Throwback Thursday: January 31 Trivia Bits
January 31 doesn’t appear to be a day where anything really Earth-shattering happened. I have gathered up a few noteworthy thingys…
1940…….Ida May Fuller was issued the very first Social Security check (numbered 00-000-001) for the amount of $22.54.
1958…….The very first satellite put into Earth orbit by the United States was Explorer I. Launched at 10:48pm EST, it was the first to detect the Van Allen radiation belt.
1961…….Ham the Chimp was launched from Cape Canaveral in the Mercury-Redstone 2 (MR-2) test flight of Project Mercury. He was returned to Earth, safely and lived an additional 22 years.
1971…….Apollo 14, the third mission to land on the Moon, was launched at 4:03pm EST. Mission Commander was Alan Shepard, Command Module Pilot was Stuart Roosa and Lunar Module Pilot was Edgar Mitchell. They landed in the Fra Mauro formation, the aborted Apollo 13 mission’s destination.
2000…….Dr. Harold Shipman, British serial killer, was found guilty of murdering 15 patients under his care. The Shipman Inquiry estimated the total victim count to be 250. Known as The Angel of Death, he hung himself in prison in 2004, one day before his 58th birthday.
Notable Birthdays
1892 Eddie Cantor (d. 1964)
1919 Jackie Robinson (d. 1972)
1921 Carol Channing (d. January 15, 2019).
1923 Norman Mailer (The Executioner’s Song) (d. 2007)
1929 Jean Simmons (d. 2010)
Notable Deaths
1606 Guy Fawkes (b. 1570)
1945 Eddie Slovik (the only American soldier to be court-martialed and executed for desertion since the Civil War) (b. 1920)
1956 A. A. Milne (Winnie the Pooh creator) (b. 1882)
1974 Samuel Goldwyn (b. 1882)
1976 Ernesto Miranda (Miranda vs Arizona & “Mirandize”) (b. 1941)
February 1, 2019 at 1:18 PM
I didn’t realise that Ham was brought back safely. Everyday is a school day.
February 1, 2019 at 2:34 PM
I was overjoyed to read that and, he lived out most of his days, here, in my state at the Asheboro Zoo with an established chimp community.
February 1, 2019 at 8:44 PM
I didn’t know Samuel Goldwyn lived until 1974…Those heads of studios were THE kings then.
February 1, 2019 at 11:36 PM
Yep. 92. And, he was NOT happy about his name being used for MGM, either. The MGM Lion…that was his trademark from his company.
February 1, 2019 at 11:46 PM
I remember something about that… I do remember his name was Goldfish I believe.
From what I remember reading he was much nicer than Harry Cohn and Mayer…I’ve heard really bad things about Mayer.
February 2, 2019 at 12:09 AM
Goldfish/Goldwyn did seem to have some sense about him. Louis Mayer was an ass and Harry Cohn was notorious for going after actresses for sex in exchange for work. No wonder Weinstein and his ilk thought this sick behavior was normal. And, Cohn went after Joan Crawford. Joan Crawford! Wire hangers, Joan. Damn.
February 2, 2019 at 12:38 AM
Mayer also went after Judy Garland…
Miss Wire Hanger…I would have loved to been a fly on the wall on the set of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
February 2, 2019 at 2:20 PM
Speaking of Judy & Joan, this is interesting, assuming it’s accurate:
https://www.famechain.com/family-tree/14059/joseph-l-mankiewicz/judy-garland
February 2, 2019 at 8:00 PM
It is interesting. I had this up all day. A friend came by and talked and I was looking over it.
February 2, 2019 at 9:23 PM
I found that looking for a bit I read on TCM. I couldn’t bring it up on my phone, earlier but, here it is:
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/81295/A-Letter-to-Three-Wives/articles.html
If you scroll down, you will find the part about Judy & Mankiewicz.
February 2, 2019 at 9:35 PM
That was funny of her throwing the lighter out of the window like a match.
February 3, 2019 at 12:11 AM
Yeah. LOL! And, I still haven’t gotten over Kirk Douglas being told to jump out from behind the couch, off camera, in his underwear.
February 3, 2019 at 12:24 AM
Sometimes the off the camera stuff is better than on camera…I love to know anecdotes like that.
I’m going to write about Lost Horizon from 1937…have you seen that one?
February 3, 2019 at 6:46 PM
I have. It’s been over 20 years since I’ve seen it. Great movie.