Today's Birthdays 5/18

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 5/18/06 at 1:36pm

Omar Khayyam 5/18/1048 - 12/4/1131 Persian poet, mathematician and astronomer; source mat'l wrote Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam; excerpts:

"Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring
Your Winter-garment of Repentance fling:
The Bird of Time bas but a little way
To flutter--and the Bird is on the Wing."

and

"A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread--and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness--
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!"

Ezio Pinza 5/18/1892 - 5/9/1957 Italian-born operatic bass and actor; the 1 & only; the Emile De Beque that all others must try to measure up to - South Pacific (Mary Martin, William Tabbert, Juanita Hall); Fanny (Walter Slezak, Florence Henderson, William Tabbert)

Frank Capra 5/18/1897 - 9/3/1991 Italian-born American motion-picture director whose portrayal of the common man and American democracy endeared him to millions; film's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington; You Can't Take It With You; Mr. Deeds Goes to Town; Meet John Doe; It Happened One Night; It's a Wonderful Life; Lost Horizon; Arsenic & Old Lace; The Bitter Tea of General Yen [loved Stanwyck in this]

Meredith Willson 05/18/1902 - Jun 15, 1984 Writer, Lyricist, Composer, Source Material, Tallulah Bankhead's mus. dir. - The Music Man; The Unsinkable Molly Brown; Here's Love (Janis Paige, Craig Stevens, Fred Gwynne, Michael Bennett

Dame Margot Fonteyn 5/18/1919 - 2/21/1991 English ballerina; 1 of the greatest; partner to Nureyev

Priscilla Pointer 05/18/1924 mother of Amy Irving, wife of Jules Irving (1947 - 1979) his death Robert Symonds (1980 - present); Co-founded the San Francisco Actors' Workshop with Herbert Blau, Beatrice Manley, and Jules Irving - The Condemned of Altona (Louis Zorich); The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Stacy Keach); Yerma (Frank Langella, Nancy Marchand); The Good Woman of Setzuan (Colleen Dewhurst, Tandy Cronyn, Philip Bosco); 1970 Camino Real (Al Pacino, Sylvia Syms, Jessica Tandy)

Pernell Roberts 05/18/1928 performer - Tonight in Samarkand (Louis Jourdan, Theodore Bikel); The Lovers (Hurd Hatfield, Darren McGavin, Joanne Woodward); A Clearing in the Woods (Robert Culp, Kim Stanley); 1972 Captain Brassbound's Conversion (Ingrid Bergman); tv's & film's Bonanza, Desire Under the Elms; Trapper John, M.D.; 1967 Carousel; Vega$; Hawaii Five-O; Shirley Temple's Storybook

Robert Morse 05/18/1931 performer, husband of Elizabeth Roberts (1989 - present), Carole D'Andrea (1961 - 1981) divorced - The Matchmaker (Ruth Gordon, Arthur Hill); Say, Darling; Take Me Along; How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying; Sugar; So Long, 174th Street (Rita Rudner); Tru; tv's & film's The Secret Storm (orig cast); The Matchmaker; Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling So Sad; How To Succeed in Business W/O Really Trying; Murder, She Wrote; City of Angels

Denny Dillon 05/18/1951 performer - 1974 Gypsy (Angela Lansbury, Mary Louise Wilson); 1975 The Skin of Our Teeth (Eliz Ashley, Alfred Drake, Martha Scott); Harold and Maude (Janet Gaynor, Keith McDermott); My One And Only; tv's & film's Saturday Night Live; United 93; Saturday Night Fever

Rob Bartlett May 18, 1957 Composer, Writer, Performer; Writer and performer on the radio show "Imus in the Morning" - 1996 Chicago [replacement]; More to Love (Dana Reeve, Joyce Van Patten); Little Shop of Horrors; 2005 The Odd Couple

SHOWS THAT OPENED ON THIS DATE:

1955 Finian's Rainbow with Helen Gallagher, Merv Griffin; Staged by William Hammerstein; Choreographed by Onna White; Based the original choreography by Michael Kidd; conducted by Julius Rudel

1961 Donnybrook! - Susan Johnson, Art Lund, Eddie Foy, Philip Bosco

1970 - Opening this night in New York City was The Me Nobody Knows at the Orpheum Theatre. The musical had a run of 586 performances.

1974 Scapino with Jim Dale [who also adapted the book & wrote the incidental music], Tammy Ustinov, Christopher Hastings, Hugh Hastings, Alan Coates, George Connolly, Ian Trigger

1977 Agamemnon - Diane Lane

ON THIS DAY IN:

1911 Composer Gustav Mahler died in Vienna, Austria.

On May 18, 1980, the Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington state exploded, leaving 57 people dead or missing.

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

Milla

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 5/18/06 at 11:05pm

bump

[CenterStage3]

Posted: 5/19/06 at 1:39am

Happy birthday to me.