February 9 Dateline

Birthdays

1854 - Aletta Henriëtte Jacobs, Dutch physician, Family Planning pioneer, and Women's Suffrage activist. As the first woman officially to attend a Dutch university, she became one of the first female physicians in the Netherlands. In 1882, she founded the world's first birth control clinic and was a leader in both the Dutch and international women's movements. She led campaigns aimed at deregulating prostitution, improving women's working conditions, promoting peace and calling for women's right to vote.

1883 - Garnet Carter, American entrepreneur, and inventor, considered as one of the fathers of miniature golf. In 1927, Carter was the first to patent a version of the game which he called "Tom Thumb Golf". His course was built on Lookout Mountain in Georgia where Carter owned a hotel. Within a few years, thousands of Tom Thumb courses opened all over the United States. Carter eventually sold the rights to his patent and used his fortune to found the Rock City Gardens.

 
1885 - Alban Berg, Austrian composer. He studied under Arnold Schoenberg and developed a personal 12-tone idiom. With Schoenberg and Webern, they are known as composers of the Second Viennese School. He passed from the extended tonality of his early works to atonality and later, serialism. A friend of Alma Mahler, the death of her daughter, Manon, inspired his last completed work, the Violin Concerto. His relatively small output includes two operas: Wozzeck, a grim story of working-class life, and the unfinished Lulu. (Alban Berg's Lulu Suite. Arleen Auger, soprano. City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra with Simon Rattle conducting. Painting: Arnold Gerstl, Reclining Woman and Approaching Figures, Leicester, Leicester City Arts and Museums Gallery. Uploaded by MrVektriol. Accessed February 9, 2017.)

1923 - Norman Edward Shumway, American surgeon and pioneer in heart transplant surgery at Standford University. He was the 67th president of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery and the first to perform an adult human to human heart transplantation in the United States.

1942 - Carole King, American composer and singer-songwriter, considered the most successful female songwriter of the latter half of the 20th century in the US, having written or co-written 118 pop hits on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1955 and 1999. She also wrote 61 hits that charted in the UK, making her the most successful female songwriter on the UK singles charts between 1952 and 2005. (Carole King, You've got a friend. Uploaded by Mirelladue. Accessed February 9, 2012.)

1943 - Joe Frank Pesci, American actor and musician. He is known for portraying tough, volatile characters and for his collaborations with Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese films. His comedy roles include such films as Home Alone, My Cousin Vinny, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, and the Lethal Weapon franchise. Pesci won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the psychopathic gangster Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas and received two other nominations in the same category for his portrayals of Joey LaMotta and Russell Bufalino in 1980's Raging Bull and in 2019's The Irishman, respectively.

1945 - Mia Farrow (born María de Lourdes Villiers Farrow, American actress, activist, and former fashion model. Farrow has appeared in more than 50 films and won numerous awards, including a Golden Globe Award and three BAFTA Award nominations. She is also known for her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. In 2008, Time magazine named her one of the most influential people in the world. She first gained notice for her role as Allison MacKenzie in the TV soap opera Peyton Place. Her feature film debut in Guns at Batasi earned her a Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year. Farrow's portrayal of Rosemary Woodhouse in the horror film Rosemary's Baby earned her a nomination for a BAFTA Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress. In 1971, Farrow became the first American actress in history to join the Royal Shakespeare Company, appearing as Joan of Arc in a production of Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher. This was followed by other stage productions. She also starred in several successful films throughout the 1970s. 

Lefties:
None known

 

More birthdays and historical events, February 9 - On This Day.


Below, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Placido Domingo perform a love duet from Verdi's opera Otello.

Historical Events

1893 - Verdi's opera Falstaff is first performed, in La Scala, Milan.

1895 - The first Japanese People arrive in Hawaii.

1900 - The Davis Cup Tennis Competition is established.

1950 - American Senator Joseph McCarthy accuses the U.S. Senate State Department of being filled with communists.

1960 - Joanne Woodward receives the first star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1962 - Jamaica becomes an independent nation within the Commonwealth of Nations.

1974 - Kiri Te Kanawa, New Zealand opera soprano, makes her Metropolitan Opera debut in New York with three hours' notice as a substitute in Otello.

1983 - Derby winner Shergar is stolen in Country Kildare. It has long been thought that the horse was kidnapped by the IRA and held for ransom and broke a leg in captivity. Shergar is never recovered.



Video Credit:

Placido Domingo & Kiri Te Kanawa sing Otello love duet.  YouTube, uploaded by Opus Arte.  wansob.  Accessed February 9, 2017.

 

 

Resources:

1. Asiado, Tel. The World's Movers and Shapers. New Hampshire: Ore Mountain Publishing House (2005)
2. Britannica. www.britannica.com
3. Chambers Biographical Dictionary, 19th Ed. London: Chambers Harrap, 2011
4. Dateline. Sydney: Millennium House, (2006)
5. Grun, Bernard. The Timetables of History, New 3rd Revised Ed. Simon & Schuster/Touchstone (1991)
6. Manson, Adelle.  Calendar of Music and Musicians.  London: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1981
7. Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org.


 

(c) June 2007. Updated February 9, 2023. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.