February 26, 2008

170 years ago
1838

World events
Hundreds of Americans sympathetic with the rebels in Upper Canada captured Pelee Island in Lake Erie.

100 years ago
1908

Born on this date
Tex Avery. U.S. animator. Mr. Avery was credited with the creation of Daffy Duck, and played a key role in the development of the characters of Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. He died of lung cancer at the age of 72 on August 26, 1980.

90 years ago
1918

Disasters
An estimated 604 spectators were killed when the grandstand of the Hong Kong Jockey Club collapsed and burned. It was the deadliest disaster in sports history.

80 years ago
1928

Born on this date
Happy 80th birthday, Fats Domino!
One of the major figures in the early years of rock and roll, Antoine Domino has lived his entire life (except for time on the road, of course) in New Orleans. By the time rock and roll started to become popular in 1955, Fats had already accumulated an impressive string of hits on the rhythm and blues charts. His first hit, The Fat Man, sold over 800,000 copies and hit #2 on the Billboard R&B chart in early 1950. Rock historian Michael Ochs commented that when you hear this song, it's as though you're hearing it live through some time warp from antiquity. The first single of Mr. Domino's to make it onto the pop chart was Goin' Home in 1952. Mr. Domino continued his chart run with songs such as Goin' to the River and Please Don't Leave Me, both from 1953. By the time Fats performed at a festival at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles in 1954, he was introduced by Louis Armstrong as someone fully deserving of inclusion in the hall of fame. Ain't That a Shame, released in the summer of 1955, was the first single of Mr. Domino's to hit the top 10 on the pop chart, and was the first of ten top 10 pop hits from 1955-1960. In the 6-year period from the spring of 1956 to the spring of 1962, Fats had 34 entries on the U.S. top 40 pop chart, many of them being two-sided hits.
Oddly, he never had a #1 pop hit; his biggest hit, Blueberry Hill, spent three weeks at #2 in the fall of 1956. Mr. Domino's original compositions, many written with trumpeter Dave Bartholomew, included such hits as I'm in Love Again; Blue Monday; I'm Walkin'; Valley of Tears; Whole Lotta Loving; Be My Guest; Walkin' to New Orleans; and Let the Four Winds Blow. In addition to Blueberry Hill, Mr. Domino had hits with his versions of other old songs, such as My Blue Heaven; When My Dreamboat Comes Home; I'm in the Mood for Love; Jambalaya; and You Win Again. His records in the 1950s and '60s sold an estimated 65 million copies. Fats also appeared in several movies, including The Girl Can't Help It (1956--performing Blue Monday); Jamboree (1957); and The Big Beat (1958--performing the title song, and I'm Walkin'). Mr. Domino was the major artist on New Orleans-based Imperial Records before Ricky Nelson joined the label in 1958. In 1963, with his popularity diminishing, Mr. Domino signed with ABC Paramount; his last top 40 pop single, Red Sails in the Sunset, hit #36 in October 1963. In 1965 Fats signed with the Mercury label; no hits resulted, but he gave I Left My Heart in San Francisco the treatment it deserved. After a couple of obscure singles on the New Orleans-based Broadmoor label, Mr. Domino went to Reprise in 1968. He made Lady Madonna sound as though it had been written for him, and it deserved better than its #100 chart position. He also covered Lovely Rita and Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey, but they failed to chart. Mr. Domino settled into a life of occasional road trips and television appearances in later years. He was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1998. In 1998 he was also awarded the American National Medal of the Arts by the National Endowment for the Arts. Fats made headlines in 2005 when he was reported missing in the early days after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. He's attempted to brave the storm at home, but his home was destroyed, and he was nowhere to be found. It turned out that he'd finally abandoned his house, and had been rescued by a passing Coast Guard helicopter.
Fats Domino and his wife Rosemary will be celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary on August 6, 2008. They have eight children, all of whose names begin with the letter A. My favourite Fats Domino records are the two-sided hits of The Big Beat/I Want You to Know (late 1957-early 1958); I Want to Walk You Home/I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Someday (late summer-early fall of 1959); and Natural Born Lover/My Girl Josephine (late 1960).

Aviation
The United States Navy dirigible Los Angeles left Lakehurst, New Jersey at 6:15 A.M., flew over New York City, then headed south.

Disasters
A transcontinental air mail plane from New York to San Francisco, carrying 29 sacks of mail and one passenger, was wrecked at daylight near Marquette, Nebraska. The passenger, S.N. Craig of Beaver, Pennsylvania, was killed.

75 years ago
1933

Born on this date
Godfrey Cambridge. U.S. actor and comedian. Mr. Cambridge was born in New York to parents who emigrated to from British Guiana, but spent some of his school years in Nova Scotia before returning to New York to finish his education. He received a scholarship to study medicine, but opted for an acting career instead. Mr. Cambridge made his Broadway debut in 1957 in Nature's Way. His other Broadway appearances came in Ossie Davis's Purlie Victorious (1961-1962) (where his co-stars included Alan Alda); and How To Be a Jewish Mother (1967-1968), which closed after just 20 performances. An off-Broadway appearance in The Blacks earned him an Obie award in 1961. During these years he began to appear on television, often as a guest on Tonight, when Jack Paar was the host. Mr. Cambridge made guest appearances in such series as Car 54, Where Are You?; The Dick Van Dyke Show; and I Spy. Among Mr. Cambridge's movie credits were The President's Analyst (1967); Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970); and his best-known role, as star of Watermelon Man, where he played a white bigot who woke up one day to discover that he'd turned black. Mr. Cambridge was cast as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the made-for-television movie Victory at Entebbe, but suffered a fatal heart attack on the set on November 29, 1976. Mr. Amin declared that Mr. Cambridge's act was punishment from God; a more prosaic explanation is that his death was caused more by overeating and yo-yo dieting.

20 years ago
1988

Politics and government
The Panamanian National Assembly ousted President Eric Arturo Delvalle from office, a day after Mr. Delvalle had sought to fire dictator Gen. Manuel Noriega. The pro-Noriega majority installed Education Minister Manuel Solis Palma as minister in charge of the presidency. Mr. Delvalle denounced the assembly's actions, and called for a general strike. He then responded to a military ultimatum to leave the country by going into hiding. The main anti-Noriega newspaper in Panama was shut down. The United States said that it supported Mr. Delvalle, but had no plans to intervene militarily.