A Day In The Life'.

1966 - NBC-TV in the US bought The Monkees series, placing it on their 1966 autumn schedule.

1964- The first Porsche Carrera sportscar arrived in L.A.

1964 – The Rolling Stones released their first EP, which included, ‘You Better Move On’, ‘Poison Ivy’, ‘Bye Bye Johnny’ and ‘Money’. It peaked at No.15 on the UK chart.

1964 – No. 1 Chart Toppers Pop Hit: “There! I’ve Said It Again,” Bobby Vinton. This song can be considered the last No. 1 song before the British invasion. After four weeks at No. 1, Vinton turns over that spot to the Beatles and their first U.S. hit, “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”

1963 - Del Shannon's Little Town Flirt debuts on UK chart.

1961- President Dwight Eisenhower¹s farewell speech to the nation. He warned against the growing influence of the ³Military Industrial Complex².

1961- Frank Sinatra¹s Ratpack had campaigned hard for their friend John F. Kennedy for president. Black entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. had worked particularly hard to help Kennedy win the African American vote. But Sammy had a preference for blond white actresses and had married one, May Britt in 1960. To fend off negative publicity this day JFK had his secretary Mrs. Lincoln telephone Sammy Davis and un-invite him to the President¹s Inaugural Ball. We¹re Liberal, but not that liberal. And uhh..thanks for the help. Dean Martin was so angry at this insult to his friend that he cancelled his appearance at the inaugural. In 1968 Sammy Davis angered the black community when he embraced republican Richard Nixon.

1959 - "Say, Darling" closes at ANTA Theater New York City after 332 performances

1958 - Sam Cooke debuts on UK chart with You Send Me

1957- The first non-stop jet flight around the world. Three U.S. B-52 bombers took off from Edwards Air force base in California and by flying at supersonic speed and refueling in mid air circumnavigated the globe in a little over 48 hours. The mission was not intended to set a record or for any scientific value as to demonstrate that the U.S. could now go anywhere on the earth and drop a nuke on you. They cemented this idea by dropping a dummy bomb after passing over Malaya.

1957 - Bill Haley's film Don't Knock the Rock, premiers in the UK at the Astoria, Charing Cross Road.

1953 - American jazz singer Kay Starr was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Comes A Long A Love'. Starr was born on an Indian reservation in Oklahoma; her father was a full-blooded American Indian and her mother Irish.

1949 - The first VOLKSWAGEN BEETLES arrive in North America.

1941 - Gene Krupa and his band recorded the standard, Drum Boogie, on Okeh Records. The lady singing with the boys in the band during the song’s chorus was Irene Daye.

1935- In an address to Congress Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed national unemployment insurance. It had been a issue demanded by workers since Coxey's Army in 1895.

1932 - The first color Mickey Mouse comic page written and drawn by Floyd Gottfredson is published.

1929 - First appearance of Popeye the Sailor in E.C. Seegar's comic strip the Thimble Theatre.

1928 - The fully automatic, film-developing machine was patented by Anatol M. Josepho.

1927 - Disney ships the 48th Alice Comedy film, Alice's Knaughty Knight, to Winkler Pictures.

1912 - English explorer Robert Falcon Scott reached the South Pole. Norwegian Roald Amundsen had beaten him there by one month. Scott and his party died during the return trip.

1904 - Anton Chekhov's "Cherry Orchard" opens at Moscow Art Theater

1871 - Cable streetcar patented: Andrew Hallidie receives a patent for his streetcar; the first one went into operation 2½ years later in San Francisco.