Today's Birthdays 11/12

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 11/12/04 at 11:09am

Elizabeth Cady Stanton 11/12/1815 - 10/26/1902 American suffragist was born in Johnstown, N.Y., source material

Aleksandr Borodin 11/12/1833 - 2/27/1887 Russian composer - Kismet (Alfred Drake, Richard Kiley, Neile Adams [the 1st Mrs. Steve McQueen], Steve Reeves; Timbuktu (Eartha Kitt, Melba Moore)

Auguste Rodin 11/12/1840 - 11/17/1917 French sculptor, sculptor: Gates of Hell, The Kiss, The Thinker, The Balzac, The Burghers of Calais, St. John the Baptist Preaching; museums in Paris and Philadelphia named for him; source material

Bert Williams 11/12/1874 - Mar 4, 1922 pioneering African-American performer-composer - write music for Broadway's In Dahomey (1903) and Abyssinia (1906), but will achieve even greater fame as a singer and dancer in five editions of the Ziegfeld Follies between 1910 and 1920; Broadway Brevities 1920 (Eddie Cantor); Bubbling Brown Sugar; Tintypes.

Richard A. Whiting 11/12/1891 - Feb 10, 1938 composer, lyricist, Maggie Whiting's pop - George White's Scandals [1919]; Free For All (Tamara); Take A Chance (Jack Haley, Ethel Merman); film's Hollywood Hotel (intro'd Hooray for Hollywood)

Jack Oakie 11/12/1903 - 1/23/1978 performer - film's Lover Come Back, The Rat Race, Song of the Islands, Tin Pan Alley, The Texas Rangers

Kim Hunter (Janet Cole) 11/12/1922 - Sep 11, 2002 Wife of William Baldwin (1944 - 1946) divorced, wife of Robert Emmett (1951 - 2000) his death, performer - orig A Streetcar Named Desire; The Chase (John Hodiak, Kim Stanley, Lonny Chapman); 1952 The Children's Hour (Patricia Neal); The Tender Trap (Robert Preston, Julia Meade); Weekend (John Forsythe); 1973 The Women (Mary Louise Wilson, Jan Miner, Myrna Loy, Dorothy Loudon, Rhonda Fleming, Alexis Smith, Marie Wallace) [was is wonderful?]; To Grandmother's House We Go; An Ideal Husband [replacement]]; Academy Award-winning actress: A Streetcar Named Desire [1951]; Requiem for a Heavyweight, Planet of the Apes series, The Edge of Night, Backstairs at the White House

Grace Kelly 11/12/1929 - 9/14/1982 performer, Princess Grace of Monaco - The Father (Raymond Massey, Mady Christians); To Be Continued (John Drew Devereaux); film's Academy Award-winning actress: The Country Girl [1954]; To Catch a Thief, High Society, High Noon, Rear Window, Dial “M” for Murder

Mary Louise Wilson 11/12/1932 performer - Hot Spot (George Furth, Judy Holliday, Frank Bouley); Flora, The Red Menace; Lovers & Other Strangers; 1974 Gypsy; 1975 The Royal Family; 1977 The Importance of Being Earnest; 1980 The Phila Story; 1983 Alice in Wonderland (Mary Stuart Masterson, Kate Burton, Eva Le Gallienne; 1998 Cabaret; 2001 The Women; The Beard of Avon (lots of fun)

Ina Balin 11/12/1937 performer - Compulsion (Roddy McDowwell, Dean Stockwell, Howard Da Silva); A Majority of 1 (Gertrude Berg, Cedric Hardwicke, Kanna Ishii, Barnard Hughes)

Wallace Shawn 11/12/1943 performer - film's House Arrest, Clueless, The Magic Bubble, Radio Days, Micki & Maude, The Hotel New Hampshire, A Little Sex, My Dinner with Andre, Simon, All That Jazz, my fav The Princess Bride

Karen Ziemba 11/12/1957 performer, Wife of Bill Tatum; a favorite of choreographer Susan Stroman and songwriters Kander & Ebb, who will be featured in The World Goes 'Round, Contact - Chorus Line [replacement], 42nd St., Crazy For You, Chicago; Teddy & Alice, Steel Pier, Contact; Never Gonna Dance

Megan Mullally 11/12/1958 performer - 1994 Grease; 1995 How To Succeed

Nadia Comaneci 11/12/1961 Olympic Gold Medalist: gymnastics [1976]: 7 perfect 10s, inspirational

SHOWS THAT OPENED ON THIS DATE:

1941 Guy Bolton and W. Somerset Maugham see the opening of their generically-titled play Theatre, which stars Cornelia Otis Skinner, and the ubiquitous George Spelvin (a name used in the program when the actor's real name must be kept secret for one reason or another). It stays at the Hudson Theatre for 69 performances.

1950 Lerner and Loewe ask all to Paint Your Wagon. The show, based on Bret Harte's "Millionaire of Rough and Ready," paints the town for nine months. Holding the brushes are James Barton and Olga San Juan, with choreography by Agnes de Mille.

1967 Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway head a black cast in tonight1s opening of a revamped version of Hello, Dolly! at the St. James Theatre. After the curtain call, Carol Channing, who has been in the audience, is invited on stage by Pearl Bailey to sing the title song. The show has been running since January 1964 and will rack up a total of 2,844 performances.

1970 Broadway opening night for Sleuth, one of the most successful stage murder mysteries ever. Keith Baxter and Anthony Quayle star in the story of a mystery writer who plots to toy with, then kill, his wife's lover. It runs 1,222 performances at the Music Box Theatre.

1989 Tommy Tune directs and choreographs Grand Hotel: The Musical which opens tonight at the Martin Beck Theatre, based on the early thirties play and film. The score is by Robert Wright, George Forrest and Maury Yeston, but the emphasis is on staging and spectacle. The show will run 1,018 performances.

ON THIS DAY IN:

1954 Ellis Island closed after processing more than 20 million immigrants since opening in New York Harbor in 1892.

1940 - Walt Disney released Fantasia. One critic called the film “As terrific as anything that has ever happened on the screen.”

1971 Rudolf Friml, pianist and composer of The Firefly, Rose Marie and The Vagabond King dies at the age of 93.

1987 The American Medical Association issued a policy statement saying it was unethical for a doctor to refuse to treat someone solely because that person had AIDS or is HIV-positive.

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

Milla