May 3 Dateline

Birthdays

1469 - Niccolò Machiavelli (or Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli), Italian diplomat, politician, historian, philosopher, humanist, writer, playwright and poet of the Renaissance period. He has often been called the father of modern political science. Machiavelli is most famous for a short political treatise, The Prince, written in 1513 but not published until 1532, five years after his death. The adjective Machiavellian became a term describing someone or something that is "marked by cunning, duplicity, or bad faith".  (The Prince explained in 3 minutes. Uploaded by Eudaimonia. Accessed May 3, 2019.)
 
1898 - Golda Meier (born Golda Mabovitch), Israeli teacher, kibbutznik, stateswoman, politician and the fourth Prime Minister of Israel. Born in Kyiv, she emigrated to the United States as a child with her family in 1906, and was educated there, becoming a teacher. After marrying, she and her husband emigrated to then Palestine in 1921, settling on a kibbutz. Meir was elected prime minister of Israel on March 17, 1969, after serving as Minister of Labour and Foreign Minister. The world's fourth and Israel's first and only woman to hold the office of Prime Minister, she has been described as the "Iron Lady" of Israeli politics.

1904 - Bing Crosby (born Harry Lillis Crosby Jr.), American singer, comedian and actor. In his time, he was leader in record sales, radio ratings, and motion picture grosses. He was extremely famus for singing "White Christmas". In  1948, American polls declared him the "most admired man alive". Crosby won an Oscar for Best Actor for his role as Father Chuck O'Malley in the 1944 motion picture Going My Way and was nominated for his reprise of the role in The Bells of St. Mary's opposite Ingrid Bergman the next year. In 1963, Crosby received the first Grammy Global Achievement Award. He is one of 33 people to have three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in the categories of motion pictures, radio, and audio recording. (Bing Crosby - White Christmas (1942) Original Version. BingCrosbyLegacy. When Irish Eyes are Smiling. (1939). Accessed May 3, 2017.)

1906 - Mary Astor, American actress, best remembered for her performance as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of concert pianist Sandra Kovak in The Great Lie.

1912 - May Sarton (born Eleanore Marie Sarton), Belgian-American prolific American poet, novelist and memoirist. She is considered an important contemporary figure in American literature, as well as a 'poet's poet', and is lauded by literary and feminist critics for her works addressing themes in gender, sexuality, and universality. Sarton was born in Wondelgem, Belgium, the only child of historian of science George Sarton and his wife, the English artist Mabel Eleanor Elwes. When German troops invaded Belgium in 1914, her family fled to Ipswich, England, where Sarton's maternal grandmother lived.  A year later, they moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where her father started working at Harvard University. May Sarton is known as a complex individual who often struggled in her relationships. A selected edition of her letters was edited by Susan Sharman in 1997 and many of Sarton's papers are held in the New York Public Library. (May Sarton reads "My Sisters, O My Sisters". Uploaded by awetblackbough. Accessed May 3, 2012. Poem from the Autumn Sonnets by May Sarton. Uploaded by Mykelangelo Buonarroti. Accessed May 3, 2019.)

1934 - Frankie Valli (born Francesco Stephen Castelluccio), American singer, the frontman of the Four Seasons beginning in 1960. He is known for his unusually powerful lead falsetto voice. Valli scored 29 top 40 hits with the Four Seasons, one top 40 hit under the Four Seasons alias the Wonder Who?, and nine top 40 hits as a solo artist. As a member of the Four Seasons, his number-one hits include "Sherry", "Big Girls Don't Cry", "Walk Like a Man", "Rag Doll" and "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)". As a solo artist, Valli scored number-one hits with the songs "My Eyes Adored You" (1974) and "Grease" (1978). 

1950 - Mary Hopkin, Welsh singer-songwriter, credited on some recordings as Mary Visconti from her marriage to Tony Visconti, best known for her 1968 UK number 1 single "Those Were the Days". She was one of the first artists to be signed to the Beatles' Apple label. (Mary Hopkin Those were the days lyrics. Youtube, uploaded by GPITRAL2 Music for learning English with lyrics. Accessed May 3, 2022.)

Leftie:
Singer Frankie Valli

More birthdays and historical events today, May 3 - On This Day.

 

Historical Events

1737 - American writer Margaret Mitchell wins a Pulitzer Prize for her novel Gone with the Wind, first published in 1936. The story is set in Clayton County and Atlanta, both in Georgia, during the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era. It depicts the struggles of young Scarlett O'Hara, the spoiled daughter of a well-to-do plantation owner, who must use every means at her disposal to claw her way out of poverty following Sherman's destructive "March to the Sea". This historical novel features a Bildungsroman or coming-of-age story, with the title taken from a poem written by Ernest Dowson. The novel was made into a blockbuster movie starring Rhett Butler, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard, and Olivia de Havilland, produced by David O. Selznick. Here's the 1939 movie trailer. Uploaded by BFITrailers. Accessed May 3, 2015.)

1794 - Joseph Haydn's "Clock Symphony" is first performed, at London's Haymarket Theatre. The second movement's ryhthmic tick-tock provides its nickname.  (Here's a link: Haydn's  Symphony  No. 101 in D major ("Clock Symphony")  performed by Sir Charles Mackerras and the Orchestra of St. Luke's. Recorded by Telarc in 1992. Enjoy!)

1960 - The musical The Fantastics opens in New York. It closes on January 13, 2002, after 17,162 shows.

1988 - The Reagan Administration acknowledges the use of astrological advice in scheduling the President's diary.

1999 - Bill Gates, American business magnate, philanthropist, investor, computer programmer and investor, pledges $25 million over five years to help develop a vaccine AIDS.

2001 - The UN War Crimes Tribunal issues and arrest warrant for Serbian nationalist leader Slobodan Milosevic.




Resources:

1. Asiado, Tel. The World's Movers and Shapers. New Hampshire: Ore Mountain Publishing House (2005)

2. Britannica. www.bitannica.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 3, 2023. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.