October 20
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Events on This Day
1774 - The new Continental Congress, the governing body of America’s colonies, passed an order proclaiming that all citizens of the colonies “discountenance and discourage all horse racing and all kinds of gaming, cock fighting, exhibitions of shows, plays and other expensive diversions and entertainment.” Since this proclamation included acting, dancing, singing, and the playing of music, all forms of entertainment and all theatre productions ceased. So much for freedom from persecution...1811 - Fulton’s steamboat, New Orleans, built in Pittsburgh, sailed down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans. It was the first steamboat in western waters. Passage on the New Orleans was $30.
1873 - A Hippodrome was opened in New York City by showman Phineus T. (P.T.) Barnum. The impressive place was the new home of The Greatest Show on Earth; the big top of what would be the greatest circus in the land.
1906 - Dr. Lee DeForest gave a demonstration of his triode vacuum tube which led to amplification of electrical signals.
1910 - A baseball with a cork center was used in a World Series game for the first time. The new baseball was secretly put into play in the series and proved to be much livelier. Speaking of the 1910 World Series, the Philadelphia Athletics (managed by Connie Mack) and the Chicago Cubs (managed by Frank Chance) played for the championship. (Philadelphia won the series 4 games to 1.)
1910 - Woodrow Wilson resigned the presidency of Princeton University to become the Democratic gubernatorial candidate in New Jersey. He was elected and his success kick-started his run for the U.S. presidency in 1912.
1926 - A hurricane with winds up to 155 mph (250 kmh) struck Cuba. 650 were people were reported killed.
1930 - One of the most memorable of all radio shows, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, was first heard on the NBC Red network. Its first entry, The Speckled Band, featured William Gillette in the role of the famous detective. Gillette introduced Holmes to New York audiences as early as 1899 ... on the stage, not the radio, of course..
1932 - Journalist Robert Trout joined CBS. Trout became a household name to CBS listeners -- and they later became loyal viewers of Trout on CBS-TV.
1939 - All the Things You Are was recorded by the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra -- for the Victor label. Jack Leonard was the featured vocalist.
1944 - U.S. General Douglas MacArthur waded ashore at Leyte in the Philippines, 2 1/2 years after uttering the famous, “I shall return.” This time, MacArthur said (actually, several times for the benefit of photographers), “People of the Philippines, I have returned.”
1947 - Hollywood came under increasing scrutiny. The House Un-American Activities Committee opened hearings this day into the alleged Communist influence and infiltration on the movie industry.
1953 - Legendary journalist Edward R. Murrow found himself in a unique situation. On the CBS program, See It Now, Murrow focused on Lt. Milo Radulovich and sought to disprove the “guilty by association” position of Radulovich during the McCarthy hearings. The network and the program’s sponsors refused to promote the show because of the controversy. As a result, Murrow purchased his own ads to promote the program.
1955 - No Time for Sergeants opened on Broadway starring Andy Griffith.
1955 - “Day-O. Day-ay-ay-ay-o!” One of the most popular of the Harry Belafonte hits was recorded -- for RCA Victor. Day-O didn’t make it to the pop charts for over a year (January 1957), however, after its name had been changed to The Banana Boat Song (Day-O).
1955 - Peter Pan debuted at Broadway’s Winter Garden Theatre, featuring Mary Martin in the lead role. Although it ran for only 152 performances, a deal was made for Peter Pan to be broadcast on the NBC anthology series Producers’ Showcase (March 7, 1955), which ensured that it was a financial success -- despite the limited run on Broadway.
1957 - Walter Cronkite hosted a weekly documentary beginning this (Sunday) night. The 20th Century reported on major events that had shaped modern world history. The show changed its focus and its title to The 21st Century in 1967. Cronkite was the only narrator of the program through its final show on January 4, 1970.
1962 - With Halloween just around the corner, we remember that Bobby “Boris” Picket and the Crypt Kickers reached the top of the charts this day (for two weeks) with The Monster Mash. And someone, somewhere, has resurrected it every Halloween since.
1962 - The musical, Mr. President, written by Irving Berlin, opened on Broadway. Mr. President ran for 265 performances.
1964 - Golden Boy opened at the Majestic Theatre on Broadway in New York City. The musical, based on the 1937 play of the same name by Clifford Odets, starred Sammy Davis Jr and ran for 568 performances and twenty-five previews.
1965 - Boxing Hall of Famer Sugar Ray Robinson, at age 45, notched his 174th and final victory, a third-round knockout of Rudolph Bent. Robinson, who won the World Middleweight boxing title for the first time in 1951, announced his retirement on Nov 11, 1965.
1965 - The Beatles received a gold record for the single, Yesterday. This song marked the first time a cello was used in a pop hit.
1968 - Former U.S. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy married Aristotle Onassis, the Greek shipping magnate, on the island of Skorpios in Greece.
1970 - Norman Ernest Borlaug, credited with saving millions of people from starvation in the ‘Green Revolution’, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
1971 - West German Chancellor Willy Brandt was awarded Nobel Peace Prize.
1973 - Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the Sydney Opera House in Australia.
1973 - Richard M. Nixon was under heavy pressure to turn over some tape recordings he had made of conversations with various folks in the Oval Office. The taped conversations were regarding the break-in at the Watergate apartment/office complex in Washington DC. Special Watergate Prosecutor Archibald Cox, whom Nixon had appointed, was applying the pressure, thinking that there might be some interesting stuff on those tapes. So, on this Saturday night in 1973, the President asked U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Cox. Richardson refused, so Nixon, in what would be known as the Saturday Night Massacre, fired Cox himself. Then, in protest, Richardson resigned. Nixon, a little peeved by now, fired Deputy Attorney General William D. Ruckelshaus, who also had refused to fire Cox. Unfortunately for the U.S. President, the ‘massacre’ only made things worse. Nixon eventually did turn over those tapes; but since there were little pieces of dialogue mysteriously missing, suspicion about the President’s involvement in Watergate grew to the point where he resigned from office (August 9, 1974) rather than face (almost certain) impeachment.
1977 - The plane carrying rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd ran out of fuel and crashed in Gillsburg, Mississippi. Six people died in the crash, including lead singer Ronnie Van Zant and siblings guitarist Steve Gaines and vocalist Cassie Gaines. The other band members (Allen Collins, Gary Rossington, Leon Wilkeson, Billy Powell, Artimus Pyle, Leslie Hawkins), tour manager Ron Eckerman, and road crew suffered serious injuries. The crash came just three days after the release of their Street Survivors album, and five shows into their most successful headlining tour to date.
1979 - Herb Alpert’s Rise, from the album, Rise, rose to number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
1982 - The St. Louis Cardinals rallied for 3 runs in the sixth inning of Game 7 to beat the Milwaukee Brewers. It was the Brewers first World Series. The Cardinals took home the crown, 4 games to 3.
1983 - Country music star Merle Travis died. Travis co-wrote the million-seller, Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That Cigarette with Tex Williams, who recorded it. He wrote an eight-song Folk Songs of our Hills, which included Nine Pound Hammer, Dark as a Dungeon and Sixteen Tons. Although Travis maintained that Sixteen Tons, which earned a gold record for Tennessee Ernie Ford in 1955. Travis won acclaim for his portrayal of a young G.I. in the 1954 film From Here to Eternity. His Walkin’ the Strings is a highly-regarded album of acoustic guitar solos. Travis was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1977, but his drug addiction and alcoholism made him unreliable and wrecked his private life. Said Tennessee Ernie Ford, “Merle Travis was one of the most talented men I ever met. He could write songs that would knock your hat off, but he was a chronic alcoholic and when those binges would come, there was nothing we could do about it.”
1984 - The world’s largest aquarium opened at Monterey Bay, California. The aquarium was a gift to the community by David and Lucile Packard. The original cost was approximately $55 million.
1987 - Ten people were killed when an Air Force jet crashed into a Ramada Inn near Indianapolis International Airport after the pilot, who was trying to make an emergency landing, ejected safely.
1988 - The powerful Oakland Athletics had slugged their way to 104 regular season victories, then swept the Red Sox for the American League pennant. The Los Angeles Dodgers unexpectantly charged through the final months of the season, led by Orel Hershiser, who posted a record-breaking 59 consecutive scoreless innings. Unfortunately for Oakland, Hershiser’s pitching dominance continued through the World Series. With complete-game victories in Game Two and the deciding Game Five this day, Hershiser punctuated his remarkable season and pitched a four-hitter, giving the Dodgers a 5-2 victory over the A’s and the World Series title.
1990 - It was game four of the World Series, featuring the Cincinnati Reds vs. Oakland A’s, and it was all over this day. Few had given the Reds much of a chance against the A’s. It was a four-game sweep, alright. But it was Cincinnati, in one of baseball’s all-time World Series upsets, who did the sweeping.
1991 - Hot wind gusts, called Diablo winds, twisted through the East Bay hills near Oakland, California. The winds, coupled with drought-weary vegetation, sparked the Oakland Hills fire. The fire claimed 25 lives and destroyed more than 2,700 structures and 1500 acres. The blaze took three days to control and did more than $1 billion in property damage.
1994 - Actor Burt Lancaster died in Los Angeles. He was 80 years old. Burt Lancaster was nominated for the Best-Actor Oscar four times. From Here to Eternity (1953), Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) and Atlantic City (1980) did not quite get him there, but Elmer Gantry (1960) did. A few of Lancaster’s other best efforts: The Killers (1946), The Crimson Pirate (1952), Marty (1955), The Catered Affair (1956), Vera Cruz (1954), The Kentuckian (1955), The Rose Tattoo (1955), Trapeze (1956), The Rainmaker (1956), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), Run Silent Run Deep (1958), Separate Tables (1958), The Unforgiven (1960), Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) and Seven Days in May (1964).
1995 - Mallrats opened in U.S. theatres. It stars Jeremy London, Clair Forlani, Jason Lee, Shannon Doherty, Ethan Suplee, Joey Lauren Adams, Renee Humphrey, Ben Affleck, Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes. If you can’t remember this one, you were over 12 years of age in 1995.
1996 - The Broadway revival of Summer and Smoke closed at Criterion Center Stage Right in New York City.
1997 - The U.S. government alleged that Microsoft’s bundling of its Internet Explorer browser into the Windows operating system violated a 1995 consent decree.
1998 - Jorge Ortega, vice president of Colombia’s Unitary Workers’ Federation, was shot and killed. The killing prompted a wildcat strike by thousands of private-sector workers.
2000 - These films opened in the U.S.: Bamboozled, with Damon Wayans; Bedazzled, with Brendan Fraser and Elizabeth Hurley; The Legend of Drunken Master, starring Jackie Chan; Pay It Forward, with Kevin Spacey and Helen Hunt; and The Yards, starring Mark Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix, Charlize Theron, James Caan and Faye Dunaway.
2000 - Egyptian-born Ali Mohamed pleaded guilty in New York to helping plan deadly U.S. Embassy bombings in Africa in 1998. Mohamed, a U.S. citizen, had also served in the Army. The bombings killed 224 people, including 12 Americans.
2001 - U.S. Officials announced that anthrax had been discovered in a House postal facility on Capitol Hill.
2002 - 22-year-old Yao Ming, 7-foot-5-inch basketball player from China,
to join the Houston Rockets. 2003 - A 40-year-old man survived a 150-foot plunge over the fast-flowing Canadian side Niagara Falls -- without a safety device. Kirk Jones was charged with mischief and “unlawfully performing a stunt.” Jones said he was driven by depression, not a desire to become a daredevil.
2003 - Character actor and Western villain Jack Elam died. He was 82 years old. Elam often played a low-down good-fer-nuthin’ bad guy who menaced good cowboys with an evil grin, wild eyes and remorseless gunslinging. He is remembered for films, such as The Sundowners, Rawhide, Wichita, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, The Comancheros, The Dakotas, Support Your Local Sheriff!, The Over-the-Hill Gang, Rio Lobo, and Cannonball Run II.
2004 - Boston Red Sox fans poured into the streets outside Fenway Park to celebrate their team’s victory over the New York Yankees. 21-year-old journalism student Victoria Snellgrove died the next day after a crowd-control pellet struck her in the eye.
2004 - In central China a gas explosion ripped through a coal shaft at the Daping Mine in Henan province killing at least 79 miners. Dozens more were missing.
2006 - New movies in U.S. theatres: Flags of Our Fathers, starring Ryan Phillippe, Jesse Bradford, Adam Beach, Paul Walker, Jamie Bell, Barry Pepper and John Benjamin Hickey; Flicka, with Alison Lohman, Tim McGraw, Maria Bello and Ryan Kwanten; Marie Antoinette, starring Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman, Rip Torn, Molly Shannon, Judy Davis, Steve Coogan, Asia Argento, Marianne Faithful, Aurore Clement and Shirley Henderson; and The Prestige, with Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall, Andy Serkis, Piper Perabo and David Bowie.
2006 - Actress Jane Wyatt died in Bel Air, CA. She was 96 years old. Wyatt was best known as the TV wife of Robert Young in the series Father Knows Best (1954-1960). Her film and TV appearances include Lost Horizon, Hurricane Smith, Gentleman’s Agreement, Star Trek and Love, American Style.
2007 - Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue declared a drought state of emergency for the northern third of the state and asked U.S. President George Bush (II) to declare it a major disaster area. The 38,000-acre Lake Lanier reservoir was down to 3 months from depletion.
2008 - Dance of the Dead opened in the U.S. The horror film stars Jared Kusnitz, Greyson Chadwick, Chandler Darby, Carissa Capobianco, Randy McDowell, Michael V. Mammoliti and Mark Lynch.
2008 - Taliban gunmen killed 34-year-old Gayle Williams, a Christian aid worker in Kabul, Afghanistan as she walked to work. The terrorist group said it targeted the British-South African citizen because, “...she was working for an organization which was preaching Christianity in Afghanistan.”
2009 - Kuwait’s highest court granted women the right to obtain a passport without their husband’s approval. The landmark decision freed Kuwaiti women from a 1962 law requiring their husband’s signature to obtain a passport.
2009 - The U.S. Congress passed a bill allowing detainees from Guantanamo to be moved to the U.S., but only to stand for trial, not to be released or jailed there.
2010 - The United States announced it would sell up to 60 billion dollars worth of warplanes, helicopters and other weapons to Saudi Arabia, partly to help it counter the military might of Iran. It was the biggest U.S. arms deal ever.
2010 - Spain, Western Europe’s last country where lighting up in indoor public places was allowed, enacted a tough new anti-smoking law, effective Jan 2, 2011.
2011 - Two earthquakes (3.8 and 4.0) hit the San Francisco area, jolting residents. This, on the same day that many Californians took part in an annual earthquake preparedness drill. Proving, we think, that there is no substitute for being genuinely prepared.
2011 - Libya’s National Transition Council reported that its fighters had found and shot to death dictator Moammar Gadhafi. He had been in a convoy of vehicles trying to escape from his hometown and final stronghold of Sirte. Gadhafi was shot in the head after being captured at a sewage culvert on the outskirts of town. NATO war planes had hit the convoy, marking the culmination of a NATO-led air war mandated by the UN to protect civilians from Gadhafi’s forces.
2012 - Some 70 far-right extremists from around France stormed the site of an unfinished mosque in the historic city of Poitiers to show their hostility toward the mosque, and to denounce the immigration policies that had brought millions of Muslims into the country.
2014 - Fashion designer Oscar de la Renta died at his home in Connecticut. He was 82 years old. De la Renta’s clothes defined American elegance for generations and were popular with first ladies and Hollywood stars.
2015 - The U.S. and Russia signed an agreement to minimize the risk of collisions and other dangers. This, as both countries carried out air strikes in Syria.
2016 - Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump spoke at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in New York. Both of the nominees had their 20-minute say, reading from written pages rather than off a teleprompter, surrounded by men in white tie and tails, ladies with sparkling gems, fancy linen and white flowers. Trump and Clinton launched barbs, zingers and some genuinely funny one-liners, though Donald caught more boos and hisses from the audience than Hillary did.
2017 - New movies in U.S theatres included: Geostorm, starring Jeremy Ray Taylor, Gerard Butler and Abbie Cornish; Only the Brave, with Taylor Kitsch, Jennifer Connelly and Jeff Bridges; Same Kind of Different as Me, starring Renée Zellweger, Jon Voight and Djimon Hounsou; The Snowman, with Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson and Chloë Sevigny; Tyler Perry’s Boo 2! A Madea Halloween, starring Tyler Perry, Brock O’Hurn and Inanna Sarkis; The Bachelors, with Odeya Rush, J.K. Simmons and Jean Louisa Kelly; Dealt, starring Richard Turner, Johnny Thompson and Max Maven; Leatherface, with Finn Jones, Stephen Dorff and Lili Taylor; and Tragedy Girls, starring Kevin Durand, Josh Hutcherson and Brianna Hildebrand; Wonderstruck, with Oakes Fegley, Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams.
2017 - U.S. authorities arrested former Honolulu, Hawaii police chief Louis Kealoha and his wife, a deputy city prosecutor. This, as part of a corruption probe with allegations of civil rights abuses and corruption within the police force.
2018 - A 19-year-old man died after blowing up a ticket machine at a railway station in the Germany city of Halle. Two alleged accomplices, aged 15 and 20, were arrested. Six other ticket machines and an ATM had been destroyed in Halle earlier in the month.
2018 - POTUS Donald Trump said he was pulling the U.S. out of a landmark 1987 Cold War-era treaty that eliminated nuclear missiles from Europe -- because, he said, Russia was violating the pact.
2019 - Hong Kong protesters set off fires and vandalized subway stations, banks and stores as demonstrations continued to descend into destruction and violence. Some 350,000 people took part in unauthorized marches that authorities had banned.
2019 - United International Pictures said DreamWorks’ animated movie Abominable2019 would not be released in Malaysia after its producers declined to meet a censor board requirement to cut a scene showing China’s ‘nine-dash line’ on a map of the South China Sea.
2020 - Berlin, Germany’s municipal government made it compulsory to wear masks at markets, in queues and on busy shopping streets.
2020 - Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE announced the start in Japan of combined Phase I and Phase II clinical trials of their mRNA vaccine candidate against the coronavirus.
2020 - Russia said it was ready to accept a U.S. proposal to freeze the number of nuclear warheads and extend the nations’ last arms control pact for one year. Washington responded that it was prepared to make a quick deal.
2021 - All 50 U.S. Senate Republicans voted to block Democrats from advancing a voting rights bill. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer: “This vote, I'm ashamed to say, is further evidence that voter suppression has become part of the official platform of the Republican Party.”
2021 - Barbados elected Sandra Mason to be its first-ever president. Mason replaced Britain’s Queen Elizabeth as head of state in a decisive step toward shedding the Caribbean island’s colonial ties.
2021 - Statistics Canada data showed inflation increased to 4.4% the previous month -- its fastest rise since February 2003.
2022 - U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss resigned after 44 days in office, making her term shortest in country’s history. Truss’ personal approval rating had fallen to nine per cent. She was pilloried in the press as a u-turner because of her stop and go support of tax rules, and a chaotic vote on fracking -- along with the resignation her home secretary.
2022 - Iranian military experts were “directly engaged on the ground” in Russian-occupied Crimea, helping Russian forces use Iranian-made ‘kamikaze’ drones against Ukraine. The British government said members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps were sent to train Russian forces on how to use the drones and to provide tech support. Britain had announced sanctions against Iranians involved in providing the drones to Russia.
2023 - Polydor Records released Hackney Diamonds, the 24th studio album by British rock band The Rolling Stones (their 26th album in the U.S.). The record was their first of original music since 2005 -- and featured vocals by Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney.
and more...
Birthdays on This Day October 20
1632 - Sir Christopher Wren
architect, astronomer, mathematician; died Feb 25, 17231856 - James Mann
lawyer; U.S. Congressman: authored the Mann Act aka the White Slave Traffic Act [1910]; died Nov30, 1922
1859 - John Dewey
psychologist, philosopher: The School and Society, The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology, How We Think, Experience and Nature, Art as Experience; educator: Univ of Michigan, Univ of Minnesota, Univ of Chicago, Columbia Univ; died June 1, 19521874 - Charles Ives
Pulitzer Prize-winning composer: Symphony No. 3 [Camp Meeting]: 1947; The Concord Sonata; author: Essays Before A Sonata; died May 19, 19541882 - Bela Lugosi (Blasko)
actor: Dracula, One Body Too Many, The Ghost of Frankenstein, Murders in the Rue Morgue, Night Monster, Chandu the Magician, The Ape Man, The Body Snatcher; died Aug 16, 19561890 - Ferdinand ‘Jelly Roll’ Morton
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer, piano player, bandleader: Black Bottom Stomp, Dead Man Blues, Original Jelly Roll Blues, Georgia Swing, Mr. Jelly Lord; died July 10, 19411905 - Frederic Dannay
author: Ellery Queen detective series mystery series [w/Manfred B. Lee]; died Sep 3, 19821907 - Arlene Francis (Kazanjian)
actress: Murders in the Rue Morgue, Stage Door Canteen, All My Sons, One, Two, Three, The Thrill of it All; Broadway: All that Glitters, Danton’s Death, Journey to Jerusalem, The Doughgirls; radio actress/host: Blind Date, The Arlene Francis Show [WOR]; TV emcee: Home, Who’s There, Talent Patrol, The Comeback Story, Blind Date; panelist: What’s My Line; died May 31, 20011908 - Stuart Hamblen
singer: It Is No Secret, Pony Express, Lola Lee, They’re Gonna Kill You, Let’s See You Fix It, This Ship of Mine, I’ll Find You; died Mar 8, 19891911 - Will Rogers Jr.
actor: The Story of Will Rogers, Pall Mall Playhouse; TV host: The Pioneers; lecturer; died July 10, 19931913 - Grandpa (Louis Marshall) Jones
Country Music Hall of Famer: Hee Haw, Grand Ole Opry; singer: The All-American Boy, T for Texas, Old Rattler, Mountain Dew; died Feb 19, 19981923 - Herschel Bernardi
actor: Peter Gunn, Arnie, Love with the Proper Stranger, Irma La Douce; voice: Charlie Tuna TV commercials, The Jetsons characters; died May 9, 19861925 - Art Buchwald
Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper columnist [prize for commentary: 1982]; author: While Reagan Slept, Leaving Home; died Jan 17, 20071927 - Joyce Brothers (Bauer)
psychologist; writer: The Successful Woman, The Practical Plan for Liking Yourself Better; syndicated columnist; TV contestant: $64,000 Question [1955]; panelist: The Gong Show; died May 13, 20131931 - Mickey (Charles) Mantle
‘The Commerce Comet’: Baseball Hall of Famer: NY Yankees [World Series: 1951-1953, 1955-1958, 1960-1964/all-star: 1952-1965, 1967, 1968]; World Series records: most home runs [18], most RBIs [40], most walks [13], most strikeouts [54]; three-time MVP; died Aug 13, 19951932 - Roosevelt Brown
Pro Football Hall of Famer: NY Giants offensive tackle; 8 time All Pro; died Jun 9, 20041932 - William Christopher
actor: M*A*S*H, Aftermash, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., With Six You Get Eggroll; died Dec 31, 20161935 - Jerry Orbach
actor: Tony Award-winning actor: Promises, Promises [1969]; Law and Order, Dirty Dancing, Straight Talk, Brewster’s Millions; voice of candelabra: Beauty and the Beast; died Dec 28, 20041937 - Wanda Jackson
singer: Right or Wrong, Let’s Have a Party, In the Middle of a Heartache; songwriter: [Let’s Stop] Kickin’ Our Hearts Around1937 - Juan Marichal
Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher: SF Giants [World Series: 1962/all-star: 1962-1969, 1971], Boston Red Sox, LA Dodgers1939 - Jay Siegel
singer: groups: The Tokens: Tonight I Fell in Love, The Lion Sleeps Tonight; Cross Country: In the Midnight Hour1942 - Earl Hindman
actor: Home Improvement, The Ballad of the Sad Cafe; died Dec 29, 20031945 - Ric Lee
musician: drums: group: Ten Years After: I’m Going Home, Love like a Man1950 - Isaac Curtis
football: Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver: Super Bowl XVI1950 - Tom Petty
singer: group: The Traveling Wilburys; Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers: Don’t Come Around Here No More, Don’t Do Me Like That, Refugee, Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around [w/Stevie Nicks]; in film: Made in Heaven; died Oct 2, 20171950 - William Russ
actor: Boy Meets World, Wiseguy, Another World, The Young and the Restless, Pastime, American History X, 1,001 Ways to Enjoy the Missionary Position, Night Sins, Mister Sterling, JAG, Boston Legal, The Ex List1951 - Al Greenwood
musician: keyboard: group: Foreigner: Feels Like the First Time, Cold as Ice, Hot Blooded, Double Vision1952 - Dave McClelland
hockey: Des Moines Capitols, Vancouver Canucks1952 - Dave (David S.) Collins
baseball: California Angels, Seattle Mariners, Cincinnati Reds, NY Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, Oakland Athletics, Detroit Tigers, SL Cardinals1952 - Melanie Mayron
Emmy Award-winning actress: thirtysomething [1988-1989]1953 - Keith Hernandez
baseball: first base: SL Cardinals [all-star: 1979, 1980/Baseball Writers’ Award: 1979/World Series: 1982], NY Mets [all-star: 1984, 1986, 1987/World Series: 1986], Cleveland Indians1953 - Bill Nunn
actor: Spider-Man series, Runaway Jury, Lockdown, The Price of a Broken Heart, La Leggenda del pianista sull’oceano, Always Outnumbered; died Sep 24, 20161954 - Lee Roy Selmon
Pro Football Hall of Famer [defensive end]: Tampa Bay Buccaneers [their first-ever draft pick]: 78.5 sacks, 380 quarterback pressures, forced 28.5 fumbles, recovered ten fumbles; played in five consecutive Pro Bowls; died Sep 4, 20111955 - Thomas Newman
Grammy Award-winning film score composer, conductor: American Beauty [2001], Six Feet Under [2003, 2005], WALL-E [2009]; Reckless, Scent of a Woman, The Shawshank Redemption, Little Women, The War, Unstrung Heroes, The Horse Whisperer, Meet Joe Black, The Green Mile, Erin Brockovich, In the Bedroom, The Salton Sea, Road to Perdition, Finding Nemo, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Help, The Debt, The Adjustment Bureau, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Skyfall1956 - Danny Boyle
Academy Award-winning director: Slumdog Millionaire [2009]; 127 Hours, 28 Days Later..., Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, Mr. Wroe’s Virgins1958 - Mark King
musician: bass, singer: group: Level 42: The Chinese Way, The Sun Goes Down [Living It Up], I Feel Free, Hot Water, Something About You, Leaving Me Now1958 - Viggo Mortensen
actor: Lord of the Rings film series, Witness, The Indian Runner, Carlito’s Way, Crimson Tide, Daylight, The Portrait of a Lady, G.I. Jane, A Perfect Murder, A Walk on the Moon, A History of Violence, Eastern Promises, Appaloosa, The Road1958 - Eric Scott
actor: The Waltons1964 - Kamala Harris
politician: 49th Vice President of the United States [2021- ]; U.S. Senator from California [2017-2021]; Attorney General of California [2011-2017]; San Francisco District Attorney [2004-2011]; 2024 Democratic Party candidate for U.S. President1966 - Greg Wrangler
actor: Fair Trade, Sorceress II: The Temptress, Ring of Steel, The Runestone, O.C. and Stiggs, Heroes; more1968 - Rudy Seánez
baseball [pitcher]: Cleveland Indians, San Diego Padres, LA Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, Texas Rangers, Boston Red Sox, Kansas City Royals, Florida Marlins1969 - Herman Moore
football [wide receiver]: Univ of Virginia; NFL: Detroit Lions, New York Giants1971 - Snoop Doggy Dogg (Cordozar Broadus)
rapper: LPs: Doggystyle, The Doggfather, No Limit Top Dogg1977 - Samuel Witwer
actor: Battlestar Galactica, Smallville, Being Human, The Return of Joe Rich, Officer Downe, Grimm, Star Wars Rebels, Once Upon a Time1979 - John Krasinski
actor: The Office, Away We Go, Leatherheads, License to Wed, Big Miracle, Something Borrowed, It’s Complicated, Promised Land, Aloha, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, A Quiet Place, Jack Ryan TV series1983 - Alona Tal
actress: Veronica Mars, Supernatural, Cane, Monk, Three Inches, Cult, Burn Notice; voice actress: Night of the Living Dead: Origins 3D1993 - Hunter King
actress: Hollywood Heights, The Young and the Restless, It Takes a Village, A Girl Like Her, Our Last Day as Children, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
and still more...
Hit Music on This Day October 20
1948A Tree in the Meadow (facts) - Margaret Whiting
You Call Everybody Darlin’ (facts) - Al Trace (vocal: Bob Vincent)
1957
1966
1975
1984
1993
2002
2011
2020
and even more...
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...
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