Today's Birthdays 10/8

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 10/8/04 at 1:25pm

Edward Franklin Albee 10/8/1857 - 3/11/1930 with B.F. Keith, controlled one of the biggest circuits in vaudeville in the early 20th century. Also, grandfather and namesake of Pulitzer-winning dramatist Edward Albee

Juan (Domingo) Peron 10/8/1895 - 7/1/1974 President of Argentina [1946-1955] [1973-1974]; married Eva Peron [Evita] who died in 1952; married Maria Estela Martinez aka Isabel, who became Vice President of Argentina in 1973 and then took over the presidency upon the death of her husband [1974]; source material - EVITA

Ron Randell 10/08/1920 performer - THE WORLD OF SUZIE WONG (France Nuyen, William Shatner, Kathleen Widdoes); MRS. WARREN'S PROFESSION (Lynn Redgrave, Ruth Gordon, Milo O'Shea, Philip Bosco, Edward Herrmann); BENT (Richard Gere, David Dukes, Michael Gross); 1995 SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL (Tony Randall)

Garrison Phillips 10/08/1929 performer - CLOTHES FOR A SUMMER HOTEL (Geraldine Page, Kenneth Haigh, David Canary)

James Olson 10/08/1930 performer - THE SIN OF PAT MULDOON (Elaine Stritch, James Barton, Patricia Bosworth); JB (Raymond Massey, Christopher Plummer, Bert Conway, Pat Hingle); CHINESE PRIMINISTER (Margaret Leighton); 1964 3 SISTERS (Geraldine Page, Shirley Knight, Robert Loggia, Kevin McCarthy, Kim Stanley); SLAPSTICK TRAGEDY (Zoe Caldwell); BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S (Richard Chamberlin, Mary Tyler Moore, Sally Kellerman, Art Lund)

William Traylor 10/08/1930 performer - NUDE WITH VIOLIN (Noel Coward); PRESENT LAUGHTER (Eva Gabor, John Ainsworth); 1965 THE GLASS MENAGERIE (George Grizzard, Pat Hingle, Maureen Stapleton, Piper Laurie)

Chevy Chase (Cornelius Crane Chase) 10/8/1943 - tv's & film's: Emmy Award-winning comedian, actor: Saturday Night Live [1976]; The Chevy Chase Show, Fletch, Man of the House, Caddyshack I & II, National Lampoon’s Vacation series, Three Amigos, The Groove Tube; Emmy Award-winning comedy writer: The Paul Simon Special [1978], Saturday Night Live [1976]

Sigourney Weaver 10/08/1949 Performer, Stage Manager, daughter of Sylvester Pat Weaver, Today show creator and author of Best Seat in the House - THE CONSTANT WIFE (Ingrid Bergman, Brenda Forbes, Jack Gwillim); HURLY BURLY (Wm. Hurt, Judith Ivey, Harvey Keitel, Cynthia Nixon, Ron Silver, Jerry Stiller); SEX & LONGING (Dana Ivey, Jay Goede, Peter Michael Goetz) film's Gorillas in the Mist, Alien series, Working Girl, Dave, Ghostbusters series, Annie Hall, The Year of Living Dangerously

1956 - Stephanie Zimbalist 10/8/1956 performer, daughter of actor Efrem Zimbalist Jr., granddaughter of Efrem Zimbalist Sr. (taught violin at the Curtis Institute for 40 years, spending 27 as director) - tv's REMINGTON STEELE; Centennial, The Gathering, The Awakening

Matt Damon performer 10/8/1970 - film's Saving Private Ryan, Courage Under Fire, Good Will Hunting, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Ocean's Eleven

SHOWS THAT OPENED ON THIS DATE:

1936 Hamlet opens tonight at the Empire Theatre. John Gielgud in the title role racks up 132 performances, a record at that time for any Shakespeare play on Broadway. Guthrie McClintic directs this production, with sets by Jo Mielziner. Lillian Gish is Ophelia and Judith Anderson is Gertrude.

1938 Debut of Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman's comedy The Fabulous Invalid, about Broadway egos. Note that the term denoting Broadway's supposed ill-health was current at a time now considered a golden age of American theatre.

Cyrano de Bergerac 10/08/1946 - Paula Laurence, José Ferrer, whose Tony-winning performance in the title role (in the first year Tonys were given), he later recreated on film.

Music in the Air 10/08/1951 - Dennis King, Conrad Nagel, Jane Pickens, Charles Winninger, Lillian Murphy

Jerome Robbins' Ballet: U.S.A.
- The Concert
- Afternoon of a Faun
- New York Export: Opus Jazz
- Moves 10/08/1961

Absurd Person Singular 10/08/1974 - Sandy Dennis, Larry Blyden, Ann Jillian, Richard Kiley, Geraldine Page, Tony Roberts, Carole Shelley

Sugar Babies 10/08/1979 - Ann Miller, Mickey Rooney, Ann Jillian

1998 Matthew Bourne delights and scandalizes Broadway with an all-male interpretation of the ballet Swan Lake, in a production that takes the central character out clubbing in London. Bourne later wins the Tony Award for Best Choreography and Best Direction of a Musical.

ON THIS DAY IN:

1871 - Chicago Fire - Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicked over a lantern in the barn on DeKoven Street in Chicago, caught fire. The fire spread, scorching almost four square miles, killing about 300 people and leaving a path of destruction valued at over two hundred million dollars -- a lot of dollars for that time. city of Chicago was virtually leveled. Now, more than 125 years later, a history buff, Richard Bales, says it may not have been Mrs. O’Leary’s cow, after all. It seems that Daniel ‘Peg Leg’ Sullivan, a neighbor of the O’Leary’s, was in the barn feeding his mother’s cow. He either kicked over a lantern or dropped a match or pipe, setting the famous fire. Sullivan, who had been questioned about the fire, said he was across the street when he saw the fire break out. A two-story building would have blocked his view. So, Bales theorizes that Sullivan lied and was the cause of the fire, rather than Mrs. O’Leary’s cow - source material

1983 James Hayden, co-starring with Al Pacino in a revival of Mamet's American Buffalo, is found dead amid drug paraphernalia in his Manhattan apartment.

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

Milla