124 years in the past at this time, L. Frank Baum’s first kids’s novel The Fantastic Wizard of Oz was printed within the US. The primary version was printed and certain by Baum himself for presentation to his sister, Mary Louise Baum Brewster. The primary 10,000 copies offered out quick, and by 1938 over one million had been offered. Telling the story of a easy farm woman from Kansas being swept up by a tornado and touchdown in a mysterious fantastical world, it was the primary novel in a collection that will lengthen as much as 14 entries. READ extra… (1900)
Along with being influenced by the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen, Baum was considerably influenced by English author Lewis Carroll’s 1865 novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Though Baum discovered the plot of Carroll’s novel to be incoherent, he recognized the guide’s supply of recognition as Alice herself—a toddler with whom youthful readers might establish, and this influenced Baum’s selection of Dorothy as his protagonist.
With the resultant movie making the characters American icons, they’ve been intently scrutinized for his or her origin tales. Scarecrow was a approach, some have stated, for Baum to get one over on a childhood nightmare he had of a scarecrow chasing him by way of a area. Tinman was based mostly on a figurine that Baum constructed out of metallic scrap.
A number of folks and occasions are claimants to the origin of Dorothy, however it could be that Baum’s niece, whom his spouse adored and visited ceaselessly, was the inspiration for the character within the guide. Dorothy Louise Gage died at 5 months outdated, and Baum’s spouse was left devastated. It’s believed Dorothy was created in her honor.
MORE Good Information on This Day:
- The primary Kentucky Derby was run–a horse race in Louisville, Kentucky recognized within the U.S. as “The Most Thrilling Two Minutes In Sports activities” (1875)
- The Watergate hearings started in america Senate and had been televised with gavel-to-gavel protection by PBS (1973)
- The World Well being Group took Homosexuality out of its record of psychological sicknesses (1990)
- Marriage turned authorized for same-sex {couples} in Massachusetts (2004)
- Trains from North and South Korea cross the thirty eighth Parallel taking a small symbolic step in the direction of a attainable Korean reunification — the primary time that trains have crossed the Demilitarized Zone since 1953 (2007)
161 years in the past at this time, Cantares Gallegos by Rosalía de Castro was printed, Spain’s first guide within the Galician language. De Castro is considered the best Galician cultural icon, and marking the date of publication is Galician Literature Day in Spain.
Round 2.4 million folks have no less than a point of competence within the language, primarily in Galicia, an autonomous group situated in northwestern Spain, the place it has official standing together with Spanish. As discovered on the west coast of Spain, Galician is expounded to Portuguese.
Cantares Gallegos has been printed in English, French, Portuguese, and even in Japan. (1863)
18 years in the past, the U.S. Navy created what would change into referred to as “The Nice Service Reef,” after the USS Oriskany, a long-unused plane provider commissioned after World Conflict II was intentionally sunk to create the world’s largest synthetic reef from a single vessel. It’s now ranked by the Occasions of London as one of many 10 best wreck diving websites on this planet, and may be discovered the Gulf of Mexico.
Following 25 years of service, the place she acquired two battle stars for Korean Conflict motion and ten for Vietnam Conflict motion, Oriskany was decommissioned and held by the Navy as a mobilization asset, however her poor situation and excessive potential recommissioning prices following the top of the Chilly Conflict made her out of date. Japanese businessmen tried to purchase her for a spot in an outside museum exhibit in Tokyo Bay, which Congress allowed, however this might by no means materialize attributable to a scarcity of capital.
Afterward, one other group got here to purchase her for scrap metallic, however they too, having tried to tow the ship from Bremerton, Washington, to Vallejo, California, deserted the venture, leaving Oriskany moored on Mare Island the place it will be used because the setting for Hell in a Robin Williams movie, What Desires Could Come.
Lastly, it was determined that she was to be sunk, and after two years of EPA environmental overview, 500 kilos of C-4 despatched Oriskany stern-down to the underside of the Gulf in Pensacola, Florida. WATCH a video of drivers exploring the wreck…(2006)
Immediately is the 53rd anniversary of the opening of Godspell—a musical that will quickly change into a worldwide phenomenon.
Drama pupil John-Michael Tebelak wrote the present initially as his grasp’s thesis at Carnegie Mellon College, and directed the performances for years, each on- and off-Broadway.
The scenes are based mostly on parables within the Bible, principally from the Gospel of St. Matthew, and concentrate on the impact that Jesus had on others. One of many songs, Day by Day, reached No. 13 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart—and the album received a Grammy for Finest Rating From an Authentic Solid.
When it opened, on the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York Metropolis, the present was not properly acquired by the general public—depicting biblical characters as hippie flower kids, however the producers fought vigorously to maintain the controversial present open—and people efforts paid off.
The off-Broadway hit continued for two,124 performances, closing in June 1976—and jumped to Broadway that yr with Tebelak retained because the director. It was additionally made right into a 1973 film, and the South African manufacturing even broke the apartheid barrier in 1973 when it insisted on holding the forged multiracial.
Future iterations of the musical would ‘uncover’ soon-to-be stars, together with Jeremy Irons, Gilda Radner, Eugene Levy, Martin Brief, Paul Shaffer, and Andrea Martin. Immediately, the present continues to please audiences all over the world, a surprising feat for a script with such humble beginnings. WATCH The Authentic Solid carry out a medley on the Grammys… (1971)
The award-winning music was composed and produced by Stephen Schwartz, and the unique forged included Lamar Alford, Peggy Gordon, David Haskell, Joanne Jonas, Robin Lamont, Sonia Manzano (who went on to play Maria on Sesame Road), Gilmer McCormick, Jeffrey Mylett, Stephen Nathan, and Herb Braha (Simon).
San Francisco Examiner wrote, “GODSPELL makes a robust plea for selflessness, cohesion and an finish to materialism and hypocrisy.”
“A frisky, exhilarating little present…a crackling musical funhouse” – NY Journal
The Boston Globe quipped that it “rattles the soul like a tambourine…it’s HAIR with a halo.”
70 years in the past at this time, the US Supreme Court docket dominated within the landmark Brown v. Board of Schooling case, unanimously deciding (9-0) that US public faculties couldn’t be racially particular. The lawsuit was filed by the Brown household, black Individuals in Topeka, Kansas, after their native public college district refused to enroll their daughter within the college closest to their dwelling, as an alternative requiring her to trip a bus to a blacks-only college additional away.
Their victorious lawyer, Thurgood Marshall, later turned the primary African-American justice of the Supreme Court docket. The ultimate ruling acknowledged that “separate academic services are inherently unequal,” and due to this fact violate the Equal Safety Clause of the Fourteenth Modification of the U.S. Structure. (1954)
And, 61 years in the past at this time, the primary Monterey Folks Pageant opened in Monterey, California. The three-day competition featured a 22-year-old Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Peter Paul and Mary. It later morphed into the Monterey Pop Pageant, which in 1967 showcased the primary main dwell efficiency in America of Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Ravi Shankar, and Janis Joplin. This present was additionally the primary time Otis Redding performed to an enormous predominantly-white viewers. (1963)
Additionally on this present day 54 years in the past, Thor Heyerdahl the Norwegian adventurer and researcher set sail from Africa on a papyrus reed boat to sail throughout the Atlantic Ocean. The boat, Ra II, was modeled after the traditional Egyptian design to reveal the chance that broadly separated cultures of historical peoples might have made lengthy sea voyages, creating contacts between societies.
With a background in zoology, botany, and geography, Heyerdahl had beforehand gained notoriety for his Kon-Tiki expedition of 1947, through which he sailed 5,000 miles (8,000 km) throughout the Pacific Ocean in a hand-built raft from South America.
Heyerdahl intentionally selected a Ra crew representing an incredible variety in race, nationality, faith, and political viewpoint. He selected males from Egypt, Japan, Morocco, Mexico, Italy, the us, and the USA to reveal that on their very own little floating island, folks might cooperate and dwell peacefully. Solely Heyerdahl and American Norman Baker had crusing and navigation expertise, however they efficiently sailed to Barbados utilizing the Canary Present. The Ra II is now within the Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo, Norway. (1970)
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