Today's Birthdays 1/8

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 1/8/04 at 7:48pm

Gypsy Rose Lee 01/08/1911 - performer, daughter of Rose Hovick, partner of Otto Preminger (mother of Erik Lee Preminger ), sister of June Havoc, wife of Alexander Kirkland (1942 - 1944) divorced - Louise sings "I wonder how old I am?" in Gypsy, and here's the answer: Born today in Seattle is Rose Louise Hovick, later to become better known as stripper supreme Gypsy Rose Lee (1911-1970). She will appear on Broadway in Star and Garter, The Ziegfeld Follies of 1938 and others shows, and her life will inspire the musical Gypsy.

Jose Ferrer 1/8/1912 - 1/26/1992 husband of Uta Hagen (1938 - 194 divorced, Phyllis Hill (1948 - 1953) divorced, Rosemary Clooney (1953 - 1961) divorced, Rosemary Clooney (1966 - 1967) re-divorced, Producer, Writer, Director, Performer - Brother Rat; Key Largo; My 3 Angels; The Girl Who Came to Supper; Carmelina; Academy Award-winning actor: Cyrano de Bergerac [1950]; Joan of Arc, Moulin Rouge, The Caine Mutiny, Deep in My Heart, Lawrence of Arabia, The Greatest Story Ever Told, Ship of Fools, Dune, The Evil That Men Do

Larry Storch 01/08/1923 performer - Who Was That Lady I Saw You With?; 1983 Porgy and Bess; 1986 Arsenic and Old Lace [replacement]; 1999 Annie Get Your Gun [replacement]; tv's & film's F Troop, The Larry Storch Show, That Was the Week That Was, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Airport 1975, The Ghost Busters, S.O.B.

Giorgio Tozzi 01/08/1923 - performer, Husband of Monte Amundsen - The Rape of Lucretia (Kitty Carlisle); 1979 Most Happy Fella (Sharon Daniels, Linda Michele)

Ron Moody 1/8/1924 - performer - tv's & film's Oliver!, Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It, Nobody’s Perfect, Tales of the Gold Monkey II, A Kid in King Arthur’s Court

Soupy Sales 01/08/1926 performer - Come Live With Me (Nan Martin, Sorrell Booke, Michael Allinson)

Tharon Musser 1/8/1928 Future lighting designer is born in Roanoke, Virginia (not far from me). Long Day's Journey Into Night; Li'l Abner; Golden Boy; Shinbone Alley; Kelly; Flora, The Red Menace; The Lion in Winter; Mame; A Delicate Balance; orig A Little Night Music; The Wiz; A Chorus Line; and The Birthday Party, among others.

Elvis Presley 1/8/1935 - 8/16/1977 performer - film's Jailhouse Rock, G.I. Blues, Blue Hawaii

Graham Chapman 01/08/1941 - Oct 4, 1989 Writer, Performer - Cambridge Circus (John Cleese, Tim Brooke-Taylor, David Hatch, Jo Kendall, Jonathan Lynn, Bill Oddie)

Yvette Mimieux 1/8/1942 performer - tv's & film's performer - The Time Machine, Where the Boys Are, Toys in the Attic, Three in the Attic, The Most Deadly Game, Skyjacked, The Neptune Factor, The Black Hole, Circle of Power, Perry Mason: The Case of the Desperate Deception

David Bowie 01/08/1947 performer, composer, Husband of Iman (24 April 1992 - present); 1 daughter husband of Angela Bowie (1970 - 1980) divorced; 1 son - replacement in The Elephant Man

SHOWS THAT OPENED ON THIS DATE:

1900 Blanche Bates, who will go on to play Cho-Cho San in Madame Butterfly, now stars in David Belasco's Naughty Anthony. Oliver Redpath co-stars in this comedy at the Herald Square Theatre.

1906 Thomas Dixon's drama The Clansman opens on Broadway, painting a sympathetic picture of the aims of the Ku Klux Klan. The drama runs 51 performances, ironically at the Liberty Theatre. It is later adapted to film by D.W. Griffith as the classic Birth of a Nation.

Kiss Me, Kate 01/08/1952

1981 Wilford Leach's hilarious and original staging of The Pirates of Penzance moves to Broadway following a hit summer run at the Delacorte Theatre. Starring Kevin Kline, Linda Ronstadt, George Rose, Rex Smith, Estelle Parsons and Tony Azito, the production runs 787 performances, a Broadway record for Gilbert and Sullivan.

1989 42nd Street, one of the longest-running shows in Broadway history, closes tonight after an incredible 3,486 performances. The musical featuring music by Harry Warren and Al Dubin opened in 1980 at was awarded the Tony Award for Best Musical. The popular show will be revived in 2001 in a generally well-received production featuring Christine Ebersole, Kate Levering, Mary Testa, and Michael Cumpsty.

ON THIS DAY IN:

1906 - Arthur Rubinstein made his debut at Carnegie Hall in New York City. The concert received only a few favorable reviews.

1925 - Russian composer, Igor Stravinsky, appeared in his first American concert, as he conducted the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in a program of his own compositions.

1961 - Robert Goulet made his national TV debut this night on The Ed Sullivan Show on CBS.

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

Milla