Today's Birthdays 1/2

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 1/2/04 at 12:38am

Sally Rand 1/2/1904 - 8/31/1979 American actress and fan dancer, dancer, stripper: inventor of the fan dance; actress: The Texas Bearcat, Bachelor Brides, The Night of Love, Getting Gertie’s Garter, Bolero, Sunset Murder Case

Vera Zorina 01/02/1917 - Apr 9, 2003 performer, wife of Paul Wolfe (2001- 2003) her death; George Balanchine (1938 - 1946) divorced; Goddard Lieberson (1946 - 1977) his death - Howard Caine 01/02/1928 - I Married an Angel; Louisiana Purchase; Dream With Music; 1945 The Tempest; A Temporary Island; 1954 On Your Toes (Bobbi Van, Elaine Stritch,

Howard Caine 01/02/1928 - Dec 28, 1993 performer - Lunatics and Lovers; Inherit the Wind; Tiger at the Gates (Buddy Hackett, Dennis King)

Roger Miller 01/02/1936 - Oct 25, 1992 Lyricist, Composer, Performer - Big River

Christopher Durang 1/2/1949 Related to John Durang [First American-born professional actor.] performer, cabaret performer, composer - Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You, Beyond Therapy (John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest), The Marriage of Bette and Boo, A History of the American Film, Sex and Longing, When Dinah Shore Ruled the Earth and many more; film's Housesitter, The Butcher’s Wife, In the Spirit, Mr. North, Heaven Help Us

Taye Diggs 01/02/1972 Husband of Idina Menzel (January 11, 2003 - present), performer - 1994 Carousel; Rent; replacement 1996 Chicago & Wicked

SHOWS THAT OPENED ON THIS DATE:

1968 The Negro Ensemble Company presents Peter Weiss' Song of the Lusitanian Bogey, its first production, at St. Mark's Playhouse in Greenwich Village. Rosalind Cash and Moses Gunn star in the drama about Portuguese colonialism in Africa.

1969 Untamed sexual desire in the suburbs is the subject of the musical comedy The Fig Leaves Are Falling, which managed only a 4-performance run despite music by Albert Hague, lyrics by "Hello Muddah" writer Allan Sherman, a leading performance by Dorothy Loudon, and a supporting cast that included David Cassidy and Jenny O'Hara.

1972 Fun City, a sarcastic-titled revue poking fun at New York in some of its darkest days, opens a 9-performance run at the Morosco Theatre with a cast that includes Joan Rivers, Rose Marie, Paul Ford, Pierre Epstein and Louis Zorich.

ON THIS DAY IN:

NBC-TV presented the first program in the series of The Life of Riley, starring William Bendix, on this day in 1953. The program had aired for one season in 1949 with Jackie Gleason in the starring role of Chester A. Riley. Before that it had a long run on radio where William Bendix also starred in the Riley role (before Bendix, the original Riley on the radio was played by Lionel Stander). We remember Chester A. Riley as a big, lovable, galoot who had trouble getting things to go right. He worked at an aircraft factory but we usually saw him at home creating all kinds of problems and near disasters for himself and those around him: his wife Peg (Marjorie Reynolds), son Junior (Wesley Morgan), daughter Babs (Lugene Sanders) and good friend Jim Gillis (Tom D'Andrea). Riley’s philosophy when things went wrong was, “What a revoltin’ development dis is!” When things went right (usually straightened out by Peg), however, Riley was very satisfied with life and ‘the life of Riley’ became synonymous in the 1950s with ‘the good life’.

1983 The musical ''Annie'' closed on Broadway after 2,377 performances.

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

Milla