Isn't it wonderful when you can see the cosmic plan at work?
August 29, 1915 -
Ingrid Bergman, the Swedish three-time Academy Award, two-time Emmy Award, and Tony Award - winner was born (and died in 1982) on this date.
Attempts were made by Hollywood producers to change her name in 1939, with possibilities discussed such as Ingrid Berriman and Ingrid Lindstrom (actually her legal married name). Bergman refused, in part because she felt she had worked too hard to establish herself as an actress in Europe under her real name.
August 29, 1920 -
Charles Christopher "Bird" Parker, jazz saxophonist and composer was born on this date.
Literary critic Harold Bloom once wrote, "If God appeared in 19th Century America, it was as Ralph Waldo Emerson. In the 20th Century it would have been as Charlie Parker."
August 29, 1953 -
Warner Brothers introduced Speedy Gonzalez in the cartoon Cat-Tails for Two on this date.
While this is the first cartoon featuring the character Speedy Gonzales, his depiction here is vastly different from the character he would later become. It wasn't until his second appearance, Speedy Gonzales (two years later,) that he was re-designed as the character we know him as today.
August 29, 1964 -
Roy Orbison’s single, (Oh,) Pretty Woman, was released on this date.
In 1964 the song sold more records in its first ten days in release than any other 45rpm single in history.
August 29, 1964 -
Walt Disney’s Mary Poppins opened on this date. This is first movie I ever saw (but not on this date.)
Walt Disney first attempted to purchase the film rights from P.L. Travers as early as 1938. Travers rejected his advances as she didn't believe a film version would do justice to her creation. Another reason for her initial rejection would have been that at that time the Disney studios had not yet produced a live action film. P.L. Travers finally relented and sold the film rights to Walt Disney in 1961, although she retained script approval rights.
August 29, 1967 -
ABC's television ratings soared through the roof as David Janssen and Barry Morse starred in the final episode of The Fugitive on this date.
David Janssen and Barry Morse for fun plotted out a spoof ending for the show - in the epilogue the camera focuses on a house at night, pans to the upper bedroom, where a man suddenly bolts awake, and it is Richard Kimble. Kimble shakes awake his companion - his wife Helen - and tells her, "Oh honey, I just had the worst nightmare." This plot device would later be used on the television series Dallas and also Newhart.
Today in History:
August 29, 29/30AD (Once again, Romans were too busy with their orgies and draining lead-lined wine goblets to accurately document events of the day.)
John the Baptist (cousin of the itinerant carpenter of Nazareth) received a severe haircut from King Herod, because his teenage step-daughter, Salome, couldn't keep her shorts on while dancing.
Children are always such a handful.
August 29, 1533 -
Atahualpa, the last Incan Emperor, discovered on this date, that the European exploration of the new world was not going to go well for the indigenous people. Francisco Pizarro, one in a long line of Spanish conquistadors arrived in the Andes, with a bible in one hand and a sword in the other. Atahualpa was quickly captured by the Spanish and held for ransom. After paying an immense ransom for his release (a room, 22 ft by 17 ft by 8 ft high, once filled with gold and twice with silver within two months), Pizarro decided it was better to kill his hostage and keep the random.
Atahualpa was condemned to be burnt at the stake - which was anathematic since the Inca believed that the soul would not be able to go on to the afterlife if the body were burned. Atahualpa offered and paid an additional random to be ritualistically garroted after a proper Christian baptism, which occured on this date in 1533.
And in keeping with the true spirit of diplomacy, Pizarro had Atahualpa corpse burned afterwards.
More on Political Philosophy ...
John Locke was born on August 29, 1632. Mr. Locke was a political philosopher, and many of his ideas found their way into the American Constitution.
He is best known for his essay concerning human understanding, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, which remains famous to this day as the shortest essay ever written.
Another important political philosopher was born this week: Jean Baptiste Colbert was born on August 29, 1619.
Colbert was the finance minister to King Louis XIV of France. His own Political Philosophy consisted of a big pile of money. This was a very effective politics, and therefore deemed insufficiently philosophical, which is why you tend to hear more about Locke and Hegel.
August 29, 1896 -
The Chinese-American dish Chop Suey was invented in New York City by the chef to visiting Chinese Ambassador Li Hung-chang on this date.
Here is one of those bright dividing lines: if you know what chop suey is - you're old. If you've tasted chop suey - you're really old.
August 29, 1958 -
Michael Joseph Jackson, the self-crowned King of Pop was born on this date.
He has achieved the dubious distinction of being in the number one position on Forbes magazine's list of "Top-Earning Dead Celebrities", two years in a row. Last year, Jackson's posthumous earnings were $170 million dollars.
August 29, 1966 -
The Beatles perform their last concert before paying fans at in San Francisco on this date.
The performance marked the end of a four-year period dominated by touring and concerts including nearly sixty U.S. appearances and over one thousand four hundred internationally.
August 29, 2005 –
Hurricane Katrina devastates much of the U.S. Gulf Coast from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle. The death toll eventually reached at least 1,600. An estimated 300 Louisiana residents died out of state; some 230 people perished in Mississippi. Property damage estimates were in the hundreds of billions of dollars.
The name Katrina was officially retired on April 6, 2006 by the World Meteorological Organization at the request of the U.S. government. The name will never again be used for another North Atlantic hurricane.
It's still strange that Isaac is hitting Louisiana today.
And so it goes.
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