[buddyjh]

332nd day of 2009 - 33 remaining

Saturday, November 28, 2009
BERRY GORDY DAY


His family had been prominent Georgia farmers transplanted to Detroit. He was a boxer and won nine out of 15 fights. After a stint in the U.S. Army, he worked for his father during the day and prowled jazz clubs by night. Other career attempts included a jazz record shop from 1953-55, and a job at a Ford factory. Finally, Berry Gordy III, born on this day in 1929, found his forte. He began writing songs.

For three years he wrote for the Golden Gloves champion he had once worked out with, Jackie Wilson. The songs he wrote for Wilson became hits and included Reet Petite, That is Why (I Love You So), I’ll Be Satisfied and Lonely Teardrops.

In 1956, Berry with his second wife, Raynoma, formed a production company. They recorded and released hits by Marv Johnson, changed Smokey Robinson and the Matadors to Smokey Robinson and the Miracles and leased their records. Gordy owned a record label (with sisters Anna and Gwen). Anna wrote its first hit, Money (That’s What I Want). Then Berry started Jobete Music Publishing, Hitsville U.S.A., International Talent Management and Motown Record Corporation. The corporation’s first release was The Miracles’ Way Over There. By 1961, their Shop Around was #1 on the R&B charts and also, a #2 pop hit. Gordy had moved out of the local scene. He tightly controlled Motown, and the family operation soon dominated black pop music of the 1960s.

Mary Wells, the Supremes, The Jackson 5, Martha Reeves and The Vandellas, Gladys Knight and The Pips, The Temptations, The Marvelettes, The Four Tops, Stevie Wonder and many more recording stars were developed and promoted under strict Motown rules.

Some of the artists eventually rebelled against the Berry Gordy style; but the proof of his style being genius was in the success of the song: over 100 Motown singles made it into Billboard magazine’s top ten from 1961 to 1971.

Berry Gordy easily left his mark on the history of rock ’n’ roll.

Events
November 28
1895 - The first automobile race in America began, as six cars traveled from Jackson Park in Chicago to Waukegan, Illinois. J. Frank Duryea was the winner, traveling at a blazing speed of 7 and 1/2 miles per hour! It took him 7 hrs. 53 minutes to make the trek (bathroom stops not included). He won $2,000 for the effort.

1922 - The first skywriting display happened on this day. The words “Hello USA” were written in the sky over New York City. It was a short time later that the invention of Captain Cyril Turner was applied for commercial use.

1932 - Groucho Marx performed on radio for the first time. Using his fast-paced, ingenious patter, he invented a new form of comedy that delighted audiences from coast to coast.

1942 - Coffee rationing began in the United States, lasting through the end of World War II.

1942 - A tragic fire at the famed Cocoanut Grove night club in Boston, MA killed nearly 500 people, including popular western actor Charles ‘Buck’ Jones. It is believed that the fire started in a corner of one of the lounges when a customer unscrewed a light bulbs to provide some privacy for himself and his date. The bartender ordered a busboy to replace the bulb, but the lounge was so dark that the busboy lit a match to find the socket. A short time later, flames appeared and spread to a nearby tinsel palm tree. When the ceiling (festooned in billows of blue satin fabric) exploded into flames, the entire crowd stampeded. The Cocoanut Grove fire prompted major efforts in fire prevention and control for U.S. nightclubs and other related places of assembly.

1953 - New York City began 11 days without newspapers when a strike of photoengravers shut down publication. The good news: Sales increased for magazines and paperback books. The bad news: Have you ever tried lining a bird cage with paperback books?

1956 - Holding the #1 spot on the music charts: Guy Mitchell singing Singing the Blues. The song remained at the top of the Hit Parade for 10 weeks. Here’s a bit of trivia: Ray Conniff whistled the intro to Singing the Blues.

1963 - U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announced in a televised address that Cape Canaveral would be renamed Cape Kennedy in memory of President John F. Kennedy, who had been assassinated six days earlier. President Johnson said the name change had been sanctioned by the U.S. Board of Geographic Names. Johnson also ordered the space facility to be renamed John F. Kennedy Space Center, NASA. On May 18, 1973 Florida Governor Rueben Askew signed a Florida statute requiring that Cape Kennedy be renamed Cape Canaveral. The name John F. Kennedy Space Center, NASA was not changed.

1966 - “Oh-bo-de-o-do...” The New Vaudeville Band received a gold record for Winchester Cathedral this day.

1974 - John Lennon appeared in concert for the last time -- at NYC’s Madison Square Garden. Lennon joined Elton John to sing Whatever Gets You Through the Night as well as I Saw Her Standing There.

1981 - Alabama football coach Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant won his 315th victory to become college football’s all-time career victory leader. Bryant surpassed Amos Alonzo Stagg with the win. (This record was broken four years later, in October 1985, by Grambling head coach Eddie Robinson.)

1984 - Leaving Chicago behind, Phil Donahue headed to New York for his daily talk show that reached an estimated 7 million people each day. To that time, Phil and actress-wife Marlo Thomas had commuted for four years to be together in matrimony.

1986 - NBC’s Ahmad Rashad heard the acceptance of his marriage proposal from Phylicia Ayers-Allen during halftime of the Detroit Lions-New York Jets football game.

1988 - Picasso’s Acrobat and Young Harlequin brought £21 million at Christie’s in London. The painting was one of many that Adolf Hitler had sold in 1939 to ‘cleanse’ Germany of the disturbing images created by painters such as Pablo Picasso and Marc Chagall.

1996 - The U.S. space shuttle Columbia had a screw loose. A stuck hatch (later blamed on that loose screw) prevented astronauts Tammy Jernigan and Tom Jones from taking a spacewalk. “I'm pushing as hard as I can,” Jones said. “It just doesn't seem to want to move,” Jernigan agreed.

Birthdays
November 28
1628 - John Bunyan
author: A Pilgrim’s Progress, Grace Abounding, The Life and Death of Mr. Badman, The Holy War; died in 1688

1632 - Jean Baptiste Lully
musician, opera composer: Cadmus and Hermione, Amadis de Gaule, Roland, Armide et Renaud; died Mar 22, 1687

1757 - William Blake
poet: Songs of Innocence; artist: engraved his own poems and drawings on copper plates; died in 1827

1895 - José Iturbi
musician, pianist, conductor: Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra; died June 28, 1980

1907 - Charles Alston
artist: The Family, Black Man, Black Woman, Walking; died Apr 27, 1977

1915 - **** Vance
musician: trumpet; died Jan 1, 1985

1922 - Wes Westrum
baseball: San Francisco Giants catcher [all-star: 1952, 1953]; NY Mets, SF Giants manager; died May 28, 2002

1923 - Gloria Grahame (Hallward)
Academy Award-winning actress: The Bad and the Beautiful [1952]; Oklahoma!, It’s a Wonderful Life, Not as a Stranger, Rich Man, Poor Man-Book I; died Oct 5, 1981

1929 - Berry Gordy Jr.
founder: Motown Records, see Berry Gordy Day [above]

1933 - Hope Lange
Emmy Award-winning actress: The Ghost and Mrs. Muir [1968-1969, 1969-1970]; Bus Stop, Peyton Place, The Young Lions, Wild in the Country, Pocketful of Miracles, That Certain Summer; died Dec 19, 2003

1934 - Ethel Ennis
singer: w/Benny Goodman Orchestra

1936 - Gary Hart (Gary Warren Hartpence)
U.S. Senator from Colorado; U.S. presidential candidate [1984]

1938 - Michael Ritchie
director: The Scout, Cops and Robbersons, Fletch, Semi-Tough, The Bad News Bears, The Candidate; died Apr 16, 2001

1939 - Gary Troxel
singer: group: The Fleetwoods: Mr. Blue, Come Softly to Me

1940 - Bruce Channel
singer: Hey! Baby, Going Back to Louisiana, Keep On

1941 - Norm Beaudin
hockey: NHL: SL Blues, Minnesota North Stars

1942 - Paul Warfield
Pro Football Hall of Famer: Miami Dolphins wide receiver: Super Bowl: VI, VII, VIII; Cleveland Browns

1943 - Randy (Randall Stuart) Newman
composer: scores for Toy Story, Avalon, Parenthood, The Natural, Ragtime; singer, songwriter: Short People, theme from The Marshall Chronicles: Fallin’ in Love, theme from Cop Rock: Under the Gun; songwriter: Love Story, Mama Told Me Not to Come, Sail Away

1945 - R.B. Greaves
singer: Take a Letter Maria; singer Sam Cooke’s nephew

1946 - Susan Spencer
news correspondent: CBS, 48 Hours

1948 - Beeb Birtles
musician: guitar: group: The Little River Band: It’s a Long Way There, Help is on Its Way, Reminiscing, Lady, Lonesome Loser, Cool Change, The Night Owls, Take It Easy on Me

1948 - Vern Den Herder
football: Miami Dolphins defensive end: Super Bowl: VI, VII, VIII, XVII

1949 - Alexander Godunov (Boris Alexandrovich Godunov)
ballet dancer; actor: Die Hard, The Money Pit, Witness; died May 18, 1995

1949 - Paul Shaffer
band leader: Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with David Letterman; comedian: A Year at the Top, Saturday Night Live

1950 - Ed Harris
actor: Riders of the Purple Sage, Nixon, Apollo 13, The Firm, Glengarry Glen Ross, China Moon, Places in the Heart, The Right Stuff, Knightriders

1959 - Judd Nelson
actor: Blindfold: Acts of Obsession, Hiroshima: Out of the Ashes, St. Elmo’s Fire, The Breakfast Club

1962 - Jon Stewart
Emmy Award-winning comedian, actor: The Daily Show, The Larry Sanders Show, The Jon Stewart Show, Elmopalooza!, The 43rd Annual Grammy Awards

1964 - Roy Tarpley
basketball: Dallas Mavericks

1967 - Anna Nicole Smith
model: Playboy Playmate [May 1992], Playmate of the Year [1993]; actress: The Hudsucker Proxy, Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult; died Feb 8, 2007

Chart Toppers
November 28
1951Sin (It’s No) - Eddy Howard
Because of You - Tony Bennett
And So to Sleep Again - Patti Page
Slow Poke - Pee Wee King

1959Mack the Knife - Bobby Darin
Mr. Blue - The Fleetwoods
Deck of Cards - Wink Martindale
Country Girl - Faron Young

1967Incense and Peppermints - Strawberry Alarm Clock
The Rain, the Park & Other Things - The Cowsills
Daydream Believer - The Monkees
It’s the Little Things - Sonny James

1975That’s the Way (I like It) - KC & The Sunshine Band
Fly, Robin, Fly - Silver Convention
The Way I Want to Touch You - Captain & Tennille
Rocky - ****ey Lee

1983All Night Long (All Night) - Lionel Richie
Say Say Say - Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson
Uptown Girl - Billy Joel
Holding Her and Loving You - Earl Thomas Conley

1991When a Man Loves a Woman - Michael Bolton
Set Adrift on Memory Bliss - PM Dawn
That’s What Love is For - Amy Grant
Shameless - Garth Brooks

Chart Topper November 28th, 1975...That’s the Way (I like It) - KC & The Sunshine Band

[dt8350]

Always a great post. Thanks Buddy!
Have a great day!

[peggy13]

Thanks Buddy, have a great Saturday!!

[Crystal Dragon]

Always Interesting!!!
Thanks Buddy!!

[just4ufolks]

THANKS AGAIN
FOR
YET ANOTHER WONDERFUL THREAD FULL OF INFO..

Berry Gordy
the
LIVING LEGEND

WOW
they just celeberated their
50th annivessary
of
MOTOWN
WTG

Mary Wells, the Supremes, The Jackson 5, Martha Reeves and The Vandellas, Gladys Knight and The Pips, The Temptations, The Marvelettes, The Four Tops, Stevie Wonder and many more recording stars were developed and promoted under strict Motown rules.
the music that is unmatched and for eternity

[ccelectro]

Thanks Buddy, always great reading.

[slowboy]

THANKS for the great info

[Victor Hugo]

Thanks Buddy For all the Information.