"Turkey good! Football good! Lip-synching in Macy's Parade bad!" There's lots to say about arts and entertainment over the next few days. Let's start at the top, with Boris Karloff, born November 23, 1887 . The erstwhile William Henry Pratt labored as a truck driver, farmhand, and occasional character actor until 1931, when he landed the role of the monster in "Frankenstein." Even though he went unbilled in the original release of the movie, he became an instant star whose name was linked with horror until his death in 1969. In a nice coincidence, Forrest J. Ackerman, the man who became one of Karloff's best friends and biggest boosters was born a day later (albeit in 1916). Ackerman was the longtime editor of "Famous Monsters of Filmland" magazine, and cultivated a love for monsters and psychological horror in a million youngsters in the 1950s and '60s. But we've only scratched the surface when it comes to entertainment. For example, in 1889, the first jukebox went into operation at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco. (We'll add that "juke" was slang for ... well, a "house of ill repute," and leave it at that.) This distant ancestor to the iPod contained a tinfoil phonograph with four listening tubes and a coin slot for each tube. So popular was it that it took in $1,000 in the first six months - a nickel at a time. Musical entertainment has evolved significantly in the century since. On Wednesday, we'll note the 142nd birthday of composer Scott Joplin. Joplin didn't invent ragtime music, but was one of its foremost composers, his "Maple Leaf Rag" virtually defined the era. Joplin isn't the only great artist who's an exemplar of his chosen genre. On Wednesday evening, PBS will broadcast an all-star concert celebrating the 80th birthday of Stephen Sondheim, composer and lyricist for some of the best - and most important - musicals in theatre history. And on November 25, 1949, Robert May and Johnny Marks'  "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" made its debut/ Gene Autry's recording of the tune eventually sold more than 25 million records. If those are the heights musical genres can reach, we note what some might consider the nadir, represented by tonight's episodes of "Glee" (featuring Carol Burnett) and the (tainted?) finale of "Dancing with the Stars." (And we mention the 1871 founding of the National Rifle Association purely in passing here - in case someone wants to emulate Steven Cowan.) Music can have an effect even in the world of science. Wednesday is the 36th anniversary of Donald Johanson and Tom Gray's discovery of the Australopithecus afarensis skeleton that they named "Lucy," after the Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." The fine arts are also represented this week. Tuesday is the 118th birthday of Romain de Tirtoff, who, under the name Erté (taken from the French pronunciation of his initials) virtually defined the Art Deco style of the early 20th century, and Wednesday is the 146th birthday of French illustrator Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Toulouse-Lautrec captured the lives of the Parisian demimonde of the late 19th century. And while it's not exactly "art," the first issue of "Life" magazine was published in 1936. Over the next 36 years, the photojournalism magazine featured some of the finest photography in the world - though none of its photographers could have used a zoom lens until it was invented this week in 1948. In performing arts, Agatha Christie's murder-mystery play "The Mousetrap" opened in London's West End in 1952, and has been running ever since, making it the longest continuously-running play in history. (There was even a recent controversy over whether the surprise ending should be revealed on Wikipedia. It was, so if you go over there, consider yourself warned.). Pity movie producer John Woolf, who bought the movie rights to the play, on the condition that he not film it until it closed. Woolf died in 1999, but the play runs on. It sounds like a disaster almost profound enough to be filmed by producer Irwin Allen, king of such disaster movies as "The Poseidon Adventure" and "The Towering Inferno," and whose 94th birthday would have been Wednesday. It could be a disaster, but not a cosmic mystery suitable for solving by Doctor Who, the venerable BBC television series that began broadcasting this week in 1963. Crime and criminals also figure into this week (like every week, probably). On November 24, 1971, D.B. Cooper skyjacked a Boeing 727, collected $200,000 in ransom, and parachuted out over southern Washington state, never to be seen again. We mention an odd birthday coincidence in passing. Wednesday is the 122nd birthday of motivational author Dale Carnegie, and Thursday is the 175th birthday of industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. Dale (whose last name was originally spelled "Carnagey") wrote the book "How to Win Friends and Influence People" (which is still a best-seller on the self-help charts, nearly 75 years after it was published). Andrew made his fortune in the steel business and ended up giving most of it away, endowing libraries, schools, universities, along with numerous charities and foundations. By 1919, he had given away over $350 million (about $4.3 billion in 2010 dollars), with the remaining $30 million distributed after his death that year. In animal events, President Obama is scheduled to give an executive pardon to a turkey on Wednesday, and Thursday (in addition to everything else) is the National Dog Show in Philadelphia. Lastly, we mention what is, for many, the most notable event of the week: Thanksgiving, with its attendant gorging, football. T-Day also brings us the Macy's Parade, which gives television viewers across the country the chance to watch b-list actors and singers lip synch to lousy music, and this year will feature such traditional holiday entertainers as Jessica Simpson, Jimmy Fallon and the Roots, and Kanye West. Truly a Thanksgiving smorgasbord! Suggested Sites... Karloff.com - the Master of Horror -- and the nicest guy in Hollywood, by all accounts. Biography of Scott Joplin - the King of Sedalia, Missouri. The Discovery of Lucy - and we don't mean Mrs. Ricardo. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec - the complete works. Top 10 Disaster Movies - the more stuff blows up, the more we love 'em!

Directory categories: Movie Genres, Ragtime Musicians, TV Series, Paleontology, Thanksgiving Recipes

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"Dick, you're from Orange County. Can't you get me in? I've got a fistful of E-tickets!" Welcome back to The Spark. It's a brand new week with some brand new chances to dig deep into upcoming events and anniversaries. Let's begin, shall we? Monday: Today is International Chocolate Day, a chance to indulge your sweet tooth and not feel guilty -- or, at least, unduly guilty. We don't know if the holiday is timed to coincide with the 1857 birthday of Milton Snaveley Hershey (the man who founded both the Hershey chocolate company and the town of Hershey, PA), but if it isn't, it's a sweet coincidence. (Of course, it's also Fortune Cookie Day, so it may not be honoring him, after all.) In our youths, this time of year was always looked forward to anxiously, as the new television season was starting. For example (as we’ve noted previously, both "Law & Order" (1990) and "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?" (1969) began their seemingly endless runs on this day, as did "The Muppet Show" in 1976. The season still starts this week, but it's nowhere near as exciting as it used to be. Regardless, it's not without interest. For example, Martha Stewart's new show premieres on the Hallmark Channel, and both Oprah and Mary Hart begin their final seasons on their respective shows. (In the latter cases, we guess that hoping for such events paid off -- especially with this being Positive Thinking Day). Maybe the most notable thing to happen on this day was in 1814, when lawyer Francis Scott Key observed the British attacking Fort McHenry in Baltimore and was so moved by the stars and stripes surviving intact that he penned a poem that soon became known as the "Star-Spangled Banner," which was eventually adopted as the American national anthem in 1931. Tuesday: We begin the day by noting some passings. First, in 1927, Isadora Duncan died. Duncan is usually considered the mother of modern dance. Her bohemian lifestyle and exuberant dancing made her world famous -- as did her death, when a scarf she was wearing became tangled in the wheels of the automobile she was riding in and broke her neck. Next is Irving Thalberg. Thalberg was a film producer at Universal and MGM in the 1920s and '30s, who turned out such classic films as "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," "The Big Parade," "The Broadway Melody," "Tarzan the Ape Man," "Grand Hotel," and "A Night at the Opera." After his premature death in 1936 at the age of 37, F. Scott Fitzgerald immortalized his in his novel "The Love of the Last Tycoon," which painted him as one of the few men who was able to hold the formula for successful motion pictures in his head. On a lighter note, it was on this day when major league baseball owners, in an attempt to break the players' union, cancelled the rest of the 1994 season – including the World Series. Not all the news of this day is bad, though. For example, in 1961. Wendy Thomas, namesake of the eponymous hamburger restaurant chain, was born, just a year after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries -- or OPEC -- was founded -- well, maybe that second one isn’t so good, after all. How about we finish the day by remembering the 1985 premiere of "The Golden Girls," or by telling you to get out the vote, as there are primary elections in Minnesota, Delaware, Washington DC, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin? Wednesday: Today’s birthdays include: Marco Polo (1254), the Venetian who was one of the first Westerners to explore China and Central Asia, and who later inspired kids playing in pools to shout his name. In 1907, it was Fay Wray, the actress who so captivated the original King Kong and whose screams pierced the eardrums of the world. (Peter Jackson even wanted to cast her -- at the age of 96 -- in his ill-fated remake of "Kong," but she unfortunately passed away before filming could begin.) Jackie Cooper (1922) was one of the first child stars of the talkie era. Beginning at age 7, he worked as an actor, writer, producer, and director until his retirement in 1989. He was the youngest performer ever to be nominated in a leading role for an Academy Award (for 1931's "Skippy"). "Skippy" was based on a comic strip of the same name that also gave its name to the peanut butter brand (a fact which has caused a some controversy over the years), but peanut butter also plays a weird part in the death of Jumbo the elephant. Jumbo was the star attraction at the London Zoo in the 1860s and '70s. P.T. Barnum, seeing the marketing possibilities, bought Jumbo in 1882 for $10,000, and brought the pachyderm to America where he became a huge hit -- even lending his name to large-sized items. Unfortunately, Jumbo was hit by a train in 1885 and crushed. His skeleton was donated to the American Museum of Natural History in New York, but his hide was stuffed and eventually donated to Tufts University, where it was displayed until 1975, when it was destroyed by a fire. But Jumbo's ashes were recovered and now reside in a 14-ounce jar of Peter Pan Crunchy Peanut Butter in the office of the college's athletic director, where Tufts athletes still rub the jar for luck. Three literary birthdays: James Fennimore Cooper (1789), who wrote "The Last of the Mohicans" and other adventure novels, and who was later eviscerated by Mark Twain, who called him one of the worst writers who ever lived. Robert Benchley (1899) was a master of an-but-dead art form, the short humorous essay. Working initially as drama critic for the original "Life" magazine and "The New Yorker," he eventually became a character actor whose droll cameos enlivened any movie. And in 1890, Agatha Christie was born. The mistress of mystery, she turned out 80 novels featuring Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, and others, along with a number of plays -- one of which, "The Mousetrap," has been running continuously in London since 1952 -- to become (according to Guinness), the best-selling author of any kind in history, with over four billion copies of her books sold. In 1902, the trio of Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers (pronounced "EE-vers," if you please; not "EVV-ers"), and Frank Chance pulled off their first double play for the Chicago Cubs. They were later immortalized in a poem by columnist Franklin P. Adams. More TV. In 1949, "The Lone Ranger" premiered, just a day after the 35th birthday of star Clayton Moore, who made a lifelong career of portraying the masked man. Speaking of birthdays and TV stars, in 1971, "Columbo" first aired, the day before Peter Falk turned 44. Falk will be forever identified with the detective whose cigar, rumpled raincoat, and equal amounts of annoyance and inquisitiveness endeared him to millions. The 1965 debut of "I Spy" was notable for two things. One was that it did a lot of its filming overseas, an unheard-of practice for the time. The other -- and far more important one -- is that it was the first series to feature a black actor (Bill Cosby) and a white actor (Robert Culp) as co-stars in equally important roles. There had been other shows featuring black actors, but, until then, all had traded in stereotypes and comic relief. Finally, in 1971, Greenpeace was founded, dedicating itself to increasing public awareness of such issues as global warming, deforestation, overfishing, commercial whaling and nuclear power. Thursday: Lots of music today. First of all, the 1782 death of Farinelli. Farinelli was the stage name of Carlo Maria Broschi, who was probably the greatest castrato of all time. While it seems barbaric now, castrati were boys with beautiful soprano voices whose, um, manhood was cut short before adolescence in order to maintain the purity of their tone with the power of masculine singing. He traveled throughout Europe, becoming (somewhat surprisingly) a ladies' man, and retired a wealthy man. While Farinelli sang opera, it was different from what we know today; not really the sort of thing that's much heard these days at the New York's Metropolitan Opera House, which opened in 1966 at Lincoln Center with the world premiere of Samuel Barber's "Antony and Cleopatra." About as far away as you can get from the Met, Riley B. King was born in 1925 on a plantation in Mississippi. At the age of 21, Riley began singing on the radio in Memphis, and gained the nickname "Beale Street Blues Boy," which was later shortened to "B.B.," and combined with his last name, gave us B.B. King, one of the greatest blues singers and musicians in history. At the other end of the spectrum from the blues and opera are cheesy animated musical TV specials such as the kind brought to us by Jules Bass, who was born in 1935. With his partner Arthur Rankin, Bass formed an animation company that gave us such "classics" as "The Year without a Santa Claus" and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Such shows could really drive a person to drink, so if that's the case, you may want to head to Denver, where the 2010 Great American Beer Festival will get underway today, featuring brewers large and micro, bringing you the finest in suds. (Not to mention Oktoberfest, which begins in Munich, Germany, tomorrow for the 200th time.) We don't know if they indulge in the occasional brewski, but if they do, Queen Elizabeth will be meeting Pope Benedict today, and that would seem to be the right time to hoist one. Friday: Since April 2, 1956, many Americans have been following events in Oakdale, IL with great enthusiasm, but that all comes to an end today when "As the World Turns," the venerable soap opera, airs its last broadcast. Its death is another nail in the coffin of daytime drama, which once gave millions hours of entertainment, but is now just a relic of an earlier era or broadcasting and American history. Speaking of American history, it was on this date in 1787 that the U.S. Constitution was ratified, setting in motion a series of debates that continue to the present day as to just what the Founding Fathers did mean. With such confusion, it's no wonder that in 1859, the otherwise-harmless Joshua A. Norton declared himself "Emperor Norton I" of the United States. Norton was humored by his fellow San Franciscans and treated with honor, and was given all the perks of royalty with none of the responsibilities. When he died in 1880, he was given a funeral whose procession stretched for two miles and drew 30,000 spectators. A less inglorious send-off was received by guitarist Jimi Hendrix, who died of an overdose of sleeping pills in a London hotel in 1970. Hendrix's flashy and virtuosic musical style has influenced almost every rock and jazz guitarist since. Lastly, we note that Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement, begins at sundown. Saturday: Beginnings of note today: In media, in 1851, The New York Times began publishing. While the "Grey Lady" is still the "paper of record," we also have to wonder if it, soon, will go the way of the soap opera. (We hope not, as we still enjoy settling down on a Sunday with the Times.) And, in 1927, the Columbia Broadcasting System, better known as CBS, went on the air for the first time. On another network (ABC) in 1964, "The Addams Family" premiered. The series, based on the New Yorker cartoons of Charles Addams, took a delight in black humor and the wholesomely perverse, and inspired the current Broadway musical. In 1895, Daniel David Palmer gave the first chiropractic adjustment in history to one Harvey Lillard, in Davenport, IA, which is now the home of the Palmer College of Chiropractic. In 1905, in Stockholm, Sweden, Greta Gustafsson was born. By the age of 19, as Greta Garbo, she was one of the greatest movie stars in history. Iconic and reclusive, she grew tired of the film industry and retired in 1941, and spent the half-century of her life avoiding the press and public. Not so reclusive is birthday girl June Foray. Born in 1917, Foray is the voice behind most of the female characters in the classic Warner Bros. cartoons, not to mention playing both Rocket J. Squirrel and Natasha Fatale on the "Rocky and Bullwinkle" show. And she’s still working in her 90s! One of the unluckiest men in sports history was born in 1925. Harvey Haddix was a pitcher for, among other teams, the Pittsburgh Pirates. On May 26, 1959, Haddix accomplished something no other pitcher in history has ever accomplished: he pitched 12 innings of perfect baseball; that is to say, he faced the first 36 batters without allowing a baserunner. Unfortunately, the Pirates being the Pirates, they didn't score any runs for Haddix. The 37th batter got on on an error, and was bunted to second. The no-hitter was still in place when Hank Aaron was walked, but the next batter, Joe Adcock, hit a home run to end the game (and even that went screwy went Adcock passed Aaron on the basepaths and was called out). That game was tragic for Haddix, but nowhere near the tragedy of actress Peg Entwistle who, in 1932, despondent over her lack of success in the movies, committed suicide by jumping from the letter "H" in the famous Hollywood sign. Sunday: We end the week by letting you know that it's the beginning of TV Turnoff Week, which asks parents and kids to turn off the boob tube and read, play, talk, or just sit in quiet contemplative silence. Given that it’s Adam West's birthday (1928), his culpability in the "Batman" TV series of the '60s, makes it easy to think about never watching television again. If you do watch, though, the Martin Scorsese-produced "Boardwalk Empire" premieres tonight on HBO. Being that it's from Scorsese, you can almost predict that it's about gangsters -- this time in the wide-open Atlantic City of the 1920s. Speaking of thugs and villains reminds us that, in 1959, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev was prevented him from visiting Disneyland. Police authorities cited security concerns, though many speculated it was punishment for his being the top Communist. (Though to some of us, having to go to the Magic Kingdom at all would be punishment indeed.) To round out the week, we give our hopes that, at some time during the day, you'll celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day by shivering your timbers, avasting your keelhaul, or doing whatever it is buccaneers do. See you next time! Suggested Sites... An Elephant's Tale - "An Unadulterated and Relatively True Story Chronicling the Life, Death and Afterlife of Jumbo, Tufts' Illustrious Mascot." Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses - Mark Twain takes on Cooper. Guess who wins. Robert Benchley: A Profile in Humor - biography of the writer and actor. Wikipedia Springs "Mousetrap" Ending - after six decades, it's really not a "spoiler," is it? Snopes: Nyet! - the history of Nikita's zip-a-dee-don't-dah day.

Directory categories: Animation, War of 1812, Classic Hollywood Movies, Mystery Authors, Major League Baseball

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Don't even think of throwing a tomato at Klaatu Welcome back to The Spark, your weekly guide to Yahoo! Directory resources for the week's events. It’s not a jam-packed week, we’ll admit, but in the words of Spencer Tracy, there’s not much meat on it, "but what’s there is cherce." Monday: In the late 1890s, Fannie Farmer wrote a wildly-popular and influential cookbook; a book which virtually guaranteed results by standardizing measurements. On this day in 1902, she opened her own cooking school, "Mrs. Farmer's School of Cookery," beginning a mania for cooking, food, and recipes in America that continues to this day. In 1912, dancer Gene Kelly was born in Pittsburgh. Kelly was (in our opinion) the second-greatest dancer in the golden age of movie musicals. Not content to be merely a hoofer, Kelly soon moved into co-directing (with Stanley Donen) his films in an attempt to make dance in film not just entertainment, but art. And in such films as "Singin' in the Rain," "The Pirate," and "An American in Paris," he succeeded. As popular as Kelly was, his fame paled in comparison to that of Rudolph Valentino, though. Valentino emigrated from Italy in 1913 with virtually no money, and by 1921, he was one of the biggest stars in the history of the movies, and certainly one of the greatest screen lovers ever. He died of peritonitis in 1926, setting off a frenzy that makes Michael Jackson's death look like a chamber of commerce picnic. 100,000 people showed up at the funeral, and when the body was taken to Los Angeles by train, probably hundreds of thousands more turned out in hopes of getting a look at the coffin. Two championships this week, one ending and one beginning. In Las Vegas, the Miss Universe pageant will name its winner (still no word if extraterrestrials will show up), and in Paris, the World Badminton Championships will begin in an attempt to find the greatest shuttlecock artist of them all. Tuesday: A day for noting historical events. In 79, Mount Vesuvius erupted in Italy, with an explosive force some 10,000 times the force of the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. Although the explosion wiped out the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, it was a boon for modern archaeologists, since those cities were almost perfectly preserved in cocoons of lava and ash. In 1456, Johannes Gutenberg finished printing his first edition of the Bible. That Bible was double-edged: movable type made knowledge easier to disseminate to the masses, but those masses couldn’t afford to buy such expensive books. Speaking of double edges, in 1891, Thomas Edison applied for a patent for the movie camera, but it couldn’t have been of much use, since he didn't apply for the patent for film until 1897. In other patent news, in 1869, Cornelius Swarthout received his for inventing the waffle iron, making sure Southerners can enjoy breakfasts any time of the day. And while they were never patented, it was around this day in 1853, that Native American Chef George Crum invented potato chips at Moon's Lake House in Saratoga Springs, New York. (Which is why you'll still sometimes see them referred to as "Saratoga chips." And if you want a way to work off the calories from all those waffles and chips, you can emulate Duke Kahanamoku, whose 120th birthday this is. Kahanamoku was the native Hawaiian native who, if he didn't invent surfing, certainly popularized it. Wednesday: More food events today. In Buñol, Spain, La Tomatina begins, as thousands gather to, yes, throw tomatoes at each other. Why this is considered a good idea, we can't say. For those in a mood for a less-messy celebration, we point you to Mitchell, SD, where the annual Corn Palace Festival kicks off with a concert by Kenny Rogers. Every year, Mitchellites decorate their Moorish "Corn Palace" with husks of corn to create fabulous edible murals. This year’s theme is "Through the Ages." In birthdays today, we begin with two men who are best known for two sentences. The first is actor Michael Rennie (1909). Rennie had a reasonably distinguished film career after World War II, but it was his appearance in 1951's "The Day the Earth Stood Still" that cemented his iconic status. Starring as the alien Klaatu, his instructions to the late Patricia Neal to give to the robot Gort, "Klaatu Barada Nikto," are known to even those who never saw the movie. The second is Walt Kelly (1913). In the 1950s and '60s, it would have been hard to find any American who was better-known than Kelly. A writer and cartoonist, he created the "Pogo" comic strip that, for years, poked fun at American society and politics. In 1970, to commemorate the first Earth Day, he pictured the strip's eponymous possum hero confronting the disaster his swamp home had become and proclaimed, "We have met the enemy, and he is us ..." Two other birthdays are for men who are known for their overall bodies of work rather than for individual utterances: Composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein (1918) and Sean Connery (1930). Bernstein had a fairy-tale beginning to his career when, in 1943, he took over conducting the New York Philharmonic on a national radio broadcast as a last-minute substitute for music director Bruno Walter. The reception was overwhelming, and over the next half-century, Bernstein turned out symphonies, operas, and musicals like "West Side Story," and spanned the globe conducting orchestras and educating the public as to the power of classical music. Connery had a brief career as a stage actor and bodybuilder before landing the role of James Bond in 1962. Although he's been mostly retired from acting since 2005 (not wanting to deal with the "idiots in Hollywood"), his role as Bond ("...James Bond") will forever define him -- well, that and his appearances on Jeopardy! ... In these days of controversy of the 51 Park center in New York, we were struck that on this day in 1902, the first Arabic daily newspaper in the U.S., "Al-Hoda," began publication in New York City. Thursday: Today would have been the 70th birthday of Don LaFontaine, whom you know, even if you think you don't. LaFontaine was the movie trailer voice-over guy, who transfomed the phrase "In a world where ..." from a cliché to a monument. In 1946, George Orwell's "Animal Farm" was published, much to the chagrin of schoolkids everywhere. Not that it's not a fine and important book, but it's gotten classified as just another notch in the summer reading belt and lost a lot of its power. Speaking of animals, there's that old saying that every dog has his day? Well, since today is National Dog Day, we guess this is it. And speaking of dogs, it was on this day in 1957 that the Ford Motor Company rolled the first Edsel off of the assembly line. And speaking of disasters, we can't help but think that the recent oil gusher in the Gulf was made possible at least in part by the good folks of Titusville, PA, who began operating the world's first oil well on this day in 1859. Readers of a certain age will feel ancient as we note that Macaulay Culkin turns 30 today. Friday: The only things to note today are the birthdays of two men who couldn't be more different. In 1912, the King of the Jungle was "born" when Edgar Rice Burroughs' "Tarzan of the Apes" was published. And it's the 58th birthday of Paul Reubens -- better known in his persona of Pee-Wee Herman (and need we mention that Pee-Wee will open on Broadway in Ocotber?) Saturday and Sunday: This is a weekend to celebrate the births of groundbreaking creative artists. In 1828, it was Leo Tolstoy, who's best known for his long and complex novels like "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina" that deeply explore human psychology and relationships. In 1898, writer and director Preston Sturges was born. Sturges had a streak of cinematic creativity in the 1940s that has never been matched, turning out a string of ten comedies that remain unrivaled for their characters, dialogue, and sheer lunacy. By 1948, he was all but washed up, but in the years before, he was unrivaled. Actress Ingrid Bergman was born in 1915. After acting in 11 Swedish films in the 1930s, she was signed by American producer David O. Selznick, and spent the next 40 years making film classic after classic. From "Casablanca" to "Notorious" to "Murder on the Orient Express" (for which she won an Oscar), she left a series of indelible performances. In 1917, comic writer and artist Jack Kirby was born. Kirby was "the King" of comics, with an imagination that was as limitless as the cosmic stories he illustrated. The list of characters he created or co-created -- Captain America, the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk, and the Challengers of the Unknown -- is enough to make any creator wish he'd have come up with just one of them. 1920 saw the birth of saxophonist Charlie Parker. Although deviled by drugs and alcohol in his brief 34 years, his postmodern method of playing jazz and bebop has influenced players ever since. Unfortunately, his genius came at a great cost. He lived high and hard, and when he died in 1955, the coroner estimated his age at between 50 and 60. Speaking of "War and Peace," we should mention that, in the former category, Saturday will see UFC 118 and in the latter, Sunday is the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King's March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. And, finally, we note that on this weekend in 1922, the world heard its first radio commercial. The ad, which aired on New York station WEAF, was for the Queensboro Realty Corporation of Jackson Heights, who was trying to sell folks on their Hawthorne Court apartment complex in Queens. Who knew then that one company's $100 investment would later turn into a multi-billion-dollar industry that would influence us all -- or try to? Suggested Sites... The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book - cook with Fannie Farmer. World Badminton Championships - follow the action. Miss Universe Pageant - it's owned by Donald Trump. We can only hope they have better hair. La Tomatina - duck! National Dog Day - celebrating our four-legged friends.

Directory categories: Musicals, Classic Hollywood, Beauty Pageants, Ancient Roman History, Classical Music

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Plaque for the Agatha Christie mile at Torre Abbey in Torquay Edmund Wilson once asked, "Who Cares Who Killed Roger Aykroyd?" Well, if sales and endurance are any indication, there are millions who care. Today, we celebrate Agatha Christie, the "Queen of Crime," who was born on September 15, 1890, to a middle-class family in Torquay, England. In 1920, she published her first novel, "The Mysterious Affair at Styles," and began what would become an astoundingly prolific and successful career as a writer, selling over two billion copies of her works (which have been translated into more than 45 languages) and making her name synonymous with the murder mystery genre. Her method of creativity was unique: She claimed she did all her writing in the bathtub while munching on apples. Regardless of how she worked, she turned out 80 mystery novels, scores of short stories, and even six romance novels (under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott). As well as being a prolific novelist, Christie was also a talented playwright. She wrote sixteen plays including "The Mousetrap," which holds the record for the world's longest continuously running play (eight performances a week in London's West End since 1952). Though many colorful and memorable characters appear within her works, undoubtedly the two most famous are the Belgian detective with the immaculate mustache, Hercule Poirot, and the amateur detective Miss Jane Marple, the clever old lady from the fictional town of St. Mary Mead. Christie died in 1976, but her work continues to endure -- and evolve. A new stage adaptation of "And Then There Were None" opened in 2005 and ran for a brief period of time, and new film and television adaptations of her work are always being produced. Some of her novels have even been translated into computer games. It looks like as long as people want to solve crimes, Dame Agatha will provide the means, motive, and opportunity. Suggested Sites... Agatha Christie's Official Site - exploring everything Agatha Christie. Mystery Hangout - offers a brief biography of Agatha Christie (among other mystery writers), plus games, a discussion board, and other interesting mystery-related content. Christie's Real-Life Mystery - a look into the mystery of Christie's 1926 disappearance. Miss Marple at the MBC - the Museum of Broadcast Communications takes an in-depth look at Christie's favorite detective.

Directory categories: Agatha Christie, Mystery Literature, Mystery Authors, Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple

Archived under: Agatha Christie, Authors, Biographies, Books, Literature, Mysteries, Writers, Writing

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