Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Spotlight: Tonight we have a REALLY big shoow! The Ed Sullivan Show (aka Toast of the Town) premiered on this date in 1948, with guests Rodgers and Hammerstein and the comedy team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Broadcast live from New York every Sunday night at 8 p.m., The Ed Sullivan Show was the goal of every entertainer hoping to reach a mass audience in America. Along with regulars Topo Gigio, Señor Wences and José Jiménez, performers who appeared on the show included musicians like The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Julie Andrews, The Four Tops and The Rolling Stones, and comedians like Bob Hope, Smith and Dale and Lucille Ball.

Quote: "Ed Sullivan will be around as long as someone else has talent." — Fred Allen

Today's News:

• Vatican: issues unusual document — ten commandments for motorists (story)
• Mars: European Space Agency seeks applicants for 17-month simulated trip (story)
• Moscow: is world's most expensive city to live in, still (story)

Today's History:

• Flight to Varennes: faced with anti-royalty hostility, King Louis XVI tried unsuccessfully to flee France (1791)
• Mountain State: West Virginia became the 35th state; it had broken away from Virginia two years earlier (1863)
• Jaws: Steven Spielberg's thriller was released, chilling viewers and shattering box office records (1975)

Today's Birthdays:

• Martin Landau (76), Olympia Dukakis (76), Nicole Kidman (40): Oscar-winning actors
• Vikram Seth (55): Indian author and poet who wrote the novels A Suitable Boy and An Equal Music
• John Goodman (55): actor, The Big Lebowski, Roseanne