Today's Birthdays 7/12
Today's Birthdays 7/12
#0Today's Birthdays 7/12
Posted: 7/11/06 at 9:36pm
Julius Caesar 7/12/c100 BC - 3/15/44BC Roman imperial general and statesman, source mat'l - Julius Caesar
Henry David Thoreau 7/12/1817 - 5/6/1862 American essayist, poet and philosopher - On Walden Pond
Kirsten Flagstad 7/12/1895 - 12/7/1962 Probably the greatest Wagnerian soprano, started out as a light lyric, when she hit 40, her voice changed!; Richard Strauss wrote "The Four Last Songs" for her. & talk about singing technique, legend has it that those standing behind her on stage when she sang, described her back as looking like blacksmith's bellows. translation: her breath expanded her back. Marilyn Horne breathes the same.
Oscar Hammerstein II 07/12/1895 - 8/23/1960 Producer, Writer, Lyricist, Source Material, Director, father of William & James; son of Willie; grandson of Oscar; nephew of Arthur - ROSE MARIE; SHOW BOAT; DESERT SONG; NEW MOON; MUSIC IN THE AIR; OKLAHOMA; CARMEN JONES; I REMEMBER MAMA; ANNIE GET YOUR GUN; ALLEGRO; PIPE DREAM; SOUTH PACIFIC
Milton Berle 07/12/1908 - 3/27/2002 prod., performer - EARL CARROLL'S VANITIES [1932] (w/Helen Broderick, Bob Cummings, Patsy Kelly); SEE MY LAWYER (Gary Merrill); ZIEGFELD FOLLIES 1943 (Eric Blore, Ilona Massey, Arthur Treacher); I'LL TAKE THE HIGH ROAD (Jeanne Cagney [Jimmy's sis], dir. Sandy Meisner); SEVENTEEN (Tony Lo Bianco, Brenda Vaccaro); tv's & film's Uncle Miltie; played the part of a newsboy in the first-ever feature-length comedy, Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914), which starred Charlie Chaplin; Sun Valley Serenade; It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World; NBC tv network signed him to a 30-year "lifetime contract" in 1951, which paid him 100,000 dollars annually whether he performed or not (Berle managed to outlive the contract).
Joey Faye 07/12/1909 - Apr 26, 1997 performer - ROOM SERVICE (Eddie Albert, Sam Levene); SING OUT THE NEWS (Rex Ingram, Will Greer); HIGH BUTTON SHOES (Phil Silvers, Nanette Fabray, Helen Gallagher); TOP BANANNA (Phil Silvers, Jack Albertson, Rose Marie); THE TENDER TRAP (Ronny Graham, Kim Hunter, Robert Preston, Julia Meade); LITTLE ME (Sid Caesar, Nancy Andrews, Margery Beddow [my director], Gretchen Cryer, Mickey Deems, Swen Swenson); 70 GIRLS 70 (Lillian Roth, Hans Conreid); 1965 GUYS & DOLLS (Anita Gillette, Alan King, Jerry Orbach, Sheila MacRae, Jake LaMotta); 3 MEN ON A HORSE (Jack Klugman, Nora Mae Lyng, Tony Randall, Jerry Stiller)
Beah Richards 07/12/1920 - Sep 14, 2000 performer - MIRACLE WORKER (her debut, Patricia Neal, Anne Bancroft, Patty Duke); PURLIE VICTORIAS (written by & starring Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Alan Alda); orig. ARTURO UI (Chris Plummer, Michael Constantin, Elisha Cook, James Coco); THE AMEN CORNER (prod'd by Mrs. Nat Cole, written by James Baldwin)
Keith Andes 07/12/1920 - Nov 11, 2005 performer; Husband of Shelah Hackett (divorced) - Maggie (by Billy Roy); WILDCAT (Lucille Ball, Valarie Harper)
Van Cliburn 7/12/1934 - piano virtuoso; won the coveted First Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow; the only classical musician to have a ticket-tape parade in NYC; Van Cliburn International Piano Competition named after him. I love that he played An Evening with Van Cliburn, a benefit recital for The Humane Society of the United States to raise money for the nation's largest animal-protection organization this past Feb. 2004 at The Kennedy Center.
Gerald Gordon 07/12/1934 - Aug 17, 2001 performer - COMPULSION (Roddy McDowell, Dean Stockwell, Howard Da Silva, Suzanne Pleshette)
Bill Cosby 07/12/1937 performer; husband of Camille O. Cosby (1964 - present) - CELEBRATION OF PAUL ROBESON; tv's & film's The Bill Cosby Show; I Spy (Robert Culp - looooved this show); Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids; The Cosby Show; The Cosby Mysteries (loved this show, too!); Uptown Saturday Night; Mother Juggs and Speed; California Suite
Jamey Sheridan 07/12/1951 performer; Husband of Colette Kilroy (1993 - present); 2 children - 1980 The Man Who Came to Dinner; Biloxi Blues; 1987 All My Sons (Richard Kiley, Jayne Atkinson); Long Day's Journey Into Night (Coleen Dewhurst, Campbell Scott, Jason Robards); 1988 Ah, Wilderness!; The Shadow Box (Estelle Parsons, Mercedes Ruehl, Marlo Thomas)
Anna Friel 07/12/1976 performer - Closer (Rupert Graves, Natasha Richardson, Ciaran Hinds); tv's & film's Cadfael; A Midsummer Night's Dream; The Jury; Goal I, II, III
SHOWS THAT OPENED ON THIS DATE:
1984 The Roundabout Theatre Company revives William Inge's Come Back, Little Sheba starting tonight. Philip Bosco, Mia Dillon, Shirley Knight and Steven Weber are in the cast directed by Paul Weidner. The production marks the first major revival of the play in more than 30 years. The original production played at Broadway's Booth Theatre in 1950 for 191 performances.
1988 Canciones de mi Padre with Linda Ronstadt
1993 Andrew Lloyd Webber's new musical Sunset Boulevard has its world premiere today in London starring Patti LuPone, already signed to open the show in New York. Based on the classic Billy Wilder film of the same name, the show will soon transfer to New York- minus LuPone. Following LuPone's less-than-stellar review from Frank Rich in The New York Times, Glenn Close will be hired to play Norma Desmond in the American premiere of the musical in Los Angeles. LuPone will subsequently be let go and Close is asked to open the show at Broadway's Minskoff Theatre. She will win the Tony Award for her performance.
1995 Something Wonderful, a one-night-only 100th birthday tribute to Oscar Hammerstein II, sells out the Gershwin Theatre with performances by Michel Bell, Liz Callaway, Rebecca Luker, Audra McDonald and Maureen McGovern.
2000 Charles Nelson Reilly celebrates his 50th year in showbiz when his new solo show, Save It for the Stage: The Life of Reilly, officially opens tonight at the Falcon Theatre in Burbank, California. The show, directed by Paul Linke, looks back at the life of the ascot-adorned actor from his fourth-grade portrayal of Christopher Columbus to his Tony Award-winning turn in the original production of How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying to his appearances on TV's "Match Game."
ON THIS DAY IN:
1543 England's King Henry VIII married his sixth and last wife, Catherine Parr.
1988 Tony Award-winning Director Joshua Logan dies today at 79. One of the most accomplished theatre artists of his time, Logan had under his belt such credits as co-writing the Tony Award-winning play Mister Roberts and directing and co-writing, with Oscar Hammerstein II, the Pulitzer Prize winning musical South Pacific. Other shows included This Is The Army, Annie Get Your Gun, and Fanny, which he also co produced.
(sources: IBDB, IMDB, NYT On This Day, & 440.com’s Those Were The Days, www.museum.tv, www.hsus.org)
Milla
#2re: Today's Birthdays 7/12
Posted: 7/12/06 at 10:49amIf you got Caeser's birthday from the Shakespeare play, I doubt that that is historically accurate. I also doubt that someone born in Caeser's era would have a recorded day of birth. But I could be wrong.
#3re: Today's Birthdays 7/12
Posted: 7/12/06 at 12:05pm
Here's the NYT link re Caesar's Birthday.
Milla
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