Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Spotlight
We guess with a name like Marion, a guy might have to make himself into a John Wayne. Western movie icon John Wayne was born Marion Morrison on this date in 1907. His breakthrough role was in John Ford's Stagecoach in 1939; "the Duke," as he was often called, went on to star in dozens of films, including Fort Apache (1948), Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), The Quiet Man (1952) and The High and the Mighty (1954). The Searchers (1956), Rio Bravo (1959), The Alamo (1960) and The Green Berets (1968) further sealed his place in history as the strong, imposing hero. By the time he got to play marshal Rooster Cogburn in True Grit (1969), Hollywood was ready to give Wayne his Oscar for Best Actor.

Quote
"Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday." — John Wayne

Question of the Day
What movies did John Wayne die in?
John Wayne died in eight of his movies:

● Reap the Wild Wind (1942) Octopus under water
● The Fighting Seabees (1944) Gunshot/explosion in a supreme sacrifice scene
● Wake of the Red Witch (1948) Drowning
● Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) Gunshot wounds
● The Alamo (1960) Speared/explosion
● The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) old age
● The Cowboys (1972) Gunshot wounds
● The Shootist (1976) Shotgun wounds

Word of the day
mazuma

n. Slang.

Money; cash.

[Yiddish mazume, mezumen, cash, from Medieval Hebrew mezumman, fixed currency, from Mishnaic Hebrew, fixed, passive participle of zimmen, to arrange, invite, from Hebrew zeman, appointed time, from Aramaic zeman, zeman, from Akkadian simanu, season, time, from wasamu, asamu, to be fitting.]

(© Houghton Mifflin Company)

Today's History

Ellis Island

• Andrew Johnson: 17th president of the United States was acquitted by one vote in his impeachment trial (1868)
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: stock market index was first published by The Wall Street Journal (1896)
• George Willig: the "human fly" scaled the South Tower of the World Trade Center in 3.5 hours; he was fined $1.10 for the illegal feat — a penny per story (1977)
• Ellis Island: the US Supreme Court ruled that the immigration landmark belonged more to New Jersey than New York (1998)

Today's Birthdays

Miles Davis

• Aleksandr Pushkin (1799-1837): poet, novelist, playwright
• Miles Davis (1926-1991): jazz trumpeter, Kind of Blue; also, musicians Al Jolson (1886-1950), Stevie Nicks (61), Hank Williams Jr. (60) and Lenny Kravitz (45)
• Sally Ride (58): America's first woman in space; plus, America's first female ambassador Helen Eugenie Anderson (1909-1997)
• Helena Bonham Carter (43): Harry Potter's Bellatrix Lestrange and Mrs. Lovett of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street; also, actors Robert Morley (1908-1992), James Arness (86), Pam Grier and Philip Michael Thomas (both 60), Margaret Colin (52), Doug Hutchison (49) and Genie Francis (47)
• Matt Stone (38): creator of South Park; comedian Bobcat Goldthwait (47) shares this birth date