On this day in 1887, the great painter Georgia O’Keeffe was born. I don’t actually know how big a deal she is in the world of art. But here in the west of the United States she’s huge. And her work is quite compelling with big (sorry) sensuous lines with wonderful use of those pastels that one rarely sees in painting. On the other hand, just like Monet yesterday, her work is over exposed and I swear I see it in motel lobbies.

Other birthdays: playwright Gerhart Hauptmann (1862); poet Marianne Moore (1887); actor Ed Asner (84); actor Sam Waterston (73); musician Kevin Eubanks (56); and actor Jonny Lee Miller (41).

The day, however, belongs to the great juggler Francis Brunn who was born on this day in 1922. You’ve probably never hear of him because, hey, he’s a juggler. It’s a rarefied kind of art form. But he is quite simply amazing. What people immediately notice is that he juggles a very large number of objects. He was, for example, the first guy to ever juggle 10 rings. In the following clip he is juggling six and it looks more natural to him than drinking a glass of water is to me. But what is most remarkable about him is his ball work. He often works with just a single ball and it is fascinating. He’s like a jazz musician. Watch how he plays with the rhythm. He also does some things with spinning balls that defy belief. This video segment is a bit long. (Over 7 minutes.) But it is filled with lots of very funny stuff that he does with Jack Benny, including a final payoff that kills.

Happy birthday Francis Brunn!

On this day in the 18th century, two composer fathers were born. The first is Leopold Mozart who was born in 1719. If you’ve ever seen the movie Amadeus, then you probably think that he was a relatively bad father. The truth is different. He was a terrible father. The second is Johann van Beethoven. He was a terrible father in a different way: as an abusive drunk. I suppose that Malcolm Gladwell would tell us that is why their sons were so great. He’s wrong.

The painter Claude Monet was born in 1840. I don’t doubt his great talent and importance. In fact, I see it. But the combination of over exposure and the generations of hacks who have painted just like him really makes appreciating his work hard. So regardless of its quality, it always seems kind of like motel room art.

The great American composer Aaron Copland was born in 1900. I’m not a big fan of his, but I appreciate his work. He made the best use of twelve-tone of any composer I’m aware of, realizing early its limits. Later he pretty much completely abandoned it. Mostly though, his music always has character. Here is Appalachian Spring, a suite he wrote based upon a ballet he had written. It is very charming. I really recommend listening to these nice young Australians from Sydney Camerata Chamber Orchestra perform the hell of it at (appropriately) a church:

When people ask me to name the most important person of my childhood, the answer is clear: Sherwood Schwartz. Why? Because he created the two iconic television shows of my youth: Gilligan’s Island and The Brady Bunch. Okay, that was hyperbola. But still, that’s quite a record. He was also a longtime comedy writer. And he lived to be 94 and spent almost 70 years married to the same woman. I admire that even if I can’t quite fathom it.

Other birthdays: steamboat inventor Robert Fulton (1765); the deeply troubled and dangerous politician and morphine addict Joseph McCarthy (1908); actor Brian Keith (1921); actor McLean Stevenson (1927); Software developer Peter Norton (70); humorist P J O’Rourke (66); and singer-songwriter Brendan Benson (43).

The day, however, belongs to the actress Veronica Lake who was born on this day in 1922. The truth is that I’ve never been a fan of hers. I liked her in Sullivan’s Travels and the Alan Ladd films. But then I found out about her life. She was apparently very difficult to work with and by the late-1940s, this led to the end of her career in Hollywood. During the later part of her career, she became an alcoholic. By 1962, she had been reduced to working as a barmaid in a New York Hotel. When this became public, jobs came back and her career had a bit of a renaissance, but not in Hollywood. Regardless, the best part of her story is that in 1969, she published an autobiography. With the proceeds of that, she starred in and produced a low-budget horror film, Flesh Feast. A seeker to the end, she died just 3 years later at the age of 50.

Happy birthday Veronica Lake!

On this day in 1732, one of the great characters in 1776, John Dickinson was born. It’s a great character, but the real man was far more complex. He was not John Adams’ antagonist and simply abstained from votes. Given my souring opinion of Adams over the years, I’m inclined to think that Dickinson was the more clear headed one. That’s especially true given that Adams just wanted to create an American aristocracy. But neither of them were Thomas Paine.

The great Scottish novelist Robert Louis Stevenson was born in 1850. He is best known for Treasure Island and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. He was hugely successful during his lifetime, but throughout most of the 20th century, he was generally dismissed as a genre writer. Gladly, in recent years, people have reevaluated him. He was a great writer and not just in his novels. He should be rightly appreciated as one of the towering figures in English literature. I can’t imagine his reputation not growing even stronger in the coming years.

Willie Edwards was born in 1932. He would probably be alive today. Unfortunately, at the age of 24, he was murdered by the Alabama Klan. They had decided to kill a black man who was thought to be having an affair with a white woman. Regardless of the truth of that, Edwards was not that man. They beat him and then forced him at gun point to jump off a bridge to his death. His body wasn’t even found for three months. No one was even charged in the case for almost 20 years and then the judge threw it out because “merely forcing a person to jump from a bridge does not naturally and probably lead to the death of such person.” The bridge was 125 feet high. No one was ever convicted of the crime even though there is a confession.

Other birthdays: businessman Leon Leonwood (LL) Bean (1872); film director H C Potter (1904); the evil but ultimately impotent pastor Fred Phelps (84); actor Richard Mulligan (1932); television producer Garry Marshall (79); actor Joe Mantegna (66); comedian Whoopi Goldberg (58); actor Steve Zahn (46); and atheist Ayaan Hirsi Ali (44).

The day, however, belongs to the one of the greatest actors of the 19th century, Edwin Booth who was born on this day in 1833. He was the son of Junius Brutus Booth—the man most important in popularizing Shakespeare in the United States. Booth continued that tradition. The problem with Booth is that he had a brother named John Wilkes Booth. Now John was also an actor but by all accounts not nearly as good and nowhere near as successful. John’s assassination of President Lincoln really hurt Edwin’s career and greatly harmed his legacy. There is no indication that anyone other than John was a political radical. I’m still amazed that we have a few recordings of Edwin. The following is in very bad shape, so I will put the text below it. It is from Othello, Act 1, Scene 3:

Happy birthday Edwin Booth!

On this day in 1854, the great John Philip Sousa was born. He wrote many of the best marches ever written. I know that marches are thought to be kind of a joke today, but they are a wonderful kind of music. When I was in college, a march came into my mind and it has stayed in my mind for the last 30 years. Over that time, I’ve done a complete Mozart. It’s finished. I should really write it down one of these days. The funny thing is that I’ve learned a great deal about the march. It is basically a duet. It is like there are two bands playing together because there are two strong melodic lines. I think you will find this is all marches. Anyway, Sousa did a brilliant job creating these marches and he had a totally kickass band. Here is The Washington Post March. Unfortunately—And strangely!—I could not find any actual Sousa recordings on YouTube (you can find them on the Wikipedia page, however).

The great baseball pitcher Walter Johnson was born in 1887. The truth is that he did not have much finesse. He never did perfect a curve ball. But he could throw the ball so much faster than others of his time, that he managed to be really successful. But mostly he is remembered as being a very nice guy. Now, I always think that it’s a lot easier to be a nice guy when you don’t have to work that hard. Still, as Jonathan Richman said, “He’s a hero to me, I ain’t putting you on son”:

Other birthdays: the great comedian and film director Mike Nichols (82); musician Glenn Frey is retiring today; and actor Ethan Hawke (43).

The day, however, belongs to the great Trace Beaulieu who is 55 today. He is best known as the original (and One True) Crow from Mystery Science Theater 3000. He is also, interestingly, the only decent puppeteer on the show. No one else seems to have cared. It’s aggravating to watch the others; I take personal exception. Also, after Beaulieu left the show, Crow became a much nastier character (although he was still hilarious).

In celebration of this birthday, I was planning to start a twitter account, The Gospel According to Crow. It was just to be a single quote from Crow each day. You know, like, “MST3K 3:21 I wanna decide who lives and who dies!” But Andrea seems to think it won’t have enough context for people. Like that line: it was in reference to Joel asking Crow what he wanted for Christmas. So I’m going to think about it for a while longer. But the Word of Crow must be spread.

In the meantime, here is Beaulieu as Crow doing Jay Leno:

Happy birthday Trace Beaulieu!

On this day in 1850, the great poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox was born. Now I don’t go in for all that positive nonsense, but I appreciate it. For example, she wrote, “Love lights more fires than hate extinguishes.” I don’t believe that, but it is a beautiful sentiment. She also wrote:

Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone.
For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth
But has trouble enough of its own

Again: bullshit! But I love the thought!

I almost gave this day to Ike Turner who was born in 1931. Yeah, there’s the whole thing about the domestic violence. Having had a wife who brutalized me and who was eventually arrested for it, I understand things from Tina’s perspective; even under the best of circumstances, it can be really hard to manage such situations. (I hate the question, “Why did you stay?” It shows a complete lack of understanding of the situation.) On the other hand, that very same brutalizing wife told other people that I had attacked her, which I never did. That was the source of her power; all I would do was fend off her attacks because I was far more afraid of being labeled a “wife beater” than of the severe physical abuse she administered. So I worry about any claims coming from one side. Of course, I don’t really doubt that Ike was a violent asshole. Still, he was a great musician. Here is “Rocket 88,” arguably the first rock song from way back in 1951:

Art Garfunkel is 72 today. I’m not that fond of him as a singer, but he’s always had excellent taste in songwriters. Here he is doing Gallagher & Lyle’s “A Heart in New York”:

Other birthdays: union organizer Eugene V Debs (1855); Natalie Schafer, best known as Lovey Howell (1900); actor Joel McCrea (1905); child actor Baby Marie Osborne (1911); the great actor Vivien Leigh (1913); playwright Sam Shepard (70); basketball player Bill Walton (61); one of the most underrated character actors Robert Patrick (55); musician Bryan Adams (54); actor Tilda Swinton (53); crush of my youth, singer Andrea McArdle (50); crush of my old age, actor Famke Janssen (48); and one of my favorite actors Sam Rockwell (45).

The day, however, belongs to probably the greatest child actor of all time, Tatum O’Neal who is 50 today. In general, I have a problem with the praise we heap on children for various things they do. But O’Neal’s work in Paper Moon absolutely deserved the Academy Award. Her performance is incredibly deep and nuanced. And it’s all her—director Peter Bogdanovich shot the film with very long takes. If you haven’t seen the film, you really must. It is one of the great ones and O’Neal is the high point of it. Here is the first scene where her character Addie joins in the family business:

Happy birthday Tatum O’Neal!