Happy Birthday Connecticut!

January 9, 1788 -
Connecticut ratified the new U.S. Constitution on this date and became the fifth state to join the United States.



I guess that's only important if you come from Connecticut (which I do not.)


January 9, 1959 -
The TV Western, Rawhide, with Clint Eastwood as Rowdy Yates premiered on CBS-TV on this date.



Clint Eastwood uses the same gun and wears the same boots as in his Spaghetti Westerns For a Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. The boots he also uses in Unforgiven.


January 9, 1968 -
It Takes A Thief, starring Robert Wagner, premiered on ABC-TV on this date.



Alexander Mundy apartment was in the Watergate complex famed for Nixon break in in 1972.


January 9, 1996 -
Four extraterrestrials first land on Earth and find Earthlings mostly wanting, when NBC-TV first aired 3rd Rock from the Sun on this date.



During its five-year run on primetime, the show underwent more than 15 time-slot changes.


January 9,  1998 -
Screenwriters and actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s breakthrough film, Good Will Hunting went into general release on this date.



Casey Affleck ad libbed most of his lines. This frustrated Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Gus Van Sant during filming, but they later admitted that Casey's improvised lines were much funnier and better than what had been originally written for him.


January 9, 2000 -
Fox-TV brought back the single-camera, no-laugh track comedy when, Malcolm in the Middle premiered on this date.



When Malcolm's mother tries to convince him to join the gifted class, she says, "Any kid who makes fun of you is a creepy little loser who will wind up working in a car wash." Bryan Cranston, who played Malcolm's father in the show, works in a car wash in Breaking Bad.


The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire.

Today in History:
January 9, 1768 -
The first modern circus opened in London. England on this date - cavalry sergeant Philip Astley staged the first modern circus, performing elaborate feats on the backs of horses racing around a ring.

Though similar entertainment had existed for centuries, Astley was the first to hold a circus in a ring, and to gather such disparate forms of entertainment together.  And people paid good money to smell horse manure in a theatre.


January 9, 1793 -
The first US manned balloon flight occurred as Frenchman Jean Pierre Blanchard, using a hot-air balloon, flew between Philadelphia and Woodbury, N.J.

He stayed airborne for 46 minutes, traveled close to 15 miles and set down at the "old Clement farm" in Deptford, New Jersey.


January 9, 1913 -
You must never be satisfied with losing. You must get angry, terribly angry, about losing. But the mark of the good loser is that he takes his anger out on himself and not his victorious opponents or on his teammates.



Richard Milhous Nixon, the 37th President of the United States, was born on this date.


Also born on this date -
January 9, 1913 (or 1911) -
Sing out Louise!!!





Rose Louise Hovick, actress, ecdysiast and writer, was born on this date.


January 9, 1915 -
When a person has an accent, it means he can speak one more language than you.





Fernando Álvaro Lamas y de Santos, actor and director, was born on this date.


January 9, 1920 -
The Human Fly, George Polley, attempted to climb to the top of the Woolworth Building (57 Floors) in New York City on this date.

He was able to reach the 30th floor before being arrested.


January 9, 1960 -
Professor Severus Snape, a half-blood wizard who was the son of the witch Eileen Snape (née Prince) and Muggle Tobias Snape, was born on this date.



During his lifetime, Severus Snape was Potions Master (1981-1996), Defence Against the Dark Arts professor (1996-1997), and Headmaster (1997-1998) of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (which he attended as a student from 1971-1978.)


January 9, 1981 -
Jesus saves and (insert your favorite sports figure here) scores.



Hockey Hall of Famer, Phil Esposito, said he would call it quits as a hockey player after the New York Rangers-Buffalo Sabres hockey game. It was a game that seemed like it might never end - both teams skated to a 3-3 tie. Esposito quit the New York Rangers and went on to become General Manager and coach of the Rangers. Phil Esposito played for the Boston Bruins when he won the Hart Memorial Trophy for Most Valuable Player in the NHL in 1969 and 1974 and helped lead the Bruins to two Stanley Cup Championships in 1970 and 1972 .


January 9, 1995 -
I would much prefer to be a judge than a coal miner because of the absence of falling coal.



The very influential English comic/actor Peter Cook, died at 57, on this date.



And so it goes.


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