Today's Birthdays 6/6

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 6/6/08 at 11:22pm

Happy Birthday to my Gemini birthday twin, bwaynut. I hope you had a magical day! And to me!

Pierre Corneille 6/6/1606 - 10/1/1684 for me 1 of the greatest playwrights, 2d only to Shakespeare. Le Cide is not just about right vs. wrong, but about right vs. right, 1 of the most difficult choices to make - Le Cid; film's El Cid (Charlton Heston & Sophia Loren)

Nathan Hale 6/6/1755 - 9/22/1776 American patriot & Revolutionary War military officer: “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.”; arrested [Sep 20, 1776] by British troups while spying for General George Washington; executed by order of British General William Howe

Aleksander Pushkin 06/06/1799 - Feb 10, 1837 writer - Eugene Onegin

Thomas Mann 6/6/1875 - 8/12/1955 author: Little Herr Friedemann, Royal Highness, Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man, Death in Venice, Reflections of an Unpolitical Man, Order of fhe Day, Disorder and Early Sorrow, Mario and the Magician

Walter Abel 06/06/1898 - Mar 26, 1987 performer: - 1923 As You Like It; Desire Under the Elmes (Walter Houston); 1929 The Seagull; 1932 Mourning Becomes Electra (Judith Anderson); Merrily We Roll Along (Peggy Bancroft); The Wisteria Trees (Helen Hayes, Ossie Davis); Saturday Sunday Monday (Eli Wallach, Sada Thompson, Jan Miner); 1975 Trelawny of the "Wells" (Mary Beth Hurt, John Lithgow, Mandy Patinkin, Meryl Streep)

Aram Khachaturyan 6/6/1903 - May 1, 1978 musician, my grandfather is buried next to him; composer: Sabre Dance, Spartacus

David Dukes 06/06/1945 - Oct 9, 2000 performer - Bent; Frankenstein (John Carradine, Dianne Wiest, John Glover); Broken Glass (Ron Rifkin)

Harvey Fierstein 06/06/1954 performer -Fiddler on the Roof; Legs Diamond; La Cage aux Folles; Tony Award-winning actor: Torch Song Trilogy [1983] & Hairspray [2003]; A Catered Affair; film's Mrs. Doubtfire, Bullets Over Broadway; and playwright: Torch Song Trilogy [1983]; Tidy Endings; actor: Mrs. Doubtfire, Independence Day

Sandra Bernhard 06/06/1955 performer - I'm Still Here...Damn It!; Everything Bad & Beautiful; tv's & films Roseanne, The Richard Pryor Show, Comedy Central: The A-List, The Late Shift, Hudson Hawk, King of Comedy

Paul Giamatti 06/06/1967 performer - Arcadia; Racing Demon; 1997 Three Sisters (Calista Flockhart, Amy Irving, Billy Crudup, Jerry Stiller); 1999 The Iceman Cometh

Max Casella [Max Deitch] 06/06/1967 performer - The Lion King; 2000 The Music Man; tv's & film's The Newsies; Dinosaur; Doogie Houser, M.D.; The Notorious Bettie Page; The Sopranos

SHOWS THAT OPENED ON THIS DATE:

1985 Herb Gardner's play, I'm Not Rappaport, about growing old as seen through the friendship between a black man and a white man, opens Off-Broadway at the American Place Theatre. The play starring Judd Hirsch and Cleavon Little will play 181 performances before transferring to Broadway's Booth Theatre to win Hirsch and Gardner Tony Awards for Best Actor and Best Play.

2002 Hugh Jackman and Audra McDonald headline an all-star concert of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel at New York's Carnegie Hall. Jackman plays Billy Bigelow and McDonald plays Julie Jordan in the one-night-only event that benefits the famed music hall. Also on stage: Jason Danieley as Enoch Snow, Judy Kaye as Nettie Fowler, Lauren Ward as Carrie Pipperidge, Blythe Danner as Mrs. Mullin, Philip Bosco as the Starkeeper, Norbert Leo Butz as Jigger Craigin and original Carousel star John Raitt as narrator. Where the heck was I! Still scratchin' my head!

ON THIS DAY IN:

1816 - Ten inches of wonderful wet, white snow fell this day in New England. It was one of the latest snowfalls ever (or maybe one of the earliest!) Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

1938 - Stella Dallas was presented for the first time on the NBC Red radio network. The serial was “the true to life story of mother love and sacrifice.” Stella Dallas continued to do this and so much more until 1955.

1944 - This was D-Day, the day thousands of Allied troops invaded the beaches of Normandy, France. One of the most important days in world history. Their objective: to open a second major European front in the battle against the Nazis. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, commander of these united forces (and, who later became President of the United States) said, “This landing is but the opening phase of the campaign in Western Europe. Great battles lie ahead. I call upon all who love freedom to stand with us.”

1962 - The Beatles auditioned for producer George Martin of EMI Records. After listening to a playback of the audition tapes, Martin said, “They’re pretty awful.” He changed his mind after meeting the group, however. The rest, of course, is rock-music history.

1971 - For the last time, we saw Polish dancing bears, a little mouse named Topo Gigio, remembered The Beatles, The Dave Clark Five, the comedy of Jackie Mason, John Byner, Rich Little, Richard Pryor and so many more, as The Ed Sullivan Show left CBS-TV. Gladys Knight and The Pips and singer Jerry Vale appeared on the final show. The Ed Sullivan Show had been a showcase for more than 20 years for artists who ranged from Ethel Merman to Ella Fitzgerald, from Steve and Eydie to the Beatles. The Ed Sullivan Show was the longest running variety show on TV -- a “rillly big sheeeew.”

1971 Stage legend Helen Hayes gives the final stage performance of her career at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. Upon finishing her final performance of Long Day’s Journey Into Night, the five decade long stage tenure of Helen Hayes is finally over. The reason for retirement is acute asthma.

1972 Playwright Tennessee Williams makes his stage debut in the Off-Broadway production of his play, Small Craft Warnings. His run is both unexpected and short-lived, however; Williams was simply filling in for the actor who regularly played the role for three performances.

1979 Broadway and film actor Jack Haley dies. Haley is best known for playing the Tin Man in the classic The Wizard of Oz.

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

Milla