99th day of 2009 - 266 remaining
Thursday, April 9, 2009
3-D MOVIE DAY
The year was 1953. Warner Brothers, the first of the major Hollywood studios to introduce 3-D motion pictures, chose this day to premiere The House of Wax at the Paramount Theatre in New York City. The stage show preceding the movie was headed by singer Eddie Fisher. The film’s stars, Vincent Price, Phyllis Kirk and Frank Lovejoy attended the premiere.
A precursor to Warner’s 3-D presentation occurred in 1922 when The Power of Love opened in Los Angeles. The feature-length movie was filmed in a stereoscopic process called Fairall.
The first official 3-D movie (viewed with special glasses), Bwana Devil, premiered in LA five months before the major studios got into the act. It starred Robert Stack and Barbara Britton. Although the critics panned the flick as “low-grade melodrama with Polaroid glasses,” the long lines at the box office convinced Warner and others to plan their own 3-D productions. In fact, 23 3-D films were released in 1953, The House of Wax being the first.
Events
April 9
1833 - The first municipally supported public library in the U.S. was established in Peterborough, NH.
1872 - S.R. Percy of New York City received a patent for dried milk. Yummy!
1905 - The first aerial ferry bridge went into operation -- in Duluth, Minnesota.
1912 - The Boston Red Sox defeated Harvard 2-0 on this, the day that Fenway Park was opened for the first time. Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, Carlton Fisk, Jim Rice, Roger Clemens, and Babe Ruth played ball at Fenway and faced the ‘Green Monster’, the huge wall in left field. Until the Humane Society ordered him to stop, Ted Williams used to take rifle shots at the many pigeons that flew around the stadium. In 1954, a ball thrown to stop a player from making a double out of a single, hit a pigeon in flight. Allegedly, the bird fell to the ground, got up and then flew away to safer territory. The ball deflected right to the second baseman, who put the tag on the runner.
1928 - Mae West made her glamorous debut on Broadway in the classic production of Diamond Lil.
1940 - Jimmy Dorsey and his orchestra, along with singer Helen O’Connell, recorded Six Lessons from Madame La Zonga for Decca Records.
1947 - Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers announced the purchase of the baseball contract that would bring slugger Jackie Roosevelt Robinson to the Dodgers from Montreal.
1950 - Bob Hope hosted a Star-Spangled Review on NBC-TV. Hope became the highest-paid performer for a single show on TV. The Star-Spangled Review was a musical special.
1953 - Cincinnati baseball officials said that the National League team wanted to be known as the Redlegs and not the Reds. This was understandable, with the McCarthy Hearings bringing to light the alleged infiltration of Communist reds in the United States in government, politics and entertainment.
1962 - President John F. Kennedy opened the Washington Senators’ baseball season by throwing out the first ball at the new D.C. Stadium (later to be known as Robert F. Kennedy Stadium [RFK]). The original Senators had left Washington for Minnesota in 1961. As part of the agreement to allow the Senators to move, an expansion team had to be granted to DC. The expansion Washington Senators moved to Texas and became the Rangers. The owner who moved the expansion team to Texas was Bob Short, a businessman from Minnesota. Short once ran for the Senate in Minnesota. Wouldn’t that have been interesting - the man who moved the Senators from DC might have moved into DC as a Senator!
1962 - Musicals and comedies led the list of award-winners and nominees at the 34th Annual Academy Awards held at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Los Angeles and hosted by comedian Bob Hope. The Broadway musical in the guise of a Hollywood film, West Side Story, was awarded the Oscar for Best Picture (Robert Wise, producer); Best Director (Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins); Best Supporting Actor and Actress (George Chakiris, Rita Moreno); Best Cinematography/Color (Daniel L. Fapp); Best Art Direction/Set Decoration/Color (Boris Leven, Victor A. Gangelin); Best Costume Design/Color (Irene Sharaff); Best Sound (Fred Hynes-Todd-AO SSD & Gordon Sawyer-Samuel Goldwyn SSD); Best Film Editing (Thomas Stanford); Best Music/Scoring of a Musical Picture (Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green, Sid Ramin, Irwin Kostal). Were their any golden statuettes left for any other flick? A few ... the Best Actor award went to Maximilian Schell for his role in Judgment at Nuremberg , and for the first time in Oscar history, the Best Actress award went to an actress in a foreign film, Sophia Loren for the lead in La Ciociara (or Two Women). The Hustler, Splendor in the Grass and The Guns of Navarone won a total of four Oscars. Now, back to musicals -- the Best Music/Song was Moon River (Henry Mancini-music, Johnny Mercer-lyrics) from Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The list of comedic and musical movies from 1961 that were nominated but didn’t win is equally impressive: The Absent-Minded Professor, The Parent Trap, The Children’s Hour, Babes in Toyland, Pocketful of Miracles, Flower Drum Song, Fanny ... let’s all sing along with Barbra, now ...
1965 - TIME magazine featured a cover with the entire Peanuts gang on this day. It was a good day for Charlie Brown.
1965 - Major-league baseball played its first indoor game. President Lyndon B. Johnson attended the opening of the Astrodome in Houston, Texas. The indoor stadium was termed the ‘Eighth Wonder of the World’.
1973 - Tommy Aaron became the second native son from Georgia to win the Masters golf title at Augusta. The first Georgian to accomplish the feat was Claude Harmon in 1948.
1977 - The Swedish pop group Abba made its debut at number one on the American pop charts, as Dancing Queen became the most popular record in the U.S.
1979 - Drama and war headlined the films winning most of the awards at the 51st Annual Academy Awards ceremony at Los Angeles’ Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (L.A. Music Center). The Best Picture, The Deer Hunter (Barry Spikings, Michael Deeley, Michael Cimino, John Peverall, producers), also won for Best Director (Michael Cimino); Best Supporting Actor (Christopher Walken); Best Film Editing (Peter Zinner); and Best Sound (Richard Portman, William McCaughey, Aaron Rochin, C. Darin Knight). The Best Actor and Actress awards for performances in Coming Home were awarded to Jon Voight and Jane Fonda, respectively. This 1978 film also won a golden statuette for Best Writing/Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen (Nancy Dowd, Waldo Salt, Robert C. Jones). The intense Midnight Express won for Best Music/Original Score (Giorgio Moroder)and Best Writing/Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (Oliver Stone). On the lighter side, the Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role went to Maggie Smith in California Suite, the Best Music/Song Oscar, for Last Dance from Thank God It’s Friday, went to Paul Jabara, and Johnny Carson was the host.
1984 - Johnny Carson used his own terms of endearment to bring laughter to the TV audience and the audience in attendance at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles. It was the 56th Annual Academy Awards, and Terms of Endearment (James L. Brooks, producer) was voted Best Picture of 1983. Terms also won for Best Director (James L. Brooks, again ... and, again for Best Writing/Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium);and Best Supporting Actor (Jack Nicholson); and for Best Actress (Shirley MacLaine). MacLaine had been nominated five times over 26 years before winning the statuette. Of course, since she could see into the future, she knew that this would happen. Robert Duvall picked up the Best Actor Award (Tender Mercies) and the Best Supporting Actress title was bestowed on Linda Hunt for The Year of Living Dangerously. A foreign film, Fanny & Alexander, won three Academy Awards: Best Costume Design (Marik Vos-Lundh), Best Art Direction/Set Decoration (Anna Asp, Susanne Lingheim), & Best Cinematography (Sven Nykvist). Another film that endeared itself to audiences in 1983 was The Right Stuff, honored for Best Music/Original Score (Bill Conti); Best Effects/Sound Effects Editing (Jay Boekelheide); Best Film Editing (Glenn Farr, Lisa Fruchtman, Stephen A. Rotter, Douglas Stewart, Tom Rolf); and Best Sound (Mark Berger, Thomas Scott, Randy Thom, David MacMillan). Put the whole evening together and you get the Best Music/Song: Flashdance...What a Feeling (Giorgio Moroder-music, Keith Forsey and Irene Cara-lyrics) from the movie, Flashdance.
1985 - Tom Seaver broke a major-league baseball record (held by Walter Johnson) as he started his 15th opening-day game. The Chicago White Sox defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 4-2. With the win, ‘Tom Terrific’ extended his opening day record to 7-1. He had thrown openers for the New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds and the Chicago White Sox.
1988 - Singer Brook Benton died in New York of bacterial meningitis. He was 56. We remember Benton for many hits. Among them: It’s Just a Matter of Time, So Many Ways, Endlessly, Rainy Night in Georgia, and Baby (You’ve Got What It Takes) (w/Dinah Washington).
Birthdays
April 9
1883 - Frank King
cartoonist: creator of Gasoline Alley cartoon strip; died June 25, 1969
1898 - Paul Robeson
singer: Ol’ Man River; actor: The Emperor Jones, Show Boat, Othello, Porgy and Bess, The Hairy Ape, King Solomon’s Mines, Song of Freedom; died Jan 23, 1976
1903 - Ward (Wardell) Bond
actor: Wagon Train, Gone with the Wind, Drums Along the Mohawk, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Maltese Falcon, Mister Roberts, Rio Bravo, Tall in the Saddle, The Time of Your Life; died Nov 5, 1960
1906 - Antal Dorati
symphony orchestra conductor; died Nov 13, 1988
1916 - Julian Dash
jazz musician: tenor sax: No Soap, Midnight Stroll, Double Shot, Gin Mill Special, Weddin’ Blues, My Silent Love, Long Moan, Creamin’, Goin’ Along; died Feb 25, 1974
1920 - Art Van Damme
musician: accordionist: group: Art Van Damme Quintet
1926 - Jack Nichols
basketball: Boston Celtics
1926 - Hugh Hefner
publisher: Playboy magazine
1928 - Paul Arizin
Basketball Hall of Famer: NBA Silver Anniversary Team [1971]; Philadelphia Warriors: led league in scoring [1951-52] [1956-57]; NBA’s fifth player to score over 10,000
1928 - Tom Lehrer
songwriter: Vatican Rag, Werner Von Braun, The Old Dope Peddlar, Be Prepared, Lobachevsky, The Masochism Tango, New Math, National Brotherhood Week, I Wanna Go Back to Dixie, We Will All Go Together When We Go
1932 - Carl Perkins (Carl Lee Perkings)
singer: Blue Suede Shoes, Your True Love, Honey Don’t, Pink Pedal Pushers, Shine Shine, Cotton Top, Restless; inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987; died Jan 19, 1998
1933 - Jean-Paul Belmondo
actor: Casino Royale, The Brain, Is Paris Burning?, Swashbuckler, Le Magnifique, Love and the Frenchwoman
1935 - Avery Schreiber
comedian: half of comedy duo Burns & Schreiber; died Jan 7, 2002
1939 - Michael Learned
Emmy Award-winning actress: The Waltons [1972-73, 1973-74, 1975-76; Nurse [1981-82]; Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, All My Sons, Deadly Business, A Christmas Without Snow
1940 - Jim Roberts
hockey: NHL: Montreal Canadiens, SL Blues
1942 - (Andre) Brandon de Wilde
actor: Shane, Hud, In Harm’s Way, The Member of the Wedding, Goodbye My Lady, All Fall Down; killed in car crash July 6, 1972 [Denver CO: while en route to act in a stage play]
1943 - Terry Knight
singer: Groups: Terry Knight and the Pack: I Who Have Nothing; founded Grand Funk Railroad: On Time
1945 - Alden Roche
football: Green Bay Packers
1946 - Nate (Nathan) Colbert
baseball: Houston Astros, SD Padres [all-star: 1971-1973], Detroit Tigers, Montreal Expos, Oakland Athletics
1946 - Les Gray
singer: group: Mud: Tiger Feet, Lonely This Christmas, Oh Boy; died Feb 21, 2004
1948 - Michel Parizeau
hockey: NHL: Philadelphia Flyers, SL Blues
1954 - Dennis Quaid
actor: Dragonheart, Wyatt Earp, Postcards from the Edge, Everybody’s All-American, The Right Stuff, Jaws 3, The Long Riders, Breaking Away, September 30, 1955, Switchback, Frequency, Traffic; songwriter, actor: The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia, Tough Enough, The Big Easy; brother of actor Randy Quaid
1957 - Severiano (Seve) Ballesteros
golf: youngest to win Harry Vardon Trophy [Paris: 1976]; won over thirty major golf tournaments on five continents; 54 PGA European Tour Tournaments, 14 International, 4 others
1961 - Mark Kelly
musician: keyboards: group: Marillion: Market Square Heroes, Grendel, Lavender, Heart of Lothian
1966 - Cynthia Nixon
actress: Let It Ride, Tanner, The Manhattan Project, Tattoo, Amadeus
1979 - Keshia Knight Pulliam
actress: The Cosby Show
Chart Toppers
April 9
1947The Anniversary Song - Dinah Shore
How are Things in Glocca Morra - Buddy Clark
Managua, Nicaragua - The Guy Lombardo Orchestra (vocal: Don Rodney)
So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed - Merle Travis
1955The Ballad of Davy Crockett - Bill Hayes
Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White - Perez Prado
Unchained Melody - Les Baxter
In the Jailhouse Now - Webb Pierce
1963He’s So Fine - The Chiffons
South Street - The Orlons
Can’t Get Used to Losing You - Andy Williams
Still - Bill Anderson
1971Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me) - The Temptations
For All We Know - Carpenters
What’s Going On - Marvin Gaye
After the Fire is Gone - Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn
1979I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor
What a Fool Believes - The Doobie Brothers
Sultans of Swing - Dire Straits
I Just Fall in Love Again - Anne Murray
1987Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now - Starship
Tonight, Tonight, Tonight - Genesis
Come Go with Me - Expose
Ocean Front Property - George Strait
Also lets wish our friend Blackbart a Happy Birthday today!!
Number 1 April 9th 1987-Ocean Front Property George Strait
04 - Ocean Front Property.zip
Guapo Vic.
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