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April 18 Dateline

Birthdays


1580 - Thomas Middleton (baptised this day), English Jacobean playwright and poet. He stands with John Fletcher and Ben Jonson among the most successful and prolific of the playwrights at work during the Jacobean period.

1882 - Leopold Stokowski, English conductor of Polish and Irish descent. One of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th century, he is best known for his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra and his appearance in the Disney film Fantasia. He led orchestras into the tones of what is called "the Stokowski sound". Innovative, he experimented with orchestral seating and was one of the first modern conductors to lead orchestras without a baton. Stokowski created immensely popular transcriptions of thirty-seven of the works of J.S Bach - most notably the orchestral version of the Toccata and Fugue in D minor, originally composed for the organ. (Portrait of Stokowski (1970). Uploaded by Burtw47. Accessed April 18, 2018.)

1907 - Miklos Rozsa, Hungarian-American composer, best known for film scores, such as Ben-Hur, Spellbound, Quo Vadis, and The Thief of Baghdad (Rozsa Documentary), though he maintained an allegiance to concert music. He trained in Germany, France, the UK, and the US, with extensive sojourns in Italy from 1953 onward. Rózsa achieved early success in Europe with his orchestral Theme, Variations, and Finale (Op. 13) of 1933, and became prominent in the film industry from his early scores. He became American citizen in 1946. During his Hollywood career, he received 17 Oscar nominations including three successes for Spellbound, A Double Life, and Ben-Hur, while his concert works were championed by such major artists as Jascha Heifetz, Gregor Piatigorsky, and János Starker.  
 
1922 - Barbara Hale, American actress, best known for her role as legal secretary Della Street in the television series Perry Mason, earning her a 1959 Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. She reprised the role in 30 Perry Mason movies for television.

1946 - Hayley Mills (born Hayley Catherine Rose Vivien Mills), English actress, famous as child star in Tiger Bay, Pollyanna, and the dual role as twins, The Parent Trap. The daughter of Sir John Mills and actress/writer Mary Hayley Bell, and younger sister of actress Juliet Mills, Hayley Mills began her acting career as a child, winning the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer for her performance in the British crime drama film Tiger Bay, the final Academy Juvenile Award in 1960 (Disney Legend Award) for her work in Disney's famous Pollyanna, and Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress in 1961. (Why We Love Pollyanna (1960). YouTube, uploaded by Better with Bob?. Accessed April 18, 2022.) During her early career, she appeared in six films for Walt Disney, including her dual role as twins in the Disney film The Parent Trap (1961). Her performance in Whistle Down the Wind (a 1961 adaptation of the novel written by her mother) saw Mills nominated for BAFTA Award for Best British Actress. During the late 1960s Mills began performing in theatrical plays, in more mature roles. She is recipient of the Disney Legend Award. She continues to make films and TV appearances. Tiger Bay 1959 John Mills, Horst Bucholz, Hayley Mills. Uploaded by DK Classics. Accessed April 18, 2023.)  

1950 - Grigory Lipmanovich Sokolov, Russian concert pianist. He is among the most esteemed of living pianists, his repertoire spanning composers from the Baroque period such as Bach, Couperin or Rameau up to Schoenberg and Arapov. He regularly tours Europe (excluding the UK) and resides in Italy.  (Grigory Sokolov, A Conversation That Never Was A documentary by Nadezhda Zhdanova. Accessed April 18, 2017.)

1969 - Sayako Kuroda,  formerly Sayako, Princess Nori, youngest child and only daughter of Emperor Emeritus Akihito and Empress Emerita Michiko, and the younger sister of the current Emperor of Japan, Naruhito. She is an imperial Shinto priestess of the Ise Grand Shrine, currently serving as the Supreme Priestess. Kuroda held the appellation "Nori-no-miya" (Princess Nori), until her marriage to Yoshiki Kuroda on 15 November 2005. As a result of her marriage, she gave up her imperial title and left the Japanese Imperial Family, as required by the Imperial Household Law.

Lefties:
None known

More birthdays and historical events, 18 April - On This Day.

 
Feature: 
 
One of Miklos Rozsa's famous compositions based on the music he wrote for Hitchcock's psychological thriller 1945 American film Spellbound. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, it tells the story of the new head of a mental asylum who turns out not to be what he claims. The film stars  Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Micahel Chekhov and Leo G. Carroll. It is an adaptation of the novel The House of Dr. Edwardes (!927). Performance: Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the composer Rozsa himself with Leonard Pennario, pianist, in 1960.  


 

Historical Events


1906 - An earthquake hits San Francisco measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale. More than 3,000 people die and almost 300,000 are left homeless due to the quake itself and fires that resulted.

1958 - Poet Ezra Pound is released from an insane asylum on orders from the U.S. Federal Court. The American expatriate had been brought back to the U.S. from Italy to face charges of treason, but he was imprisoned on the basis of insanity due to "a gandiosity of beliefs."

1980 - Rhodesia formally becomes the Republic of Zimbabwe, with Rev. Dr. Canaan Banana as its first President.

2002 - A new order of carnivorous insects called Mantophasmatodea (common name, Gladiators) is classified, becoming the first new order of insects since 1914. 


Video Credit:

"Spellbound" Concerto - Miklos Rozsa (1907 - 1995). YouTube, uploaded by amuggle15.  Accessed April 18, 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 Timestables of History, New 3rd Revised Ed. Simon & Schuster/Touchstone (1991)
6. Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org



(c) June 2007. Updated April 18, 2023. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.

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