January 5 Birthdays

Constanze Mozart was born on this date in 1762.  You know her as Elizabeth Berridge from "Amadeus".  Apparently the women in the Weber family were all trained as singers.  I don't know if that helps you when you're trolling for brilliant young composers, but I guess it can't hurt. 

It's 1778, and a baby is born in New Jersey.  Not surprisingly, he wants to get as far away as possible, so he ends up in the far, far west.  Wandering around Colorado, he spies a mountain.  As I think we've previously discussed, he could have called it Mount Zebulon, but instead it goes down in history as Pike's Peak. 

The very next year, it's time for a naval officer (Pike was in the Army).  His name is Stephen Decatur.  He was part of the first ever Atlantic crossing by a US navy force, enroute to the Barbary Coast.  Decatur excelled there, of course.  He later died in a duel by which time he was already the second naval hero of US history.  Guess who was first, and you'll get a free 1 year subscription to HistorySnark!

Oooh, here's an exciting one.  Born on this date in 1908 in the city of Trieste, was Jure Dolenc.  He later took the name George Dolenz and became an actor.  Even later, he had four kids, including a son named George Michael.  Thankfully, he changed his name to Micky and went on to greater things.

Another actor (or actress) was born on this date in 1917.  She went on to a certain degree of success, and also went on to marry an actor named Ronald Reagan.  She went on to appear on TV and sell bras.  Her name was Jane Wyman. 

It's a great day for music too.  In 1923, Sam Phillips was born in Alabama.  Eventually he moved to Memphis and started a recording company he called Sun Records.  He kept trying to find a White boy who sounded Black.  It took a while, but he ultimately found a kid named Presley.  He also found a few other kids with names like Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Howlin Perkins, and so on.  As a recording engineer type, he also recorded a song called "Rocket 88", which is considered by many to be the start of that whole Rock and Roll scene.  Here's a little tidbit I never knew:  He taught Elvis how to produce records, and so, even though he wasn't listed as a producer, Elvis actually did the job on a lot of his own records.  Phillips wanted what he called the "perfect/imperfect" version of a song.  By that, he meant one that was not perfect from a technical standpoint, but one which was perfect from the standpoint of portraying the FEEL of the song, which was what he found most important.  He also was one of the initial investors in a new hotel chain called "Holiday Inn".  And finally, he was of course one of the first people ever inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 

Also born on this date, Ted Lange, or as you know him "Isaac Washington" from The Love Boat.  He was born in 1948.  He's a director now. 

Oooh, here's one of my teenage dreams:  Happy birthday to the gorgeous Pamela Sue Martin, born in 1953.  She was Nancy Drew back in the 1970s, at the same time that Shaun Cassidy was Joe(?) Hardy.  Good times. 

Even hotter, by objective standards is birthday girl January Jones.  Apparently her parents weren't able to come up with a decent name for her.  She was born in 1978, and her acting career seems to be over.  She's hot, but if you read the internet gossip sites, she's a pretty awful person.  Not sure that it's true, but nobody seems to like her.  Too bad. 

I guess that's that.  Hope you enjoyed it.