Today's Birthdays 11/11

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 11/11/03 at 5:49pm

Fyodor Dostoyevsky 11/11/1821 - 2/9/1881 political revolutionary, author: The Brothers Karamazov, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot

Maude Adams 11/11/1872 - Jul 15, 1953 performer, Debuted at 9 months with her mother in Salt Lake City. At 5, she was in "Fritz" in SF. NYC debut in 1888. From 1918-31, she woked on improving stage lighting. From 1937-43, she chaired the drama dept. at Stephens College, Mo. - Broadway's first Peter Pan, who originated the role in 1904, and returned at least three times through 1915.

Roland Young 11/11/1887 - Jun 5, 1953 performer - 1916 orig Seagull; 1918 A Doll's House (Nazimova, Lionel Atwell); 1924 Hedda Gabler; orig The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (Ina Claire, Helen Hayes)

Clifton Webb 11/11/1889 - Oct 13, 1966 performer - See America First; Sunny; The Little Show; Flying Colors; As Thousands Cheer; 1939 The Importance of Being Earnest (Estelle Winwood, Florence McGee, Helen Trenholme); orig Blithe Spirit (Peggy Wood); Present Laughter (Jan Sterling); film's Laura; Mr. Belvedere; Cheaper By The Dozen

Robert Ryan 11/11/1909 - Jul 11, 1973 performer - Clash by Night (Tallulah Bankhead); Mr. President; film's Bad Day at Black Rock; Crossfire; The Wild Bunch

Stubby Kaye 11/11/1918 - Dec 14, 1997 performer - Guys & Dolls (show & film); Li'l Abner; Everybody Loves Opal (Eileen Heckart, Brenda Vaccaro, John Napier); 1974 Good News (Alice Faye); film's Cat Ballou, Guys and Dolls, Li’l Abner, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. 11/11/1922 writer - Happy Birthday, Wanda June (Marsha Mason); film's, etc. Slaughterhouse Five, Cat’s Cradle, Breakfast of Champions

Jonathan Winters 11/11/1925 Emmy Award-winning performer, comedian: Davis Rules [1990-91]; The Wacky World of Jonathan Winters, NBC Comedy Hour, The Jonathan Winters Show, Mork & Mindy, Hee Haw, And Here’s the Show, The Andy Williams Show, The Fish that Saved Pittsburgh, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, The Shadow, The Flintstones; character: Maude Frickert; TV panelist: Masquerade Party; commercials: Hefty trash bags

Bibi Andersson 11/11/1935 - Full Circle (Leonard Nimoy, Peter Weller); The Night of the Tribades (Eileen Atkins, Werner Klemperer, Max Von Sydow, Bill Moor); film's Duel at Diablo, Story of a Woman, The Concorde: Airport ’79

Paul Trueblood 11/11/1938 conductor, composer, pianist to Josh Logan, Alan J. Lerner, Comden & Green - A Party with Betty Comden & Adolph Green

Suzannah Norstrand 11/11/1949 performer - Hair

Scott Plank 11/11/1958 - Oct 23, 2002 performer - Dreamgirls

Calista Flockhart 11/11/1964 performer - 1994 The Glass Menagerie (Julie Harris); 1997 3 Sisters (Billy Crudup, Jerry Stiller, Eric Stoltz); tv's etc. Ally McBeal, The Guiding Light, Pictures of Baby Jane Doe, Telling Lies in America

Leonardo (Wilhelm) DiCaprio 11/11/1974 performer - Titanic, Parenthood, Growing Pains, Critters 3, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, The Man in the Iron Mask. What will become of this actor?

SHOWS THAT OPENED ON THIS DATE:

1937 The actors play in street clothes against an almost bare, brick backdrop in a production of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, which opens tonight at the Mercury Theatre. The production proves especially popular with the younger audiences because they "rejoiced over this bizarre business because it was in fashion," reports Burns Mantle in his "The Best Plays of 1937-1938". Playing Brutus is a young Orson Welles, also the producer and director. The production runs almost five months, racking up 157 performances.

1943 The songwriting team of Lerner & Loewe make their Broadway debut with a now-forgotten musical, What's Up?, which starred Jimmy Savo and was directed by George Balanchine. It runs just 63 performances at the National Theatre. But the team goes on to write Brigadoon, Camelot and My Fair Lady, among other shows.

Sabrina Fair 11/11/1953 - Margaret Sullavan, Joseph Cotton, John Cromwell, Cathleen Nesbitt

1958 French import La Plume De Ma Tante opens at the Royale Theatre. The title makes no sense -- which is exactly the point of this madcap revue, plumed by Robert Dhery.

1963 Christopher Plummer stars as a Hitler-like man who goes from nothing to dictatorial power, in the U.S. premiere of Bertolt Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. Despite Direction by Tony Richardson, incidential music by Jule Styne, and an impressive gathering of supporting talent, the production expires after just 8 performances at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.

1964 Luv will be in the air for 901 performances of Murray Schisgal's satire. The original cast includes Alan Arkin, Eli Wallach, and Anne Jackson directed by Mike Nichols.

The Prisoner of Second Avenue - Peter Faulk, Lee Grant, Vincent Gardenia

ON THIS DATE IN:

1938 - Kate Smith sang God Bless America for the very first time. It would later become her signature song. Irving Berlin penned the tune in 1917 but never released it until Miss Smith sang it for the first time on her radio broadcast.

1992 The Church of England voted to ordain women as priests.

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

Milla

[DofB5]

Posted: 11/11/03 at 6:02pm

And lest we forget--Today is Veterans Day. Take a moment to think about all of our Vets. Past and present. And say a “Thank you” in your heart for their sacrifices large and small. Heros all.

D