Ching Shih was a prostitute in China until the Commander of the Red Flag Fleet bought and married her. Quite unusual or the time, rather than view her as just his wife, her husband considered her his equal and she became an active pirate commander in the fleet.
Ching Shih soon earned the respect of her fellow pirates. So much so that after her husband’s death she became the captain of the fleet.Under Shih’s leadership, the Red Flag Fleet consisted of over 300 warships, with a possible 1,200 more support ships. She even had a possible 40,000 – 80,000 men, women and children.
They terrorized the waters around China. The Red Flag Fleet were such a fearsome band of raiders, that the Chinese government eventually pardoned Ching Shih and her entire fleet – just to get them off the high seas!
July 13, 1949 -
Paramount Picture's releases second film adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic, The Great Gatsby, starring Alan Ladd, Betty Field, Macdonald Carey, Ruth Hussey, Barry Sullivan, Shelley Winters, and Howard Da Silva, premiered in the US on this date.
The original director was John Farrow. However, he was replaced with Elliott Nugent as he and the producer Richard Maibaum could not agree on the casting of Daisy Buchanan: Farrow wanted to cast Gene Tierney whereas Maibaum's choice for the role was Betty Field. Farrow's daughter Mia Farrow played Daisy in The Great Gatsby 25 years later.
July 13, 1959 -
Dedicated to the One I Love, by The Shirelles, was released on this date.
This was originally recorded by The 5 Royales in 1958. The Shirelles' version first peaked at #83 in 1959, but when it was re-released in 1961 it went to #3. Normally, Shirley Owens Alston was the Shirelles' lead singer. However, on this song, Doris Coley Kenner sang lead.
July 13, 1960 -
20th Century Fox released the sci-fi adventure film The Lost World (based on the novel by Arthur Conan Doyle), directed by Irwin Allen and starring Michael Rennie, Jill St. John, Claude Rains and Fernando Lamas (who looked marvelous), to U.S. theaters on this date.
Director Irwin Allen wanted to use stop-motion dinosaurs for this film, but due to budget reasons he had to use lizards - mainly monitor lizards - as dinosaurs. Plastic horns and spikes were attached to them to make them look more like dinosaurs. The technique will later be dubbed Slurpasaur by fans.
July 13, 1985 -
35 years ago, I had only recently patented the long birthday weekend....
(I love Elvis' scruffy beard and the fact that he sang a Beatles song rather than one of his own.)
(still the greatest televised rock and roll performance of all time.)
We brought the 'big TV' out into my father-in-law's backyard and joined the other 1.5 billion people who tuned into Live Aid on this date.
Word of the Day
Today in History
July 13, 1793 (Décade III, Quintidi de Messidor de l'Année 213 de la Révolution) -
French revolutionary writer Jean Paul Marat was stabbed to death in his bathtub by Charlotte Corday, on this date, as she gives him a list of names to be guillotined. The assassination inspired the famous painting by Jacques Louis David; Corday was executed four days after slaying Marat.
After the heavy blade fell, an executioner's assistant named Francois le Gros (Fat Frank) picked up the severed head by the hair and brimming with Revolutionary fervor slapped Corday's cheek. Several eyewitnesses saw her face flush red with anger, not just one cheek but both cheeks. Some though they perceived disgust curl her lips.
July 13, 1846 -
Horace Greeley advises his readers to 'Go west young man' on this date.
I'm not sure but I don't think this is what Mr. Greeley had in mind.
July 13, 1946 -
Smoke 'em if you got 'em.
It's Richard Anthony Marin's birthday today.
July 13, 1955 -
Ruth Ellis was last English woman executed by hanging on this date.
Ten days before she had shot her lover, race car driver David Blakely, Ellis suffered a miscarriage after Blakely, the baby's father, punched her in the stomach. She was having a bad day.
July 13, 1977 -
Starting at about 9 PM on this date, four lightning struck high-voltage transmission lines within the course of about half-an-hour, knocking out electricity and plunging millions of residents of New York City into a 25 hour black-out .
The 1977 blackout, unlike the 1965 and 2003 blackouts, resulted in city-wide looting and other disorder, including arson. About 4,500 people were arrested during the riots, which resulted in damage estimated at $61 million.
July 13, 1985 -
President Ronald Reagan has a polyp removed from his colon on this date.
July 13, 1994 -
Jeff Gillooly (and his fabulous 70s porn 'stache,) Tonya Harding's ex-husband, was sentenced to two years in prison for his role in the attack on Nancy Kerrigan.
On July 13, 1994, Germany's Constitutional Court ended the ban on German troops fighting outside the country.
And so it goes.
Happy Birthday Debbie Finn, where ever you are
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