Happy birthday, diva and singer extraordinaire Patti LaBelle!

The lovely and talented Patti LaBelle, born Patricia Louise Holte May 24, 1944 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is known as the Godmother of Soul. She started her singing career in the 60s as Pattie LaBelle and the Bluebelles.  In the 70s, the group changed their name to LaBelle and recorded Lady Marmalade.  Pattie went solo the next year and became a huge success, selling more than 50M records. 

 She won a Grammy in 1992 for Best R&B Vocal Performance Female and one in 1999 for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance.  She's been nominated eleven more times, including one for When You Talk About Love. (I demand a recount).

She began acting in the 1980s as well as recording music and has been nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards.

We got to see her here in Melbourne, Florida back in November and she is so awesome in concert!

Glenn Miller disappears 1944

One of the biggest mysteries of the twentieth century is what happened to Glenn Miller. He was on an unscheduled flight from London to Paris on December 15, 1944, after his reservation the previous day was cancelled.  He stood by for an earlier flight on December 13, but it was cancelled as well.  

He was frustrated and worried that he would miss his engagements in Paris, so he managed to get on a Norseman airplane, with Lieutenant Colonel Normal Baesell of the Eighth Air Force Service Command  piloted by Flight Officer John Stuart Morgan.  His orders did not allow him to board a 'casual' flight, and he did not report this change in schedule to his superiors, so no one knew where he was that day.

Shortly after takeoff, while they were over the English Channel, the plane and its occupants disappeared and were never seen again.  The next morning the Germans launched a new attack that became the Battle of the Bulge, so nobody realized Glenn Miller was missing until three days later.

The Eighth Air Force Board of Inquiry determined that the cause of the plane's disappearance was due to a combination of human error, mechanical failure, and weather.  The weather that day made the pilot fly lower than normal because of the cloud cover, and the prevailing theory is icing brought the plane down.  Of course, nothing has been proven and won't be unless the wreckage is ever found. 

"Casablanca" wins 3 Academy Awards 1944

One of the best movies of all time Casablanca won 3 Academy Awards at the 16th annual ceremony held March 2, 1944. It won Outstanding Motion Picture, Best Director for Michael Curtiz, and Best Screenplay.

It had received 9 nominations in total: Humphrey Bogart for Best Actor, Ingrid Bergman for Best Actress, Claud Rains for Best Supporting Actress, Best Scoring for a Motion Picture for Max Steiner, Best Cinematography Black & White for Arthur Edeson, and Best Film Editing for Owen Marks.

Gregory Jarvis, Challenger astronaut, born 1944

Gregory Jarvis, born August 24, 1944 in Detroit, Michigan, died during the Space Shuttle Challenger (STS-51-L) disaster on January 28, 1986. He was a payload specialist for Hughes Aircraft and it was his first mission into space.  He was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 2004.

David Walker, Space Shuttle astronaut, born 1944

David Walker, born May 20, 1944 in Columbus, Georgia, is a veteran of four space shuttle flights.

His first flight was aboard Discovery (STS-51-A) as pilot in November 1984.  The flight recovered two satellites.

His second flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-30) as commander in May 1989.  The primary objective of the mission was to deploy the Magellan spacecraft to Venus.

His third flight was aboard Discovery (STS-53) as commander in December 1992.  It was a mission dedicated to the US Department of Defense.

His fourth and final flight was aboard Endeavour (STS-69) as commander in September 1995.  It was the second flight of the Wake Shield Facility.

He passed away from cancer in April 2001.

"Captain America" premieres 1944

Captain America, the first Marvel superhero to appear outside of a comic book, premiered February 5, 1944.  Dick Purcell played Captain America/Grant Gardner instead of Steve Rogers.  The studio Republic rejected the backstory of Rogers being too puny and weak to join the army, so he took a serum that turned him into a super soldier.  Grant Gardner is a lawyer who fights crime by night.

Captain America was a serial, Republic's last, and had fifteen episodes.  Dick Purcell, an amateur boxer and a black belt in Judo, died of heart failure in 1944, shortly after filming concluded. 

Happy birthday, British actress Jane Lapotaire!

Jane Lapotaire, born January 26, 1944 in Suffolk, England, is an actress who I first saw in the miniseries Marie Curie in 1977.  More recently, she appeared in Downton Abbey as Princess Irina, appearing with Dame Maggie Smith.  I found out she was in another favorite movie, One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing in 1975 with Helen Hayes.  In 2006, she starred with Sir Patrick Stewart in the mini-series thriller Eleventh Hour.  In 2020, she appeared in the remake of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca.

It's interesting to note that she was born on the anniversary of Marie Curie's discovery of radium in 1898. 

"Arsenic and Old Lace" released 1944

Frank Capra's B&W comedy classic Arsenic and Old Lace was released September 23, 1944.  It starred Cary Grant and Peter Lorre.  Grant plays a novelist, who discovers that his two sweet, elderly aunts kill old men with poison and bury them in the cellar.

Boris Karloff wanted to reprise his role as Jonathan Brewster from the Broadway play, but was denied permission by the Broadway play producers.  He was not happy.

The American Film Institute listed it as one of the Top Funniest American Movies.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Loren Shriver!

Loren Shriver, born September 23, 1944 in Jefferson, Iowa, is a veteran of three space shuttle flights.  From 1969 to 1973 he was an academic pilot instructor at Vance Air Force Base over here in Enid, Oklahoma.

His first mission into space was aboard Discovery (STS-51-C) as pilot in January 1985.  It was the first space shuttle flight to carry a classified payload for the Dept. of Defense.

His second flight was aboard Discovery (STS-31) as commander in April 1990.  This mission deployed the Hubble Space Telescope.

Shriver's third and final flight was on Atlantis (STS-46) as commander in July-August 1992.  The mission deployed the Italian Space Agency's Tethered Satellite Relay System and the European Space Agency's European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA).

Shriver is also a retired US Air Force Colonel.

Space Shuttle astronaut Charles Veach born 1944

Charles Veach, born September 18, 1944 in Chicago, Illinois, is a veteran of two space shuttle flights. 

His first trip into space was aboard Discovery (STS-39) as mission specialist in April-May 1991.  It was also the first unclassified Department of Defense payload.

His second mission was aboard Columbia (STS-52) as mission specialist in October-November 1992. Some of Gene Roddenberry's ashes were carried aboard Columbia for the mission.

Veach passed away from cancer in October 1995.

Cosmonaut Aleksandr Serebrov born 1944

Aleksandr Serebrov, born February 15, 1944 in Moscow, Russia, is a veteran of four space flights.  He is one of the few people to fly for both the Soviet and Russian space programs. 

His first mission was aboard Soyuz T-7, launched in August 1982 as Flight Engineer to Salyut 7.  He returned two and half weeks later aboard Soyuz T-5. 

His second mission was aboard Soyuz T-8 as Flight Engineer to Salyut 7 in April 1983.  Unfortunately, the spacecraft failed to dock with the space station and returned to Earth two days later.

His third trip was aboard Soyuz TM-8 in September 1989 to Mir as part of expedition Mir EO-5 with fellow cosmonaut Aleksandr Viktorenko.  They remained in space for 166 days before returning to Earth in February 1990.

Serebrov's fourth and final flight was aboard Soyuz TM-17, launched in July 1993 to Mir with fellow cosmonaut Vasili Tsibliyev.  They remained in space for almost 197 days and returned to Earth in January 1994.

He passed away in November 2013.

Happy birthday, Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier!

Claude Nicollier, born September 2, 1944, is a veteran of four space shuttle flights and Switzerland's first astronaut.

His historic first flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-46) as mission specialist in July 1992.  The mission's main objectives were to deploy the ESA's European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA) and the joint project between NASA and the Italian Space Agency, the Tethered Satellite System (TSS).

His second mission was aboard Endeavour (STS-61) as mission specialist in December 1993.  Nicollier used Endeavour's robotic arm to capture and re-deploy the Hubble Space Telescope.

His third flight was on Columbia (STS-75) as mission specialist February-March 1996.  The mission's main objective was to deploy another tethered satellite TSS-1R, a 'reflight' from STS-46.

Nicollier's fourth and final flight was aboard Discovery (STS-103) in December 1999, another servicing trip to the Hubble Telescope.  Nicollier performed an EVA as part of the maintenance and repair of the Hubble.

Happy birthday, cosmonaut Yuri Romanenko!

Yuri (Yury? Whatever.) Romanenko, born August 1, 1944 in the former Soviet Union, is a cosmonaut and a veteran of three missions to space. 

His first trip was aboard Soyuz 26 to Salyut 6 in December 1977.  During this mission, he performed an EVA, lasting one and a half hours.

His second trip was with Cuban cosmonaut Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez on Soyuz 38 in December 1980, to Salyut 6, but remained on board for only 7 days.

His third and final mission was on Soyuz TM-2 in February 1987 to the Mir space station.  He spent 326 days aboard Mir, which was a record back then.  He also conducted 3 EVA for a total of 8 hours, 48 minutes.   He returned to Earth on Soyuz TM-3 in December 1987.

He retired from flights in 1988 to become the director of the Buran program, which was cancelled in 1993.

His son Roman, born August 9, 1971, is also a cosmonaut and commanded Soyuz TMA-15.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut James "Ox" Hoften!

James Dougal Adrianus van Hoften, born June 11, 1944 in Fresno, California is a veteran of two space shuttle flights.  He received a PhD in Hydraulic Engineering from Colorado State University and did two tours in Southeast Asia where he flew over 60 combat missions.

He was selected as an astronaut in January 1978.  His first mission was aboard Challenger (STS-41-C) as mission specialist in April 1984.  He conducted two EVAs during the mission with fellow astronaut George Nelson, logging just over 10 hours in space.

His second and last mission was aboard Discovery (STS-51-I) as mission specialist August-September 1985, where he performed two more EVAs with William Fisher, logging almost 12 hours in space.

He retired from NASA in August 1986.

Geoffrey Hughes born 1944

Versatile and comedic actor, Geoffrey Hughes, born February 2, 1944 in Cheshire, England, is probably best known as  Hyacinth's white trash brother-in-law on Keeping Up Appearances from 1990-1995.

He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1996 but recovered.  It returned in 2010 and he had to retire from acting.  He passed away July 2012 on the Isle of Wight. 

Happy belated birthday, Godzilla actor Katsuhiko Sasaki!

I just found out yesterday that prolific and handsome Japanese actor Katsuhiko Sasaki celebrated his birthday the day before that, December 24.  He was born Christmas Eve in 1944 in Tokyo, Japan.  One of our cable channels hosted a Godzilla marathon yesterday and I got to see at least part of one, Godzilla vs Megalon.  I also got to see the beginning of the Terror of Mechagodzilla and recognized the same actor. 

Katsuhiko Sasaki has been in four Godzilla films, including the two mentioned above and Godzilla vs Biollante and Godzilla vs King Ghidorah.   

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman!

Jeffrey Alan Hoffman, born November 2, 1944 in Brooklyn, New York, is a veteran of 5 space shuttle flights and is the first Jewish astronaut from the United States. 

His first flight was aboard Discovery (STS-51-D) in April 1985, as mission specialist.  Discovery landed at Kennedy Space Center but suffered major brake damage and blew out a tire so future shuttle flights had to land at Edwards Air Force Base until NASA could improve the brake assembly and make it safer.

His second mission was aboard Columbia (STS-35) in December 1990 also as mission specialist.  He and fellow astronaut Sam Durrance conducted the first Space Classroom Program, designed to get children interested in math and science.

His third mission was on Atlantis (STS-46) in July-August 1992.  He flew with the first Italian citizen in space, Franco Malerba. 

His fourth flight was the first servicing mission to the Hubble Telescope, on Endeavour (STS-61) in December 1993.  Launched 3 1/2 years previously, the Hubble Telescope had a "spherical abberation" that distorted images and rendered most of its data unuseable.

Hoffman's fifth and final flight was back on Columbia (STS-75) February-March 1996.  He flew with two more Italian astronauts, Maurizio Cheli and Umberto Guidoni.

Happy birthday, Sci-fi/Fantasy author Katherine Kurtz!

I read Katherine Kurtz's first Deryni trilogy in high school or college.  Thoroughly enjoyed it and have wanted to continue reading the series, but I keep putting it off.  She's up to her 5th trilogy in the Deryni novels and according to her interview (below), there is still a lot more to come.  It is a series worth continuing! Kurtz was born October 18, 1944 in Coral Gable, Florida.

She has a Bachelor's Degree in Chemistry from the University of Miami!  How come that degree hasn't worked for me?  Katherine, any advice?

Happy birthday, Sam Elliott!

Sam Elliott, born August 9, 1944, has raised the bar so high on good looks, very few of us will look as good as he does at 72, especially when we didn't look as good as he did at 32! I can't watch Grace and Frankie because he appears without that mustache, that gorgeous mustache.  :(

I feel in love with him way back when I saw trailers for Lifeguard (which should have given me a heads-up but didn't).  It's still good to see him in Hulk and Ghost Rider, movies from Marvel Comics.

He makes most guys say "I wanna be a cowboy."

Happy birthday, Terry Brooks, author of the Shannara series

Terry Brooks, born January 8, 1944, is the author of the best-selling "Shannara" series.  I read "The Sword of Shannara" in college and read the rest of the series (at that time), waiting for each new novel to come out.  I enjoyed the character Walker Boh so much, I even named my third Mustang after him. 

It looks as though MTV is airing a series based on the Shannara series!