Wednesday, September 6, 2023

This Date in History - September 6

 

Happy birthday to Joanne Worley.   I doubt there's another blog in the universe honoring her today.

394:  BATTLE OF THE FRIGIDUS:  ROMAN EMPEROR THEODOSIUS I DEFEATS AND KILLS THE USURPER EUGENIUS.

What the hell does this have to do with a refrigerator?

1492:  CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS SAILS FROM THE CANARY ISLANDS, THE FINAL PORT OF CALL BEFORE CROSSING THE ATLANTIC OCEAN FOR THE FIRST TIME.

Here comes a holiday, folks.

1620:  THE PILGRIMS SAILS FROM PLYMOUTH, ENGLAND ON THE THE MAYFLOWER.

And here comes another holiday, gang.

1628:  PURITANS SETTLE SALEM, WHICH WILL LATER BECOME PART OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY.

And not a holiday.

1642:  THE ENGLISH PARLIAMENT LED PURITANS ISSUES AN ORDINANCE SUPPRESSING ALL STAGE PLAYS IN THEATERS.

And this was before they did Julius Caesar in Central Park.

1847:  HENRY DAVID THOREAU LEAVES WALDEN POND AND MOVES IN WITH RALPH WALDO EMERSON AND HIS FAMILY.

Gee, that's a lot of boring literature in one house.

1861:  AMERICAN CIVIL WAR - FORCES UNDER GENERAL ULYSSES S. GRANT BLOODLESSLY CAPTURE PADUCAH, KENTUCKY.

Bloodlessly?   What did they read Emerson to them?

1870:  LOUISA ANN SWAIN OF LARAMIE, WYOMING BECOMES THE FIRST WOMAN IN THE US TO CAST A VOTE LEGALLY AFTER 1807.

Would be funny if she wrote in "Mickey Mouse."

1888:  BUSINESSMAN JOSEPH KENNEDY IS BORN.

Bootlegger, Nazi sympathizer, and, oh yeah, father to a bunch of politicians.

1901:  LEON CZOLGOSZ, AN UNEMPLOYED ANARCHIST, SHOOTS AND KILLS US PRESIDENT WILLIAM MCKINLEY.

When you think about it, four Presidents killed out of 46 is pretty disgraceful.

1916:  THE FIRST SELF SERVICE GROCERY STORE, PIGGLY WIGGLY, OPENS IN TENNESSEE.

What aisle is the cereal please

1937:  ACTRESS JOANNE WORLEY IS BORN.

Turning eighty-six today!  Saw her once on the ticket will call line at the Ahmanson. Trust me.  You can't miss that voice.  And then, a few years ago, she jumped into a conversation I was having in a restaurant about finding good actors in Hollywood.   Bottom line: she ain't shy.

1939:  WORLD WAR II - SOUTH AFRICA DECLARES WAR ON NAZI GERMANY.

Good luck on that.

1946:  US SECRETARY OF STATE JAMES F. BYRNES ANNOUNCES THAT THE US WILL FOLLOW A POLICY OF ECONOMIC RECONSTRUCTION IN POSTWAR GERMANY.

Knock them down, build them up.

1947:  ACTRESS JANE CURTIN IS BORN.

I always thought she was the clue that held the original SNL together.

1959:  ACTOR EDMUND GWENN DIES.

Now, Virginia, there is no Santa Claus.

1959:  ACTRESS KAY KENDALL DIES.

Way too young.   Brilliant British comic actress.   Watch her in "The Reluctant Debutante."

1968:  SWAZILAND BECOMES INDEPENDENT.

And nobody outside of Swaziland cares.

1970:  TWO PASSENGER JETS BOUND FROM EUROPE TO NY ARE SIMULTANEOUSLY HIJACKED BY PALESTINIAN TERRORISTS.

As if you thought all this recent shit was new.

1972:  MUNICH OLYMPIC MASSACRE - NINE ISRAELI ATHLETES HELD HOSTAGE ARE MURDERED.

They're gone.   They're all gone.

1983:  THE SOVIET UNION ADMITS TO SHOOTING DOWN KOREAN AIR LINES FLIGHT 007, STATING ITS OPERATIVES DID NOT KNOW IT WAS A CIVILIAN AIRCRAFT WHEN IT REPORTEDLY VIOLATE SOVIET AIRSPACE.

Oh, yeah, sure.

1987:  TV PRODUCER QUINN MARTIN DIES.

No longer a production, Barnaby Jones.

1995:  CAL RIPKEN JR. OF THE BALTIMORE ORIOLES PLAYS IN HIS 2,131ST CONSECUTIVE GAME, BREAKING A RECORD THAT HAD STOOD FOR 56 YEARS.

Never got hurt.   You know he wasn't a New York Met.

1997:  THE FUNERAL OF DIANA, PRINCESS OF WALES TAKES PLACE.

Probably bigger than her wedding.

2007:  SINGER LUCIANO PAVAROTTI DIES.

The fat man has sung.

2015:  ACTOR MARTIN MILNER DIES.

One Adam 12, see the dead actor...

2018:  ACTOR BURT REYNOLDS DIES.

On the same day as my friend, TV writer Thad Mumford.

2020:  BASEBALL STAR LOU BROCK DIES.

Not so fast now.

Dinner last night:  Leftover sausage and salad.

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