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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Sept 22, 1994. This hugely popular NBC comedy brought together six single friends and the issues in their personal lives, ranging from their jobs to their romances. The cast was Courteney Cox Arquette, Lisa Kudrow, Jennifer Aniston, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer and Matt Le Blanc.The show concluded its run in 2004, with a finale in which 51.1 million viewers tuned in, making that episode the fourth most-watched TV program in history.
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In the Northern Hemisphere, autumn begins today with the autumnal equinox, at 10:21 AM, EDt. Note that in the Southern Hemisphere todayis the beginning of spring. Everywhere on Earth (except near the poles) the sun rises due east and sets due west and daylight length is nearly identical about 12 hours, 8 minutes. Read more at http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-september-equinox.
Image courtesy of NASA.
Sept 22, 1862. One of the most important presidential proclamations of American history is that of Sept 22, 1862, in which Abraham Lincoln, by executive proclamation, freed the slaves in the rebelling states.That on… [Jan 1, 1863]… all persons held as slaves within any state or designated part of a state, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever, free. Read more at http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/emancipation_proclamation/.
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Sept 22, 1656. The General Provincial Court at Patuxent, MD,empaneled the first all-woman jury in the colonies to hear the case of Judith Catchpole, accused of murdering her child. The defendant claimed she had never even been pregnant, and after all the evidence was heard, the jury acquitted her.
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Hobbit Day, on 22 September, celebrates the birthdays of Frodo and Bilbo Baggins and their creator J.R.R. Tolkein.
Sept 22, 1903. Italo Marchiony emigrated from Italy in the late 1800s and soon thereafter went into business at New York, NY, with a pushcart dispensing lemon ice. Success soon led to a small fleet of pushcarts, and the inventive Marchiony was inspired to develop a cone, first made of paper, later of pastry, to hold the tasty delicacy. On Sept 22, 1903, his application for a patent for his new mold was filed, and US Patent No 746971 was issued to him Dec 15, 1903.
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A day to recognize and honor individuals who have lived a century or longer. A day not only to recognize these individuals but to listen to them discuss the memories filled with historical information they have of their rich lives.
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Sept 23, 1952. Anniversary of the nationally televised Checkers Speech by then vice presidential candidate Richard M. Nixon. Nixon was found clean as a hounds tooth in connection with a private fund for political expenses, and he declared he would never give back the cocker spaniel, Checkers, which had been a gift to his daughters.
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Sept 23, 1846. Neptune is 2.796 billion miles from the sun (about 30 times as far from the sun as Earth). Eighth planet from the sun, Neptune takes 164.8 years to revolve around the sun. Diameter is about 31,000 miles compared to Earth at 7,927 miles. Discovered by German astronomer Johann Galle.
Image: NASA.gov
Sept 23, 1930. Born at Albany, GA, Ray Charles Robinson began losing his sight at age 5. He began formal music training at the St. Augustine School for the Deaf and Blind, and by age 15 was earning a living asa musician. He went on to become one of the most influential performers of all time. As a pianist, singer, songwriter, bandleader and producer, he played country, jazz, rock, gospel and standards. His renditions of Georgia on My Mind, I Cant Stop Loving You and America the Beautiful are considered true American classics. He died at Beverly Hills, CA, June10, 2004.
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Sept 23, 1800. American educator and author of the famous McGuffey Readers, born at Washington County, PA. Died at Charlottesville, VA, May 4, 1873. Read more at http://www.units.miamioh.edu/mcguffeymuseum/.
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Sept 24, 1968. TVs longest-running prime-time program, and the first newsmagazine offering in-depth investigative reports and profiles, was originally hosted by Harry Reasoner and Mike Wallace. The shows correspondents have included Ed Bradley, Steve Kroft, Lesley Stahl, Morley Safer, Andy Rooney, Scott Pelley, Dan Rather, Diane Sawyer and Bob Simon. Tough interviewer Mike Wallace retired from the show in 2006.
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Sept 24, 1964. A successful show based loosely on the life of pioneer Daniel Boone, who helped settle Kentucky in the 1770s. Fess Parkerstarred as the American hero. Ed Ames played Mingo, Boones friend, an educated Cherokee, and Pat Blair played his wife, Rebecca. Also featured were Albert Salmi, Jimmy Dean, Roosevelt Grier, Darby Hinton, Veronica Cartwright and Dallas McKennon.
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Sept 24, 1977. This one-hour comedy-drama featured guest stars aboard a cruise ship, the Pacific Princess. All stories had to do with finding or losing love. The ships crew were the only regulars: Gavin MacLeodas Captain Merrill Stubing, Bernie Kopell as Doctor Adam Bricker, Fred Grandy as assistant purser Burl Gopher Smith, Ted Lange as bartender Isaac Washington and Lauren Tewes as cruise director Julie McCoy. The series ended with the last telecast on Sept 5, 1986, but special TV movies were broadcast in later years.
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Herman Munster (Fred Gwynne) was Frankensteins monster; Lily, his wife (Yvonne DeCarlo), and Grandpa, her father (Al Lewis), were vampires; and his son, Eddie (Butch Patrick), was a werewolf. Only their niece, Marilyn (Beverly Owen and Pat Priest), looked normal, and they considered her the unattractive family member. Most of the shows laughs came from the family’s interactions with outsiders. The last telecast was on Sept 1, 1966.
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Sept 24, 1936. Puppeteer, born at Greenville, MS. Jim Henson created a unique family of puppets known as the Muppets. Kermit the Frog,Big Bird, Rowlf, Bert and Ernie, Gonzo, Animal, Miss Piggy and Oscar the Grouch are a few of the puppets that captured the hearts of children and adults alike in television and film productions including Sesame Street, The Jimmy Dean Show, The Muppet Show, The Muppet Movie, The Muppets Take Manhattan, The Great Muppet Caper and The Dark Crystal. Henson began his career in 1954 as producer of the TV show Sam and Friends at Washington, DC. He introduced the Muppets in 1956. His creativity was rewarded with 18 Emmy Awards, seven Grammy Awards, four Peabody Awards and five ACE Awards from the National Cable Television Association. Henson died unexpectedly May 16, 1990, at New York, NY. Read mores at http://www.henson.com/.
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National Punctuation Day on 24 September 2016 celebrates the lowly comma, the correct use of quotation marks and the proper manner to use periods, semi-colons and more. Read more…
On 25 September 1690 the first edition (and only edition) of Publick Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestic was published at Boston, Massachusetts. Read more…
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Sept 25, 1981. Sandra Day O’Connor was sworn in as the first woman associate justice on the US Supreme Court on this date. She had been nominated by President Ronald Reagan in July 1981, and she retired from the court in 2006.
Image: Public Domain, U.S. Library of Congress
Sept 25, 1676. (Old Style date.) Two very accurate clocks were set in motion at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England. Greenwich Mean Time (now known as Universal Time) became the standard for England; in1884 it became the sta
ndard for the world. Read more…
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Sept 25, 1930. Cartoonist and children’s author, best remembered for his poetry that included A Light in the Attic and The Giving Tree. Silverstein won the Michigan Young Readers Award for Where the Sidewalk Ends. Also a songwriter, he wrote The Unicorn Song and A Boy Named Sue. Born at Chicago, IL, he died at Key West, FL, May 9, 1999.
Gilligan played by Bob Denver
Sept 26, 1964. Seven people set sail aboard the Minnow for a three-hour tour and became stranded on an island. They used the resources on the island for food, shelter and entertainment. The cast included Bob Denver (Gilligan), Alan Hale, Jr (the Skipper), Jim Backus (Thurston Howell, III), Natalie Schafer (Mrs Lovey Howell), Russell Johnson (the Professor), Dawn Wells (Mary Ann) and Tina Louise (Ginger Grant, the movie star). The last telecast aired on Sept 4, 1967.
