February 5 Dateline

Birthdays

1878 - André-Gustave Citroën, French industrialist, automobile pioneer and freemason of Dutch and Polish Jewish origin. He is remembered chiefly for the make of car named after him, but also for his application of double helical gears.

1909 - Grażyna Bacewicz, Polish composer and violinist. She is the second Polish female composer to have achieved national and international recognition, the first being Maria Szymanowska in the early 19th century. She studied with Sikorski at the Warsaw Conservatory and with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. Although most of her work has been described as neo-classical, her later music lso uses techniques associated with her avant-garde compatriots such as Lutoslawski. Her compositions mainly feature the violin. Her orchestral works include four numbered symphonies (1945, 1951, 1952, and 1953), a Symphony for Strings, and two early symphonies, now lost.

1914 - William Seward Burroughs II, American visual artist and novelist, famous for Naked Lunch. He was a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author whose influence is considered to have affected a range of popular culture as well as literature.

1945 - Tessa Charlotte Rampling, OBE,English actress, model and singer, known for her work in European arthouse films in English, French, and Italian. She was cast in the role of Meredith in the 1966 film Georgy Girl, which starred Lynn Redgrave. She began making French and Italian arthouse films. She released an album of recordings in the style of cabaret, titled As A Woman. In the 2000s, she became the muse of French director François Ozon, appearing in his films. On TV, she is known for her role as Evelyn Vogel in Dexter. She has been nominated for various awards. In 2017, she won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the 74th Venice International Film Festival for Hannah. A four-time César Award nominee, she received an Honorary César in 2001 and France's Legion of Honour in 2002. She was made an OBE in 2000 for her services to the arts, and received the 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award from the European Film Awards. In 2015, she released her autobiography, which she wrote in French, titled Qui Je Suis, or Who I Am.

1948 - Barbara Hershey, American actress. She achieved critical acclaim in the latter half of the 1980s. She won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries/TV Film for her role in A Killing in a Small Town. She received Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Mary Magdalene in The Last Temptation of Christ and for her role in The Portrait of a Lady. For the latter film, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and won the Los Angeles Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress. She has won two Best Actress awards at the Cannes Film Festival for her roles in Shy People and A World Apart. She was featured in Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters, for which she was nominated for the British Academy Film Award for Best Supporting Actress and Garry Marshall's melodrama Beaches.

1962 - Jennifer Jason Leigh (born Jennifer Leigh Morrow), American actress. She received critical praise for her performances in Miami Blues, Last Exit to Brooklyn, among others. Leigh was nominated for a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Dorothy Parker in Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle. She starred in a 1995 film written by her mother, screenwriter Barbara Turner, titled Georgia. She starred in the family drama film Margot at the Wedding. In 2015, she received critical acclaim for her role as Daisy Domergue in The Hateful Eight, for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Since 2017, she has starred in the Netflix comedy-drama series Atypical.  She then starred in the science-fiction horror films. For her stage work, Leigh was nominated for a Drama Desk award for her off-Broadway performance as Beverly Moss in Mike Leigh's Abigail's Party. Her Broadway debut occurred in 1998, when she became the replacement for the role of Sally Bowles in the musical Cabaret.
 

Lefties:
None known

More birthdays and historical events, February 5 - On This Day

 

Historical Events

1885 - King Leopold II of Belgium establishes the Congo as a personal possession.

1887 - Giuseppi Verdi opera Otello is first performed, in Milan.

Jonas Kaufmann performs Verdi's Otello - "Dio! Mi potevi scagliar" (Royal Opera House)

February 4 Dateline

Birthdays

1677 - Johann Ludwig Bach (14 February [O.S. 4 February]), German Composer, second (or third?) cousin of Johann S. Bach. He wrote a large amount of music and regularly oversaw performances, both at Meiningen and neighbouring courts. JS Bach made copies of several of his cantatas and performed them at Leipzig. The cantata Denn du wirst meine Seele nicht in der Hölle lassen, BWV 15, once thought to be by JS Bach's, and listed as BWV 15 in Wolfgang Schmieder's catalogue of his works, is now thought to be by Johann Ludwig Bach.

1902 - Charles Augustus Lindbergh, American Pioneeer Aviator, Military Officer, Author, Inventor, and Activist. At age 25 in 1927, he went from obscurity as a U.S. Air Mail pilot to instantaneous world fame by winning the Orteig Prize for making a nonstop flight from New York to Paris. Lindbergh covered the ​33 ¹⁄₂-hour, 3,600-statute-mile (5,800 km) flight alone in a single-engine purpose-built Ryan monoplane, the Spirit of St. Louis. Although not the first non-stop transatlantic flight, this was the first solo transatlantic flight, the first transatlantic flight between two major city hubs, and the longest transatlantic flight by almost 2,000 miles, thus it is widely known as a turning point in the trajectory of aviation history and advancement. (Charles Lindbergh Flight. Uploaded by Antonio Diaz de la Serna. Accessed February 4, 2018.) 

1906 - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German Lutheran pastor, theologian and anti-Nazi dissident who was a key founding member of the Confessing Church. His writings on Christianity's role in the secular world have become widely influential; his 1937 book The Cost of Discipleship is described as a modern classic. He was known for his resistance to the Nazi dictatorship. He was arrested in April 1943 by the Gestapo and imprisoned at Tegel Prison for 1½ years. Later, he was transferred to Flossenbürg concentration camp.Accused of being associated with the 20 July plot to assassinate Hitler and was tried along with other accused plotters, including former members of the Abwehr (the German Military Intelligence Office). He was hanged on 9 April 1945 during the collapse of the Nazi regime. (Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Story of Courage and Faith. Youtube, uploaded by The Incredible Journey. Accessed February 4, 2024.)

 

1918 - Ida Lupino, English-American Actress, Singer, Director, and Producer. She is widely regarded as one of the most prominent female filmmakers working during the 1950s in Hollywood. With her independent production company, she co-wrote and co-produced several social-message films and became the first woman to direct a film noir with The Hitch-Hiker in 1953.

1921 - Betty Friedan, American feminist writer and activist. A leading figure in the women's movement in the United States, her 1963 book The Feminine Mystique is often credited with sparking the second wave of American feminism in the 20th century.

1975 - Natalie Jane Imbruglia, Australian Singer-Songwriter, Model and Actress. In the early 1990s, she played Beth Brennan in the Australian soap opera Neighbours. After leaving the programme, she began a singing career with her chart-topping cover of Ednaswap's song "Torn". Her album, Left of the Middle, sold 7 million copies worldwide and her five subsequent albums have combined sales of 3 million copies. Her accolades include eight ARIA Awards, two Brit Awards, one Billboard Music Award, and three Grammy nominations. Imbruglia has appeared in several films. She has modelled for several brands, such as L'Oreal, Gap, and Kailis.
 
Lefties:
None known

More birthdays and historical events, February 4 - On This Day

 

 

Featured: Conductor Fritz Reiner

Richard Strauss's Salome (Final Scene), op. 54: Final Scene “Ah! Du wolltest mich nicht deinen Mund” with Fritz Reiner conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Inge Borkh as Salome. Brilliantly performed!  (YouTube, uploaded by violim. Accessed February 4, 2018.)

For a background of Strauss's final scene of Salome, here's a link from The Kennedy Centre / Artist / Composition. Accessed February 4, 2018.) 

Historical Events

1789 - George Washington is elected the first U.S. President, and three years later on this day same day, is elected to a second term.

1862 - Bacardi is founded as a small rum distillery in Santiago de Cuba in eastern Cuba.