Fun On this date in history...

If I may...

ON NOVEMBER 5th:

In 1605, Guy Fawkes was arrested for his role in the “Gunpowder Plot”, the attempted bombing of England’s House of Lords.

In 1781, the Continental Congress elected John Hanson of Maryland its chairman, giving him the title of "President of the United States in Congress Assembled."

In 1872, suffragette Susan B. Anthony defied the law by attempting to cast a vote for President Ulysses S. Grant. (Anthony was convicted by a judge and fined $100, but she never paid the fine.)

In 1895, George B. Seldon was granted the first U.S. patent for an automobile.

In 1911, actor/singer Roy Rogers, the King of the Cowboys, was born in Cincinnati, OH.

In 1912, Democrat Woodrow Wilson was elected president, defeating Progressive Party candidate Theodore Roosevelt, incumbent Republican William Howard Taft and Socialist Eugene V. Debs.

In 1913, actress Vivien Leigh was born in Darjeeling, British India. Years later, Clark Gable wouldn’t give a damn about one of her characters.

In 1914, Britain and France declared war against the Ottoman Empire; Britain also annexed Cyprus.

In 1925, secret agent Sidney Reilly, the first "super-spy" of the 20th century, was executed by the OGPU, the secret police of the Soviet Union.

In 1938, Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings" and "Essay for Orchestra" made their world debuts on the NBC Blue radio network as they were performed by the NBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Arturo Toscanini.

In 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt won an unprecedented third term in office as he defeated Republican challenger Wendell L. Willkie.

In 1943, the Universal Horror “Son of Dracula”, starring Lon Chaney, Jr. as the Count, was released in the U.S.

In 1946, a glass backboard broke shattered for the first time in an NBA game. Chuck Connors of the Boston Celtics was the man that broke it. (Yes, it was that Chuck Connors, and, no, he didn’t use a Winchester to break it.)

In 1954, the drama “On the Waterfront”, starring Marlon Brando, premiered in New York City.

In 1959, The American Football League was formed.

In 1960, filmmaker Mack Sennett died in Woodland Hills, CA at age 80.

In 1966, on “Doctor Who”, part one of “The Power of the Daleks”, featuring Patrick Troughton’s first full appearance as the Doctor, was broadcast on BBC 1.

Also in 1966, the film “Manos, the Hands of Fate” premiered in El Paso, TX. Nearly thirty years later, a cow town puppet show would introduce it to a new generation of viewers who’d see it as…what it was.

In 1974, Democrat Ella T. Grasso was elected governor of Connecticut, becoming the first woman to win a gubernatorial office without succeeding her husband.

In 1989, pianist Vladimir Horowitz died in New York at age 86.

In 1990, Rabbi Meir Kahane, the Brooklyn-born Israeli extremist, was shot to death at a New York hotel. (Egyptian native El Sayyed Nosair) was convicted of the slaying in federal court.)

In 1994, former President Ronald Reagan disclosed he had Alzheimer's disease.

In 2004, the Pixar movie “The Incredibles” was released in the U.S.

In 2009, a shooting rampage at the Fort Hood Army post in Texas left 13 people dead; Maj. Nidal Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, was later convicted of murder and sentenced to death.

 

- released Nov. 5, 1972

 

If I may...

ON NOVEMBER 6th:

In 1789, Pope Pius VI appoints John Carroll bishop of Baltimore, making him the first Catholic bishop in the U.S.

In 1814, Adolphe Sax, the inventor of the saxophone, was born in Dinant, Belgium.

In 1854, composer/bandleader John Philip Sousa was born in Washington, D.C. While best-known for his patriotic marches, one of his compositions would find new fame as the theme to a successful British TV series.

In 1860, former Illinois congressman Abraham Lincoln defeated three other candidates for the presidency: John Breckinridge, John Bell and Stephen Douglas.

In 1861, Confederate President Jefferson Davis was elected to a six-year term of office.

In 1869, in New Brunswick, NJ, Rutgers College (later known as Rutgers University) defeated Princeton University (then known as the College of New Jersey), 6–4, in the first official intercollegiate American football game.

In 1914, actor Jonathan Harris was born in the Bronx. His sojourn on the Jupiter II would come later.

In 1928, in a first, the results of Republican Herbert Hoover's presidential election victory over Democrat Alfred E. Smith were flashed onto an electric wraparound sign on the New York Times building.

In 1935, athlete/Christian evangelist Billy Sunday died at age 72.

In 1939, the Benny Goodman Sextet recorded, "Flying Home," for Columbia.

In 1947, “Meet the Press” made its television debut (the show went to a weekly schedule on September 12, 1948).

In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower won re-election, defeating Democrat Adlai E. Stevenson.

In 1958, actor/writer/puppeteer Trace Beaulieu was born in Minneapolis, MN. Years later, he’d play the instigator and a victim of a bizarre movie-watching experiment.

In 1962, Democrat Edward M. Kennedy was elected Senator from Massachusetts.

In 1965, the spy-fi spoof “Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine”, starring Vincent Price, Frankie Avalon and Dwayne Hickman, was released in the U.S.

In 1977, 39 people were killed when the Kelly Barnes Dam burst, sending a wall of water through Toccoa Falls College in Georgia.

In 1984, President Ronald Reagan won re-election by a landslide over former Vice President Walter Mondale, the Democratic challenger.

In 1989, author Timothy Zahn’s literary agent contacted him regarding an offer to write “Star Wars” novels. The resulting books were somewhat successful (and later removed from canonicity).

In 1990, about one-fifth of the Universal Studios backlot in southern California was destroyed in an arson fire.

In 2001, the action TV series “24”, starring Kiefer Sutherland, premiered on Fox.

In 2004, the designers of SpaceShipOne, the first privately manned rocket to fly into space, were handed a $10 million check and the Ansari X Prize trophy.

In 2012, President Barack Obama was elected to a second term of office, defeating Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

 

If I may...

ON NOVEMBER 7th:

In 1837, in Alton, IL, abolitionist printer Elijah P. Lovejoy was shot dead by a mob while attempting to protect his printing shop from being destroyed a third time.

In 1861, former U.S. President John Tyler was elected to the Confederate House of Representatives (however, Tyler died before he could take his seat).

In 1907, Jesus Garcia saved the entire town of Nacozari de Garcia by driving a burning train full of dynamite six kilometers (3.7 miles) away before it could explode.

In 1914, the first issue of The New Republic magazine was published.

In 1916, Republican Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first woman elected to Congress.

In 1917, Russia's Bolshevik Revolution took place as forces led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin overthrew the provisional government of Alexander Kerensky.

In 1918, evangelist Billy Graham was born in Charlotte, NC.

In 1940, Washington State's original Tacoma Narrows Bridge, nicknamed "Galloping Gertie," collapsed into Puget Sound during a windstorm just four months after opening to traffic.

In 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt won an unprecedented fourth term in office, defeating Republican Thomas E. Dewey.

In 1951, actor/singer Frank Sinatra and actress Ava Gardner were married. (She filed for divorce in 1954.)

In 1954, the CBS News program "Face the Nation" premiered with Ted Koop as host; the guest was Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis.

In 1962, Republican Richard Nixon, having lost California's gubernatorial race, held what he called his "last press conference," telling reporters, "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore."

Also in 1962, former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt died in New York City at age 78.

In 1963, the all-star comedy "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" had its world premiere in Los Angeles.

In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, establishing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

In 1968, the Hammer Horror movie “Dracula Has Risen from the Grave” was released in the UK. (For its later U.S. release, it would be the first movie rated by the MPAA. Astonishingly, it would be rated G.)

In 1972, President Richard Nixon was re-elected in a landslide over Democrat George McGovern.

In 1973, Congress overrode President Nixon's veto of the War Powers Act, which limits a chief executive's power to wage war without congressional approval.

In 1974, British peer Richard John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan, disappeared after his children's nanny, Sandra Rivett, was bludgeoned to death at his family's London home; he has not been seen since.

In 1989, L. Douglas Wilder won the governor's race in Virginia, becoming the first elected black governor in U.S. history.

Also in 1989, David N. Dinkins was elected New York City's first black mayor.

In 1997, on “Mystery Science Theater 3000”, the movie “Space Mutiny” was featured. And thus were audience members introduced to Big McLargehuge. (Or was it Slab Bulkhead?)

In 2007, principal photography began on the reboot “Star Trek”, directed by J.J. Abrams.

 

I forgot one:

In 1922, musician/bandleader Al Hirt was born in New Orleans. And, considering my last post in the "What are you watching right now?" thread...

 

- Couldn't resist this one. I'm a sucker for dogs.

 

If I may...

ON NOVEMBER 8h:

In 1793, the Louvre began admitting the public, even though the French museum had been officially open since August.

In 1837, Mary Lyons opens Mount Holyoke Seminary in South Hadley, MA, the first US college established especially for women.

In 1847, author Bram Stoker, best-known for his novel Dracula, was born in Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland.

In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln won re-election as he defeated Democratic challenger George B. McClellan.

In 1889, Montana became the 41st state.

In 1895, while experimenting with electricity, physicist Wilhelm Rontgen discovered the X-ray.

In 1900, author/journalist Margaret Mitchell, best-known for the novel Gone with the Wind, was born in Atlanta, GA.

In 1923, Adolf Hitler launched his first attempt at seizing power in Germany with a failed coup in Munich that came to be known as the "Beer-Hall Putsch."

In 1932, New York Democratic Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated incumbent Republican Herbert Hoover for the presidency.

In 1935, the drama "Mutiny on the Bounty," starring Clark Gable and Charles Laughton, premiered in New York City.

Also in 1935, the comedy "A Night at the Opera," starring the Marx Brothers, also premiered in New York.

In 1942, Operation Torch, resulting in an Allied victory, began during World War II as U.S. and British forces landed in French North Africa.

In 1950, during the Korean War, the first jet-plane battle took place as U.S. Air Force Lt. Russell J. Brown shot down a North Korean MiG-15.

Also in 1951, the drama “All the King’s Men”, starring Broderick Crawford, premiered in New York City.

In 1960, Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kennedy defeated Vice President Richard M. Nixon for the presidency.

In 1965, the soap opera "Days of Our Lives" premiered on NBC.

In 1972, the premium cable TV network HBO (Home Box Office) made its debut. The first movie shown was "Sometimes a Great Notion."

In 1973, the Disney animated movie “Robin Hood” premiered at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

In 1974, a federal judge in Cleveland dismissed charges against eight Ohio National Guardsmen accused of violating the civil rights of students who were killed or wounded in the 1970 Kent State shootings.

In 1979, the program, "The Iran Crisis: America Held Hostage", premiered on ABC-TV. The show was planned to be temporary, but it evolved into "Nightline" in March of 1980.

In 1988, Vice President George H.W. Bush won the presidential election, defeating the Democratic nominee, Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis.

In 1994, midterm elections resulted in Republicans winning a majority in the Senate while at the same time gaining control of the House for the first time in 40 years.

Also in 1994, writer/actor Michael O’Donoghue, one of the original writers and cast members of “Saturday Night Live”, died in New York City at age 54.

 

- born on November 8th, 1927

 

If I may...

ON NOVEMBER 9th:

In 1620, the passengers and crew of the Mayflower sighted Cape Cod.

In 1861, the first documented Canadian football game took place at the University of Toronto.

In 1862, Union General Ambrose Burnside assumed command of the Army of the Potomac, after George B. McClellan was removed.

In 1872, fire destroyed nearly 800 buildings in Boston.

In 1888, Mary Jane Kelly was murdered in London; she is widely believed to be the fifth and final victim of the notorious unidentified serial killer Jack the Ripper.

In 1913, the Great Lakes Storm of 1913, the most destructive natural disaster ever to hit the lakes, destroyed 19 ships and killed more than 250 people.

In 1914, actress/inventor Hedy Lamarr was born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary.

In 1918, it was announced that Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II would abdicate; he then fled to the Netherlands.

In 1935, United Mine Workers president John L. Lewis and other labor leaders formed the Committee for Industrial Organization (later renamed the Congress of Industrial Organizations).

In 1938, Nazis looted and burned synagogues as well as Jewish-owned stores and houses in Germany and Austria in a pogrom that became known as "Kristallnacht."

In 1951, actor/bodybuilder/fitness trainer Lou Ferrigno was born in Brooklyn. The gamma ray thing would occur later.

In 1953, Welsh author-poet Dylan Thomas died in New York at age 39.

In 1965, the great Northeast blackout began as a series of power failures lasting up to 13 1/2 hours left 30 million people in seven states and part of Canada without electricity.

In 1967, a Saturn V rocket carrying the unmanned Apollo 4 spacecraft blasted off from Cape Kennedy on a successful test flight.

Also in 1967, the first issue of “Rolling Stone” magazine was published.

In 1976, the U.N. General Assembly approved resolutions condemning apartheid in South Africa, including one characterizing the white-ruled government as "illegitimate."

In 1981, principal photography began for “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan”.

In 1989, communist East Germany threw open its borders, allowing citizens to travel freely to the West; joyous Germans danced atop the Berlin Wall.

In 1999, with fireworks, concerts and a huge party at the landmark Brandenburg Gate, Germany celebrated the 10th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

 

If I may...

ON NOVEMBER 10th:

In 1766, the last colonial governor of New Jersey, William Franklin, signed the charter of Queen's College (later renamed Rutgers University).

In 1775, the U.S. Marines were organized under authority of the Continental Congress.

In 1865, Major Henry Wirz, the superintendent of a Confederate prison camp in Andersonville, GA, was hanged, becoming one of only three Civil War soldiers executed for war crimes.

In 1871, journalist-explorer Henry M. Stanley found Scottish missionary David Livingstone, who had not been heard from for years, near Lake Tanganyika in central Africa, famously greeting him with the words, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?".

In 1889, actor Claude Rains was born in Camberwell, London, England. He’d later play one half of a beautiful friendship.

In 1891, composer/arranger Carl Stalling, resident composer for the Warner Brothers cartoons for 22 years, was born in Lexington, MO.

In 1910, the Gideons placed their first Bible ten years after Samuel Hill and John Nicholson began the organization.

In 1919, the American Legion opened its first national convention in Minneapolis.

In 1924, actor Russell Johnson was born in Ashley, PA. The three-hour tour would come later.

In 1925, actor Richard Burton was born in Pontrhydyfen, Wales.

In 1928, Knute Rockne made his famous "win one for the Gipper" pep talk during halftime of a tied game between Notre Dame and Army.

In 1931, actor Don Henderson was born in Leytonstone, Essex, England. Best-known for playing detective George Bulman on British TV, he’d also express a fairly accurate opinion about the Death Star.

In 1938, Kate Smith first sang Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" on her CBS radio program.

In 1951, customer-dialed long-distance telephone service began as Mayor M. Leslie Denning of Englewood, NJ, called Alameda, CA, Mayor Frank Osborne without operator assistance.

In 1954, the U.S. Marine Corps Memorial, depicting the raising of the American flag on Iwo Jima in 1945, was dedicated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in Arlington, VA.

In 1969, the children's educational program "Sesame Street" made its debut on National Educational Television (later PBS).

Also in 1969, the sci-fi movie “Marooned” premiered in Washington, D.C.

In 1975, the ore-hauling ship SS Edmund Fitzgerald mysteriously sank during a storm in Lake Superior with the loss of all 29 crew members.

In 1982, the newly finished Vietnam Veterans Memorial was opened to its first visitors in Washington, D.C., three days before its dedication.

Also in 1982, Soviet leader Leonid I. Brezhnev died at age 75 in Zarechye, near Moscow, Russia.

In 1990, the comedy "Home Alone," starring Macaulay Culkin, premiered in Chicago.

In 2015, Joel Hodgson announced that the start of a Kickstarter campaign to provide funding for a revival of “Mystery Science Theater 3000”, with an initial goal of $2,000,000. Over $800,000 was raised in the first day.

 

If I may...

ON NOVEMBER 11th:

In 1620, 41 Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower, anchored off Massachusetts, signed a compact calling for a "body politick."

In 1778, British redcoats, Tory rangers and Seneca Indians in central New York killed more than 40 people in the Cherry Valley Massacre.

In 1831, former slave Nat Turner, who'd led a violent insurrection, was executed in Jerusalem, VA.

In 1864, General William Tecumseh Sherman began burning Atlanta, GA to the ground in preparation for his march south.

In 1889, Washington became the 42nd state.

In 1918, fighting in World War I came to an end with the signing of an armistice between the Allies and Germany.

In 1921, the remains of an unidentified American service member were interred in a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in a ceremony presided over by President Warren G. Harding.

In 1925, actor/comedian Jonathan Winters was born in Bellbrook, OH.

In 1952, the first video recorder was demonstrated by John Mullin and Wayne Johnson in Beverly Hills, CA.

In 1957, the song “Great Balls of Fire” by Jerry Lee Lewis was released by Sun Records.

In 1965, Rhodesia proclaimed its independence from Britain.

In 1966, Gemini 12 blasted off from Cape Kennedy with astronauts James A. Lovell and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. aboard.

In 1967, on “Doctor Who”, part one of “The Ice Warriors” was broadcast on BBC 1. It was the first appearance of the titular villains.

In 1972, the U.S. Army turned over its base at Long Binh to the South Vietnamese, symbolizing the end of direct U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam War.

Also In 1972, bassist Berry Oakley of the Allman Brothers Band was killed in a motorcycle crash in Macon, Georgia. The accident occurred three blocks from the site of a crash that took the life of Duane Allman a year earlier.

In 1977, Paramount announced that the planned “Star Trek: Phase II” TV series was being re-tooled into a film, “Star Trek: The Motion Picture”.

In 1994, the Christmas comedy “The Santa Clause” was released in the U.S.

In 2004, the Palestine Liberation Organization confirmed the death of Yasser Arafat in Clamart, Hauts-de-Seine, France at age 75 from unidentified causes. Mahmoud Abbas is elected chairman of the PLO minutes later.

 

If I may...

ON NOVEMBER 12th:

In 1815, pioneering American suffragette Elizabeth Cady Stanton was born in Johnstown, NY.

In 1787, severe flooding struck Dublin, Ireland, as the River Liffey rose.

In 1927, Josef Stalin became the undisputed ruler of the Soviet Union as Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party.

In 1928, SS Vestris sank approximately 200 miles (320 km) off Hampton Roads, VA, killing at least 110 passengers, mostly women and children who died after the vessel was abandoned.

In 1936, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opened as President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressed a telegraph key in Washington, D.C., giving the green light to traffic.

In 1942, the World War II naval Battle of Guadalcanal began. (The Allies ended up winning a major victory over Japanese forces.)

In 1946, the Disney movie “Song of the South” premiered in Atlanta, GA. Though it received Oscars for Best Original Song and an honorary award for African-American actor James Baskett, it has since been pulled from circulation in the U.S. due to perceived racial insensivity.

In 1948, former Japanese premier Hideki Tojo and several other World War II Japanese leaders were sentenced to death by a war crimes tribunal.

In 1969, news of the My Lai Massacre in South Vietnam in March 1968 was broken by investigative reporter Seymour Hersh.

In 1976, the novelization Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker, was published by Ballantine Books. Originally credited to George Lucas, it would later be revealed that it was ghost-written by Alan Dean Foster, based on Lucas’ screenplay. (This publication date may be disputed.)

In 1977, the city of New Orleans elected its first black mayor, Ernest "Dutch" Morial, the winner of a runoff.

In 1981, NASA launched Mission STS-2, utilizing the Space Shuttle Columbia, marking the first time a manned spacecraft had been launched into space twice.

In 1983, the novel Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of ThonBoka by L. Neil Smith was published by Del Rey. It featured the resolution of the storyline of sidekick Vuffi Raa, and Lando’s final confrontation with villain Rokur Gepta.

In 1984, space shuttle astronauts Dale Gardner and Joe Allen snared a wandering satellite in history's first space salvage; the Palapa B2 satellite was secured in Discovery's cargo bay for return to Earth.

In 1985, Xavier Suarez was elected Miami's first Cuban-American mayor.

In 1997, Ramzi Yousef was found guilty of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

In 2001, American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300 headed to the Dominican Republic, crashed after takeoff from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 260 people on board and five people on the ground.