Today's Birthdays 10/20

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 10/20/03 at 5:08pm

Bela Lugosi 10/20/1882 - Aug 16, 1956 performer - DRACULA; MURDER AT THE VANITIES (Bob Cummings, Earl Carroll); film's 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

Ellery Queen (Frederic Dannay) 10/20/1905 - 9/9/1982 author: mystery series [w/Manfred B. Lee]

Margaret Dumont 10/20/1889 - Mar 6, 1965 performer - both w/the Marx Bros. COCOANUTS; ANIMAL CRACKERS

Jelly Roll Morton 10/20/1890 - Jul 10, 1941 composer - JELLY'S LAST JAM

Morrie Ryskind 10/20/1895 - Aug 24, 1985 Writer, Lyricist, Director - ANIMAL CRACKERS; THE GANG'S ALL HERE; OF THEE I SING

Arlene Francis 10/20/1908 - 5/31/2001 performer, Wife of Neil Agnew (1935 - 1945) divorced, Wife of Martin Gabel (1946 - 1986) his death - orig THE WOMEN; ONCE MORE WITH FEELING (Joseph Cotton, Walter Matthau); film's, tv's & theater's 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

Will Rogers Jr. 10/20/1911 - 7/10/1993 performer - The Story of Will Rogers, Pall Mall Playhouse; TV host: The Pioneers; lecturer

Art Buchwald 10/20/1925 writer - SHEEP ON THE RUNWAY

Jerry Orbach 10/20/1935 performer, husband of Marta Curro (1958 - 1975) divorced, husband of Elaine Cancilla (1979 - present) I LOVE THIS GUY! - CARNIVAL! (Anna Maria Alberghetti); 1965 GUYS & DOLLS; THE NATURAL LOOK (Zhora Lampert, Gene Hackman, Doris Roberts, Brenda Vaccaro); Tony Award-winning actor: PROMISES, PROMISES[1969] (Jill O'Hara, Graciela Daniele); origs CHICAGO; 42ND STREET; tv's & film's Law and Order, Dirty Dancing, Straight Talk, Brewster’s Millions; voice of candelabra: Beauty and the Beast

Dolores Hart 10/20/1938 performer, daughter of Bert Hicks, niece of Mario Lanza, Prior to becoming a nun, she gave Elvis Presley his first on-screen kiss - THE PLEASURE OF HIS COMPANY (George Peppard)


SHOWS THAT OPENED ON THIS DATE:

1904 Opening night of Higgledy-Piggledy, a musical revue with Marie Dressler, Anna Held, Joseph Weber and other period stars. Its 185-performance success helps inspire producer Florenz Ziegfeld to try three years later for a more sophisticated revue, which he will dub his Follies.

1908 Little Nemo, composer Victor Herbert's musical adaptation of the popular comic strip of the same name, opens on Broadway for a 111-performance run.

1923 Opening night of the Ziegfeld Follies of 1923, at 333 performances one of the longest-running of the series, featuring Fanny Brice, Bert Wheeler and the Paul White Orchestra. The score features music by Victor Herbert and Rudolf Friml.

1947 The National Theatre is host tonight for the opening of Robinson Jeffers' rendition of the Greek classic Medea by Euripides. John Gielgud directs and also stars in this production, along with Judith Anderson and Marian Seldes (Three Tall Women, Dear Liar at the Irish Repertory Theatre) making her Broadway debut. Anderson's portrayal of the title character is "a burning performance in a savage part," according to Brooks Atkinson. He says that she "understands the character more thoroughly than Medea, Euripides or the scholars, and it would be useless now for anyone else to attempt the part." The show will run 214 performances.

1954 The musical Peter Pan shows audiences how fun it is to be a kid as it opens tonight at the Winter Garden Theatre. The show is based on the 1904 fantasy by James M. Barrie and features a score by Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Jule Styne, and Carolyn Leigh, and Mark Charlap. Mary Martin in the title role wins critical acclaim as she performs with her twelve year old daughter (playing Liza, the maidservant) and Cyril Richard as menacing Captain Hook. Walter Kerr reports that he "doesn't know what all the fuss is about. I always knew Mary Martin could fly." Although very well received by critics and a following that is too big to imagine, the original production ran only 149 performances.

1955 Ira Levin's comedy No Time for Sergeants opens at the Alvin Theatre, making a star of country bumpkin Andy Griffith. Don Knotts' Broadway Debut. It runs 796 performances.

1962 The musical Mr. President opens on Broadway and proves to be the swan song for composer Irving Berlin, who subsequently retires at age 74. He lives on to be 101.

1974 - The Bard’s presentation of Richard III opened at the Lincoln Center in New York City. Michael Moriarty and Marsha Mason were featured in the William Shakespeare classic.

1977 David Mamet's valentine to the stage, A Life in the Theatre, opens tonight at the Theatre De Lys. This comedy is not only about two actors but also about mentors in general and the rites of passage between teachers and disciples. Ellis Rabb and Peter Evans star in this production, which will run 288 performances. A made-for-TV film came out in 1993 with Jack Lemmon and Matthew Broderick.

1977 Edward Gorey and Frank Langella's sets are the stars of Dracula, Hamilton Deane and John Balderston's adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel. The show ran for 925 performances. Coincidentally, this is also Bela Lugosi's birthday, who made the role famous in the 1927-28 season, as well as later on film.

1988 The Cocktail Hour by A.R. Gurney begins its 350-show run at the Promenade Theatre tonight. Nancy Marchand plays a woman whose son, played by Bruce Davison, has written a play about his family.

1992 Larry Kramer continues his AIDS drama The Normal Heart with The Destiny of Me at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. Future Hedwig and the Angry Inch star and creator John Cameron Mitchell stars tonight in this production, whose reviews will be mixed. Piper Laurie and Jonathan Hadary are also in the cast. The show will run 175 performances.

2002 Popular French composer Michele Legrand makes his Broadway debut with the musical Amour, adapted from his Paris hit Le Passe Muraille, about a mousy man who acquires the magical ability to walk through walls. It is judged too slight for Broadway and closes after just a three-week run.

ON THIS DAY IN:

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..

(sources: IBDB, NYT's ON THIS DAY, 440.com’s Those Were The Days, Playbill.com)

Milla Updated On: 10/20/03 at 05:08 PM