Today's Birthdays 5/30 Happy Memorial Day

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 5/29/05 at 8:55pm

Peter the Great (Piotr Alekseevich Romanov) Peter I: Russian Czar [1682-1721], Emperor of Russia [1721-1725]; 5/30/1672 - Jan 28, 1725; note: these dates are based on the Julian calendar -- see June 9 for Gregorian calendar dates

Charles Dillingham 05/30/1868 - Aug 30, 1934 Producer, director, manager, theatre Owner/Operator. Reviewer for NY Evening Post, then became a manager for several prominent performers in the 1890s, including Julia Marlowe. productions included The Last of Mrs. Cheyney, Sunny, The Little Minister, Bulldog Drummond, The Red Mill and dozens more.

Stepin Fetchit (Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry) 5/30/1892 - 11/19/1985 performer - Walk With Music (Kitty Carlisle); film's Amazing Grace, The Sun Shines Bright, Miracle in Harlem, Judge Priest

Howard Hawks 5/30/1896 - Dec 26, 1977 producer, director film's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Monkey Business, Hatari, Rio Bravo, Rio Lobo, Sergeant York, A Song is Born, The Thing

Cornelia Otis Skinner 05/30/1901 - 7/9/1979 performer, daughter of Maude & Otis Skinner; author: Our Hearts were Young and Gay - Blood and Sand (Otis Skinner); Will Shakespeare (Katharine Cornell, Otto Kruger); Tweedles (Ruth Gordon); 1940 Love for Love (Peggy Wood, Leo G. Carroll); The Searching Wind (Montgomery Clift); 1956 Major Barbara (Glynis Johns, Charles Laughton, Eli Wallach, Burgess Meredith, John Astin); The Pleasure of His Company (Cyril Ritchard, Charlie Ruggles, Delores Hart [Niece of Mario Lanza], George Peppard)

Mel Blanc 05/30/1908 - 7/10/1989 performer; the man of a thousand voices’: cartoon voice: Barney Rubble, Dino the Dinosaur, Bugs Bunny, Tweety Bird, Daffy Duck, Yosemite Sam, Quick Draw McGraw - Bugs Bunny on Broadway

Benny Goodman 05/30/1909 - Jun 13, 1986 Arranger, Composer, Performer, Musical Supervisor, Musician - Swingin' The Dream (Louis Armstrong, Dorothy, Etta & Vivan Dandridge); Seven Lively Arts; The World of Suzie Wong (France Nuyen, William Shatner); film's A Song Is Born (Danny Kaye); Make Mine Music (Nelson Eddy, Dinah Shore); The Big Broadcast Of 1937 (Jack Benny, Burns & Allen, Martha Raye); The Gang's All Here (Alice Faye); The Girls He Left Behind (Jeanne Craine, Carmen Miranda)

Joseph Stein 05/30/1912 - Producer, Writer, Source Material - Fiddler on the Roof, Enter Laughing, Mrs. Gibbons’ Boys; Enter Laughing

George London 5/30/1920 - 1977 wonderful bariton opera singer: group: Bel canto Trio [w/Frances Yeend and Mario Lanza]; member: Vienna State Opera, Metropolitan Opera; Artistic Dir: Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; Director: National Opera Institute; head: Washington Opera; established George London Foundation for Singers [1971]

Keir Dullea 05/30/1936 performer, Husband of Margot Bennett (1960-196 divorced - Dr. Cook's Garden (Burl Ives); Butterflies Are Free (Blythe Danner, Elieen Heckart, Michael Glaser); 1974 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Elizabeth Ashley); P. S. Your Cat Is Dead! (Bill Moor); film's 2001: A Space Odyssey, Oh, What a Night, Blind Date, The Hostage Tower, Paperback Hero

Michael J. Pollard 5/30/1939 husband of Beth Fowler (divorced), performer - Comes a Day (Judith Anderson, Larry Hagman, Brandon de Wilde, Irene Ryan, Geo. C. Scott); A Loss of Roses (Carol Haney, Warren Beatty); Bye Bye Birdie; Enter Laughing (Alan Arkin, Vivan Blaine, Sylvia Sidney ; Leda Had a Little Swan [never officially opened]; film's Bonnie and Clyde, Leo & Liz in Beverly Hills, Dick Tracy, American Gothic, The Arrival, Roxanne, Tango and Cash, Skeeter

Meredith MacRae 5/30/1945 - 7/14/2000 daughter of Gordon and Sheila MacRae, performer - tv's & film's Petticoat Junction, My Three Sons, Bikini Beach, Sketches of a Strangler, Vultures

Scott Holmes 05/30/1952 performer - The Rink; Jerome Kern Goes to Hollywood (Liz Robertson, Elisabeth Welch); The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public

Ralph Carter 05/30/1961 performer - Tough to Get Help (Abe Vigoda); Dude; Via Galactica; Raisin

Tonya Pinkins 05/30/1962 performer - orig Merrily We Roll Along (Daisy Prince, Lonny Price, Liz Callaway [Broadway debut], Jason Alexander); Jelly's Last Jam; Chronicle of a Death Foretold; Play On!; Wild Party; Caroline, or Change

Idina Menzel 05/30/1971 performer, Wife of Taye Diggs (January 11, 2003 - present) - Rent; Wicked

SHOWS THAT OPENED ON THIS DATE:

1962 Lerner and Loewe’s musical Brigadoon was revived by the New York City Center Light Opera Company. The production, under the direction of Jean Dalrymple, played at City Center, with actor Peter Palmer in the role of Tommy Albright.

1996 Tartuffe: Born Again, an updated version of Moliere’s Tartuffe by Freda Thomas, opened at Circle In The Square’s Uptown Theatre. It starred Tony-winning actor John Glover, of Love! Valour! Compassion! fame, and an actress named Jane Krakowski, who later went on to appear in the TV sitcom “Ally McBeal.” One Word: Oy-Yoy-Yoy!

1999 The second Broadway version of The Scarlet Pimpernel will close tonight at the Minskoff Theatre. A few months later (Sep. 10), the Frank Wildhorn musical will return to New York in a third and scaled-back incarnation at the Neil Simon Theatre.

ON THIS DAY IN:

1431 Joan of Arc, condemned as a heretic, was burned at the stake in Rouen, France.

1539 Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto landed in Florida. He discovered the 1st tourists basking in the sun & a new industry was invented.

1933 - Sally Rand made a name for herself as she introduced her exotic and erotic fan dance to audiences at Chicago’s Century of Progress Exposition. Twisting and turning behind two huge fans, one might wonder just how exciting the fan dance could possibly be. It is important to realize that Ms. Rand was, um, naked during the performance.

1997 Child molester Jesse K. Timmendequas was convicted in Trenton, N.J., of raping and strangling a 7-year-old neighbor, Megan Kanka - a case that inspired "Megan's Law" requiring that communities be notified when sex offenders move in.

2002 A solemn, wordless ceremony marked the end of the agonizing cleanup at Ground Zero in New York, 8 1/2 months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

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

Milla

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 5/30/05 at 1:37pm

bump

[shermanslave]

Posted: 5/30/05 at 1:42pm

what about my birthday yesterday?

[gavrochegirl]

Posted: 5/30/05 at 1:44pm

You aren't famous!!