303rd day of 2009 - 62 remaining
Friday, October 30, 2009
WAR OF THE WORLDS DAY
Folks throughout the United States were pretty skittish on this night in 1938. Maybe they just wanted to believe that the world was going to come to an end. Nobody ever found out why thousands of people believed the science-fiction drama that was played out over the Columbia Broadcasting System.
Orson Welles, known to radio audiences as The Shadow, presented his famous dramatization of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds on CBS’s Mercury Theater at 8 p.m. The show was set up as a music program interrupted by news bulletins saying that Martians had landed near Princeton, New Jersey. Though a disclaimer was broadcast several times throughout the hourlong program, most people did not pay attention to the explanation telling them that the story was fictional and a radio fabrication. Even the newspaper program guides printed the warning. But thousands paid no attention.
Some folks, in fact, got pretty desperate when they heard the ‘news’ that the world was coming to an end. They rushed out of their homes with handkerchiefs covering their mouths to guard against Martian gas. They clogged phone lines, caused traffic jams and checked into hospitals in shock.
In just one hour, Orson Welles panicked the majority of the populace with his version of War of the Worlds.
Events
October 30
1925 - If you put everything into it except the kitchen sink, you’d have the TV transmitter that beamed TV to London for the first time. To build the transmitter, John Baird used a tea chest, a biscuit box, darning needles, piano wire, motorcycle lamp lenses, old electric motors, cardboard scanning discs and glue, string and sealing wax.
1929 - It was announced that John D. Rockefeller was buying sound, common stocks to help stem the massive sell-off going on at the New York Stock Exchange. It didn’t help. More than 10.7 million shares had been dumped the previous day and the market was in a free fall. The Great Depression was on and not even a Rockefeller could stop it.
1941 - The song that would become the theme of bandleader Tony Pastor was recorded. It was Blossoms on the Bluebird label. If you don’t remember Blossoms, maybe you remember this one by Pastor: Dance with a Dolly (With a Hole in Her Stocking).
1952 - Dr. Albert Schweitzer, missionary surgeon and founder of Lambaréné leper Hospital in République du Gabon, won the Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian work. Schweitzer donated his prize to the hospital.
1953 - Gen. George C. Marshall won the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his contributions to the economic rehabilitation of Europe after WWII, the so-called Marshall Plan.
1958 - Most of us remember the quiz show, Concentration, as being on the daytime TV lineup [August 1958-March 1973]. But on this night it appeared on our TV screens at 8:30 p.m. "Concentration" was a temporary replacement for Twenty-One, which had been canceled suddenly because of the quiz show scandals of the time. Jack Barry was brought over from the Twenty-One set to host Concentration for its four-week nighttime run.
1964 - Roy Orbison went gold with his hit single, Oh, Pretty Woman.
1972 - A command performance was given for the Queen of England by Elton John.
1974 - Muhammad Ali knocked out George Foreman in the 8th round at Kinshasa, Zaire, in the first heavyweight championship fight ever held in Africa. Ali was named fighter of the year by Ring magazine.
1975 - The New York Daily News headlined, “Ford to City: Drop Dead”, following President Gerald Ford’s initial decision to veto any proposed federal funding for the city of New York (then on the brink of fiscal collapse). Ford later recanted and supported the Big-Apple bailout.
1976 - The group, Chicago, started its second (and final) week at number one on the pop singles charts with, If You Leave Me Now. The hottest LP was Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life. The album was number one for a total of 14 weeks.
1984 - Barry Manilow opened at Radio City Music Hall, New York. His concerts sold out to the tune of $1.9 million, besting (by $100,000) the record set by Diana Ross.
1984 - Dan Ackroyd and John Belushi, aka The Blues Brothers (Jake and Elwood), hit the two-million-dollar sales mark with their LP, Briefcase Full of Blues.
1986 - Discover magazine reported that almost 43 million tons of dust settle on the United States each year.
1990 - Workers digging the rail tunnel under the English Channel linked up between England and France at a point forty meters beneath the seabed. The Chunnel, connecting Folkestone, England, with Calais, France, opened for traffic in May 1994.
1993 - Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell II - Back Into Hell was the #1 album in the U.S. One of the album’s singles, I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That, hit #1 in twenty-five countries. Meat Loaf (his real name is Marvin Lee Aday) did a 215-show tour to promote the album.
1998 - Movies opening in the U.S.:John Carpenter’s Vampires, starring James Woods, Daniel Baldwin and Sheryl Lee; and Living Out Loud, with Holly Hunter, Danny Devito and Queen Latifah.
Birthdays
October 30
1735 - John Adams
2nd U.S. President [1797-1801], 1st Vice President; married to Abigail Smith [two sons, three daughters]; nickname: Atlas of Independence; father of John Quincy Adams [6th U.S. President]; died July 4, 1826
1751 - Richard Sheridan
playwright: The Critic, School for Scandal, The Rivals; died July 7, 1816
1839 - Alfred Sisley
artist: impressionist: The Bridge at Hampton Court, View of Montmarte, Misty Morning, Snow at Louveciennes, The Rest by the Stream, The Church at Moret; died Jan 29, 1899
1882 - William ‘Bull’ (Frederick) Halsey Jr.
U.S. Naval Commander and Admiral: WWII: South Pacific arena; his flagship: USS Missouri; died Aug 16, 1959
1885 - Ezra Pound
poet: Hugh Selwyn Mauberly, The Pisan Cantos; died Nov 1, 1972
1892 - Charles Atlas (Angelo Siciliano)
bodybuilder: 97-lb. weakling who had sand kicked in his face advertisement; died Dec 24, 1972
1896 - Ruth Gordon (Jones)
Academy Award-winning actress: Rosemary’s Baby [1968]; Every Which Way But Loose, Harold and Maude; screenplay writer [w/Garson Kanin]: Adam’s Rib; Emmy Award-winning actress: Taxi: Sugar Mama [Jan 16, 1979]; died Aug 28, 1985
1906 - Sue Carol (Evelyn Lederer)
actress: The Lone Star Ranger, Walking Back, Captain Swagger; talent agent: discovered Alan Ladd [who became her fourth husband in 1942]; died Feb 4, 1982
1911 - Ruth Hussey (O’Rourke)
actress: Stars and Stripes Forever, Northwest Passage, The Philadelphia Story, Madame X, Another Thin Man; died Apr 19, 2005
1912 - Gordon Parks
photographer: Vogue, LIFE magazines, "He turned his rage against racism into a creative force."; author: To Smile in Autumn: A Memoir, Half Past Autumn: A Retrospective; poet, filmmaker, novelist, composer
1915 - Fred Friendly
broadcast journalist; TV producer: CBS, PBS; died Mar 3, 1998
1917 - Bobby (Robert Randall) ‘Nig’ Bragan
baseball: Philadelphia Phillies, Brooklyn Dodgers [World Series: 1947]
1927 - Joe (Joseph Wilbur) Adcock
baseball: Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Braves [record for total bases in a game: 18, 4 home runs, 1 double: 7/31/54/World Series: 1957, 1958/all-star: 1960], Cleveland Indians, LA Angels, California Angels; died May 3, 1999
1930 - Néstor Almendros
cinematographer: New York Stories, Places in the Heart, Sophie’s Choice, The Blue Lagoon, Kramer vs. Kramer, Love on the Run, The Green Room, Madame Rosa, Cockfighter, Six in Paris; died Mar 4, 1992
1931 - Richard Gautier
actor: Here We Go Again, Bye Bye Birdie, When Things Were Rotten, Mr. Terrific; panelist: Liar’s Club, Here We Go Again, Get Smart
1932 - Louis Malle
director: Pretty Baby, Atlantic City, Aurevoir Les Enfants, Goodbye Children, Crackers, The Fire Within; died Nov 23, 1995
1935 - Jim (James Evan) Perry
baseball: pitcher: Cleveland Indians [all-star: 1961], Minnesota Twins [World Series: 1965/all-star: 1970, 1971/Cy Young Award-winner: 1970]], Detroit Tigers, Oakland Athletics
1937 - Claude Lelouch
Academy Award-winning director: A Man and a Woman [1966]; Bolero, Another Man, Another Chance
1939 - Eddie Holland
songwriter: writing team: Holland-Dozier-Holland: Where Did Our Love Go, Baby Love, Stop! In the Name of Love, I Hear a Symphony, You Keep Me Hangin’ On, Reach Out, I’ll Be There; team inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame [1990]); singer: Jamie
1939 - Grace Slick (Wing)
singer: group: Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, Starship: Somebody to Love, White Rabbit, Rejoice, Miracles, Count on Me, Runaway, We Built This City, Sara
1940 - Ed Lauter
actor: Rattled, Mulholland Falls, Trial by Jury, Extreme Justice, Revenge of the Nerds 2: Nerds in Paradise, Youngblood, Death Wish, Lassiter, In the Custody of Strangers, Death Hunt, King Kong, Fat Man and Little Boy, The Longest Yard, Stephen King’s Golden Years, B.J. and the Bear
1941 - Jim Ray Hart
baseball: SF Giants [all-star: 1966], NY Yankees
1941 - Otis Williams
singer: group: The Temptations: I Can’t Get Next to You, Cloud Nine, Runaway Child, Running Wild, Just My Imagination, Papa Was a Rolling Stone, Masquerade
1943 - Joanna Shimkus
actress: The Virgin and the Gypsy, Les Aventuriers, Six in Paris
1945 - Henry Winkler
actor: Happy Days, An American Christmas Carol, The Lords of Flatbush; TV coproducer: MacGyver; director: Cop and a Half, Memories of Me, A Smokey Mountain Christmas
1946 - Glen Combs
basketball: Dallas/Texas Chaparrals
1947 - Timothy B. Schmit
musician: bass guitar, singer: group: Poco: Crazy Love, Heart of the Night; Eagles: Hotel California, Life in the Fast Lane, Heartache Tonight, The Long Run, I Can’t Tell You Why
1948 - J.D. Hill
football: Arizona State, Buffalo Bills WR
1950 - Phil Chenier
basketball: Washington Bullets
1950 - Levi Johnson
football: Detroit Lions
1951 - Greg Gantt
football: NY Jets punter
1951 - Harry Hamlin
actor: L.A. Law, Studs Lonigan, Laguna Heat, Clash of the Titans, Dinner at Eight, Murder So Sweet, Under Investigation, Save Me
1953 - Charles Martin Smith
actor: The Road Home, Speechless, And the Band Played On, The Untouchables, Starman, Herbie Goes Bananas, The Buddy Holly Story, American Graffiti, Fuzz, Culpepper Cattle Co.; actor, director: Fifty/Fifty; director: Boris and Natasha: The Movie, Trick or Treat
1960 - Diego Maradona
soccer: Argentina: individual record for most games played in the finals [21: 1982-1994]
Chart Toppers
October 30
1946Five Minutes More - Frank Sinatra
South America, Take It Away - Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters
Rumors are Flying - The Frankie Carle Orchestra (vocal: Marjorie Hughes)
Divorce Me C.O.D. - Merle Travis
1954Hey There - Rosemary Clooney
Shake, Rattle and Roll - Bill Haley & His Comets
Smile - Nat King Cole
More and More - Webb Pierce
1962Monster Mash - Bobby “Boris” Picket
He’s a Rebel - The Crystals
Only Love Can Break a Heart - Gene Pitney
Mama Sang a Song - Bill Anderson
1970I’ll Be There - The Jackson 5
We’ve Only Just Begun - Carpenters
Fire and Rain - James Taylor
Run, Woman, Run - Tammy Wynette
1978Hot Child in the City - Nick Gilder
You Needed Me - Anne Murray
Reminiscing - Little River Band
Let’s Take the Long Way Around the World - Ronnie Milsap
1986True Colors - Cyndi Lauper
Typical Male - Tina Turner
I Didn’t Mean to Turn You On - Robert Palmer
Cry - Crystal Gayle
Chart Topper October 30th, 1986...Typical Male - Tina Turner
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