"The Sound of Music" wins 5 Academy Awards 1966

Robert Wise's musical classic The Sound of Music was nominated for ten Academy Awards and won five at the annual ceremony held April 18, 1966.  Doctor Zhivago, another successful movie, was also nominated for ten Oscars and won five.

The Sound of Music won Best Picture (Robert Wise, producer) and Best Directing for Robert Wise, beating Doctor Zhivago.  It won Best Music (Scoring of Music-Adaption or Treatment) for Irwin Kostal. It won Best Sound for James Corcoran and Fred Hynes, and Best Film Editing for William Reynolds.

Julie Andrews was nominated for Best Actress, but Christopher Plummer did not receive a nomination for his work. Neither did Omar Sharif. Hmmm.... Peggy Wood was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Mother Abbess.  The Sound of Music was nominated for Best Art Direction (Color) for Boris Leven, Walter Scott and Ruby Levitt.  It was nominated for Best Cinematography (Color) for Ted McCord, and Best Costume Design (Color) for Dorothy Jenkins.  

One of my favorite comedies The Great Race was nominated for five Oscars and won Best Sound Effects for Treg Brown.

Maggie Smith received her first Academy Award nomination.  She was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her work as Desdemona in Othello. 

Simon & Garfunkel "The Sounds of Silence" reaches #1 1966

Released as a single in September 1965, Simon & Garfunkel's The Sounds of Silence reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 January 1, 1966

Angela Lansbury wins her first Tony Award 1966

Dame Angela Lansbury won her first of many Tony Awards at the 20th annual ceremony, June 16, 1966.  She originated the role of Mame Dennis in the musical Mame.   Mame had been nominated for eight Tony Awards.  Sweet Charity was nominated for nine, and Man of La Mancha got seven nominations.

Angela won Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical.  Bea Arthur won Best Performance by a Supporting or Featured Actress in a Musical.  Frankie Michaels won Best Performance by a Supporting or Featured Actor in Musical.

Angela would go on to win five more Tony Awards.

 

Happy birthmonth, Chinese astronaut Zhang Xiaoguang!

Zhang Xiaoguang, born May 1966 in China, went into space aboard Shenzhou 10 in June 2013.  The spacecraft docked with the Tiangong-1 space station and Zhang and the crew spent 12 days on board before returning to Earth.  He spent 14 days and 14 hours in space.

Luna 13 launched 1966

Luna 13, a Soviet spacecraft, was launched to the moon December 21, 1966.  It became the third spacecraft to successfully land on the moon.  The first was Luna 9 in February 1966. The second was NASA's Surveyor 1 in May 1966.

It landed on December 24 in the Ocean of Storms (Oceanus Procellarum) between the Krafft and Seleucus craters.  Luna 13 took 5 panorama pictures, each taking 100 minutes to transmit.  

Contact was lost December 28 when the batteries were depleted.

Lunar Orbiter 1 crashes onto the moon 1966

Lunar Orbiter 1, launched in August 1966, impacted the moon after a successful mission, on October 29, 1966.  It reached lunar orbit on August 14 and took pictures of the surface to look for safe landing sites for future moon missions.  It photographed over 5 million square kilometers, through September 14. 

It finally impacted the lunar surface October 29.

Happy birthday, Chinese astronaut Zhai Zhigang!

Zhai Zhigang, born October 10, 1966 in China, is the first Chinese astronaut to perform a spacewalk.  He launched aboard Shenzhou 7 in September 2008 when he performed his EVA lasting 22 minutes.  

Celebrating Black History Month: Emmett Ashford, first African-American umpire in Major League Baseball

Emmett Ashford, born November 23, 1914, was the first African-American umpire in Major League Baseball.  He began moonlighting as an umpire in a Santa Ana municipal softball league and National Night Ball League of Southern California.  He left Santa Ana to umpire in the Southwestern International League, making him the first black umpire in professional baseball..  

He joined the Arizona-Texas league and then to the Western International League in 1953, and then onto the Pacific Coast League in 1954.  

After 12 years, he was promoted to the American League and made his major league debut April 11, 1966 at DC Stadium.  He retired in 1970.  

He passed away in March 1980. 

Happy birthday, "X-Men actor Tyler Mane!

Tyler Mane, born December 8, 1966 in Saskatchewan, Canada, played Sabretooth in the first X-Men movie.  The incredibly handsome actor has also played Mike Myers in the rebooted Halloween series of movies.

The Monkees' "Last Train To Clarksville" reaches #1 1966

The Monkees single Last Train to Clarksville reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, November 5, 1966.  

The song is about a man calling his love to meet him at the train station because he is leaving and might never come home.  Although not specifically referenced, it is a subtle protest of the Vietnam War. 

Micky Dolenz, the drummer for the band, sang the lead vocals.  The rest, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork and Davy Jones provided back up.

"It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" premieres 1966

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown made its television debut October 27, 1966.  It is perennial Halloween watching for those of us who grew up with Charlie Brown and the gang.  While everyone is out trick-or-treating, Linus sits in a pumpkin patch to wait for the Great Pumpkin.

It was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards: Outstanding Children's Program, Special Classifications of Individual Achievements for director Bill Melendez and writer Charles Schulz.

It lost the Children's Program award to Jack and the Beanstalk.  Anyone remember that one?

Happy birthday, Chinese astronaut Jing Haipeng!

Jing Haipeng, born October 24, 1966 in China, is the first Chinese astronaut to go into space three times.  

His first flight was aboard Shenzhou 7 as descent module monitor astronaut in September 2008.  The mission lasted three days.

His second mission was aboard Shenzhou 9 as commander in June 2012.  He became the first Chinese astronaut to fly into space more than once.

His third mission was aboard Shenzhou 11 to the Tiangong 2 space station October-November 2016.  Jing celebrated his fiftieth birthday while in orbit.

Happy birthday, astronaut Douglas Hurley!

Douglas Hurley, born October 21, 1966 in Endicott, New York, has been in space three times.  

His first flight was aboard Endeavour (STS-127) as pilot to the International Space Station in July 2009.  When they docked at the ISS, they set a record for the most humans in space at the same time, at thirteen.

His second flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-135) as pilot to the ISS in July 2011.  It was the final flight of the Space Shuttle program.

His latest flight was aboard SpaceX's Endeavour, the first crewed test flight of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, to the ISS in May 2020.  He and fellow astronaut Bob Behnken participated in Expedition 63.  They returned to Earth on August 2, 2020.

Happy birthday, Jon Favreau!

Cinematic powerhouse Jon Favreau, born October 19, 1966 in Queens, New York, is a producer, director and actor.  He is the executive producer for all three Iron Man movies, and three of the Avengers movies, Age of Ultron, Infinity War and Endgame.

He directed the first two Iron Man movies.  

He has appeared in six movies as Tony Stark's chauffeur Happy Hogan.

Favreau won a Saturn Award (Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films) for Best Director for Iron Man.  He has also been recognized for his work on the Disney Star Wars production of The Mandalorian.  

Happy birthmonth, Chinese astronaut Liu Boming!

Liu Boming, born in September 1966 in China, went into space aboard Shenzhou 7 in September 2008.  During the mission, he participated in the first Chinese spacewalk with fellow astronaut Zhai Zhigang.

Pioneer 7 launched 1966

Pioneer 7, launched August 17, 1966, was part of NASA's program designed to make detailed, comprehensive measurements of solar wind, solar magnetic field and cosmic rays. 

Celebrating Pride Month: Compton's Cafeteria riot 1966

In Auigust 1966, the Compton's Cafeteria Riot occured, one of the first LGBT-related riots in US history, preceding the more famous Stonewall Riots by three years.  The restaurant, one of a chain of cafeterias in San Francisco, was in the Tenderloin location of the city.  It was one of the few places where transfender people could congregate publicly, since they were not welcome in gay bars due to transphobia.

The staff at Compton's Cafeteria began to complain to police about the transgender people at the restaurant, and implemented a fee aimed directly at the transgender community to try to get them to leave the restaurant.  One night the police were called because some of the transgender customers became 'raucous' and one transwomen threw her coffee in a police officer's face when he tried to arrest her. The riot erupted and a police car had all its windows broken out. 

More rioting occurred the second night and more members of the LGBT community joined picket lines.  Exact dates of the riots are unknown since police records from that time no longer exist and it was not covered by the media.

It marked a turning point in the local LGBT movement.  A network of transgender social, psychological, and medical support services was established.  It led to the creation of the National Transsexual Counseling Unit in 1968, the first such organization in the world.

Gemini IX-A launched 1966

Gemini IX-A crew: Tom Stafford, Gene Cernan

Mission patch

Gemini IX-A, launched June 3, 1966, was the seventh crewed Gemini flight.  Its crew consisted of Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan.  Elliott See was intended to be the commander and Charles Bassett to be pilot, but they were killed in a training accident in February.

The main objective was to dock with the Agena Target Vehicle, but because of a launch preparation error on the target vehicle, they were unable to.

The second objective was for Cernan to conduct an EVA and test the Air Force's Astronaut Maneuvering Unit, but this was not achieved since Cernan experienced cardiac stress, overheating and fatigue during the EVA.

The third objective, carrying out scientific experiments, was completed.

They returned to Earth June 6.

"A Charlie Brown Christmas" wins Primetime Emmy 1966

A Charlie Brown Christmas won the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Children's Program at the 18th Primetime Emmy awards May 22, 1966.  Lee Mendelson and Bill Melendez produced the program based on the comic strip by Charles Schulz.  Vince Guaraldi composed the music and was nominated for a Grammy in 1978.

Luna 10 launched 1966

Luna 10, launched March 31, 1966 by the Soviet Union, was the first artificial satellite of the moon.  It entered lunar orbit on April 3, and operated until May 30.