Today's Birthdays 12/25 - The Big One - Merry Christmas!

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 12/23/08 at 10:56pm

Jesus, The traditional, big birthday celebration for Christians; the Russian Orthodox religion celebrates Christmas on January 7 - Jesus Christ Superstar; Godspell

Clara Barton 12/25/1821 - 4/12/1912 nurse: founder of American Red Cross, source mat'l

Fay Templeton 12/25/1865 - Oct 3, 1939, durable musical comedy actress from the 1870s to the 1930s. Her appearances include Forty-Five Minutes From Broadway (Victor Moore), Roberta (Sydney Greenstreet, Tamara) and Fiddle-dee-dee. In film, she's portrayed by Irene Manning in Yankee Doodle Dandy.

Evelyn Florence Nesbit 12/25/1884 - 1/16/1967 performer, former Gibson Girl; mistress of Stanford White; mother of Russell Thaw; wife of Jack Clifford (May 24 1916 - 1933) divorced; Harry K. Thaw (April 4 1905 - 1915) divorced - Florodora [replacement]; The Wild Rose (Eddie Foy, Henry Miller)

Bert Bertram 12/25/1893 - Oct 31, 1991 performer - The Bat (ZaZu Pitts, Lucile Watson); Child of Fortune (Betsy Von Furstenberg)

Gladys Swarthout 12/25/1898 - 7/8/1969 opera singer; Once during her salad days, she was giving a recital and missed a high note. The ultimate perfectionist, she made her teacher start again and this time she hit the note perfectly. As a result, a wealthy Kansas family went on and completely financed her musical education. She received a Doctorate of Music in 1923 from the Bush Conservatory of Music in Chicago; joined the Chicago Civic Opera Company the following year where she learned over 22 roles. Training and performing in Europe in the late 20s, she made her Metropolitan debut in 1929 with "La Gioconda." As one of the Met's finest mezzos, her vast repertoire (25 in all) would include "Norma," "Peter Ibbetson," "La Forza del Destino," "Mignon" and, notably, "Carmen", which would become her signature role. film's Give Us This Night; Ambush; When she did the movie "Champagne Waltz" in 1937, she sang her songs in five languages, adding French, German, Italian, and Spanish for the foreign versions of the films, making them quite popular overseas.

Humphrey Bogart 12/25/1899 - 1/14/1957 performer, husband of Lauren Bacall (1945 - 1957) his death; Mayo Methot (1938 - 1945) divorced; Mary Philips (1928 - 193 divorced - Meet the Wife (Mary Boland, Clifton Webb); Saturday's Children (Beulah Bondi, Ruth Gordon); Chrysalis (Elisha Cook, E. Kazan, Osgood Perkins); The Petrified Forest (Leslie Howard); fav film's My 3 Angels; Sabrina; Caine Mutiny; Key Largo; The Treasure of the Sierra Madre; The Big Sleep; Casablanca; The Maltese Falcon; The Roaring 20's; Angels With Dirty Faces; The Petrified Forest

Cab Calloway (Cabell Calloway III) 12/25/1907 - Nov 18, 1994 ‘Highness of Hi-De-Ho’: bandleader; epitomized Harlem in the 1920s, and who occasionally appeared on Broadway. Appearances include Porgy and Bess in 1953, and in 1968; singer: Minnie the Moocher, Blues in the Night; films: Stormy Weather, St. Louis Blues; The Cotton Club Comes to the Ritz; fav When You're In Love [Grace Moore sings Minnie the Moocher w/Cab]

Tony Martin (Alvin Morris) 12/25/1912 performer; Alice Faye's ex, now married to dancer Cyd Charisse (2 sons: Tony and Nicky); Classic pop singer and occasional actor whose career peaked in the 1950s. His biggest hit was "There's No Tomorrow" (RCA Victor, 1950), which was adapted from the traditional Neapolitan ballad "O Solo Mio" (Elvis Presley later had one of the biggest hits of his career by adapting the same song as "It's Now or Never"). - film's Sally, Irene and Mary; Casbah; Hit the Deck

Ismail Merchant 12/25/1936 - 5/25/2005 Film producer, the business mind behind Merchant Ivory Productions. He met his future partner, James Ivory, at a screening of Ivory's documentary The Sword and the Flute (1959) in New York City. The National Portrait Gallery in London has paintings of Ismail and his partners, James Ivory and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala - even though they all live in New York City and none of them are English. (Ruth is German/Polish, Ismail is Indian, and James is American). film's Shakespeare-Wallah; The Wild Party; Heat and Dust; The Bostonians; A Room with a View; Howards End; The Remains of the Day; The White Countess

Rod Serling 12/25/1924 - 6/28/1975 scriptwriter: The Twilight Zone, Requiem for a Heavyweight, Planet of the Apes, Seven Days in May

Hanna Schygulla 12/25/1943 performer - film's Dead Again, The Summer of Miss Forbes, Forever, Lulu, Casanova, Delta Force, Berlin Alexanderplatz, The Marriage of Maria Braun; Winterreise

Sissy (Mary) Spacek 12/25/1949 performer; Jack Fisk (12 April 1974 - present) 2 children; After graduating high school, Sissy decided on an acting career, having gotten interested in the profession through her cousin, Rip Torn. She relocated to New York, and through him, enrolled in the New York branch of the Actors Studio. She studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, and also tried modeling and singing, appearing in West Village showcases such as the Bitter End for $10 a night; Lives on 300 acre farmland named "Beau Val" in Charlottesville, Virginia. - film's Academy Award-winning actress: Coal Miner’s Daughter [1980]; Missing, The River, Carrie, Badlands; North Country; Gray Matters; Hot Rod; Pictures of Hollis Woods; Lake City; Four Christmases

Laurie Gamache 12/25/1959 - A Chorus Line [replacement]; The Red Shoes

SHOWS THAT OPENED ON THIS DATE:

1914 It's a Hello Broadway from creator-director George M. Cohan. The cast, including the leads Peggy Wood and Louise Dresser, bring on and strike the sets, speeding up the pace of this revue.

1917 - The play, Why Marry?, opened at the Astor Theatre in New York City. Jesse Lynch Williams won a Pulitzer the following year; Why Marry? was the first dramatic play to win a Pulitzer Prize.

1940 Opening night for Rodgers and Hart's hard-bitten musical, Pal Joey, starring Vivienne Segal and, in the title role, Gene Kelly, in his first (and last) Broadway lead. He'll soon be snapped up by Hollywood. Pal Joey stays only 374 performances, but gets a longer run in a 1950s revival.

1950 King Lear with Louis Calhern, Nina Foch, Tom Poston, Norman Lloyd, Jo Van Fleet & Edith Atwater

ON THIS DAY IN:

1066 William the Conqueror was crowned king of England.

1776 Gen. George Washington and his troops crossed the Delaware River for a surprise attack against Hessian forces at Trenton, N.J

1868 President Andrew Johnson granted an unconditional pardon to everyone involved in the Southern rebellion that resulted in the Civil War.

1931 - Lawrence Tibbett was the featured vocalist as radio came to the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. The first opera was Hansel und Gretel, heard on the NBC network of stations. In between acts of the opera, moderator Olin Downes would conduct an opera quiz, asking celebrity guests opera-related questions. The program’s host and announcer was Milton Cross. He worked out of the Met’s Box 44.

1931 Actors Henry Fonda & Margaret Sullavan were married

1946 Comedian W.C. Fields died in Pasadena, Calif., at age 66.

1949 Actors Cary Grant & Betsy Drake were married

1977 Comedian Charlie Chaplin died in Switzerland at age 88. Following his father's death and mother's complete emotional breakdown, Charlie joined a group of child dancers, the Eight Lancashire Lads. At age eight he appeared in the premiere performance of Peter Pan in 1904. It was with the Fred Karno company's tour of the U.S. that he caught the eye of Mack Sennett. The rest is film history.

1995 - Legendary singer/crooner, actor, comedian, and Rat-Pack member Dean Martin died at age 78 in Beverly Hills, California. On his tomb at Westwood Memorial Park, Los Angeles are the words “EVERYBODY LOVES SOMEBODY SOMETIME”.

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

Milla