Today in History 09/01

[yelladawg]

September 1
1819 - The first plow with interchangeable parts was patented by Jethro Wood.
1859 - The Pullman sleeping car was placed into service. The car was built by company namesake George Pullman and he was assisted by Ben Field.

1887 - Emile Berliner filed for a patent for his invention of the lateral-cut, flat-disk gramophone. We know it better as the record player. Emile got the patent, but Thomas Edison got the notoriety for making it work and making music with his invention.

1906 - Pitcher Jack Coombs of the American League’s Philadelphia Athletics went 24 innings. For the record, the A’s defeated the Boston Red Sox.

1922 - The first daily news program on radio was The Radio Digest, on WBAY radio. The program, hosted by George F. Thompson, the program’s editor, originated from New York City.

1923 - The earth shook violently in Kanto, Japan. It was the worst earthquake in Japan’s history (magnituded 7.1), killing some 140,000 people.

1939 - This day would live in infamy as the beginning of World War II. It was marked by the invasion of Poland by Nazi troops and planes. Polish defenses crumbled under the massive mechanized land and air assault.

1949 - Martin Kane, Private Eye debuted on NBC-TV. William Gargan starred on the Thursday night program. Gargan’s Martin Kane was a smooth, wisecracking operator who worked closely with the cops. His headquarters were at Happy McMann’s tobacco shop. As time passed, the format changed and so did the lead. Kane no longer worked closely with the fuzz and three other actors played the famous detective, Lloyd Nolan (1951-52), Lee Tracy (1952-53) and Mark Stevens (1953-54). Martin Kane, Private Eye ended on June 17, 1954.

1951 - The United States, Australia and New Zealand signed a mutual defense pact, the ANZUS Treaty.

1962 - An earthquake struck northwestern Iran near Ghazvin. The magnitude 7.3 quake killed some 12,000 people.

1971 - When Danny Murtaugh, manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, handed in his lineup card to the umpire, it contained the names of nine black baseball players -- a first for the major leagues.

1972 - The O’Jays received a gold record for Back Stabbers. It was the first hit for the group from Canton, OH. The O’Jays would place nine more hits on the pop and R&B charts. Five of them were gold record winners: Love Train, I Love Music, Use ta Be My Girl, For the Love of Money and Put Your Hands Together.

1972 - America’s Bobby Fischer beat Russia’s Boris Spassky to become world chess champion. The chess match took place in Reykjavik, Iceland.

1973 - Horse-racing jockey Braulio Baeza won two races at Belmont Park, New York. Baeza then boarded an airplane and flew to Liberty Bell race track in Philadelphia to ride Determined King to victory in the Kindergarten Stakes.

1975 - The last Monday Night Baseball game was broadcast on NBC-TV. Montreal’s Expos defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 6-5. ABC-TV picked up the games in 1976.

1977 - Singer Debbie Harry (of Blondie) signed a recording deal with Chrysalis Records. Chrysalis bought the group’s private stock label for $500,000. With the high visibility of the former Playboy Bunny, it was difficult to think of Blondie as a band, and not just Debbie Harry.

1982 - After a two-year absence from the major leagues (following a near-fatal stroke in June of 1980), pitcher J.R. Richard was called back to the Houston Astros.

1983 - A Soviet interceptor plane destroyed a Korean Air Boeing 747 that had strayed 100 miles off course, flying over Soviet military installations. Flight 007, carrying 240 passengers and 29 crew members, had departed from New York and was en route to Seoul, Korea. All 269 on board perished.

1986 - Jerry Lewis raised a record $34 million for Muscular Dystrophy during his annual telethon for Jerry’s kids over the Labor Day weekend.

1992 - Chess champ Bobby Fischer came out of his 20-year retirement to hold a press conference in Yugoslavi a. He spit on an order from the U.S. Treasury Department warning him of his pending violation of U.N. sanctions if he played chess in Yugoslavia. Fischer announced that he would, indeed, play his one-time rival, Boris Spassky, in a $5-million chess match in Sveti Stefan, Yugoslavia -- despite the sanctions. The match began on Sep 30 and ran thru Nov 11 (Fischer won).

1997 - The Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon raised $50,475,055 -- a record -- to support Muscular Dystrophy Association research and services.

1997 - Henri Paul, the driver of the Mercedes in which Princess Diana was fatally injured, had a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit. The Paris prosecutor’s office said, “The analysis of his blood showed a concentration of alcohol at an illicit level.”

Birthdays
September 1
1791 - Lydia Sigourney
author: Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands, Letters to Young Ladies, How to Be Happy; died June 10, 1865

1854 - Engelbert Humperdinck
opera composer: Hansel and Gretel; name borrowed by pop singer Arnold Dorsey; died Sep 27, 1921

1875 - Edgar Rice Burroughs
writer: Tarzan of the Apes; died Mar 19, 1950

1898 - Richard Arlen (Van Mattimore)
actor: Road to Nashville, Johnny Reno, Apache Uprising, Sex and the College Girl, Buffalo Bill Rides Again, Island of Lost Souls; died Mar 28, 1976

1900 - Don Wilson
announcer, actor: The Jack Benny Show; died Apr 25, 1982

1904 - Johnny Mack Brown
actor: Apache Uprising, Ghost Rider, The Masked Rider, Oregon Trail, Rustlers of Red Dog, Texas Kid; died Nov 14, 1974

1907 - Walter (Philip) Reuther
labor union leader: president of United Automobile Workers and Congress of Industrial Organizations ; killed in plane crash May 9, 1970

1916 - Arleen Whelan
actress: Never Wave at a WAC, Ramrod; passed away Apr 7, 1993

1920 - Richard Farnsworth
actor: The Fire Next Time, The Two Jakes, The Natural, Misery, Anne of Green Gables, Lassie, The Grey Fox, Legend of the Lone Ranger, Havana, The Boys of Twilight; died Oct 6, 2000

1922 - Yvonne De Carlo (Peggy Yvonne Middleton)
actress: The Munsters, Salome, Where She Danced, The Ten Commandments, McLintock!

1922 - Vittorio Gassman
actor: Sharkey’s Machine, The Scent of a Woman, Abraham, Bitter Rice, War and Peace, The Family; died June 29, 2000

1923 - Rocky Marciano (Rocco Marchegiano)
boxer: World Heavyweight Champion <1952-56>: the only world champion to have won every fight in professional career <1947-56>; died Aug 31, 1969

1928 - George Maharis (Maharias)
actor: Route 66, Rich Man, Poor Man - Book 1, The Most Deadly Game, The Crash of Flight 401, Return to Fantasy Island, Murder on Flight 502, Land Raiders, Exodus

1931 - Boxcar Willie (Lecil Martin)
‘The Singing Hobo’: songwriter, singer: Not the Man I Used to Be; died Apr 12, 1999

1933 - Conway Twitty (Harold Lloyd Jenkins)
songwriter: Walk Me to the Door; singer: It’s Only Make Believe, Danny Boy, Lonely Boy Blue, What Am I Living For, Next In Line, Hello Darlin’, 15 Years Ago, You’ve Never been this Far Before, Don’t Cry Joni; CMA Male Vocalist of the Year <1975>, Grammy Award-winner : After the Fire is Gone <1971>; owns booking agency, music publishing company, Twitty Burgers, Twitty City theme park; died June 5, 1993

1935 - Seiji Ozawa
orchestra leader: San Francisco Symphony Orchestra

1935 - Guy Rodgers
basketball: Milwaukee Bucks, Cincinnati Royals, Chicago Bulls, Philadelphia Warriors; died Feb 19, 2001

1937 - Al Geiberger
golf: holds PGA Tour Record for lowest score in 18 holes <59>, played in 1977 during the second round of the Danny Thomas Memphis Classic at the Colonial Country Club

1937 - Ron O’Neal
actor: Original Gangstas, Up Against the Wall, Trained to Kill, Super Fly, Red Dawn, No Place to Be Somebody, The Equalizer, Bring ’Em Back Alive; died Jan 14, 2004

1939 - Lily (Mary Jean) Tomlin
Emmy Award-winning comedy-writer: Lily <1973-74>, Lily Tomlin <1975-76>, The Paul Simon Special <12/8/77>, producer: Lily: Sold Out <1980-81>; Tony Award-winning actress: The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe <1986>; Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, 9 to 5, The Incredible Shrinking Woman, And the Band Played On, Short Cuts, Nashville

1939 - Rico (Ricardo Adolfo Jacobo) Carty
baseball: Milwaukee Braves, Atlanta Braves , Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers, Oakland Athletics, Cleveland Indians, Toronto Blue Jays

1940 - Dave White (Tricker)
singer, songwriter: group: Danny & The Juniors: At the Hop, Rock and Roll is Here to Stay

1943 - Don Stroud
actor: Dillinger and Capone, Prime Target, Twisted Justice, Amityville Horror, The Buddy Holly Story, Sudden Death, Killer Inside Me, Madigan, Coogan’s Bluff, Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer, Kate Loves a Mystery, Dragnet

1944 - Leonard Slatkin
Grammy Award-winning orchestra director: St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra

1946 - Barry Gibb
musician: rhythm guitar, songwriter, singer: group: The Bee Gees: Stayin’ Alive, Night Fever, How Deep Is Your Love, How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, Tragedy , Lonely Days; What Kind of Fool , Emotion ; score: Saturday Night Fever; 29 hits: 7 gold, 4 platinum

1946 - Greg Errico
musician: drums: group: Sly and The Family Stone: Everyday People, Higher, Dance to the Music, Hot Fun in the Summertime, Thank You

1946 - Dennis Partee
football: San Diego Chargers

1947 - Ed Podolak
football: Kansas City Chiefs running back: Super Bowl IV

1949 - Garry (Lee) Maddox
baseball: San Francisco Giants, Philadelphia Phillies

1955 - Bruce Foxton
musician: guitar: band: 100 Men; group: The Jam: Down in the Tube Station at Midnight, David Watts, Eton Rifles, Little Boy Soldiers, Saturday’s Kids, Going Underground, Town Called Malice, Beat Surrender, Man in the Corner Shop, Set the House Ablaze, Start, The Planner’s Dream Gone Wrong

1957 - Gloria Estefan (Gloria Maria Milagrosa Fajardo)
‘Queen of Latin Pop’: Grammy Award-winning singer: Mi Tierra <1993>, Abriendo Puertas <1995>; group: Miami Sound Machine: Don’t Want to Lose You, Turn the Beat Around; solo: LPs: Cuts Both Ways, Into the Light, Greatest Hits, Destiny; over 45 million records sold; actress: Music of the Heart

1961 - Scott ‘Bam Bam’ Bigelow pro wrestler/actor: WWF Superstars of Wrestling, Survivor Series, Wrestlemania, Extreme Championship Wrestling, WCW Saturday Night, Ready to Rumble



Chart Toppers
September 1
1951Because of You - Tony Bennett
Come On-a My House - Rosemary Clooney
Shanghai - Doris Day
Always Late (With Your Kisses) - Lefty Frizzell
1959Sea of Love - Phil Phillips
Sleep Walk - Santo & Johnny
I’m Gonna Get Married - Lloyd Price
The Three Bells - The Browns

1967Ode to Billie Joe - Bobbie Gentry
Pleasant Valley Sunday - The Monkees
Baby I Love You - Aretha Franklin
I’ll Never Find Another You - Sonny James

1975Get Down Tonight - K.C. & The Sunshine Band
How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You) - James Taylor
At Seventeen - Janis Ian
Rhinestone Cowboy - Glen Campbell

1983Every Breath You Take - The Police
Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) - Eurythmics
Maniac - Michael Sembello
You’re Gonna Ruin My Bad Reputation - Ronnie McDowell

1991(Everything I Do) I Do It for You - Bryan Adams
Fading Like a Flower (Every Time You Leave) - Roxette
Wind of Change - Scorpions
You Know Me Better Than That - George Strait

[zbdent]

1. A few local notes from Richfield:

Today in history:

2002 - Consolidated Freightways closes its doors and announces to its workers that they were "laid off" - via an automated phone message.

2003 - George W. Bush drives through the main intersection in the "heart" of Richfield Village. Hundreds of protesters massively outnumber the dozen or so Bush Backers that didn't get their exclusive invite to the Bush-A-Thon at the Summit/Cuyahoga County border. Surprisingly, the training center where he makes his rain-drenched speech still is open. One Bush backer mentions that the protesters were not "from Richfield", so they were not welcome. By that logic, almost every person invited to the Bush-A-Thon, including its "students", are not welcome either.