Sept 16, 1914. Creator, producer and host of the first reality television show, Funt orchestrated elaborate hoaxes played on unsuspecting passersby and filmed by a hidden camera. With the catchphrase, Smile,youre on Candid Camera, Funt would reveal he had captured the subjects in the art of being themselves. Born at New York, NY, Funt worked with concealed wire recorders in the US Army Signal Corps during WWII. Premiering on radio as Candid Microphone in 1948, the show quickly moved to TV asCandid Camera and aired (later, hosted by Funts son Peter) until 2004.
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So called because the full moon nearest the autumnal equinox extends the hours of light into the evening and helps the harvester with the long days work.
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The official celebration begins at 11 PM, Sept 15 and continues through Sept 16. On the night of the 15th, the president of Mexico steps onto the balcony of the National Palace at Mexico City and voices the same El Grito (Cry for Freedom) that Father Hidalgo gave on the night of Sept15, 1810, that began Mexico’s rebellion from Spain. Read more at http://www.presidiolabahia.org/mex_ind.htm.
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Sept 16, 1620. Anniversary of the departure of the Mayflower from Plymouth, England, with 102 passengers and a small crew. Vicious storms were encountered en route, which caused serious doubt about the wisdom of continuing, but the ship reached Provincetown, MA, Nov 21, and discharged the Pilgrims at Plymouth, MA, Dec 26, 1620.
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Sept 16, 1830. Alarmed by a newspaper report that Congress wasto have the USS Constitution (popularly known as Old Ironsides) sent to a scrap yard, law student Oliver Wendell Holmes dashed off a poem in protest. The poem began Ay, tear her tattered ensign down!/ Long has it waved on high,/ And many an eye has danced to see/ That banner in the sky. Old Ironsides, published anonymously this day in the Boston Daily Advertisor, was to stir up national outrage as newspaper after newspaper reprinted it. Congress instead appropriated money for the frigates reconstruction, and Old Ironsides still floats today. (Some historians think that Holmes never actually saw the ship he saved.)
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Sept 17, 1964. This sitcom centered around blonde-haired witch Samantha Stephens (Elizabeth Montgomery). Although she promises not to use her witchcraft in her daily life, Samantha finds herself twitching her nose in many situations. Her husband, Darrin Stephens, was played by Dick York and later Dick Sargent, and her daughter, Tabitha Stephens, was played by Erin and Diane Murphy. The last episode aired July 1, 1972. Other cast members included Agnes Moorehead, David White, Alice Ghostley, Bernard Fox and Paul Lynde.
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Sept 17, 1972. This popular award-winning CBS series was based on the 1970 Robert Altman movie and a book by Richard Hooker. Set during the Korean War, the show aired for 11 years (lasting longer than the war). It followed the lives of doctors and nurses on the war front with both humor and pathos. The cast included Wayne Rogers, McLean Stevenson, Loretta Swit, Larry Linville, Gary Burghoff, William Christopher, Jamie Farr, Harry Morgan, Mike Farrell, David Ogden Stiers and Alan Alda as Captain Hawkeye Pierce. The final episode, Goodbye, Farewell and Amen was the highest-rated program of all time, topping the Who Shot J.R.? revelation on Dallas. The show generated two spin-offs: Trapper John, MD and After M* A* S* H.
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Sept 17, 1963. A nail-biting adventure series on ABC. Dr. Richard Kimble (David Janssen) was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death for his wife’s murder but escaped from his captors in a train wreck. This popular program aired for four years detailing Kimble’s search for the one-armed man (Bill Raisch) who had killed his wife, Helen (Diane Brewster). In the meantime Kimble himself was being pursued by Lieutenant Philip Gerard (Barry Morse). The final episode aired Aug 29, 1967, and featured Kimble extracting a confession from the one-armed man as they struggled from the heights of a water tower in a deserted amusement park. That single episode was the highest-rated show ever broadcast until 1976. The TV series generated a hit movie in 1993 with Harrison Ford as Kimble and Oscar-winner Tommy Lee Jones as Gerard.
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Sept 17, 1862. This date has been called Americas bloodiest day in recognition of the high casualties suffered in the Civil War battle between General Robert E. Lees Confederate forces and General George McClellan’s Union army. Estimates vary, but more than 25,000 Union and Confederate soldiers were killed or wounded in this battle on the banks of the Potomac River in Maryland.
Image: Wikimedia Commons, by Thure de Thulstrup, published 1887 by Louis Prang and Company
Sept 17, 1787. Delegations from 12 states (Rhode Island did not send a delegate) at the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia, PA, voted unanimously to approve the proposed document. Thirty-nine of the 42 delegates present signed it, and the Convention adjourned, after drafting a letter of transmittal to the Congress. The proposed constitution stipulated that it would take effect when ratified by nine states. Read more at http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/constitution-day/.
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Sept 18, 1964. Charles Addams’s quirky New Yorker cartoon creations were brought to life in this ABC sitcom about a family full of oddballs. John Astin played lawyer Gomez Addams; with Carolyn Jones as his morbid wife, Morticia; Ken Weatherwax as son Pugsley; Lisa Loring as daughter Wednesday; Jackie Coogan as Uncle Fester; Ted Cassidy as both Lurch, the butler, and Thing, a disembodied hand; Blossom Rock as Grandmama; and Felix Silla as Cousin Itt. The last episode aired Sept 2, 1966. In 1991,The Addams Family movie was released, followed by a sequel. Both starred Anjelica Huston as Morticia, Raul Julia as Gomez, Christopher Lloyd as Uncle Fester, Jimmy Workman as Pugsley and Christina Ricci as Wednesday.
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On 18 September 1889 Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starz open a settlement house for immigrants in Chicago, Illinois. Read more at http://www.uic.edu/jaddams/hull/.
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Sept 18, 1830. In a widely celebrated race, the first locomotive built in America, the Tom Thumb, lost to a horse. Mechanical difficulties plagued the steam engine over the nine-mile course between Rileys Tavern and Baltimore, MD, and a boiler leak prevented the locomotive from finishing the race. In the early days of trains, engines were nicknamed Iron Horses.
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Image Public Domain, available from U.S. Library of Congress
Sept 18, 1947. Although its heritage dates back to 1907 when the army first established military aviation, the US Air Force became a separate military service on this date. Responsible for providing an air force that is capable, in conjunction with the other armed forces, of preserving the peace and security of the US, the department is separately organized under the secretary of the air force and operates under the authority, direction and control of the secretary of defense. Read more at http://www.airforce.com/learn-about/history/.
Image: Public Domain, USAF via Wikipedia.org
Sept 18, 1793. President George Washington laid the Capitol cornerstone at Washington, DC, in a Masonic ceremony. That event was the first and last recorded occasion at which the stone with its engraved silver plate was seen. In 1958, during the extension of the east front of the Capitol, an unsuccessful effort was made to find it.
Image: Public Domain, Washington laying cornerstone at U.S. Capitol by Allyn Cox
Sept 19, 1970. This show one of the most popular sitcoms of the 70s combined good writing, an effective supporting cast and contemporary attitudes. The show centered around the two most important places in Mary Richardss (Mary Tyler Moore) life the WJM-TV newsroom and her apartment at Minneapolis. At home she shared the ups and downs of life with her friend Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper) and the manager of her apartment building, Phyllis Lindstrom (Cloris Leachman). At work, as the associate producer (later producer) of The Six OClock News, Mary struggled to function in a mans world. Figuring in her professional life were her irascible boss Lou Grant (Ed Asner), levelheaded and softhearted news writer Murray Slaughter (Gavin MacLeod) and narcissistic anchorman Ted Baxter (Ted Knight). In the last of 168 episodes (Mar 19, 1977), the unthinkable happened: everyone in the WJM newsroom except the inept Ted was fired.
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A day when people everywhere can swash their buckles and add a touch of larceny to their dialogue by talking like pirates: for example, Arr, matey, it be a fine day. While its inherently a guy thing, women have been known to enjoy the day because they have to be addressed as me beauty. Celebrated by millions on all seven continents. Arr! Annually, Sept 19. Read more at http://www.talklikeapirate.com/.
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Sept 19, 1676. Virginia governor Sir William Berkeley, supporting Charles IIs efforts to exploit the colony, adopted new laws allowing only property holders to vote, raising taxes and raising the cost of shipping while lowering the price for tobacco.
The resulting discontent exploded when the frontier of the colony was attacked by local tribes and the governor refused to defend the settlers.
Nathaniel Bacon, a colonist on the governors council, led frontier farmers and successfully defeated the tribes. Denounced by Berkeley as rebels, Bacon and his men occupied Jamestown, forcing the governor to call an election, the first in 15 years. The Berkeley laws were repealed, and election and tax reforms were instituted. While Bacon and his troops were gone on a raiding party against the Indians, Berkeley again denounced them. They returned and attacked Berkeley’s forces, defeating them and burning Jamestown on Sept 19, 1676. Berkeley fled and Bacon became ruler of Virginia.
When he died suddenly a short time later, the rebellion collapsed. Berkeley returned to power, and Bacon’s followers were hunted down; some were executed and their property confiscated. Berkeley was replaced the next year, and peace was restored.
Image: The Burning of Jamestown by Howard Pyle, c. 1905, Public Domain via Wikipedia.org
Sept 20, 1984. This Emmy Award winning comedy set in New York City revolved around the members of the Huxtable family. Father Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable was played by Bill Cosby; his wife, Clair, an attorney, was played by Phylicia Rashad. Their four daughters were played by Sabrina Le Beauf (Sondra), Lisa Bonet (Denise), Tempestt Bledsoe (Vanessa) and Keshia Knight Pulliam (Rudy); Malcolm-Jamal Warner played son Theo. By the end of the series in 1992, the two oldest daughters had finished college and were married. A Different World was a spin-off set at historically black Hillman College where Denise was a student.
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Tennis champion Billie Jean King defeated male oponnent Bobby Riggs in a much-touted and nationally televised tennis match known as the Battle of the Sexes.” Read more at http://ftw.usatoday.com/2017/09/billie-jean-king-battle-of-the-sexes-bobby-riggs/.
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A bank run on the Fourth National Bank No. 20 Nassau Street, New York City, from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, 4 October 1873
On 20 September 1873 for the first time ever, the New York Stock Exchange was forced to close due to a banking crisis. This panic had a long term effect on the US economy. Read more at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/grant-panic/.
Image: Public domain via Wikipedia.org
Sept 21, 1970. Following the complete merger of the American Football League and the National Football League, ABC joined CBS and NBC in televising weekly games with the debut of Monday Night Football. The show began as an experiment but soon became an institution. Announcers Howard Cosell, Keith Jackson and Don Meredith called the first game, a 31 21 victory by the Cleveland Browns over the New York Jets. On Dec 26, 2005, Monday Night Football made its final telecast on ABC. In 2006, it moved to the cable channel ESPN.
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Sept 21, 1957. Raymond Burr will forever be associated with the character of Perry Mason, a criminal lawyer who won the great majority of his cases. Episodes followed a similar format: the action took place in the first half, with the killers identity unknown, and the courtroom drama took place in the latter half. Mason was particularly adept at eliciting confessions from the guilty parties. Regulars and semi-regulars included Barbara Hale, William Hopper, William Talman and Ray Collins. Following the series end, with the last telecast on Jan 27, 1974, a number of successful Perry Mason TV movies aired, and the show remains popular in reruns.
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Sept 21, 1912. Born at Spokane, WA, Chuck Jones worked as a child extra in Hollywood in the 1920s. After attending art school, he landed a job washing animation cels for famed Disney animator Ub Iwerks. He learned the craft, and by 1962 he headed his own unit at Warner Bros. Animation. He created the characters Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, Marvin the Martian and Pepe le Pew. He worked on the development of Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig, and also produced, directed and wrote the screenplay for the animated 1966 television classic Dr. Seuss How the Grinch Stole Christmas. He won several Academy Awards for his work, and his cartoon Whats Opera, Doc? is in the National Film Registry. He died on Feb 22, 2002, at Corona del Mar, CA. Read more at http://www.chuckjones.com/.
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