This Date in History - September 16

 

Happy birthday to Ed Begley Jr., who co-starred in one of my favorite TV shows of all time, "St. Elsewhere."

307:  EMPEROR SEVERUS II IS CAPTURED AND IMPRISONED AT TRES TABERNAE.  HE IS LATER EXECUTED.

That's a little severus, don't you think?

1400:  OWAIN GLYNDWR IS DECLARED PRINCE OF WALES BY HIS FOLLOWERS.

Give that last name a vowel, please.

1620:  PILGRIMS SET SAIL FROM ENGLAND ON THE MAYFLOWER.

Trying to beat the Thanksgiving traffic.

1776:  THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION - THE BATTLE OF HARLEM HEIGHTS IS FOUGHT.

I hope they don't damage the Apollo Theater.

1810:  WITH THE GRITO DE DOLORES, FATHER MIGUEL HIDALGO BEGINS MEXICO'S FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE FROM SPAIN.

Grito de Dolores?   Does that come with guacamole?

1880:  THE CORNELL DAILY SUN PRINTS ITS FIRST ISSUE IN ITHACA, NEW YORK.  THE SUN IS THE NATION'S OLDEST, CONTINUOUSLY-INDEPENDENT COLLEGE DAILY.

As if college students are truly independent.

1908:  THE GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION IS FOUNDED.

Recall.

1914:  TV DIRECTOR ALLEN FUNT IS BORN.

Smile.

1919:  THE AMERICAN LEGION IS INCORPORATED.

Just what do they do besides march in your local Memorial Day parade?

1920:  A BOMB IN A HORSE WAGON EXPLODES IN FRONT OF THE JP MORGAN BUILDING IN NEW YORK CITY AND KILLS 38 WHILE INJURING 400.

Not exactly an improvement - years later, terrorists use children instead of horses.

1924:  ACTRESS LAUREN BACALL IS BORN.

You just know she was a bitch.

1927:  ACTOR PETER FALK IS BORN.

Just one more question...

1934:  ACTOR GEORGE CHAKIRIS IS BORN.

Take the Sharks over the Jets with the points.

1943:  WORLD WAR II - THE ALLIED INVASION OF ITALY CONCLUDES WHEN HEINRICH VON VIETINGHOFF, COMMANDER OF THE GERMAN TENTH ARMY, ORDERS HIS TROOPS TO WITHDRAW FROM SALERNO.

Mr. Vietinghoff to you.

1945:  WORLD WAR II - THE SURRENDER OF THE JAPANESE TROOPS IN HONG KONG IS ACCEPTED.

Who knows a notary public, please?

1949:  ACTOR ED BEGLEY JR. IS BORN.

In his honor, take the bus today.

1955:  THE MILITARY COUP TO UNSEAT PRESIDENT JUAN PERON OF ARGENTINA IS LAUNCHED AT MIDNIGHT.

Don't cry for me, yada yada yada.

1956: MAGICIAN DAVID COPPERFIELD IS BORN.

Presto.

1958:  BASEBALL STAR OREL HERSHISER IS BORN.

Great baseball announcer, but, boy, did I hate him back in 1988.

1959:  THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL PHOTOCOPIER, THE XEROX 914, IS INTRODUCED IN A LIVE TV DEMONSTRATION.

Somebody forgot to add paper.

1965:  ANIMATOR FRED QUIMBY DIES.

I created Gumby, damn it.

1966:  THE METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE OPENS AT LINCOLN CENTER IN NYC WITH THE WORLD PREMIERE OF SAMUEL BARBER'S "ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA."

What's the over/under that Tony Randall was in the audience that night?

1970:  KING HUSSEIN OF JORDAN DECLARES MILITARY RULE FOLLOWING THE HIJACKING OF FOUR CIVILIAN AIRLINES BY THE POPULAR FRONT FOR THE LIBERATION OF PALESTINE.

Just in case you thought those dirtbags in 2001 were all that original.

1980:  SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES JOIN THE UNITED NATIONS.

I think I saw them perform in Greenwich Village.

1992:  THE TRIAL OF THE DEPOSED PANAMANIAN DICTATOR MANUEL NORIEGA ENDS IN THE US WITH A 40-YEAR SENTENCE FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING AND MONEY LAUNDERING.

Forty years too short.

2009:  SINGER MARY TRAVERS DIES.

Peter, Paul, and Nobody.

2013:  A GUNMAN KILLS TWELVE PEOPLE AT THE NAVY YARD IN WASHINGTON, DC.

Just so you realize that this kind of workplace violence will always exist.

2016:  PLAYWRIGHT EDWARD ALBEE DIES.

Who's afraid now?

2021:  ACTRESS JANE POWELL DIES.    

Seven Corpses for Seven Brothers.

2025:  ACTOR ROBERT REDFORD DIES.

Remembering the way he was.

Dinner last night:   Salad. 

One More 9/11 Documentary

 

With the 25th anniversary just past, there were a variety of new documentaries on the subject.  And replays of some old ones.   For me, the newest one might just be the best.   I was crying throughout, largely because "When America Took the Field" connected that horrific tragedy with a love of my life...baseball fandom.

Now there have been other films that covered how Major League Baseball helped our country heal in those first weeks after 9/11.  HBO did one that was very good about 15 years ago.  Indeed, some of the same children who were spotlighted by HBO have their lives updated in this new movie on the MLB Network.   But, indeed. the tone set by this new doc, executive produced by former baseball star Todd Zeile, would move emotionally impact the most casual of fans.

The usual tales are covered.   The kids who lost their dads and moms who are baseball fans.  The first game in NY after 9/11 when Mike Piazza hits a game winning homerun that just be the greatest moment of the sports ever.  Fan connections with the likes of Ken Griffey Jr. and Derek Jeter.  Community outreach by managers Joe Torre and Bobby Valentine who secretly arranged to have one dad's ashes scattered at Shea Stadium's home plate.

Believe me, this movie pulls at your heart strings as if it was a symphony violin. And, as I watched, memories washed over me.   It made me miss Shea Stadium.  It made me recall how strong my love was for the NY Mets during my childhood.  And it made me realize how baseball was the basis of so many of my longtime friends.  

And I thought about my own parents, gone due to illness and not because a building fell on them.  My dad introduced me to the game.  I myself introduced the game to my mother in her later years, largely because she loved both Dwight Gooden and Met announcer Tim McCarver.

This film has it all.   Memories of a grateful nation.  And mine.

LEN'S RATING:  Four stars.

Dinner last night:  Hamburger.

Monday Morning Video Laugh - September 14, 2026

 The super under-appreciated Don Knotts.

Dinner last night:  Ribeye steak and roasted cherry tomatoes.

The Sunday Memory Drawer - Like Yesterday

 

Certainly not 25 years.

We're several days after the annual remembrance of 9/11...the day that changed our nation forever.  In the circles I travel in, we still talk about it.  Just as we had 25 years earlier.  The memory touchstone for several generations.  As I was talking on the phone with someone on the East Coast last Friday, a steady ambulance siren could be heard in the background.   It bothered me.

The wounds are still fresh even now.

I am heartened to see friends still take to social media and commemorate it all anew.   There was one friend's post, however, that essentially took task to George Bush one more time for being the sole reason why 9/11 happened.  Seriously?  No X post was more inappropriate than that one.  Trust me, our foreign relations over the past several decades has suffered and there is plenty of blame to go around on both sides of the aisle, including the ones currently in charge.

But I digress...

That post reminded me of the toxic bi-polarity we reside in these days.   But, it wasn't in 2001.   We were one.   Our nation had come together.  It sadly didn't last for long.   But it was possible for the States of America to be...well...United.

I've written before about my world on that day.  The transplanted New Yorker watching the dust clouds from 3000 miles away and longing to be there for the comfort and hugs of my friends there.  Driving the empty streets of Los Angeles.   Seeing soldiers standing in front of the Federal Building in Westwood with rifles pointed to the air.  My writing partner and I finding the only place open to eat was Nate and Al's in Beverly Hills.   Seated in the booth next to us was Rodney Dangerfield, dressed in pajamas and bedhead.

It all stays with me and as well it should.

But, this year, I recall an earlier part of the day.   Driving home after a truncated workday, I saw those aforementioned soldiers.  Ready to fight whoever and wherever.   It was chilling.   I had a sensation come over me.

I called my pastor and left her a voice mail.   Since I was the church treasurer at the time, I had a complete set of keys to the building (pictured above).   I told her that I was going over to the church to open the doors.   I had this feeling people would seek it out.

I opened the front doors wide.  I took the American Flag and hung it outside.   I didn't care if anybody stole stuff.   It was more important for that place to be available.

I went back later in the day.   My thought process had been correct.  Inside there were four or five folks.   All sitting quietly.  Staring at the altar.  Or with heads bowed solemnly.

Looking for answers to unanswerable questions.  

I was moved by the silence as I stood quietly in the background.  My small act of simply turning a key in a church door had perhaps touched some or many.  

In our own congregation the following Sunday, we had our own catharsis.  Our pastor closed the service by having us all stand in the aisle with our hands joined together.   We sang "God Bless America."

And cried.   Every single one of us.

These days, religion get knocked around.  Thanks to over-politicizing some beliefs or issues, you're almost ashamed to practice what you hear preached.   Now there are more and more people who proclaim that they're "spiritual, not religious."   I think that's code for "I'm sleeping in until the Broncos kick off."

Yet, a quarter century ago, it was a touchstone for folks looking for comfort, solace, and the belief that there is meaning to this world.  

More importantly, my church and your church or house of worship can be that conduit for us to get through days like 9/11.   A reminder that communities can thrive.   And make a difference.

Dinner last night:   Lasagna from my freezer.

Classic Newsreel of the Month - September 2026

 Back in the day, this was clockwork every September.

Dinner last night:  Korean pork.

No Words Today As Always

 

25 Years Ago Tonight.

 All is quiet.

Dinner last night:  Sandwich.