December 25, 2009

450 years ago
1559

Religion
Giovanni Angelo Medici was elected Roman Catholic Pope Pius IV, succeeding Paul IV, who had died four months earlier. Pius IV was installed on January 6, 1560.

210 years ago
1809

Medicine
Dr. Ephraim McDowell performed the first ovariotomy, removing a 22.5-pound tumor from Jane Crawford. The operation was performed, without benefit of anesthetic or antisepsis, in 25 minutes at his home in Danville, Kentucky. The patient made a complete recovery and lived for 32 more years.

180 years ago
1829

Born on this date
Patrick Gilmore. U.K.-born U.S. composer and bandleader. Mr. Gilmore, a native of Ireland, moved to Boston in 1848, and led bands before and after the American Civil War. He wrote the Famous 22nd Regiment March (1874) and the lyrics to the song When Johnny Comes Marching Home (1863). Mr. Gilmore died on September 24, 1892 at the age of 62; he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.

140 years ago
1869

Born on this date
Charles Finger. U.K.-born U.S. author and musician. Mr. Finger, a native of England, moved to the United States in his 20s, and several dozen books of fiction and non-fiction for young readers. He was awarded the 1925 Newbery Medal for the book Tales from Silver Lands (1924). Mr. Finger was a pianist and piano teacher, and directed the San Angelo Conservatory of Music in Texas (1898-1904). He died on January 7, 1941 at the age of 71.

120 years ago
1889

Born on this date
Lila Bell Wallace. Canadian-born U.S. publisher. Mrs. Wallace, born Lila Bell Acheson in Virden, Manitoba, co-founded Reader's Digest with her husband DeWitt in 1922. She died on May 8, 1984 at the age of 94.

110 years ago
1899

Born on this date
Humphrey Bogart. U.S. actor. One of the most famous movie stars in history, "Bogie" won the Academy Award for Best Actor for The African Queen (1951), but is probably better known for his starring roles in movies such as The Maltese Falcon (1941); Casablanca (1942); and The Big Sleep (1946). He was a heavy smoker and drinker, and died after a painful battle with throat cancer on January 14, 1957, 20 days after his 57th birthday.

70 years ago
1939

On the radio
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, on NBC
Tonight’s episode: The Three Garridebs

60 years ago
1949

Died on this date
Farran Zerbe, 78. U.S. numismatist. Mr. Zerbe began collecting coins as a child, and joined the American Numismatic Association (ANA) in 1900. He served as chief numismatist (person responsible for selling government coins) at the World's Fairs in St. Louis (1904), Portland (1905), and San Francisco (1915), and was president of the ANA in 1908-1909. Mr. Zerbe's 1908 purchase of the ANA's journal The Numismatist for himself instead of on behalf of the ANA earned him the enmity of other numismatists. He sold his coin collection to Chase National Bank in 1928, and served as its curator until his retirement in 1939. Mr. Zerbe was inducted into the Numismatic Hall of Fame in 1969.

Leon Schlesinger, 65. U.S. film producer. Mr. Schlesinger founded Leon Schlesinger Productions, and produced the Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes cartoons from 1933-1944, when his company was purchased by Warner Brothers and became Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. Mr. Schlesinger died of a viral infection.

World events
The Czechoslovakian government revoked the citizenship of people who fled the country after the Communist coup of February 1948.

Defense
The U.S. Air Force announced the development of a highly heat-resistant ceramic stupalith, for use in jet and rocket engines.

Politics and government
The Austrian Interior Ministry announced the arrest of 13 youths for attempting to form a neo-Nazi organization.

50 years ago
1959

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.K. (New Musical Express): What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?--Emile Ford and the Checkmates (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (Record Retailer): What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?--Emile Ford and the Checkmates (2nd week at #1)

On television tonight
The Twilight Zone, on CBS
Tonight’s episode: What You Need, starring Ernest Truex and Steve Cochran

Aviation
Pan American World Airways Boeing 707 jet airliners set new world speed records, flying from Paris-Boston in 6 hours 38 minutes; Paris-New York in 6 hours 10 minutes; London-New York in 6 hours 21 minutes; and Los Angeles-London in 11 hours 5 minutes.

40 years ago
1969

World events
In defiance of a French arms embargo, five French gunboats were spirited from the port of Cherbourg late at night by an Israeli crew.

Diplomacy
Leaders of Egypt, Sudan, and Libya gathered in Tripoli for the beginning of a three-day summit.

30 years ago
1979

Died on this date
Joan Blondell, 73. U.S. actress. Miss Blondell co-starred with James Cagney in several movies, including Sinner’s Holiday (1930); The Public Enemy (1931); Blonde Crazy (1932); and The Crowd Roars (1932). Other movies included Bullets or Ballots (1936); A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945); Nightmare Alley (1947); and The Blue Veil (1951), for which she received an Academy Award nomination. Miss Blondell acted in many television shows from the 1950s through the 1970s.

Football
NCAA
Fiesta Bowl
Pittsburgh 16 Arizona 10

25 years ago
1984

Basketball
NBA
New Jersey 120 @ New York 114

Bernard King of the Knickerbockers set a team single-game scoring record with 60 points.

20 years ago
1989

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Australian Music Report): Love Shack--The B-52's

#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Pump Up the Jam--Technotronic featuring Felly (3rd week at #1)

Died on this date
Frederick F. Houser, 84. U.S. politician and judge. Mr. Houser, a Republican, was a member of the California State Assembly (1931-1933, 1939-1943), and ran three unsuccessful campaigns for the U.S. House of Representatives (1932, 1934, 1936). He was Lieutenant Governor of California (1943-1947), and sat on the California Superior Court (1947-1966).

Betty Garde, 84. U.S. actress. Miss Garde appeared, usually in minor roles, in plays, movies, radio, and television programs in a career spanning more than 40 years. She performed in several radio programs directed by Orson Welles.

Robert Pirosh, 79. U.S. movie director and screenwriter. Mr. Pirosh co-wrote the screenplays for the Marx Brothers comedies A Night at the Opera (1935) and A Day at the Races (1937), and won an Academy Award for his screenplay for Battleground (1949). He was nominated for another Academy Award for the screenplay for Go for Broke! (1951), which was the first movie that he directed.

Nicolae Ceausescu, 71. President of Romania, 1967-1989. Mr. Ceausescu and his wife Elena, 70, his chief deputy in the government, were given a brief trial by a military tribunal on charges of genocide, abuse of power, and theft, and they were both executed by a firing squad at an undisclosed location.

Billy Martin, 61. U.S. baseball player and manager. Mr. Martin was an infielder--mostly playing for second base--with seven major league teams from 1950-1961, batting .257 with 64 home runs and 333 runs batted in in 1,021 games. He was best known for his years with the New York Yankees (1950-1953, 1955-1957), when he played with five World Series championship teams. He made a diving catch of a pop fly in the seventh game of the 1952 World Series to help save the game, and was the most valuable player of the 1953 World Series, batting .500 (12 hits in 24 at bats in a 6-game series). Mr. Martin managed five different major league teams from 1969-1988, compiling a record of 1,253-1,1013. He managed the Yankees five different times, leading them to the American League pennant in 1976 and the World Series championship in 1977. Mr. Martin won divisional titles with three of the other teams he managed, but he had a habit of wearing out his welcome; drinking and fighting often proved his undoing. Mr. Martin was killed in a vehicle crash; he and a friend had both been drinking, and Mr. Martin was apparently the passenger in the pickup truck when it skidded off an icy road, careened 300 feet down an embankment, crashed into a culvert, and stopped at the foot of his driveway. He wasn't wearing a seat belt, and the resulting injuries proved fatal.

Football
NFL
Cincinnati (8-8) 21 @ Minnesota (10-6) 29

10 years ago
1999

War
After a night of heavy shelling, Russian forces began entering Grozny, capital of the rebellious province of Chechnya, where they met fierce resistance.

Terrorism
A Taliban spokesman said that the five hijackers who had seized a plane after takeoff from Katmandu, Nepal and now sat at Kandahar had demanded the release of a Muslim cleric, and of several Kashmiri guerrillas held in Indian jails. The Taliban refused to negotiate, but refuelled the plane and provided food.

Football
NFL
Denver (6-9) 17 @ Detroit (8-7) 7