Today In Time

[observer]

1866 - The Excelsior Needle Company of Wolcottville, Connecticut began making sewing machine needles.

1916 - Queen's Park passes Temperance Act. (The beginnings of Totonto the Good?)

1932 - Canadian Senate rejects Bill to legalize sweepstakes. (How things have changed!)

1943 - Canadian budget introduces unique pay-as-you-earn income tax system.

1949 - For the first time in history, no enemy country anywhere in the world could attack the U.S. without potentially being in instant danger, itself. The flight of the USAF B-50 bomber, #B-5046010 aptly named Lucky Lady II, proved that an airplane could be refueled in-air and fly around the world, nonstop. It took 94 hours from takeoff at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth, Texas for Lucky Lady II to return to home base. The crew of 14, commanded by Captain James Gallagher; second pilot 1st Lt. Arthur M. Neal, and copilot Capt. James H. Morris, refueled in mid-air four times, once over the Azores, then over Saudi Arabia, followed the third day in flight over the Philippines and then over Hawaii.

1957 - Teenage heartthrob Tab Hunter’s song Young Love was number one in the U.S.

1974 - Stevie Wonder got five Grammy Awards for his album, Innervisions and his hit songs, You Are The Sunshine of My Life and Superstition.

1976 - Time magazine puts out last Canadian edition; loses advertising after Ottawa changes tax laws.

BIRTHDAYS
1904 - Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel) - Pulitzer Prize-winning author [1984]: The Cat in the Hat, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, Green Eggs and Ham; died Sep 24, 1991

1917 - Desi Arnaz (Desiderio Alberto Arnez y De Acha III), in Santiago, Cuba - bandleader, singer: Babalu; actor: I Love Lucy; married to Lucille Ball; co-owner of Desilu Productions; introduced 3-camera sitcom technique; died Dec 2, 1986

1919 - Jennifer Jones (Phyllis Isley) -Academy Award-winning actress: The Song of Bernadette [1943], Carrie, Love is a Many-Splendored Thing, The Towering Inferno; died Dec 17, 2009

1931 - Mikhail Gorbachev - President of the Soviet Union [1990-1991]

1935 - Al Waxman - actor, at Toronto. Waxman played the title role in the CBC situation comedy King of Kensington (1975-80), and has acted in Cagney & Lacey (1981-88), Meatballs 3, Spasms.

1942 - John Irving - author: Cider House Rules, The World According to Garp

1950 - Karen Carpenter - drummer, singer: Grammy Award-winning group: The Carpenters: Best New Artist, Group w/Vocal: Close to You [1970]; We’ve Only Just Begun, Top of the World, Please Mr. Postman; died Feb 4, 1983

1962 - Jon Bon Jovi (John Francis Bongiovi) - singer, musician, songwriter: You Give Love a Bad Name, Living on a Prayer, Blaze of Glory, LPs: Bon Jovi, 7800 Fahrenheit

[observer]

1950 - Karen Carpenter - drummer, singer: Grammy Award-winning group: The Carpenters: Best New Artist, Group w/Vocal: Close to You [1970]; We’ve Only Just Begun, Top of the World, Please Mr. Postman; died Feb 4, 1983

Remember Karen Carpenter? Such a pretty, innocent and fragile looking girl - with such a wonderful voice. Yet, apparently all that talent and all that beauty wasn't enough for her to feel comfortable in her own skin, and she became one of the first celebrities that we heard of with anorexia.

And, indirectly, that insecurity ended up killing her - at the "advanced" age of 33.

[observer]

1917 - Desi Arnaz (Desiderio Alberto Arnez y De Acha III), in Santiago, Cuba - bandleader, singer: Babalu; actor: I Love Lucy; married to Lucille Ball; co-owner of Desilu Productions; introduced 3-camera sitcom technique; died Dec 2, 1986

Lucille Ball was undoubtedly one of the female comic geniuses - yet, imagine the "I Love Lucy" show without a Latin Desi to bounce off of!

Lucy, I think, was the model for some of the better female comics that followed - Carol Burnett for sure, if you just compare Carol's style, timing and antics to Lucy's.

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