[buddyjh]

146th day of 2010 - 219 remaining
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
THE DUKE DAY


Born Marion Morrison on this day in 1907 in Winterset, Iowa, John ‘Duke’ Wayne became the archetypical image of the American hero. His fifty-year film career began in the 1930s in low-budget Westerns.

The Duke’s first major role was in Stagecoach where he played the part of the Ringo Kid. It was while he was working on this film that John Wayne began his long-term association with director John Ford. The two worked so well together that Wayne was cast in Ford’s top pictures, Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Searchers, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, They Were Expendable, and The Quiet Man.

Wayne was most often cast in Westerns and war movies, winning an Academy Award for his performance in True Grit in 1969, and directing and starring in the 1960 epic western, The Alamo, and the 1968 war film, The Green Berets (prompted by his superpatriotism).

Critics panned him, audiences loved him. The big, slow-talking actor was not only a superpatriot, but a super hero. And he played that role in his personal life, too. Battling cancer, and surviving his first cancer operation, he said that he had “licked the Big C.” His final role (1976) was in another western, The Shootist. He played the part of a gunfighter who had cancer. The Duke died June 11, 1979 of lung & stomach cancer. This was one fight he couldn’t win.

John ‘Duke’ Wayne once gave some advice to would-be actors: “Talk low, talk slow and don’t say too much.” It was good advice for all.

Events May 26

1836 - The U.S. House of Representatives adopted what became known as the Gag Rule -- to try to stop people from submitting antislavery petitions to Congress. Representative John Quincy Adams led the opposition to what he thought to be an unconstitutional attempt to suppress the freedom to petition. Adams lost repeated battles and came close to being censured, but by 1844 enough Northerners had changed their position on the issue for the House to vote to repeal the Gag Rule.

1913 - Actors’ Equity Association was organized in New York City.

1927 - The Ford Motor Company manufactured its 15-millionth Model T automobile.

1928 - Andrew Payne ran 3,422 miles in 84 days in a time of 573 hours, 4 minutes and 34 seconds to win the Bunion Derby that ended at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Upon reaching the finish line of the grueling run, Mr. Payne was heard to exclaim, “Yeeeeeowwwwww! My dawgs’ are on fire!”

1933 - Francis X. Bushman narrated a special broadcast of Roses and Drums. The broadcast on WBBM, Chicago not only celebrated the opening of the World’s Fair in Chicago the following day, but also honored the new U.S. President, Franklin D. Roosevelt.

1940 - Invitation to Learning was first heard on CBS radio. The educational radio program ran for 15 years on the network.

1942 - Lionel Hampton and his band recorded the classic, Flying Home, for Decca Records.

1945 - U.S. B-29s firebombed Tokyo. Parts of the imperial palace were damaged as was the nearby business district of Marunouchi, which was the targeted area.

1948 - The Provisional Government of Israel transformed the Haganah (underground military organization) into the regular army of Israel.

1954 - Liberace presented a three-hour, one-man concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Look at the official attendance: 13,000 women and 3,000 men! The performance nearly broke the box office mark of 18,000 set by pianist Ignace Jan Paderewski.

1956 - The first trailer bank opened for business in Locust Grove, Long Island, NY. The 46-foot-long trailer took in $100,000 in deposits its very first day.

1958 - On the cover of LIFE magazine was Vice President Richard M. Nixon in Caracas, Venezuela -- getting his car kicked by and unhappy protestor.

1959 - Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher, Harvey Haddix, threw a no-hitter for 12 innings; but lost to the Milwaukee Braves 1-0 in the 13th inning. That’s when Braves slugger Joe Adcock whacked a home run to win the game.

1961 - Dave Garroway told the NBC-TV brass that he was ready to retire. “I want to give up the Today show,” he said, “to stop talking awhile and start looking, thinking and listening to people.” Garroway voiced his trademark, “Peace,” with palm facing the camera, for the last time, after 10 years of early morning informing and entertaining.

1966 - Guyana (formerly British Guiana) declared its independence from England.

1969 - **** Cavett began a prime time summer TV series three nights a week on ABC. The critics said, “It’s two nights and three quarters of one too much for Cavett.” Within two years, ABC decided that Cavett would be the star of its late night offering five nights a week against Johnny Carson. Guess who kept his job?

1972 - The shooting of Alabama Governor George Wallace was all over the cover of LIFE magazine.

1973 - Kate Schmidt set an American women’s javelin record with a toss of 207 feet, 10 inches in Modesto, CA.

1977 - The man called The Human Fly, George Willig, did the impossible. He scaled the World Trade Center in New York City, by fixing himself up to the window washer mechanism and walking straight up until falling into police custody when he reached the top! It took Willig three and a half hours to make the climb, and $1.10 in fines - a penny per floor.

1978 - Resorts International Hotel Casino opened in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It was the first (legal) casino in the U.S. outside of Nevada. Resorts International had made an initial investment of ninety-one million dollars in the project and people from all over the world came to try their luck at the new resort.

1981 - Fourteen people were killed when a Marine jet crashed onto the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz off Florida.

1985 - A.J. Foyt made it to his 30th Indianapolis 500 as he got his sluggish Indy-car to start. In addition to winning four Indianapolis 500s as a driver, A.J. Foyt won the 1972 Daytona 500 and the 24 Hours of LeMans, making him the only man to have won the crown jewels of Indy car, NASCAR Winston Cup and international sports car racing.

1986 - Sylvester Stallone set a sales record for a non-sequel film with the release of Cobra. Ticket sales for the opening day premiere were $12.4 million.

1991 - A Lauda Air Flight 004, a Boeing 767, crashed in Thailand, killing all 223 people aboard. The plane had departed from Hong Kong, China en route to to Vienna, Austria with a stop in Bangkok, Thailand. The jetliner broke up and crashed into the jungle shortly after leaving Bangkok. Investigators blamed an engine thrust reverser that inexplicably deployed.

1994 - U.S. President Bill Clinton renewed trade privileges for China, and announced that his administration would no longer link China’s trade status to its human rights record.

1994 - Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley were married in the Dominican Republic. The marriage ended on Jan 18, 1996.

1995 - These films opened in U.S. theatres: Casper, with Bill Pullman, Christina Ricci, Cathy Moriarty, Eric Idle and Ben Stein; and Johnny Mnemonic, starring Keanu Reeves, Dina Meyer, Ice-T and Takeshi Kitano.

1996 - Buddy Lazier won the Indianapolis 500.

1997 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin arrived in Paris to sign an historic agreement between NATO and Russia.

1997 - Australian Prime Minister John Howard made an unexpected personal apology to tens of thousands of Aborigines forcibly taken from their parents under a past government policy of assimilation

1999 - The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1259, the Social Security and Medicare Safe Deposit Box Act of 1999, commonly referred to as the ‘Social Security lockbox’. The legislation put obstacles in the way of using government surpluses that came from Social Security taxes.

2000 - Shanghai Noon debuted in the U.S. The movie starred Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson, Lucy Liu and Roger Yuan.

2001 - Republicans and moderate Democrats drove a sweeping $1.35 trillion tax cut through the U.S. Congress, handing President George Bush (II) a political triumph.

2002 - Barges being pushed by a towboat crashed into the piers of an interstate highway bridge in Oklahoma. Fourteen people were killed when part of the bridge fell into the Arkansas River.

2002 - Helio Castroneves won his second straight Indianapolis 500.

2003 - An airplane carrying Spanish peacekeepers crashed into a mountain in northeastern Turkey while making its third attempt to land in thick fog. All 74 people aboard the the Ukrainian-chartered Yak-42 were killed.

2004 - Terry Nichols was convicted on 161 counts of murder in the (Oklahoma) state trial over his role in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Nichols was already serving a life sentence in a U.S. federal prison.

2005 - Actor Eddie Albert died at 99 years of age. He was a circus trapeze flier before becoming a stage and radio actor. Eddie Albert appeard in some 200 films, but is probably most fondly rememberd as the constantly befuddled city slicker-turned-farmer in TV’s Green Acres.

2006 - Las Vegas Sands, owner of the Venetian Hotel and Casino, won a hotly-contested license to build Singapore’s first casino for $3.2 billion.

2006 - Edouard Michelin died when his fishing boat sank off the coast of Brittany. Michelin was the 43-year-old managing partner and co-chief executive of the Michelin Group; and was the great-grandson of Édouard Michelin (1859–1940), a co-founder of the company.

2007 - Tens of thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets chanting “Freedom, Freedom!” to protest President Hugo Chavez’s decision to deny renewal of the broadcast license of RCTV, the country’s most-watched TV station, and an outlet for opposition to Chavez.

2008 - Composer Earle H. Hagen died at his home in Rancho Mirage, CA. He was 89 years old. Hagene co-wrote the jazz classic Harlem Nocturne and composed the themes for popular TV shows such as The Andy Griffith Show, I Spy, The Mod Squad and others.

2009 - The International Red Cross said the number of cholera cases in Zimbabwe was expected to reach 100,000, warning that the epidemic was Africa’s worst in 15 years.

2009 - The California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8, the November initiative that amended the state constitution to define marriage as the union of a man and a woman. The court did allow same-sex couple married before Nov 4 to remain legally wed.

Birthdays May 26

1799 - Alexander Pushkin
poet: Eugene Onegin, The Bronze Horseman, Ruslan and Lyudmila, Southern Verse Tales; playwright: Boris Godunov; novelist: Tales of Belkin, The Captain’s Daughter; died Jan 29, 1837 [mortally wounded in a duel Jan 27]

1886 - Al Jolson (Asa Yoelson)
singer: Sonny Boy; actor: The Jazz Singer, Rhapsody in Blue, Rose of Washington Square; died Oct 23, 1950

1893 - Norma Talmadge
actress: The Forbidden City, The Social Secretary, Dubarry; died Dec 24, 1957

1907 - John Wayne (Marion Morrison)
Academy Award-winning actor: True Grit [1969]; died Jun 11, 1979; see The Duke Day [above]

1908 - Robert Morley (Adolph Milton)
actor: Marie Antoinette, Around the World in 80 Days, The African Queen, War and Remembrance, Of Human Bondage, Istanbul; producer; died Jun 3, 1992

1910 - Laurance S. Rockefeller
conservationist: donated 92 acres on the top of Sage Mountain for British Virgin Islands’s first national park [1964]; died Jul 11, 2004

1911 - Ben Alexander (Nicholas Benton Alexander)
actor: All Quiet on the Western Front, Dragnet; died Jul 5, 1969

1911 - Ziggy Elman
musician [trumpet], composer, conductor, songwriter: And the Angels Sing, Forgive My Heart, Zaggin with Zig; played w/Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey orchestras; died Jun 26, 1968

1912 - Jay Silverheels (Harold J. Smith)
actor: The Lone Ranger, Broken Arrow, Man Who Loved Cat Dancing; died Mar 5, 1980

1913 - Peter Cushing
actor: Sherlock Holmes, Star Wars, Tales from the Crypt, The Evil of Frankenstein, The Horror of Dracula, The House That Dripped Blood; died Aug 11, 1994

1920 - Peggy Lee (Norma Delores Egstrom)
singer: Fever, It’s a Good Day, I Hear Music, The Folks Who Live on the Hill, I’m Just Wild About Harry, I’ve Got the World on a String, Mr. Wonderful; actress: Mister Music, The Jazz Singer, Pete Kelley’s Blues, Is That All There Is?; sang for: Lady and the Tramp; died Jan 21, 2002

1923 - James Arness (Aurness)
actor: Gunsmoke, How the West was Won, Hondo, The Alamo: Thirteen Days to Glory; Minneapolis, MN radio newscaster; brother of Peter Graves

1926 - Miles Davis
composer, musician: trumpet: My Funny Valentine, ’Round Midnight, So What, Four, Big Foot, Just Squeeze Me, Tempus Fugit, Well You Needn’t; died Sep 28, 1991

1927 - Jacques Bergerac
actor: Twist of Fate, Les Girls, Gigi, A Global Affair, Missione speciale Lady Chaplin

1929 - Patrick Horgan
actor: The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, George Washington, The Thomas Crown Affair, Music of Williamsburg; author: The Detection of Sherlock Holmes

1939 - Brent Musburger
sportscaster: ABC Sports, CBS Sports, ESPN

1940 - Levon Helm
musician: drums, singer: groups: The Band, Hawks, Levon and the Hawks, Crackers, Canadian Squires

1941 - Cliff Drysdale
tennis: first president of the Association of Tennis Professionals [ATP: 1972-1974]; ESPN commentator

1942 - Ray Ennis
musician: guitar, singer: group: The Swinging Blue Jeans: Hippy Hippy Shake

1942 - Chuck (Charles Oscar) Hartenstein
‘Twiggy’: baseball: pitcher: Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Red Sox, SL Cardinals, Toronto Blue Jays

1944 - Verden Allen
musician: keyboards: group: Mott the Hoople: All the Young Dudes, Ballad of Mott, All the Way to Memphis

1944 - Sam Posey
auto racer; radio/TV race commentator

1945 - Garry Peterson
musician: drums: The Guess Who: These Eyes, Laughing, No Time, American Woman, Share the Land, Clap for the Wolfman

1946 - Mick Ronson
musician [guitar]: group: Mott the Hoople: All the Way From Memphis, Honaloochie Boogie, Hymn for the Dudes, Born Late, All the Young Dudes, Roll Away the Stone; died Apr 29, 1993

1947 - Darrell (Wayne) Evans
baseball: Atlanta Braves [all-star: 1973], SF Giants [all-star: 1983], Detroit Tigers [World Series: 1984]

1948 - Stevie (Stephanie) Nicks
songwriter: Edge of Seventeen; singer: group: Fleetwood Mac: Dreams, Don’t Stop; solo: Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around [w/Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers], Leather & Lace [w/Don Henley], Stand Back, Talk to Me

1949 - Pam Grier
actress: The Big Bird Cage, Roots: The Next Generations, Fort Apache the Bronx, Miami Vice, Above the Law, Escape from L.A., Mars Attacks!, Ghosts of Mars, Bones

1949 - Dan Pastorini
football: Houston Oilers; football handicapper

1949 - Philip Michael Thomas
actor: Miami Vice, Hair, False Witness, A Fight for Jenny, Homeboy

1949 - Hank Williams Jr.
singer: All My Rowdy Friends Have Gone and Settled Down, Whiskey Bent and Hell-Bound, Family Tradition, Raining in My Heart, I’ve Got a Right to Cry, I’d Rather Be Gone, I Fought the Law, Are You Ready? [ABC Monday Night Football intro]; movie soundtrack: Your Cheatin’ Heart

1951 - Sally Ride
astronaut: first American woman in space: Challenger shuttle [1983]

1959 - Kevin Gage
actor: Happiness Runs, Born That Way, Lightning Bug, Blow, Point Blank, The ’burbs, SpaceCamp

1959 - Wayne Hussey
musician: guitar, singer: group: The Mission: LPs Gods Own Medicine, The First Chapter, Salad Daze, Neverland, Ever After

1962 - Genie Francis
actress: General Hospital, North and South, Book I & II, Bare Essence

1962 - Bob(cat) Goldthwait
actor: Out There, Destiny Turns on the Radio, Scrooged, Police Academy series, One Crazy Summer, voice of Muggle in Capitol Critters, voice of Mr. Floppy in Unhappily Ever After

1964 - Lenny Kravitz
singer, songwriter: American Woman, Are You Gonna Go My Way?

1966 - Helena Bonham Carter
actress: Mighty Aphrodite, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Howard’s End, Where Angels Fear to Tread, Hamlet, A Room with a View, Lady Jane

1966 - Zola Budd (Pieterse)
Olympic track and field star: within a 3-year period, twice broke the world record in the women’s 5,000 meters 15:01.83 [1984], 14:48.07 [1985]

1968 - Willie Burton
basketball [guard]: NBA: Philadelphia 76ers, Atlanta Hawks, San Antonio Spurs, Charlotte Hornets

1968 - Frederik André Henrik Christian
Crown Prince, and heir apparent to the Throne of, Denmark; he is the elder son of Queen Margrethe II and Count Henrik of Monpezat; when Crown Prince Frederik becomes king, he will be Frederik X of Denmark

1975 - Travis Lee
baseball: San Diego State Univ; Arizona Diamondbacks, Philadelphia Phillies, Tampa Bay Devils Rays, NY Yankees

1975 - P.J. Stock
hockey : NY Rangers, Montreal Canadiens, Philadelphia Flyers, Boston Bruins

ABA Birthdays Today

gordo (80) , slomba (63) , glo (57) , dabble (54) , john3000 (50) , phd103 (44) , slimshaggy (43) , 1199187 (43) , minhle3 (43) , nany8175 (39) , jorge8175 (39) , panabeto (35) , pinoy24 (31) , kewlys (30)

Chart Toppers May 26

1945Dream - The Pied Pipers
Candy - Johnny Mercer & Jo Stafford
Sentimental Journey - The Les Brown Orchestra (vocal: Doris Day)
At Mail Call Today - Gene Autry

1954Wanted - Perry Como
Little Things Mean a Lot - Kitty Kallen
Man Upstairs - Kay Starr
I Really Don’t Want to Know - Eddy Arnold

1963If You Wanna Be Happy - Jimmy Soul
Surfin’ USA - The Beach Boys
Foolish Little Girl - The Shirelles
Lonesome 7-7203 - Hawkshaw Hawkins

1972The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Roberta Flack
Oh Girl - Chi-Lites
I’ll Take You There - The Staple Singers
Grandma Harp - Merle Haggard

1981Bette Davis Eyes - Kim Carnes
Being with You - Smokey Robinson
Stars on 45 medley - Stars on 45
Seven Year Ache - Rosanne Cash

1990Vogue - Madonna
All I Wanna Do is Make Love to You - Heart
Hold On - Wilson Phillips
Walkin’ Away - Clint Black

1999Livin’ La Vida Loca - Ricky Martin
That Don’t Impress Me Much - Shania Twain
Kiss Me - Sixpence None The Richer
Please Remember Me - Tim McGraw

2008Bleeding Love - Leona Lewis
Love in This Club - Usher featuring Young Jeezy
No Air - Jordin Sparks featuring Chris Brown
Just Got Started Lovin’ You - James Otto

Happy Birthday Stevie Nicks

[lilherc]

Thanx, Buddy. Excellent job.

[steven charles]

thanks buddy for another great and interesting piece of history and thanks for sharing it with all of us my friend.....

[peggy13]

Wow, the "Duke" really was great eh?? Thank you Buddy for your commitment, very interesting information! Have a great "hump day"!

[unclepaul]

Thanks Buddy,have a good one!

YouTube - *Top Of The Pops 70s*-#21. Roberta Flack-The First Time Ever

YouTube - Shania Twain - That Don't Impress Me Much

[Victor Hugo]

Thanks Buddy for the information. Excellent Song...!!!

[pulpworker]

Thanks Buddyjh for another great day in History

[dt8350]

Happy Birthday Matt Dillon! (James Arness)
Great Post Buddy!

[Crystal Dragon]

Now this is a good cover of the Harlem Nocturne.
YouTube - Harlem nocturne

I love the sound of a good sax...
makes you think of hot muggy nights and sweaty twisted sheets
and of course Micky Spilane's Mike Hammer!!
I just like jazz heh

Thanks for the great post Buddy!!

[marty napier]

thanks buddyjh have a good one today!