1896 F. Scott Fitzgerald - Author (This Side of Paradise, The Great Gatsby, Tender is the Night, The Last Tycoon, Babes in the Wood) Fitzgerald, named for his ancestor Francis Scott Key, who wrote the words for The Star Spangled Banner, was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, to a once well-to-do family that had descended in wealth and influence. With the funding of a well-off aunt, Fitzgerald was sent to boarding school in New Jersey in 1911 and attended Princeton University two years later. Although Fitzgerald engaged actively in theatre, arts, and other campus activity, his financial background was considerably poorer than those of his classmates, and his outsider status, whether real or imaginary, left a sting. He left Princeton after three years and joined the army during World War I. While stationed with the military in Montgomery, Alabama, he developed a romance with the privileged, pampered Zelda Sayre, daughter of a State Supreme Court justice. She rejected him, fearing he would not be able to support her, but he vowed to win her back. He moved to New York and promptly became the youngest author ever published by Scribner's. His fame and fortune secure for the moment, he convinced Zelda to marry him, and the two began a whirlwind life of glamorous parties and extravagant living in New York. Unfortunately, they lived far beyond their means and soon found themselves deeply in debt. They moved to Europe, hoping to cut back on expenses, but failed to cut back on their extravagant ways. Although Fitzgerald published dozens of short stories for which he was amply paid, the couple's debts mounted. Fitzgerald plunged into alcoholism, and his wife became increasingly unstable. In 1930, she suffered the first of several breakdowns and was institutionalised. She spent the rest of her life in a sanatorium. Fitzgerald's next novel was not a success, and his fortunes plummeted. In 1937, he moved to Hollywood to try screenwriting. He fell in love with a Hollywood gossip columnist, stopped drinking, and began renewed literary efforts but died of a heart attack in 1940
1912 Don Porter - Actor (Our Miss Brooks, The Candidate, Bachelor in Paradise, Private Secretary, Gidget, The Ann Sothern Show)
1915 Larry Gates - Actor (Backstairs at the White House, Death of a Gunfighter, The Sand Pebbles)
1918 Audra Lindley – Actress (Three’s Company, The Ropers, Deadline for Murder: From the Files of Edna Buchanan, Troop Beverly Hills, Cannery Row, Bridget Loves Bernie) She was married to James Whitmore at the time of her death. She played Mrs. Chaney in the Perry Mason movie The Case of the Lady in the Lake
1924 Sheila MacRae - Comedienne (The Honeymooners, The Jackie Gleason Show, Parenthood) and author (Mother of the Year) She’s the wife of singer and actor Gordon MacRae and the mother of actress Meredith MacRae
1931 Anthony Newley – British actor (Stop the World, I Want to Get Off, Roar of the Grease Paint, Oliver Twist, No Time to Die, The Blue Peter, Doctor Dolittle, EastEnders) and singer (What Kind of Fool Am I?)
1936 Jim Henson – US puppeteer and creator of the Muppets (The Muppet Show, Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, Labyrinth, The Muppet Movie, The Dark Crystal, The Ghost of Faffner Hall)
1941 Linda McCartney - Photographer (Rolling Stone magazine) and singer with the group Wings (Silly Love Songs, My Love, Band on the Run, Jet) She was married to Paul McCartney. Her maiden name was Eastman, and there is an urban legend that she was related to the Eastmans of Eastman-Kodak fame. Her father was born Epstein and changed his name to Eastman before becoming known as an attorney. There is no indication that she was related to Brian Epstein
1942 Gerry Marsden - Singer with Gerry & The Pacemakers (Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying, I'm the One, Ferry Cross the Mersey, You’ll Never Walk Alone)
1948 Phil Hartman – Canadian comedian and actor (Saturday Night Live, NewsRadio, Jumpin' Jack Flash, Three Amigos, Blind Date, Coneheads, House Guest, The Simpsons, Greedy, Cheech and Chong's Next Movie)
1958 Kevin Sorbo – Actor (Hercules, Andromeda, Meet the Spartans, Fire From Below, The O.C.)
1962 Nia Vardalos – Canadian actress (My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Connie and Carla, Meet Prince Charming)
Died this Day
1842 Bramwell Brontë – Brother of the writing Brontë sisters. He died of drug and drink, and was the model for the drunkard, Hindley Earnshaw, in Emily’s novel, Wuthering Heights
1945 Hans Geiger - German physicist who introduced the Geiger Counter. He died six days before his 63rd birthday
1991 Theodor Seuss Giesel, age 87 - Children's author, better known as Dr. Seuss (The Cat in the Hat, Fox in Sox, And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street, Horton Hears a Who, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Green Eggs and Ham) He died in La Jolla, California
On this Day
1683 Jews were expelled from all French possessions in North America, including New France
1688 Louis-Armand de Lom d'Arce de Lahonton set out from Michilimackinac, Michigan to explore west. He would reach the Mississippi River via the Wisconsin River
1788 The first shipment of Canadian furs sailed for China
1789 The Judiciary Act of 1789 was passed by Congress and signed by President George Washington, providing for an Attorney General, and establishing the Supreme Court of the United States as a tribunal made up of six justices who were to serve on the court until death or retirement. That day, President Washington nominated John Jay to preside as chief justice, and John Rutledge, William Cushing, John Blair, Robert Harrison, and James Wilson to be associate justices. On September 26, all six appointments were confirmed by the US Senate. The US Supreme Court was established by Article 3 of the US Constitution. The Constitution granted the Supreme Court ultimate jurisdiction over all laws, especially those in which their constitutionality was at issue. The high court was also designated to oversee cases concerning treaties of the US, foreign diplomats, admiralty practice, and maritime jurisdiction. On February 1, 1790, the first session of the US Supreme Court was held in New York City's Royal Exchange Building. According to the Constitution, the size of the court is set by Congress, and the number of justices varied during the 19th century before stabilising in 1869 at nine
1859 The capital of the Province of Canada moved from Quebec City to Ottawa. It was previously in rotation at Toronto, Kingston and Montreal
1869 Black Friday occurred on Wall Street when financiers Jay Gould and James Fisk attempted to corner the gold market, sending Wall Street into a panic and leaving thousands of investors in financial ruin. The US government had to step in
1890 The Mormon Church, faced with the eminent destruction of their church and way of life, reluctantly issued the "Mormon Manifesto" in which they commanded all Latter-day Saints to uphold the anti-polygamy laws of the nation. The Mormon leaders had been given little choice: If they did not abandon polygamy they faced federal confiscation of their sacred temples and the revocation of basic civil rights for all Mormons. Followers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had been practising the doctrine of "plural marriage" since the 1840s. The best available evidence suggests that the church founder, Joseph Smith, first began taking additional wives in 1841, and historians estimate he eventually married more than 50 women. For a time, the practice was shrouded in secrecy, though rumours of widespread polygamy had inspired much of the early hatred and violence directed against the Mormons in Illinois. After establishing their new theocratic state centred in Salt Lake City, the church elders publicly confirmed that plural marriage was a central Mormon belief in 1852. The doctrine was distinctly one-sided, as Mormon women could not take multiple husbands. Nor could just any Mormon man participate. Only those who demonstrated unusually high levels of spiritual and economic worthiness were permitted to practice plural marriage, and the Church also required that the first wife give her consent. As a result, estimates suggest that men with two or more wives made up only 5 to 15 percent of the population of most Mormon communities. Even though only a tiny minority of Mormons practised plural marriage, many church leaders were very reluctant to abandon it, arguing that to do so would destroy the Mormon way of life
1901 A telegraph connection was completed between Whitehorse, Yukon and southern Canada
1957 The Brooklyn Dodgers played their last game at Ebbets Field, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-0. The Dodgers moved to Los Angeles
1960 The USS Enterprise, the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, was launched at Newport News, Virginia
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