Here's an interesting coincidence: On this date in 1607, a baby is born (shocking, right?) in England. After becoming a minister, he and his wife move to the colony in Massachusetts. He dies relatively young and childless, and leaves half his estate (and his personal library) to the New College. They're so happy to get the gift that they soon rename the entire school after John Harvard. Now here comes the weird part: Harvard died in 1638. In 1640, the newly renamed school needs a president. They pick Henry Dunster, who was born on this date in 1609. That's right- Harvard should be celebrating the birthdays of their first benefactor and their first president on this date. But I doubt they are. Ungrateful Bastards.
"They called him Bat... Bat Masterson". Not that his name was "Bat". Allegedly, the name came from his propensity to "bat" criminals over the head. Not sure about that. He was apparently a heckuva shot, and used that to his advantage. Not often, but when you have that reputation, you rarely need to use it. He was a lawman, sportswriter, hunter, scout and so on. He died in New York City. Of a heart attack. No clue if he had his boots on or not. Still, he was pretty darned interesting. And he was a friend of the Earps. So he wasn't the man to be rude to.
Sigh. This one makes me kinda sad. Happy birthday to "Sparky" Schultz, aka Charles M. That's right- Snoopy's creator was born on this date. It's sad to me because he's not doing the strip anymore, but I guess it would be better to be happy about his birthday- our lives would be much poorer if he hadn't been born.
Here's a name that I had forgotten: Happy birthday to Rich Little. He was pretty big back in the days, because he was a pretty good impressionist. On the other hand, he's Canadian, so that's a strike against him. Surprisingly (to me at least) he's still alive. Okay.
The very next year after Rich Little was born, along came the one and only Anna Mae Bullock, who was born someplace within the Nutbush City Limits. You probably know her slightly better as Tina Turner, which I have to admit is a much better name for an R&B singer. By the way, not that its relevant here, but Sleepy John Estes was also born in Nutbush- not bad for what is essentially a small neighborhood, huh? But all of this is overshadowed by the simultaneous (roughly) birth of the incomparable Waylon Flowers (and Madam too, I guess). If you're into puppeteers (or ventriloquism), he was right up there in the 70s with... Rich Little! Wow! Sometimes I impress even myself! By the way, Waylon Flowers died years ago, but Madame has been brought back to life by another guy, and has been performing for several years. I guess. Think of Madame as being kinda the precursor of that old lady in all the cartoons that your friends send you via email, who says clever and witty things about being old.
Happy birthday to the late Bruce Paltrow. He was a well-known director in Hollywood, close friends with many well-known directors and producers. Remember that little factoid when his arrogant bitchy daughter talks about all the hard work she did in order to get her break in film. After all, it's tough to be cast by your dad's close friend in a major film, the poor dear! By the way, Bruce was also an arrogant A**hole who once refused to cast a well-known actor (Dwight Shultz, aka "Howlin' mad Murdoch)) in a TV show because he was a supporter of Ronald Reagan. And yet, even today the Hollywood Establishment praises themselves for their courage in standing up for left-wing causes. Yup. That shows moral courage. No wonder his daughter is such a pretentious ice queen.
Anyhow, it's also the birthday of John McVie, bass player for Fleetwood Mac. I guess he's best known for being married for a while to Christine McVie.
Here's a new twist on an old theme. Happy birthday to Cicciolina. She's Italian. She got her start in porn, and then moved onto politics. So I guess that makes her the only politician in the world to get into office by getitng f***ed, rather than by f***ing others.
Happy birthday to the recently retired Chris Osgood. Goalie for the Detroit Red Wings, most notably. His career record pretty clesrly makes him a strong contender for the Hall of Fame, but he gets so little respect that his election there (when he becomes eligible) is nowhere near assured. But he played for Detroit and won a couple Stanley Cups, so he's way cool.
And on that note, we're done! Oh, except for my Aunt Frances, who is a young 94 today.
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