February 26, 2013

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Fats Domino!

200 years ago
1813

Died on this date
R.R. Livingston, 66. U.S. politician. Mr. Livingston, leader in the American Revolution, represented Provincial Congress of New York at the Continental Congress in 1776. He helped to draft the Declaration of Independence, but returned to New York before he could sign it. Mr. Livingston was the U.S. secretary for foreign affairs under the Articles of Confederation from 1781-1783, and was Chancellor of New York (a Federalist delegate to the Constitution ratification convention) from 1777-1801.

175 years ago
1838

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

130 years ago
1883

Died on this date
Alexandros Koumoundouros, 65 or 66. Prime Minister of Greece, 1877-1878; 1878-1880; 1880-1882. Mr. Koumoundouros spent 50 years in politics, and survived three assassination attempts.

110 years ago
1903

Died on this date
Richard Gatling, 84. U.S. inventor. Dr. Gatling was best known for inventing the Gatling gun, the first successful machine gun, during the U.S. Civil War.

100 years ago
1913

Died on this date
Felix Draeseke, 77. German composer. Mr. Draeseke, a composer of the "New German School," wrote eight operas and four symphonies.

80 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.

70 years ago
1943

Died on this date
Theodor Eicke, 50. German SS officer. SS Obergruppenführer Eicke was a commander of the Waffen SS and was one of the key figures in the establishment of concentration camps in Nazi Germany. He was killed when he was shot down while performing a battlefield reconnaissance during the Third Battle of Kharkov.

50 years ago
1963

On television tonight
The Untouchables, starring Robert Stack, on ABC
Tonight's episode: Junk Man

40 years ago
1973

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): You're So Vain--Carly Simon (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in France: Crazy Horses--The Osmonds (5th week at #1)

30 years ago
1983

Hit parade
#1 single in France: Do You Really Want to Hurt Me--Culture Club (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Too Shy--Kajagoogoo

#1 single in the U.K.: Too Shy--Kajagoogoo (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Baby, Come to Me--Patti Austin (with James Ingram) (2nd week at #1)

U.S.A. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Do You Really Want to Hurt Me--Culture Club
2 Down Under--Men at Work
3 Stray Cat Strut--Stray Cats
4 Billie Jean--Michael Jackson
6 Shame on the Moon--Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band
6 Baby, Come to Me--Patti Austin (with James Ingram)
7 You Are--Lionel Richie
8 Hungry Like the Wolf--Duran Duran
9 Africa--Toto
10 All Right--Christopher Cross

Singles entering the chart were Change of Heart by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (#68); Take the Short Way Home by Dionne Warwick (#75); Little Red Corvette by Prince (#76); Some Kind of Friend by Barry Manilow (#83); Beat It by Michael Jackson (#86); Land of a Thousand Dances by the J. Geils Band (#87); Come Give Your Love to Me by Janet Jackson (#88); Please Mr. Postman by Gentle Persuasion (#89); and Shoppin' from A to Z by Toni Basil (#90).

Canada's top 10 (RPM)
1 Sexual Healing--Marvin Gaye (2nd week at #1)
2 Do You Really Want to Hurt Me--Culture Club
3 Baby, Come to Me--Patti Austin (with James Ingram)
4 Africa--Toto
5 Goody Two Shoes--Adam Ant
6 Pass the Dutchie--Musical Youth
7 Stray Cat Strut--Stray Cats
8 Shame on the Moon--Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band
9 Hungry Like the Wolf--Duran Duran
10 When I'm with You--Sheriff

Singles entering the chart were Everytime I See Your Picture by Luba (#41); Twilight Zone by Golden Earring (#45); You and I by Eddie Rabbitt with Crystal Gayle (#47); and Should I Stay or Should I Go by the Clash (#48).

25 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): My Love is a Tango--Guillermo Marchena (2nd week at #1)

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.

20 years ago
1993

Died on this date
Constance Ford, 69. U.S. actress. Miss Ford tended to play shrewish women in movies such as A Summer Place (1959), but appeared mainly on television. Her best known role was as the character Ada Hobson in the soap opera Another World from 1967-1992.

Terrorism
Five people were killed and over 1,000 injured when a car bomb exploded under the World Trade Center in New York City (see also here).