April 9, 2008

80 years ago
1928

Died on this date
John Alden Dix, 67. Mr. Dix, a Democrat, was Governor of New York in 1911-1912. He was scheduled to sail on the first return voyage of the Titanic to Europe, but of course, the ship never made it to New York.

Religion
Jeddu Krishnamurti, the young Hindu whom the Theosophist followers of Annie Besant accepted as "a vehicle for the world teacher," or spiritual equal of Christ and Buddha, arrived in New York City on the Leviathan to begin his second visit to the United States.

Disasters
A storm at Torreon, Mexico ruined $10 million U.S. of growing cotton.

40 years ago
1968

Hit parade
#1 single in Switzerland (Swiss Hitparade): Lady Madonna--The Beatles (3rd week at #1)

Americana
Funeral services for Martin Luther King, Jr. were held at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, followed by memorial services at Morehouse College. Dozens of national leaders joined the 50,000-100,000 marchers who followed Mr. King’s coffin on a farm wagon pulled by two Georgia mules on its 3½-mile course to South View Cemetery. The Academy Awards ceremony was postponed, and the New York Stock Exchange was closed for the day.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Quarter-Finals
Montreal 5 @ Boston 2 (Montreal led best-of-seven series 3-0)
Chicago 1 @ New York 2 (New York led best-of-seven series 2-0)
Los Angeles 5 @ Minnesota 7 (Los Angeles led best-of-seven series 2-1)

Wayne Connelly scored against Terry Sawchuk on a penalty shot to help the North Stars defeat the Kings at Metropolitan Sports Center in Bloomington. It was the third penalty shot in Stanley Cup history, the first since 1944, and the first to result in a goal.

Basketball
ABA
Western Division Finals
Dallas 112 @ New Orleans 109 (Best-of-seven series tied 1-1)

30 years ago
1978

Died on this date
Michael Wilson, 63. U.S. screenwriter. Mr. Wilson shared the 1951 Academy Award (with Harry Brown) for adapted screenplay for A Place in the Sun. His screenplay for 5 Fingers (1952) won an Edgar, but then his career was interrupted by the Hollywood blacklist. Mr. Wilson wrote the script for Salt of the Earth (1953), a movie whose credits included several blacklisted individuals (and which, as a result, didn’t receive wide release). Mr. Wilson then lived in France for a number of years, writing screenplays for European movies. He continued to write Hollywood screenplays, but under a pseudonym or using a front. He and fellow blacklistee Carl Foreman wrote the Oscar-winning script for The Bridge on the River Kwai,but the screenplay was credited to Pierre Boulle, the author of the novel on which the movie was based. Mr. Boulle didn’t speak or write English, so the Academy Award went unclaimed for many years; Mr. Wilson was posthumously awarded an Oscar in 1984. In 1995, Mr. Wilson was credited by the Academy Board of Directors with an Oscar nomination as co-author of Lawrence of Arabia and was credited as the winner of the Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for Best British Dramatic Screenplay. Mr. Wilson eventually returned to the United States; the blacklist was long gone by the time he shared screenplay credit with Rod Serling for Planet of the Apes in 1968, another movie based on a novel by Pierre Boulle.

Protest
Police in the Philippines arrested about 600 marchers who were protesting the results of national elections two days before.

Disasters
A storm that had hit the Bay of Bengal off Bangladesh the day before continued to wreak havoc. 100 cargo boats were sunk, drowning about 1,000 people.

Golf
Gary Player won the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia for the third time, shooting a record-tying 8-under-par score of 64 on the final round to overcome an 8-stroke deficit to finish with an 11-under-par total of 277, 1 stroke ahead of Rod Funseth, Hubert Green, and Tom Watson. Mr. Green, the leader after three rounds, missed a 3-foot birdie putt on the final hole after being inadvertently distracted by radio announcer Jim Kelly. First prize money was $45,000.



Auto racing
Benny Parsons won the NASCAR Rebel 500 race at Darlington, South Carolina. It was his second win of the year.

25 years ago
1983

Space
The space shuttle Challenger concluded its maiden voyage with a landing at Edwards Air Force base in California.

Hockey
The Edmonton Oilers defeated the Winnipeg Jets 4-3 at the Winnipeg Arena to sweep their first round Stanley Cup series 3 games to 0. The Buffalo Sabres completed a sweep of their series against the Montreal Canadiens with a 4-2 win at the War Memorial Auditorium in Buffalo. The two goals for the Canadiens were the first goals of the series for Montreal. At the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, the hometown Canucks edged the Calgary Flames 5-4 to cut the Flames’ lead in their series to 2-1.

20 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy: Perdere l'Amore--Massimo Ranieri (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Flanders (Ultratop 50): Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car--Billy Ocean (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the Netherlands (De Nederlandse Top 40): Gimme Hope Jo'anna--Eddy Grant

#1 single in France (SNEP): Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You--Glenn Medeiros (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Heart--Pet Shop Boys

#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): Don't Turn Around--Aswad (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (BMRB): Heart--Pet Shop Boys

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car--Billy Ocean

U.S.A. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Man in the Mirror--Michael Jackson (3rd week at #1)
2 Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car--Billy Ocean
3 Never Gonna Give You Up--Rick Astley
4 Endless Summer Nights--Richard Marx
5 Rocket 2 U--The Jets
6 Devil Inside--INXS
7 Where Do Broken Hearts Go--Whitney Houston
8 Girlfriend--Pebbles
9 Wishing Well--Terence Trent D'Arby
10 I Want Her--Keith Sweat

Singles entering the chart were I'm Still Searching by Glass Tiger (#77); Century's End by Donald Fagen (#82); When We Kiss by Bardeux (#83); We All Sleep Alone by Cher (#84); Take it While it's Hot by Sweet Sensation (#85); Under the Milky Way by the Church (#86); Da'Butt by E.U. (#87); The Flame by Cheap Trick (#88); Nite and Day by Al B. Sure! (#89); and Moonbeam by Men Without Hats (#90).

Canada's top 10 (RPM)
1 Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car--Billy Ocean
2 Never Gonna Give You Up--Rick Astley
3 Man in the Mirror--Michael Jackson
4 Endless Summer Nights--Richard Marx
5 Father Figure--George Michael
6 I Get Weak--Belinda Carlisle
7 She's Like the Wind--Patrick Swayze (featuring Wendy Fraser)
8 Devil Inside--INXS
9 Just Like Paradise--David Lee Roth
10 Check it Out--John Cougar Mellencamp

Singles entering the chart were I Don't Want to Live Without You by Foreigner (#86); Kiss and Tell by Bryan Ferry (#92); Never Die Young by James Taylor (#95); Strange But True by Times Two (#96); Set the Night to Music by Starship (#97); and Mandinka by Sinead O'Connor (#98).

Canada's top 10 (The Record)
1 Never Gonna Give You Up--Rick Astley
2 Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car--Billy Ocean
3 Pump Up the Volume--M/A/R/R/S
4 Father Figure--George Michael
5 She's Like the Wind--Patrick Swayze (featuring Wendy Fraser)
6 Man in the Mirror--Michael Jackson
7 Just Like Paradise--David Lee Roth
8 Wishing Well--Terence Trent D'Arby
9 Endless Summer Nights--Richard Marx
10 I Get Weak--Belinda Carlisle

Died on this date
Brook Benton, 56. U.S. singer and songwriter. Mr. Benton, born Benjamin Franklin Peay, sang with various gospel groups before going solo. He broke into the hit record charts as a songwriter, with two top 10 hits on the U.S. pop chart in 1958: Looking Back by Nat King Cole, and A Lover’s Question by Clyde McPhatter. Also, In A Dream and Everything were released by Roy Hamilton as B-sides that year. 1958 also marked Mr. Benton’s entry into the charts as a performer; A Million Miles From Nowhere reached #82 in the Billboard Hot 100. It’s Just a Matter of Time went to #3 in the Hot 100 in early 1959, and was the first of 23 top 40 pop hits for him from 1959-1964. He also scored well on the rhythm and blues chart, hitting #1 six times during this period: It’s Just a Matter of Time ; Thank You Pretty Baby ; and So Many Ways (1959); Baby (You’ve Got What It Takes) ; A Rockin’ Good Way (both duets with Dinah Washington) and Kiddio (1960). Mr. Benton’s biggest hit was The Boll Weevil Song ,which hit #2 on the Hot 100, #2 R&B, and #1 on the adult contemporary chart in the summer of 1961. He also contributed to the soundtrack of the 1962 movie Walk on the Wild Side ;his recording of the title song reached #43 on the pop chart. Mr. Benton’s record sales declined after 1964, but he had a big comeback hit in early 1970 with Rainy Night in Georgia ,which hit #4 on the Hot 100, and #1 on the R&B chart. His 49th and last single to hit the chart was Making Love is Good for You ,which got to #49 on the R&B chart in 1978. Brook Benton died of spinal meningitis.

Dave Prater, 50. U.S. singer. Mr. Prater was the Dave of the soul singing duo Sam & Dave, whose hit singles included Hold On! I'm A Comin' (#21, Billboard Hot 100, 1966); Soul Man (#2, 1967); and I Thank You (#9, 1968). He was killed in a car accident in Sycamore, Georgia.

Personal
This blogger emceed the talent show at the University of Western Ontario's School of Library and Information Science at the grad centre in London, Ontario. A number of good acts performed, and I closed the show by singing The Breezeway Conversation (a rewrite of Simon and Garfunkel's The Dangling Conversation) and the old Elvis Presley "classic" Yoga Is as Yoga Does. It was definitely the high point of my career at SLIS. A dance followed the talent show, and a splendid time was had by all.

Terrorism
One of the hostages aboard a Kuwait Airways jet that had been hijacked four days earlier was killed by the hijackers. The plane was now on the ground at Larnaca, Cyprus.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Prince of Wales Conference
Division Semi-Finals
Montreal 4 @ Hartford 3 (Montreal led best-of-seven series 3-0)
Boston 2 @ Buffalo 6 (Boston led best-of-seven series 2-1)
New York Islanders 2 @ New Jersey 3 (New Jersey led best-of-seven series 2-1)
Washington 3 @ Philadelphia 4 (Philadelphia led best-of-seven series 2-1)

Clarence S. Campbell Conference
Division Semi-Finals
Detroit 6 @ Toronto 3 (Detroit led best-of-seven series 2-1)
St. Louis 3 @ Chicago 6 (St. Louis led best-of-seven series 2-1)
Calgary 2 @ Los Angeles 5 (Calgary led best-of-seven series 2-1)
Edmonton 4 @ Winnipeg 6 (Edmonton led best-of-seven series 2-1)

10 years ago
1998

World events
An independent team of experts rejected the claim by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein that Iraq had made substantial progress in eliminating biological weapons.

Disasters
Dozens were killed when tornadoes destroyed whole communities in Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia.