Birthdays: James Fennimore Cooper, William Howard Taft America's fattest president, Agatha Christie, Julian Cannonball Adderly, Bruno Walter, Russian animator Yuri Noorstein, Oliver Stone, Jean Renoir (film director and son of painter August Renoir), Alexander Korda, Robert Benchley the author of Jaws, Tommy Lee Jones is 61, Prince Henry the second son of Charles and Di is 22, Fay Wray (1907-2004) who played King Kong's girlfriend, would have been 100 today.

happy birthday Fay!

1858- The Butterfield Overland Mail service started up- driving stage coaches throughout the Old West.

1901- After the funeral of assassinated President McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt strode into the White House for his first day as President. Supposedly he was the man who named the famous caramel corn snack. After he tried it, he exclaimed to the inventor "These caramel dipped popcorns are Crackerjack!"

1925- The Grand Order of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan take out a copyright on their logo – the white cross on the red circle with the black square in the center. After all, some other racist hate group might try to copy their cool duds!

1930- The first Blondie comic strip.

1930- Hoagy Carmichael first recorded “Georgia on My Mind”.

1936- Irving Thalberg, the "Boy Genius" MGM producer, dies of a cerebral hemorrhage at 31. He was the inspiration for F.Scott Fitzgerald's "The Last Tycoon". His boss Louis B. Mayer was beginning to resent his popularity. When actress Gloria Swanson asked Mayer how he felt about Thalberg's death Mayer replied:" God has been very kind to me."

1954- The day of shooting on the film the Seven Year Itch. Marylin Monroe in her little white dress stood over the subway grate and let the breeze blow her dress up, much to the annoyance of her husband, baseball star Joe Dimaggio. Her white halter outfit was thereafter known as a Marylin Dress.

1957-The tv series Bachelor Father starring John Forsythe premiered.

1959- Soviet Premier Nikita Khruschev arrived in the U.S. for a good will tour that included farms and factories. Americans found the earthy bald peasant with the broad smile charming, and not at all the bogeyman everyone feared. At one point Khruschev requested to visit Disneyland, the “workers playground” but Walt Disney refused:” In 1942 we lent those Commie bastards a print of Snow White and they released in their theaters with their own credits on it!” Khruschev also praised American white bread. “Russian Bread is made one day and goes stale. American bread can stay on shelf for weeks and still be soft!”He also enjoyed the fried chicken of the man Sanders that the state of Kentucky had made a Colonel- KFC. He called the little striped box with fork,salt and wetnap the perfect workers meal.

1965- "Green Acres" t.v. show debuts. Arnold Ziffel the pig gains national prominence.


1971 –The environmental political movement Greenpeace founded in Vancouver by twelve members of the Don’t Make a Wave Committee.

1973- Star Trek animated series by Filmation premiered. This was the first time Kirk, Spock, Sulu and Uhura were united again with a Roddenberry script since the original series was cancelled in 1967.