Well the first one on our list today is Dr. Samuel Mudd. You might remember him as the guy who fixed the broken leg of John Wilkes booth, as he fled from Washington after murdering Lincoln. Mudd was eventually convicted of being part of the Conspiracy, and was thrown in prison. He was later pardoned and released. His descendants keep trying to get his conviction overturned, but they don't have a lot of luck. Probably because of his connection with Booth, his lies about said connection, and his failure to report Booth's presence to the authorities for a couple days. Evidence is scanty, but on balance seems to suggest that he was connected somehow to Booth and his merry band. At any rate, Mudd was born in Maryland in 1833.
Harvey Firestone was born on this date in 1868. Guess what he did? You'd be right if you guessed "founded Firestone Tire and Rubber Company". You'd also be right if you guessed "was close friends with Henry Ford, whose grandson William married Firestone's granddaughter Martha, and thus fathered William Clay Ford, owner of the Lions". But that's a bit less likely, I guess.
Branch Rickey was also born on this date, in 1881. He was an executive in Major League Baseball. If memory serves, he once refused to give a player a raise after a great season, on the grounds that the team had finished in last place, and "we could have done that without you". Yeah, in the main free agency was a good thing for baseball players.
Charlie Callas was born in 1927 on this date. He died just this year. He was a comedian, and I guess he was pretty funny. My memories of him is making a bunch of noises- not like Michael Winston, for instance, but more basic noises. And I found him somehow creepy. Maybe I should look again- he might be funnier than I recall.
If you're a fan of Magnum P.I., then you'll be happy to know that it's the birthday of the star- John Hillerman! He was of course, Higgins. On the series finale, it turned out that he was more than he appeared to be, but I won't spoil that for you. Contrary to that character and several others, he was actually a born and bred Texan. He was born in 1932, and is apparently still alive, which is yet another from the "really? I thought he was dead" file.
Poor Peter Criss. He was such a big part of KISS when I was young, and it turns out he was just a hired hand. Didn't make much of anything from it, relative to Simmons and and Stanley. Ah well. At least he's not annoying us with a "reality" tv show these days. He was born on this date in 1945.
Alan Parsons was born on this date in 1948. He had an idea to use his terrific production skills and combine them with a songwriting friend to create a "band". They called it "The Alan Parsons Project" while they planned it, and the name stuck. If not for that, he'd only be known for working on things like "Abbey Road", "Let it Be" and "The Dark Side of The Moon"; which would be a terrible legacy, huh?
And here comes my favorite birthday of them all: Happy 28th to the breath-takingly, mind-numbingly beautiful Lucy Pinder. She's an ex-Page 3 girl, and is one of the hottest women on the planet, if you want my opinion. Plus, she has an English accent, which makes her even hotter. Sigh. Be still my heart!
And on that note, we'll call it good.
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