March 22, 2016 March 22nd, 2016 |
Quiz: What does Fidel Castro and Barack Obama have in common with George W. Bush and Leonardo da Vinci?
Quiz: What was the first cartoon short to win an Oscar?
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History for 3/22/2016
Birthdays: Sir Anthony Van Dyck, Marcel Marceau, Stephen Sondheim, Karl Malden, Werner Klemperer- Colonel Klink in Hogan’s Heroes, George Benson, James Gavin, Allen Neuharth the founder of USA-Today, Milt Kahl, Fanny Ardant is 67, Lena Olin is 61, Bruno Ganz is 75, Reese Witherspoon is 40, William Shatner is 85.
In ancient Rome this day was the Festival of the Entry of the Tree- when the priestesses of Cybele, Goddess of the Harvest, would lead a procession through the streets carrying pine or palm branches. In later times the Christians took this custom and made it Palm Sunday.
1622-POWHATAN INDIANS SUPRISE ATTACK JAMESTOWN- While the Pilgrims were still thinking of coming to America and Plymouth Rock was just another rock, Jamestown Virginia was the only English settlement in North America.
After the deaths of Pocahontas and Powhatan in in 1619, Opescanacough- pronounced Opee-cantanoo, became Mamanatowick- overall chief of the Virginia Powhatan Confederation. He had hated the English since the days of John Smith. So he resolved to rid his land of the white settlers once and for all with a simultaneous assault on them from all sides on the same day.
The settlers were taken completely by surprise, many while tending their fields. 300 were killed, among them John Rolfe, the husband of the late princess Pocahontas.
Despite such heavy losses the English recovered and in a slow war of attrition eventually killed Opescanocough and wiped out the Powhatan people.
1687- Jean Francois Lully was court composer to Louis XIV the "Sun King" and by all accounts a champion opportunist. In an age when the Baton had not come into use for conductors, Lully conducted his orchestra by beating a large pole on the ground to the tempo of the music. One day during a performance he poked a hole in his own foot with the pole and died of blood poisoning.
On his deathbed he asked a priest for Last Rites but the priest refused unless he burned his latest opera "Atys" which the church considered blasphemous. Lully admitted his sins and burned the manuscript of ATYS in front of the priest, who then gave him the sacrament. A friend came in afterward and said:" How could you burn your work?" Lully replied:" Don't worry. I have another copy here in my desk. "
1719- King Frederick Wilhelm Ist announced the end of serfdom in Prussia-Germany.
1820 - Commodore Stephen Decatur was killed in duel with Commodore James Baron outside Wash. D.C.. Decatur was a colorful naval hero of the War with Tripoli and War of 1812 who said "My Country Right or Wrong" .
1882- Congress outlaws polygamy.
1894- First Stanley Cup Game- Montreal 3, Ottawa I.
1901- Japan announces that Russia better keep their hands off Korea.
1905-WELTSMACHT (world power) Kaiser Wilhelm in a speech for a dedication ceremony in Bremen tells the Germans that it is their natural right to dominate the world. It was another of his emotionally immature statements that sent chills through an already tense world situation.
We sometimes think German government officials then were like the Nazis, robotic and fanatical. But in the Kaiser’s time many of his officials were just as cynical as anyone else. German diplomats despaired whenever Wilhelm put his foot in his mouth. One attache tried to release an edited text to the press. The Kaiser complained: “Bauer, you’ve left out all the good parts!”
Another time after the Kaiser did a candid interview for the London Globe & Mail where he called the English people a "Race of Mad Bulls." The German ambassador in London said to a colleague "Oh Well, we might as well start packing right now..."
1913- Jack London (White Fang, The Call of the Wild ) wrote fellow writers HG Wells, George Bernard Shaw and Winston Churchill and asked them how much they get paid. He was unsure what to charge.
1933- The first SS run concentration camp Dachau opened.
1944- When the evidence became overwhelming President Franklin Roosevelt in a national radio address first told the American people of Hitler’s holocaust of the Jews. He warned that all persons aiding in these war crimes would be hunted down. Still no attempt was ever made to bomb Auschwitz, Dachau or even the railroad links to them. US Immigration rules had been tightened since 1938. Although Jewish groups had complained for years, the US public never really understood the full horror of the death camps until the film footage returned from the land armies a full year later.
1945- Several Arab nations including Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Egypt form the Arab League. Their goal is the eventual unity of all Arab peoples from the Atlantic to the Persian Gulf, but about the only thing they all agreed on was hostility to a Jewish state in Israel. Today the Arab League is trying to stop the fighting in Syria without much luck.
1947- President Truman signed an Executive Order # 9835 ordering background checks of all government employees and to take a Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Two million took the oath, only 129 were sacked for refusing.
1958- Hollywood producer Mike Todd was killed in a small plane crash. He produced hit movies like Around the World in 80 Days and romanced starlets like Gypsy Rose Lee and Elizabeth Taylor. Taylor and Todd had been married for one year and she was devastated by the accident. Years and many marriages later Taylor said Mike Todd was the only man she actually loved.
1960- Arthur Shawlow and Charles Townes patented the laser beam. Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation or LASER. Pussycats rejoice!
1970- The Beatles break up. Paul McCartney filed papers in a London court for a formal dissolving of the Fab Fours partnership.
1972- Concluding a five-year study, the National Commission on Drug Abuse recommended ending all penalties and laws prohibiting marijuana.
No one in authority listened to them.
1972- Congress passed the ERA, the Equal Rights Amendment, forbidding any discrimination by sex. The ERA was first proposed by women’s rights groups in 1923. With the heady atmosphere of Women’s Liberation in the early 70s the amendment seemed a no-brainer, even Ronald Reagan supported it. However the Conservative backlash led by anti-feminists like Phyllis Schlafly slowly stunted its ability to win over states for ratification. The ERA died unratified in 1982.
1978- Karl Wallenda, 73 year old scion of the daredevil family the Flying Wallendas, fell to his death from a tightrope between two resort hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
1991- Ivana Trump divorces Donald Trump. A celebrated court case ensued to see how the huge Trump fortune would be divided. Newspapers cry Ivanna More Money!
1995- First day of shooting on that utterly classic film- Dinosaur Valley Girls!
2004- Israeli missiles blew up Sheik Ahmed Yasin, the quadriplegic founder of the Palestinian group Hamas.
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Yesterdays Quiz: What was the first cartoon short to win an Oscar?
Answer: Walt Disney’s Flowers and Trees (1933). Also their first full color cartoon.