January 19, 1942 -
The first of nine films to feature Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, Woman of the Year premiered on this date.
The first scene shot was the characters' first date, in a bar. Katharine Hepburn was so nervous she spilled her drink, but Spencer Tracy just handed her a handkerchief and kept going. Hepburn proceeded to clean up the spill as they played the scene. When the drink dripped through to the floor, she tried to throw Tracy off by going under the table, but he stayed in character, with the cameras rolling the entire time.
January 19,1953 -
68% of all television sets in the United States were tuned in to I Love Lucy on this date to watch Lucy give birth to a baby boy - the same day Lucille Ball gave birth to her son, Desi Arnaz Junior.
All the while they couldn't say pregnant on TV or be seen sleeping in the same bed - it appears to be the second virgin birth. The audience for the program was larger than that watching the inauguration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower the following day.
January 19,1955 -
President Eisenhower decided not to play golf today and allowed a filmed news conference to be used on television (and in movie newsreels) for the first time on this date.
The press conference given by President Eisenhower was filmed in the Indian Treaty Room at the East Wing of the White House.
January 19, 1957 -
Ernie Kovacs burst into the public consciousness with the comedy special, The Silent Show, premiering on this date.
It was filmed for broadcast first, in color, on the NBC network in 1957. A second version of the show was created on videotape and broadcast November 10, 1961, on the ABC network.
Though both were broadcast in color, only B&W kinescopes of these shows survive, although an excerpt of the color show was aired as part of the NBC 50th Anniversary Special in 1976.
Today in History:
January 19, 1809 -
Edgar Allan Poe, writer who contributed to the creation of both the detective and science fiction genre, was born in Boston on this date.
His best known stories include: Fall of the House of Usher and The Tell-Tale Heart. His most famous poems are The Raven and Annabel Lee.
January 19, 1915 -
George Claude, an engineer, chemist and inventor was the first person to create a lamp by applying an electrical discharge to a sealed tube of neon. He was issued U.S. Patent No. 1,125,476 for a “System of Illuminating by Luminescent Tubes,” on this date.
This patent was the basis for the neon sign.
January 19, 1937 –
Bisexual Billionaire, future germaphobe and aviator Howard Hughes designed and flew the plane Silver Bullet, setting a landplane speed record and a transcontinental record of 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds,
flying from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey on this date.
January 19, 1949 -
I joined a band because I didn't like school, and there's nothing else I'd rather have done. If I really wanted to make money, I'd be in real estate. But I'm rich enough. I have a son and daughter, a lovely home, and if I see something I like, I can buy it. That's rich enough.
Robert Palmer, blue-eyed soul singer, was born on this date. (Don't forget to check out our celebration of Mr. Palmer's birthday on today's ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour.)
January 19, 1992 -
In Florida, the 64-year-old award-winning playwright Edward Albee was arrested on a Key Biscayne beach for indecent exposure on this date. Charges were later dropped when it was determined that Albee had removed his swimming trunks only to rinse out the sand that was in them and had not done anything vulgar or immoral.
And so it goes.
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