May 19 Dateline

Birthdays

1861 - Dame Nellie Melba, (born Helen Porter Mitchell), DBE, Australian operatic soprano, one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian era and the early 20th century, and was the first Australian to achieve international recognition as a classical musician. She took the pseudonym "Melba" from Melbourne, her home town. She moved to Europe in search of a singing career. She studied in Paris, made a great success there and in Brussels. Returning to London she established herself as the leading lyric soprano at Covent Garden. She was successful in Europe and later at New York's Metropolitan Opera. She was known for her performances in French and Italian opera, but sang little German opera. She raised large sums for WWI charities. She returned to Australia frequently during the 20th century, singing in opera and concerts. She was active as singing teacher at the Melbourne Conservatorium. Her death, in Australia, was news across the English-speaking world, and her funeral was a major national event. The Australian $100 note features her image.

1914 - Max Perutz (born Max Ferdinand Perutz, OM CH CBE FRS, Austrian-born British molecular biologist, who shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for Chemistry with John Kendrew, for their studies of the structures of haemoglobin and myoglobin. He went on to win the Royal Medal of the Royal Society in 1971 and the Copley Medal in 1979. At Cambridge he founded and chaired (1962–79) the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB), fourteen of whose scientists have won Nobel Prizes. Perutz's contributions to molecular biology in Cambridge are documented in The History of the University of Cambridge: Volume 4 (1870 to 1990) published by the Cambridge University Press in 1992.

1930 - Lorraine Vivian Hansberry, American playwright, known for her best work A Raisin in the Sun, the first African-American female author to have a play performed on Broadway. At the age of 29, she won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award — making her the first African-American dramatist, the fifth woman, and the youngest playwright to do so. Hansberry's family had struggled against segregation, challenging a restrictive covenant and eventually provoking the 1940 Supreme Court case Hansberry v. Lee.

1941 - Nora Ephron, American journalist, writer, and filmmaker. She is best known for her romantic comedy films and was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Writing: for Silkwood, When Harry Met Sally..., and Sleepless in Seattle. She won a BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay for When Harry Met Sally.... She often co-wrote scripts with her sister Delia Ephron. Her last film was Julie & Julia. Her first produced play, Imaginary Friends, was honored as one of the ten best plays of the 2002–03 New York theatre season. In 2013, Ephron received a posthumous Tony Award nomination for Best Play for Lucky Guy. She also directed “You’ve Got Mail” starring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks.

1942 - Carla Maria Zampatti AC, OMRI, Italian-Australian fashion designer and businesswoman, and executive chair of the fashion label Carla Zampatti Pty Ltd. Zampatti became one of the first Australian designers to introduce swimwear into her collection. Expanding into other areas of fashion, she was commissioned to create the first designer eyewear of Polaroid's range. In 1983, Zampatti launched her first successful perfume, 'Carla', and a second in 1987, 'Bellezza'. In partnership with Ford Australia, Zampatti redesigned a car especially for the women's market. Zampatti held a number of directorships, including chairman of the SBS Corporation, a director of the Westfield Group, and a trustee of the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Lefties:
None known 

 

More birthdays and historical events today, May 19 - On This Day.

 

Historical Events

1536 - The execution of Anne Boleyn takes place. She was Henry VIII's second wife and mother to Elizabeth I. She stood accused of adultery. She is buried in a chapel at the Tower of London.

1842 - G. Donizetti's opera Linda di Chamounix is first performed, in Vienna.

Here's a personal favourite interpretation from the late Dame Joan Sutherland singing Donizetti's Linda Di Chamonix - "Ah! tardai troppo ... O luce di quest'anima."

 

 

1886 - Camille Saint-Saen's Symphony No. 3, for organ, two pianos, and orchestra, "Organ Symphony," is first performed, in London.  Below is a performance of  Saint-Saëns - Symphony No 3 in C minor, Op 78 - Thierry Escaich, organ; Paavo Järvi conducting the Orchestre de Paris.  YouTube, uploaded by Classical Vault 1. Accessed May 19, 2023.  

1922 - The Young Pioneer movement is established in the USSR as a Communist equivalent to the Scouting movement. This lead to the eradication of Scouting as many Scout masters fought with the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War.

1943 - UK Prime minister Winston Churchill pledges to the U.S. Congress British support in the war against Japan.

1962 - Marilyn Monroe sings "Happy Birthday" to President Kennedy at Madison Square Garden. JFK thanked her, saying, "I can now retire from politics after having had "Happy Birthday" sung to me in such a sweet, wholesome way."

1982 - Actress Sophia Loren starts her prison term at Caserta, Naples, for tax evasion. She spends 18 days of her 30-day sentence behind bars.


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 May 19, 2023. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.