Today's Birthdays 8/4 - Louis Armstrong, Helen Kane, Pamela Burrell

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 8/4/03 at 6:36pm

Louis Armstrong 08/04/1901 performer, composer – SWINGING THE DREAM (Dorothy Dandridge, Etta Dandridge, Vivian Dandridge, Butterfly McQueen); Satchmo: jazz musician: trumpet; Grammy Award-winning singer: Hello, Dolly! [1964], Lifetime Achievement Award [1971]; It’s a Wonderful World, Mack the Knife, Blueberry Hill; appeared in films: The Five Pennies, The Glenn Miller Story, Hello Dolly!, High Society; American ambassador of good will; inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame [1990]

Helen Kane 08/04/1903 performer, the original "Boop-boop-a-doop" girl – SHADY LADY; film’s 3 LITTLE WORDS (dubbed “Abba Dabba Honeymoon” for Debbie Reynolds)

Theodore Newton 08/04/1904 performer – THE LADY FROM THE SEA (Louise Rainer, Herbert Berghof, Anne Jackson, Steven Hill)

Will Lee 08/04/1908 performer, musician – orig ONCE UPON A MATTRESS (Carol Burnett); THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE (William Bendix(!), Celeste Holme, Gene Kelly); THE SHIRKE (Jose Ferrer, Judith Evelyn)

David Raksin 08/04/1912 composer – IF THE SHOE FITS (Leila Ernst)

Raoul Wallenberg 08/04/1912 Swedish businessman and diplomat, humanitarian; rescued thousands of Hungarian Jews during World War II, died in a Russian prison

Wesley Addy 08/04/1913 performer – 1940 ROMEO & JULIET (Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, Edmond O’Brien, Dame May Whitty, Cornel Wilde)

D. L. Coburn 08/04/1938 writer – THE GIN GAME

Pamela Burrell 08/04/1945 performer – STRIDER (Gerald Hiken, Roger De Koven); THE RED SHOES (Margaret Illman, Roger Rees, Hugh Panaro, Steve Barton); orig. SCARLET PIMPERNEL

George Kmeck 08/04/1949 performer – 1983 ON YOUR TOES; SUNSET BLVD

Amelia Campbell 08/04/1965 performer – OUR COUNTRY’S GOOD (Cherry Jones, J. Smith-Cameron; THE HERBAL BED (Trent Dawson, Herb Foster)

Victor Love 08/04/1967 performer – A FEW GOOD MEN (Tom Hulce, Arnold Molina)

Shows which opened on August 04:

The Merry Widow 08/04/1943 Marta Eggert, Jan Kiepura, Gene Barry, David Wayne WOW, what a cast!

Checkmates 08/04/1988 Ruby Dee, Denzel Washington, Paul Winfield, Marsha Jackson

ON THIS DAY IN:

1892 Andrew and Abby Borden were axed to death in their home in Fall River, Mass. Lizzie Borden, Andrew Borden's daughter from a previous marriage, was accused of the killings, but was acquitted.

1981 Melvyn Douglas dies today at the age of 80. Born in Macon, Georgia as Melvyn Edouard Heselberg, Douglas went on to become one of the more accomplished stage actors of his generation. Among his New York theatre credits were Time Out For Ginger, The Best Man and Inherit the Wind. Douglas’ performances in "Hud" and “Being There” earned him Academy Awards for best supporting actor.

1985 Charles Dickens' unfinished novel becomes The Mystery of Edwin Drood, a musical by Rupert Holmes at Off-Broadway's Delacorte Theatre. The play-within-a-play adaptation is performed by a cast including Betty Buckley, Judy Kuhn and Donna Murphy, who play members of a troupe that is performing the show. The show will transfer to Broadway's Imperial Theatre later in the season and run, under the shortened name "Drood", for 208 performances.

(sources: IBDB, NYT On This Day, & 440.com’s Those Were The Days, Playbill.com)

Milla

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 8/4/03 at 6:56pm

Milla, thank you for these posts. I see that people read them but there's really no need to reply, except to let you know we appreciate them.