Today's Birthdays 1/11

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 1/10/09 at 11:27pm

Ernest Pascal 01/11/1896 - Nov 4, 1966 Producer, Writer, Director - The Charlatan; The Marriage Bed; The Amorous Antic (Frank Morgan); I Am My Youth; Peepshow (David Wayne)

Eva Le Gallienne 01/11/1899 - Jun 3, 1991 performer, producer - "I would rather play Ibsen than eat -- and that's often what it amounts to," said Eva Le Gallienne, born in London today. Her determination and drive will lead her to a stage debut in Monna Vanna at the Queen's Theatre in London in 1914; her Broadway debut will take place one year later in the comedy Mrs. Boltay's Daughters. She will appear in countless shows, and in 1937 will play Hamlet with Uta Hagen as her Ophelia. In 1926 she will found the Civic Repertory Theatre with the motto "Theatre should be an instrument for giving, not a machinery for getting."

Ruth Goetz 01/11/1912 - Oct 12, 2001 writer, daughter of Philip Goodman; Wife of Augustus Goetz - One-Man Show; The Heiress (Wendy Hiller, Basil Rathbone); The Immoralist (Louis Jourdan, Geraldine Page, James Dean); The Hidden River (Robert Preston)

Mary Rodgers 01/11/1931 daughter of Richard Rodgers, mother of Adam Guettel & Kim Beaty, composer, performer - Once Upon a Mattress (Carol Burnett); Hot Spot (Joseph Campanella, George Furth, Mary Louise Wilson, Judy Holliday, Carmen De Lavallade); From A to Z; Working; The Madwoman of Central Park West; tv's & film's Once Upon a Mattress; Freaky Friday; The Devil and Max Devlin; Free To Be You & Me; Summer Switch

Joel Zwick 01/11/1942 Choreographer, Director, Performer - Dance With Me; George Gershwin Alone; tv's & film's My Big Fat Greek Wedding; The Wayans Bros.; Family Matters; Mork & Mindy; Laverne & Shirley; Happy Days; 2006 Coming Out (Alan Cumming, Catherine Zeta-Jones)

Marion J. Caffey 01/11/1955 Husband of Stephanie Pope - Mayor; Street Corner Symphony

Stanley Tucci 01/11/1960 performer, producer - The Queen and the Rebels (Colleen Dewhurst, Fiddle Verracola, Campbell Scott); 1983 The Misanthrope (Brian Bedford, Mary Beth Hurt); 1985 The Iceman Cometh; Execution of Justice; Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune; tv's & film's Prizzi's Honor; Wiseguy; It Could Happen to You; Murder One; 1999 A Midsummer Night's Dream; The Terminal; 3 lbs.; Monk; The Devil Wears Prada; Four Last Songs; ER; Blind Date; Monk

Amanda Peet 01/11/1972 performer - 2006 Barefoot in the Park; tv's & film's Central Park West; Igby Goes Down; Syriana; Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

SHOWS THAT OPENED ON THIS DATE:

1927 Opening night of the musical Piggy, by Lew Brown and Cliff Friend, based on the play The Rich Mr. Hoggenheimer. This show, which ran 83 performances at the Royale Theatre, is one of the few musicals in history that decided to change its title after opening night. The new monicker: I Told You So.

1976 Stephen Sondheim's Pacific Overtures opens tonight at the Winter Garden Theatre. The musical uses a Kabuki-like staging and elements of Eastern music. Harold Prince directs a Japanese cast.

1979 Joel Grey and Ronald Holgate star in the opening night of Jerry Herman's flop musical The Grand Tour, which ran 61 performances at the Palace Theatre. It was based on the play, Jakobovsky and the Colonel.

1996 The Father with Frank Langella

2000 Broadway's Belasco Theater welcomes the transfer of James Joyce's The Dead from Off Broadway. The show boasts a book by Richard Nelson (who won a Tony for it), music by Shaun Davey, and lyrics adapted by Shaun Davey and Richard Nelson. Featured in the cast are Christopher Walken, Blair Brown, Emily Skinner, Alice Ripley, and Stephen Spinella.

ON THIS DAY IN:

On Jan. 11, 1935, aviator Amelia Earhart began a trip from Honolulu to Oakland, Calif., becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean.

1963 - Whiskey-A-Go-Go opened this night on Sunset Boulevard in Boss Angeles, and what an opening it was! Bright lights and mini-skirted dancers in cages were the prominent features of America’s first discotheque. At that point, John Travolta was all of five years old and Barry White sang three octaves higher.

(sources: IBDB, IMDB, NYT's ON THIS DAY, 440.com’s Those Were The Days, Playbill.com)

Milla