The Tease of Things I Don't Need

2009: Day 185

Happy Fourth of July!

Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass (1855), and ten years later Alice's Adventures In Wonderland (1865) are each first published on this date.

This day in 1886, the French offer the Statue of Liberty to the United States in honor of its centennial. (The French republic was in a shaky state, with some strong sentiment in play to return to some form of a monarchy, so a grand gesture from one republic to another was as much an internal political play as anything else.)

Actress Eva Marie Saint (1924) - who I always think of first from her role in North By Northwest - turns 85 today.

Today in 1927 the Lockheed Vega - a sturdy plane that attracted the attention of some of the era's greatest aviators - took to the skies for the first time. On the same day, future playwright and screenwriter Neil Simon was born.

Sing a few bars of "Ain't No Sunshine" in remembrance of singer/songwriter Bill Withers (1938), who turns 71 today.

In 1939 the crowd at Yankee Stadium heard Lou Gehrig call himself "the luckiest man on the face of the Earth" as he announced his retirement.

Zuzu's weeping petals! Good God, I had no idea what Hell Karolyn Grimes (1940) - who played Zuzu Bailey in the Capra classic It's a Wonderful Life - has gone through. Her mother died of illness when she was 14, her father in a car crash the year after, the courts awarded her to a miserable life with an aunt and uncle in Missouri. Her first husband died in a hunting accident, her 18 year old son was a suicide, her second husband died of cancer, and the market turn early this decade put her in a bad state financially.

Always a sensationalist, but once upon a time somewhat respected (as difficult as that is to fully recall) investigative journalist (as difficult as that is to fully recall) Geraldo Rivera (1943) turns 66 today. Digging a little into his bio was mildly interesting, not only to see that the charge I'd heard years ago that his real name was "Jerry Rivers" is a myth, and also inasmuch that I'd thought he'd simply dropped out of the public eye it was amusing to see that he'd just disappeared into the Fox media cesspool.

Actor Ed O'Ross (1946) turns 63 today. I primarily remember him as Ruth's Russian love interest Nikolai from Six Feet Under, but he's been in a fair list of movies and tv shows. On the same day, junk bond king Michael Milken was born... as was veteran, writer and anti-war activist Ron Kovic.

Death by man & nature today in 1969. In Blue Rick Springs, California, two teenagers become the second (known) pair of victims of the Zodiac Killer. I remember as the story broke into the national media at first being intrigued that there was someone out there being known only as "Zodiac," - I was 7 and then 8 while all that was going on, and a name like that out in the mainstream inevitably stood out to a young comic book fan - but was immediately disappointed to find out that it was just another crummy serial killer.

Meanwhile, the Ohio Fireworks Derecho - a violent line of thunderstorms - killed at least 18 in Ohio. (Similar weather events hit this day in 1977, 1980 and 1999.)

Koko (1971), a gorilla famous for communicating in sign language (and reportedly infamous for having a nipple fetish) was born. I suppose it's just legal issues that have prevented what would seem like a natural business alliance with Joe Francis...

This Day In Spaaaaaaace: Twelve years ago, in 1997, NASA's Pathfinder probe lands on Mars. In 2005, the Deep Impact collider hit the comet Tempel 1.

An extra party at the White House today as one of the Obama's daughters, Malia Ann Obama (1998) turns 11.