Today's Birthdays 9/14 - Zoe Caldwell, Nicol Williamson, Lehman Engel

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 9/14/03 at 4:24pm

Lehman Engel 09/14/1910 - Aug 29, 1982 Composer, Musical Director, Arranger, Musical Staff, Musical Supervisor, founder of The BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop - WONDERFUL TOWN; FANNY; SHANGRI-LA; GOLDILOCKS; DESTRY RIDES AGAIN; DO RE MI; WHAT MAKES SAMMY RUN?; BAJOUR; A MUSICAL JUBILEE (Lillian Gish, Jeannie Lehman, Tammy Grimes, Patrice Munsel, Larry Kert, John Raitt, Dick Shawn, Cyril Ritchard)

Jack Hawkins 09/14/1910 - Jul 18, 1973 performer, Husband of Jessica Tandy (1932 - 1942) divorced - DEAR OCTOPUS (Lucille Watson); 1951 ROMEO & JULIET (Olivia de Havilland, Douglas Watson)

Tom Pedi 09/14/1913 - Dec 29, 1996 performer - BROOKLYN U.S.A. (Sidney Lumet, Roger De Koven); THE ICEMAN COMETH; DEATH OF A SALESMAN; orig & 1965 GUYS & DOLLS (1965 Sheila MacRae, Jerry Orbach, Alan King, Anita Gillette)

Clayton Moore 9/14/1914 - 12/28/1999 performer - tv's The Lone Ranger, Jesse James Rides Again

Kay Medford 9/14/1920 - 4/10/1980 performer - orig PAINT YOUR WAGON; BYE-BYE BIRDIE; FUNNY GIRL; DONT DRINK THE WATER (Donna Mills, Lou Jacobi); tv's & film's Lola, Funny Girl, Butterfield 8, The Rat Race, The Dean Martin Show

Zoe Caldwell 9/14/1933 performer, dir., Mother of William "Sam" Whitehead, Mother of Charles Whitehead, Wife of Robert Whitehead (1968 - June 15, 2002) his death - THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODY; 1974 DANCE OF DEATH (Robert Shaw, Hector Elizondo); AN ALMOST PERFECT PERSON (Colleen Dewhearst, George Hearn); MASTER CLASS (Audran McDonald)

Nicol Williamson 9/14/1938 performer - 1969 HAMLET (Francesca Annis, Roger Livesey, Angelica Huston); 1973 UNCLE VANYA (Julie Christie); REX (Glenn Close, Penny Fuller); 1982 MACBETH; I HATE HAMLET; JACK: A NIGHT ON THE TOWN WITH JOHN BARRYMORE; film's The Advocate, Christopher Columbus, Excalibur, The Human Factor, Robin and Marian

Joey Heatherton 09/14/1944 performer - THE SOUND OF MUSIC; THERE WAS A LITTLE GIRL (Jane Fonda, Gary Lockwood)

Sam Neill 9/14/1947 performer - Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, The Piano, Jurassic Park, The Hunt for Red October, My Brilliant Career [my fav]

SHOWS THAT OPENED ON THIS DATE:

1925 The Jazz Singer by Samson Raphaelson opens tonight at the Fulton. George Jessel stars as the cantor's son, Jackie Rabinowitz. He later turns down an offer for the movie.

1949 Treasure Hunt, a comedy by M. J. Farrell and John Perry, opens at the Apollo Theater in London and tells of an aristocratic pair who decide to take in paying guests to maintain their almost bankrupt estate. The play was directed by John Gielgud and starred Sybil Thorndike, Alan Webb, and Marie Lohr. The play would run 11 months.

Diamond Lil 09/14/1951 - Mae West

That Championship Season 09/14/1972 - Charles Durning, Richard Dysart, Paul Sorvino

1980 Charles Strouse provides music for the musical Charlie and Algernon which opens tonight at the Helen Hayes Theatre. The show is based on the same source material as the 1968 film "Charly," about a brain-damaged invalid who turns temporarily smart. The tuner lasts only 17 performances before closing Sept. 28. The composer will suffer another blow to his ego later in the season when his Bring Back Birdie — a sequel to his successful Bye Bye Birdie — will fall after only 4 performances.

Death of a Salesman 09/14/1984 - Dustin Hoffman, Louis Zorich, John Malkovich, Linda Kozlowski. It ran only six times a week instead of the usual eight performances.

Sweeney Todd 09/14/1989 Beth Fowler, Bob Gunton, Eddie Korbich

2000 Writer-performer Pamela Gien takes on 28 roles spanning four generations of South Africans, from apartheid to freedom in The Syringa Tree. The one-woman show opens tonight at Off-Broadway's Playhouse 91. The play will win the 2001 Obie Award for Best Play and garner Gien a 2001 Drama Desk Award in the category of Solo Performance. Gien is replaced by Kate Blumberg on Aug. 1, 2001 as she exits to work on a film adaptation of the play.

ON THIS DATE IN:

1957 - Richard Boone became the hired gun, Paladin. The CBS-TV series Have Gun Will Travel debuted this night. The popular western continued for six years.

1972 As lights went out in bedrooms throughout America, voices were heard repeating the good-night routine performed on this, the first performance of The Waltons on CBS-TV in 1972. “Good night, John Boy”... Families tuned in every Thursday night to get a TV view of the life happenings of the Walton family. The Depression years (and later) story, narrated by its creator, Earl Hamner, Jr., was seen through the eyes of the oldest of 7 children, John Boy, portrayed by Emmy Award-winning actor Richard Thomas. Walton’s Mountain in the Blue Ridge Mountains [WHERE I'M FROM] of Jefferson County was the locale of all that happened to the Walton family.

1978 - The first show of the TV series Mork & Mindy, starring the irrepressible Robin Williams as Mork and actress Pam Dawber as Mindy, aired on ABC-TV. Mork had made an earlier (February, 197 appearance, landing on earth during an episode of Happy Days. Na nu, na nu.

1982 - Princess Grace of Monaco died from injuries suffered when her car plunged off a mountain road. Her daughter, seventeen-year-old Stephanie, a passenger in the car, suffered bruises and trauma. Princess Grace, the former movie star, Grace Kelly, of Pennsylvania and Hollywood, had been married to Prince Ranier III of Monaco since 1956.


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

Milla
Do Re Milla

[Dollypop]

Posted: 9/14/03 at 4:36pm

I can't believe that Zoe Caldwell is 80 years old--and she's still going strong! Happy Birthday, Zoe!

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 9/14/03 at 8:49pm

Math isn't my strong point, but I hope Zoe's celebrating her 70th Birthday. How very sad that the power's that be didn't let her husband Robert Whitehead's lifetime award acceptance speech be broadcast on the TONY'S.

Milla

[Dollypop]

Posted: 9/14/03 at 9:22pm

You're right. The marvelous lady is a mere 70.

[MusicMan]

Posted: 9/14/03 at 9:53pm

Dear Lehman---thought I was talented, took me to Sardi's for dinner, followed by an Off-Broadway show, then to his apartment where he made a pass at me--told me he thought I looked like Michael York---I didn't and don't---he had a nice apartment, though, somewhere on the East side. It was raining.

[alterego]

Posted: 9/15/03 at 1:47am

Zoe Caldwell recently returned to her hometown of Melbourne, Australia to perform in The Visit (play not the musical!). This was to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Melbourne Theatre Company of which she was a founding member.