February 12, 2015

160 years ago
1855

Academia
Michigan State University was established.

130 years ago
1885

Born on this date
Bill Mack. U.S. baseball pitcher. Mr. Mack played with the Chicago Cubs (1908), posting a 0-0 record with an earned run average of 3.00 in 2 games. He played 3 seasons in the minor leagues (1904-1907), and died on September 30, 1971 at the age of 86.

120 years ago
1895

Born on this date
Kristian Djurhuus. Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands, 1950-1959; 1968-1970. Mr. Djurhuus was a member of the Union Party when he led the government of the Faroe Islands, a self-governing country within the Kingdom of Denmark He died on November 20, 1984 at the age of 89.

100 years ago
1915

Born on this date
Lorne Greene. Canadian-born U.S. broadcaster and actor. Mr. Greene, a native of Ottawa, graduated from Queen's University and then became a newsreader for CBC radio during World War II, earning the nickname "The Voice of Doom." He then went to Hollywood, where he became famous in the role of Ben Cartwright in the television western series Bonanza (1959-1973). Mr. Greene was also a recording artist in the 1960s, and his spoken word ballad Ringo reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the U.S.A. in 1964. He died on September 11, 1987 at the age of 72.

Died on this date
Fanny Crosby, 94. U.S. hymnist. Miss Crosby, who went blind shortly after birth, wrote more than 8,000 hymns and gospel songs, as well as 1,000 poems and secular popular, patriotic, and political songs. Her hymns included Blessed Assurance and To God Be the Glory. Miss Crosby supported rescue missions for many years, and was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1975.

Americana
The cornerstone for the Lincoln Memorial was laid in Washington, D.C.

80 years ago
1935

Disasters
USS Macon, one of the two largest helium-filled airships ever created, crashed into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California and sank. Of the 76 crew members aboard, the only ones killed were Radioman 1st Class Ernest Edwin Dailey and Mess Attendant 1st Class Florentino Edquiba.

75 years ago
1940

On the radio
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, on NBC
Tonight’s episode: The Golden Pince-Nez

War
A British Royal Navy ship forced the scuttling of the German freighter Wakama in Brazilian waters. The first contingent of Australian troops landed at Suez, where they were greeted by U.K. Dominion Secretary Anthony Eden. Japanese sources reported the landing in the Chinese province of Fukien of a 50,000-man Chinese force, to be used by Wang Ching-wei, leader of the Japanese-sponsored government in central China, against the Chinese Nationalist Army.

Defense
The United States Army announced a new bomber capable of flying 300 miles per hour with a range of 3,000 miles.

Diplomacy
The American Jewish Congress, at its conference in Washington, adopted a resolution to safeguard the rights of Jews against anti-Semitism in the United States.

Politics and government
A poll showed 56% of Republican Party voters in the United States favouring New York City District Attorney Thomas Dewey as the party's candidate for President of the United States in the November 1940 election. Other contenders included U.S. Senators Arthur Vandenberg (Michigan) and Robert Taft (Ohio).

U.S. Representative Hamilton Fish (Republican--New York) said that the most important issue before Americans was keeping out of foreign entanglements.

The American Youth Congress, meeting in Washington, adopted a resolution to keep the U.S.A. out of war.

Economics and finance
New York City District Attorney Thomas Dewey told a Lincoln's Birthday audience that the New Deal policies of President Franklin D. Roosevelt had created a "house divided" that had shackled enterprise and caused high unemployment.

Labour
Minnesota Governor Harold Stassen (Republican) charged that the National Labor Relations Board was responsible for conflict between labour and industry, and called for new legislation limiting its power.

70 years ago
1945

Hit parade
U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Don't Fence Me In--Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters (7th week at #1)
--Sammy Kaye and his "Swing and Sway" Orchestra
--Kate Smith
--Horace Heidt and his Musical Knights
2 Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive--Johnny Mercer and the Pied Pipers with Paul Weston and His Orchestra
--Artie Shaw and his Orchestra
--Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters
3 Rum and Coca-Cola--The Andrews Sisters
4 There Goes that Song Again--Russ Morgan and his Orchestra
--Sammy Kaye and his "Swing and Sway" Orchestra
--Kay Kyser and his Orchestra
5 I'm Making Believe--The Ink Spots and Ella Fitzgerald
6 I Dream of You (More than You Dream I Do)--Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra
--Andy Russell
--Frank Sinatra
--Perry Como
7 Saturday Night (Is the Loneliest Night in the Week)--Frank Sinatra
--Sammy Kaye and his "Swing and Sway" Orchestra
8 Confessin' (That I Love You)--Ella Fitzgerald and the Song Spinners
--Perry Como
9 Evelina--Bing Crosby
10 I'm Beginning to See the Light--Harry James and his Orchestra
--Duke Ellington and his Famous Orchestra

The only single entering the chart was Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye by the Benny Goodman Quintet (#28).

On the radio
The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, on MBS
Tonight's episode: The Newmarket Killers

Died on this date
Antonio Villa-Real, 65. Filipino jurist. Mr. Villa-Real was an Associate Justice of the Philippine Supreme Cort from 1925-1940. He and his wife, along with 13 others, were murdered by Japanese soldiers who herded them into a room in a housing complex owned by Mr. Villa-Real, hurled a grenade into the room, and followed with gunfire.

Walraven van Hall, 39. Dutch banker. Mr. van Hall was known as the "Banker of the Dutch Resistance" for his efforts in financing resistance efforts against Nazi occupation in the Netherlands during World War II. He and other resistance leaders were captured on January 2, 1945, and Mr. van Hall was executed by the Nazis in Haarlem, two days after his 39th birthday, in reprisal for the death of a high-ranking police officer.

War
The Greek government reached an agreement with EAM-ELAS rebels calling for an end to hostilities there. Peru announced that it was in a "state of belligerency" with Germany and Japan. British units captured Cleve, and with Canadian forces, pushed south through Reichswald, while further south on the Siegfried Line, U.S. units held Pruem. Soviet forces reached the Bober River with a 16-mile advance in Silesia that included the occupation of Bunzlau. American armoured units in the Philippines split Luzon from coast to coast, reaching the east coast at Dingalan Bay.

Economics and finance
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt urged Congress to take prompt action on the Bretton Woods proposals, declaring that U.S. participation in a world fund and bank were essential to a peaceful and prosperous world.

The United States Commerce Department reported that personal income had reached a record high in 1944, totalling $157 billion.

Disasters
A tornado swept through Meridian, Mississippi eastward to Montgomery, Alabama, killing 43 people and causing heavy property damage.

60 years ago
1955

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (Kent Music Report): Hold My Hand--Don Cornell; Nat "King" Cole (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (Record Mirror): The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane--Dean Martin

#1 singles in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Sincerely--The McGuire Sisters (Best Seller--1st week at #1; Disc Jockey--1st week at #1); Hearts of Stone--The Fontane Sisters (Jukebox--1st week at #1)

U.S. top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Melody of Love--Billy Vaughn and his Orchestra (2nd week at #1)
--David Carroll and his Orchestra
--The Four Aces
2 Hearts of Stone--The Fontane Sisters
--The Charms
3 Sincerely--The McGuire Sisters
4 Ko Ko Mo (I Love You So)--Perry Como
--The Crew-Cuts
5 Mr. Sandman--The Chordettes
--The Four Aces
6 Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine)--The Penguins
--The Crew-Cuts
7 Let Me Go Lover--Joan Weber
8 Tweedlee Dee--Georgia Gibbs
--LaVern Baker and the Gliders
9 The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane--The Ames Brothers
--Archie Bleyer
10 (My Baby Don’t Love Me) No More--The DeJohn Sisters
--[The McGuire Sisters]

Singles entering the chart were Blue Mirage (Don’t Go), with versions by Ralph Marterie and his Orchestra and Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians (#21); Turn Right by Kay Starr (#23); Darling Je Vous Aime Beaucoup by Nat "King" Cole (#24); Rock Love by the Fontane Sisters (#26); Glad Rag Doll by Crazy Otto (#27); Ling, Ting, Tong by the Charms (#34, charting with the version by the Five Keys); Close Your Eyes by Tony Bennett (#35); and Darling! Darling! Darling! by Jo Stafford (#44).

50 years ago
1965

Hit parade
Edmonton's Top 10 (CJCA)
1 This Diamond Ring--Gary Lewis and the Playboys (3rd week at #1)
2 Love Potion No. 9--The Searchers
3 Look of Love--Lesley Gore
4 Paper Tiger--Sue Thompson
5 King of the Road--Roger Miller
6 Downtown--Petula Clark
7 I Go to Pieces--Peter and Gordon
8 Little Things--Bobby Goldsboro
9 It's Alright--Adam Faith
10 The Jolly Green Giant--The Kingsmen
Pick hit of the week: Come Tomorrow--Manfred Mann
New this week: I Must Be Seeing Things--Gene Pitney
French 75--The Champs
Skinny Minnie--Jumpin' Gene Simmons
Put You Down--Tommy Graham
Bluebirds Over the Mountain--Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks
Stranger in Town--Del Shannon

40 years ago
1975

At the movies
The Stepford Wives, starring Katharine Ross, Paula Prentiss, Peter Masterson, Nanette Newman, and Tina Louise, opened in theatres.





30 years ago
1985

Died on this date
Nicholas Colasanto, 61. U.S. actor. Mr. Colasanto was best known for playing the character of Coach Ernie Pantusso on the television comedy series Cheers (1982-1985).

25 years ago
1990

Hit parade
#1 single in Japan (Oricon Singles Chart): Kuchibiru Kara Biyaku--Shizuka Kudo (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Pump ab Das Bier--Werner Wichtig

Environment
Hundreds of families were evacuated from their homes in Hagersville, Ontario when a huge fire was started by boys at a gigantic tire dump. The Tyre King dump in southwestern Ontario contained 14 million tires stacked in a heap as high as a low-rise apartment building and covering an area the size of 18 football fields. Residents within a 3-kilometre radius were forced to leave their homes as clouds of smoke, laden with toxic chemicals, spewed from the blaze.

Politics and government
Quebec elected its first-ever New Democratic Party member of the Canadian House of Commons as consumer advocate Phil Edmonston won a federal by-election in the riding of Chambly. Mr. Edmonston, the overrated author of the Lemon-Aid automobile guides, scored a landslide victory over Liberal Clifford Lincoln, who had hoped to win the riding and then the party leadership. The by-election became necessary when Progressive Conservative MP Richard Grise, a typically crooked Quebec politician, admitted guilt to 11 counts of fraud and breach of trust involving public funds.

Carmen Lawrence took office as Premier of Western Australia, becoming the first female Premier in Australian history.

20 years ago
1995

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: Tomorrow--Silverchair

#1 single in Austria (Ö3): Old Pop in an Oak--Rednex (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in Switzerland: Cotton Eye Joe--Rednex (12th week at #1)

On television tonight
A Walton Wedding, on CBS

This was the fifth and last made-for-television movie to appear after the series The Waltons concluded its nine-year run in 1981.

Died on this date
Philip Taylor Kramer, 42. U.S. musician and engineer. Mr. Kramer played bass guitar with the rock group Iron Butterfly in the mid-1970s, and then became a computer engineer. He worked on the MX missile guidance system as a contractor with the U.S. Defense Department, and in 1990 co-founded Total Multimedia Inc. with Randy Jackson of the Jackson 5 singing group. The company was reorganized under bankruptcy in 1994 and put under new leadership; Mr. Kramer continued working there, but was reportedly greatly affected by the bankruptcy and organization. On February 12, 1995, he drove to Los Angeles International Airport to pick up a business associate, but while on the way to the airport, phoned his wife to say that his plans had changed and that the associate should go directly to a hotel, where Mr. Kramer and his wife would meet them later. Mr. Kramer spent 45 minutes at the airport and then left, making a number of cell phone calls, threatening to commit suicide, and, in reference to video evidence that he had been asked to analyze related to the murder charge against former football star O.J. Simpson, claiming that Mr. Simpson was innocent. Mr. Kramer was never seen alive again; his minivan and skeletal remains were found on May 29, 1999 at the bottom of Decker Canyon near Malibu, California. A forensic examination led authorities to conclude that Mr. Kramer had committed suicide on the day he was last heard from, but conspiracy theories abound.

Politics and government
Mexico's governing Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) suffered stunning defeats in the state of Jalisco, losing the governorship, state legislative majority, and mayoralties of large cities to the National Action Party. It was only the third time in 65 years in which the PRI had lost a gubernatorial election.

10 years ago
2005

Died on this date
Sammi Smith, 61. U.S. singer. Miss Smith was a popular country singer-songwriter in the 1970s, and part of the "outlaw" movement in country music with Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. She was best known for her version of the Kris Kristofferson song Help Me Make it Through the Night, which reached #1 on the Billboard country singles chart and #8 on the Hot 100 pop singles chart in 1971.

Rafael Vidal, 41. Venezuelan swimmer. Mr. Vidal won the bronze medal in the men's 200-metre butterfly event at the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles. He became a popular sportscaster in Caracas, but was killed when his car was hit by another vehicle that was involved in an illegal street race.