December 25, 1959: The Film "Solomon and Sheba" Premieres

Yes, that's Yul Brynner, with hair,

and with Gina Lollobrigida.

December 25, 1959: The film Solomon and Sheba premieres. Because most businesses are closed on Christmas Day, and Jews don't celebrate the day, with a big meal or otherwise, movie theaters stay open, in the hopes that Jews will come and spend money there. For this reason, December 25 is often a premiere day for blockbuster films. The fact that Solomon and Sheba was an Old Testament tale helped, and the film was a hit.

In the Bible, where his story is told in 2nd Samuel, 1st Kings and 2nd Chronicles, Solomon was the son of King David and Queen Bathsheba, reigning for 40 years in the middle of the 10th Century BC, building the Temple that became the center of Jewish life, and being the wisest man in the known world. This last belief may have been contradicted by his marrying 700 women, having 300 concubines, and fathering countless children.

He is said to have met "the Queen of Sheba," who is not otherwise named in the text. 1st Kings 10:2 says she came to Jerusalem "with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices, and very much gold, and precious stones." 2nd Chronicles 9 says, "Never again came such an abundance of spices."

1st Kings 10:13 says that when Solomon gave her "all her desire, whatsoever she asked," she left satisfied. That's a bit vague, and it could imply a sexual relationship between them. But that's the end of her mention in the Bible. Aside from a few inscriptions found in modern times, suggesting that there was trade between Israel and Sheba at the time, the land that is now "The Holy Land" (Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and the Palestinian Territories) has given no known evidence. The Bible's Song of Songs, also known as The Song of Solomon, is an epic poem that is often suggested to be about the love between Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, but this remains speculation.

There are other stories, which contradict the West's habit of calling the Queen by the name "Sheba." The Arab world, including the Quran, suggests that her name was Bilquis, that the land of Sheba was "Saba," including what is now southern Saudi Araba, Oman and Yemen. Modern Ethiopia suggests that her name was Makeda, and that Sheba was Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia, across the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden from Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Historians are not convinced that the woman existed, but concede that it is possible that her kingdom did, on either side, or even that she (or someone) ruled over both.

And both Arabic tradition and Ethiopian tradition says that, when the Queen left Jerusalem, she was pregnant with Solomon's child. He became her successor, the Emperor Menelik, who eventually copied his mother's journey, and met Solomon at the Temple, where he was received with joy. They also say that, upon his return, he took the Ark of the Covenant back with him, something not backup by any Jewish text.

In the film, Sheba is an enemy of Israel, as is Egypt, and the Queen (played by Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida) conspires with their Pharoah (British actor David Farrar) to undermine Solomon (the Russian-born American actor Yul Brynner, who had famously played a different Pharoah in The Ten Commandments). She seduces him, but as she spends more time with him, she finds herself falling in love with him as well.

The Queen introduces Sheban worship to the Temple Solomon has built, and an angry God damages the Temple and destroys the Sheban altar. Solomon's brother, Adonijah (British actor George Sanders), who was older and thought he should have been named successor by David, conspires with the Pharoah to raise an army to defeat Solomon. It succeeds, and Adonijah takes the throne.

The Hays Code still being in effect, the Queen repents of the harm she has done, and prays for God to restore Solomon. He wins a battle, and returns to Jerusalem. Adonijah finds that the people are not behind him, so he decides to win them over by sacrificing the Queen. Solomon arrives to find her already wounded and near death, but kills Adonijah. He prays for the Queen to be healed, and she is. But the price for regaining his throne and her health is that they be separated. The film ends as the Queen leaves for Sheba, knowing that she is pregnant with Solomon's child.

Sanders died in 1972, Vidor in 1982, Brynner in 1985, Farrar in 1995. As of December 25, 2022, Lollobrigida is still alive. (UPDATE: She died in 2023.)

Solomon, or Suleiman as he is known to Muslims, is revered by all 3 Abrahamic faiths, and by Ethiopian Jews and Christians. The Queen of Sheba is claimed by both Arabs and black Africans as one of their own. Both the Asiatic Russian Brynner and the Roman Lollobrigida looked "exotic" enough to have filled their roles to the satisfaction of Eisenhower-era Americans.

In the 1995 Showtime film Solomon & Sheba, the couple were played, respectively, by Hispanic actor Jimmy Smits and African-American actress Halle Berry; in the 1997 TNT film Solomon, by English actor Ben Cross and African-American actress Vivica A. Fox; and in the 2022 film Three Thousand Years of Longing by Lebanese actor Nicolas Mouawad and Ugandan model-actress Aamito Lagum. The story has been modernized in the 2001 film Brooklyn Babylon and the 2014 country-music-themed film The Song.

*

December 25, 1959 was a Friday. Baseball was out of season. There were no college bowl games. The NFL was between the end of its regular season and its Championship Game, which the Baltimore Colts would win over the New York Giants in a rematch of the previous year's event.

There were 4 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Boston Celtics, 123-119 at the old Madison Square Garden.

* The Philadelphia Warriors beat the Syracuse Nationals, 129-121 at the Hershey Sports Arena (now the Hersheypark Arena), outside Harrisburg in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Rookie Wilt Chamberlain scored 45 points and grabbed 34 rebounds. On March 2, 1962, he would have an even bigger game at that arena, scoring 100 points.

After that season, the Warriors moved to San Francisco. After another season, the Nationals moved to replace them, becoming the Philadelphia 76ers.

* The Cincinnati Royals beat the Detroit Pistons, 121-103 at the Cincinnati Gardens.

* And the St. Louis Hawks beat the Minneapolis Lakers, 112-96 at the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis. The Lakers moved to Los Angeles in 1960, and the Hawks moved to Atlanta in 1968.

There were 2 games in the NHL. The New York Rangers beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-2 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit. And the Boston Bruins beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 5-1 at the Boston Garden.

While the NBA has made Christmas Day a traditional showcase for their league, the NHL last scheduled games for December 25 in 1971 -- not for religious reasons, but because the NFL began playing games on the day, and the NHL didn't want to compete for attention.

December 24, 1871: "Aida" Premieres

December 24, 1871: Aida premieres at the Khedivial Opera House in Cairo, the capital of the country where the opera takes place, Egypt. Antonietta Anastasi-Pozzoni plays Princess Aida of Ethiopia. Pietro Mongini plays Captain of the Guard Radamès. The conductor is Giovanni Bottesini. The libretto was written by Antonio Ghislanzoni. And the composer is Giuseppi Verdi, making a triumphal return to opera after some time away.

Before I go any further: This is the earliest work of classical music for which I felt it necessary to do one of these entries. Some other notable works that came before my 1869 cutoff date:

* Johann Sebastian Bach: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (a.k.a. the Phantom of the Opera's song), 1704; the Brandenburg Concertos, 1721.

* George Frideric Handel: Water Music, 1717; Messiah, including its "Hallelujah Chorus," 1741.

* Christian Petzol: Minuet in G, 1720. Long thought to have been written by Bach in 1725, in 1965 it was adapted by Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell as "A Lover's Concerto," a hit by female vocal group The Toys.

* Antonio Vivaldi: The Four Seasons, 1725.

* Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro, 1786; Eine kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Night Music) and Don Giovanni (Don Juan), 1787; Symphony No. 40, 1788; The Magic Flute, 1791.

* Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 14 (a.k.a. the Moonlight Sonata, a name not given to it until long after his death), 1801; Bagatelle No. 25 in A Minor (a.k.a. Für Elise), 1810, although it wasn't published until 1867; and his 9 Symphonies, 1800, 1803, 1805, 1807, 1808, 1808, 1813, 1814, and 1824.

* Niccolo Paganini: Carnival of Venice, 1829.

* Gioachino Rossini: William Tell, including its Overture (a.k.a. the Lone Ranger Theme), 1829.

* Johan Strauss: The Blue Danube, 1867.

* Edvard Grieg: Piano Concerto No. 1, 1869.

*

Giuseppe Verdi -- or, as the Danish pianist and comedian Victor Borge liked to call him, Joe Green, for the literal English translation of his name is "Joseph Green" -- was born as Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi on October 9, 1813 in Le Roncole, outside Parma, Italy. He would remain the greatest composer born on an October 9, until 1940, when John Lennon was born in Liverpool, England.

By the age of 8, Verdi was already paid to be the organist at his church. Although he liked to associate himself with the common people, his parents were landowners, so they could afford to assist his love of music. He was writing operas by 1834, and married Margherita Barezzi in the Spring of 1836. By the Summer of 1838, they had a daughter and a son; by the Summer of 1840, Margherita and both children had died. So many operas have been tragic, but, by 27, Verdi had already sustained more tragedy than anyone should.

In 1847, at 34, Verdi wrote I Masnadieri, (The Robbers), based on Friedrich Schiller's play Die Räuber. The female lead was Giuseppina Strepponi. At 32, she was famous for her voice, and infamous for already having had 5 (or 6, depending on who was telling the story) illegitimate pregnancies, although only 2 children survived infancy. She moved in with him, and, in mostly-Catholic, very conservative 19th Century Italy, that caused a scandal that hurt him commercially.

He didn't care, especially since her linguistic skill made her a good translator. From French, she translated Victor Hugo's 1832 play Le Roi S'Amuse (The King Amuses Himself), and it became Verdi's 1851 opera Rigoletto, with perhaps the most famous song in all of Italian opera, the Duke of Mantua's "La Donna è Mobile" ("Woman is Fickle").

From Spanish, she translated the 1836 play El Trovador (The Troubadour) by Antonio García Gutiérrez, and it became Verdi's 1853 opera Il Trovatore, which, thanks in large part to its Anvil Chorus, brought the public back over to his side. Also in 1853, in her honor, he wrote La Traviata (The Fallen Woman), based on La Dame aux Camélias (The Lady of the Camellias) by Alexandre Dumas fils, which eventually became the Greta Garbo film Camille.

In 1859, Verdi stepped back from composing, having married Strepponi, although they had no children together; and inherited his family's lands, and concentrated on running them. He supported the unification of Italy, which occurred in 1861, and became friends with King Victor Emmanuel II, who kept his numbering as King of Piedmont when he became King of united Italy. One of Verdi's few works in this period was La Forza del Destino (The Force of Destiny, or The Power of Fate), in 1862, another of his works to be based on a Spanish play.

Isma'il Pasha, the Khedive (Sultan) of Egypt, offered Verdi 150,000 francs to write an opera for his new Opera House in Cairo. Difficulties led to delays, which resulted in the 1st opera being performed there, on November 1, 1869, being an established Verdi work, Rigoletto. Verdi was living in Paris, and had sets and costumes made for the original work that he had intended to open the Opera House, but the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 prevented him from leaving the country with them. Finally, on December 24, 1871, Aida could premiere at the Khedivial Opera House.

The story tells of a war between Egypt, during its Old Kingdom period (2700-2200 BC, also known as the Age of the Pyramid Builders), and Ethiopia, and the love between Egyptian warrior Radamès and Aida, the captured daughter of the King of Ethiopia.

Verdi did not attend the premiere in Cairo, and was angry that the audience consisted of invited dignitaries, politicians and critics, but no members of the general public. He therefore considered the European premiere, in which he was heavily involved at every stage, to be its real première: February 8, 1872, at the home of Italian opera, Teatro alla Scala (usually written as just "La Scala") in Milan.

He had written the role of Aida for the Czech spinto soprano Teresa Stolz, and she sang it at that premiere. She was then engaged to Angelo Mariani, and asked him to conduct, but he declined, and Bottesini conducted it again. Giuseppe Fancelli played Radamès.

In his later years, having already turned Macbeth into an opera, Verdi wrote some operas based on other works of William Shakespeare, including Otello (the lack of an H differentiates it from the play Othello), The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Falstaff.

Giuseppina died in 1897, and Verdi was heartbroken. He died on January 27, 1901, 6 days after suffering a stroke. He was buried next to his wife at the Casa di Riposo (House of Repose) in Milan.

Isma'il Pasha was deposed as Khedive in 1879, and died in 1895. Pietro Mongini, the Cairo premiere's Radamès, died of a heart ailment in 1874, only 45 years old. Giuseppi Fancelli, the Milan premiere's Radamès, lived until 1887; conductor Giovanni Bottesini, until 1889; librettist Antonio Ghislanzoni, 1893; Teresa Stolz, the Milan premiere's Aida, until 1902; Antonietta Anastasi-Pozzoni, the Cairo premiere's Aida, until 1917. 

The Khedivial Opera House burned down on October 28, 1971, and wasn't replaced until a new Cairo Opera House opened at a different location in 1988. The site of the original building is now a parking garage, but its street is still named Opera Square.

Verdi's operas Rigoletto, Aida, Il Trovatore and La Forza del Destino were mentioned in "Does Your Mother Know You're Out, Rigoletto?" an episode of The Odd Couple that aired on ABC on November 5, 1971, almost exactly 100 years after Aida premiered -- and mere days after the Khedivial Opera House burned down.

*

December 24, 1871 was a Sunday. It was Christmas Eve. No major sporting events were held that day.

December 5, 2000: The Film "Esther" Premieres

December 5, 2000: The film Esther premieres, on French network France 2 and Italian network RAI. Although it was a combined effort of American, Italian and German production companies, it was not shown on American TV for a while.

Filmed in Morocco, directed by Italian director Raffaele Mertes, it tells the story told in the Bible's Book of Esther. Hadassah (played by British actress Louise Lombard), who is Jewish, lives with her cousin and legal guardian Mordecai (F. Murray Abraham) in Shushan, the capital of the Persian Empire. (In the present day, it's Susa, in western Iran.

King Ahasuerus (German actor Thomas Kretschmann) deposes Queen Vashti (Italian actress Ornella Muti) for her refusal to obey him, he is advised to choose a new queen. Guards then search the entire kingdom for worthy candidates, taking them from their homes by force to the palace. Mordecai attempts to hide Hadassah, but she is captured by the guards. For her protection, and at the insistence of Mordecai, Hadassah changes her name to Esther, meaning "hidden."

Esther and the rest of the young women are taken to the first harem, where they are placed under the custody of Haggai (British actor Phil Davies), a royal eunuch and chief custodian of the harem. Meanwhile, Haman (German actor Jürgen Prochnow), another royal advisor, rises to power and the favor of the king. Memuchan (Italian actor Umberto Orsini), a trusted chamberlain of the King, is wary of Haman's ambition. Mordecai also makes an enemy of Haman, due to Mordecai’s refusal to bow to Haman as others do. Haman plots revenge on Mordecai.

After a time of purification, it is time for Esther and the other women to present themselves to the King for one night each. After spending the night with Esther, the King falls in love with her, and crowns her Queen. Sometime later, Mordecai overhears a plot by two of the King's guards, Bigthan and Teresh, against the King, and reports this to Esther. Esther exposes the plot to the King, and the men are sentenced to death.

The King's chamberlain Memuchan dies and King Ahasuerus mourns his loss. Esther requests to be received, but the King takes no heed. Haman comes and tells the King to govern once again, but the King takes no heed again. Esther leaves and believes she has lost the King's favor.

The King then appoints Haman as lord chamberlain. He tells the King a certain race of people wish to overthrow the king. The King, concerned, gives Haman his signet ring, which gives him the right to decree a law that even the king cannot change. Haman sends a decree to all provinces that they should kill all Jews within their borders.

On hearing this decree, Mordecai dresses himself in sackcloth and ashes, and mourns outside the palace gates for several days and nights. Esther orders her servant, Hatach, to give Mordecai clothes. He refuses them, and gives the letter of the decree to Esther, telling her to petition the King, although it is forbidden to go before the king without being called. She tells him to gather all the Jews, and fast for three days on her behalf.

After three days, she dresses in the royal robes of state, and goes before the King. He asks her petition, and promises her that it shall be granted. Esther invites Haman and the King to attend a banquet she has prepared in her quarters. At the banquet, the King again asks Esther her petition and request. Esther promises the King that she will tell him her petition if they return to the banquet once again the following day.

That night, King Ahasuerus wakes up after having a nightmare, and not able to sleep, asks the royal eunuchs to read the chronicle. They discover that Mordecai was never rewarded for revealing the plot of Bigthan and Teresh. Haman comes to ask permission for the gallows he is building to hang Mordecai, but the King asks what to do for a man the king wishes to honor. Haman believes that to refer to himself, and describes an ornate ceremonial parade through the city. He is then told to perform this in honor of Mordechai. The ceremony is completed, and Haman then returns to his house in shame and anger.

At Esther's second banquet, the King asks once again what she desires, and she asks him to spare her life and the lives of her people. The king asks her who would do dare raise a hand against her, and she reveals the plots of Haman, including the plot to kill her own cousin, Mordecai. The King, enraged, tells his guards to hang Haman on his own gallows. The King appoints Mordecai as his new lord chamberlain.

Esther asks the King to revoke the law made by Haman, but as it is not possible to revoke a law made by the King, he tells her she must find another solution. With the help of Mordecai, she asks the King to create the law that for one day, the Jews can defend themselves against any that are persecuting them, and the King grants her request. After the fighting is over, Esther then passes a law that the Jews must celebrate the day that changed their fate, which becomes the holiday of Purim. In the final scene, some of the Jews are shown returning home to Jerusalem, led by Ezra.

Ever since that time, said to be the late 5th Century BC, during the height of classical Greece, Jews have celebrated Purim, usually in March (the Hebrew Calendar and the Gregorian Calendar are different). At a temple service, children are given noisemaking objects, and the story of Esther is read. At the mention of the name of Haman, the children use the objects to make as much noise as they can to drown out the sound of his name. Pastries called Hamentashen are baked, in a triangular shape to match that of what is said to be Haman's hat.

None of the actors were of Persian or Jewish descent. F. Murray Abraham, who is of Assyrian descent, was the only actor in the film of known Middle Eastern descent.

Ennio Morricone provided the music, having done so for Clint Eastwood's Man with No Name trilogy, the 1982 version of The Thing, the 1987 version of The Untouchables, and Bugsy.

Mertes went on to direct more biblical films: Joseph of Nazareth, Mary Magdalene, The Apocalypse, Judas and Thomas.

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December 5, 2000 was a Tuesday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. Therer were 10 games in the NBA:

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Indiana Pacers, 88-64 at the Conseco Fieldhouse (now the Gainbridge Fieldhouse) in Indianapolis.

* The Miami Heat beat the Atlanta Hawks, 100-92 at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in Atlanta.

* The Orlando Magic beat the Boston Celtics, 101-98 at the TD Waterhouse Centre (formerly the Orlando Arena).

* The Houston Rockets beat their arch-rivals, the Dallas Mavericks, 109-102 at The Summit in Houston. It's now the Central Campus of televangelist Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Charlotte Hornets, 71-66 at the Gund Arena (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.

* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Chicago Bulls, 100-90 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

* The Utah Jazz beat the Toronto Raptors, 98-84 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 96-85 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles. Kobe Bryant scored 36 points.

* The Sacramento Kings beat the San Antonio Spurs, 81-75 at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California.

* And the Vancouver Grizzlies beat the Detroit Pistons 91-83 at General Motors Place (now the Rogers Arena) in Vancouver.

And there were 7 games in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders lost to the Los Angeles Kings, 4-1 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Washington Capitals, 5-2 at the Ice Palace (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Boston Bruins, 7-1 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 4-2 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 4-2 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Wild beat the Calgary Flames, 3-2 at the Saddledome in Calgary. Antti Laaksonen scored the winning goal, with 1:49 left in overtime.

* And the San Jose Sharks and the Vancouver Canucks played to a tie, 2-2 -- apparently, at GM Place, meaning the arena hosted an NBA game and an NHL game on the same day. That's not unusual on a weekend, but it is for a weeknight: It usually takes between 2 and 6 hours for an arena crew to change the playing surface from basketball to ice hockey or vice versa. According to Sports-Reference.com, the NHL game was a 7:00 Pacific Time start, but they don't give a starting time for the NBA game. And the NBA's own website says their game was also a 7 Pacific start. They couldn't have been played in the same arena at the same time.

November 8, 1956: "The Ten Commandments" Premieres

November 8, 1956: The Ten Commandments premieres, produced, directed and narrated by Cecil B. DeMille, in big, splashy color, and with over-the-top dialogue.

DeMille had previously made a film with that title in 1923, in black-and-white, and silent. This was his last film (he died in 1959, age 77), and he got lucky on the timing: He got to film at the actual locations (in Egypt, including Mount Sinai) before the Suez Canal crisis began later in the year, at which point filming on location would have been harder than parting the Red Sea.

It was, up to that point, the most expensive movie ever made, costing $13 million -- about $141 million in today's money, which doesn't sound like the big deal it would have been even at the turn of the 21st Century. It made more money than any movie released that year, including My Fair Lady, Around the World In 80 Days and The King and I.

ABC has aired it in connection with the Jewish holiday of Passover and the Christian Easter season, every year since 1973, except in 1999. In theaters, it ran 3 hours and 40 minutes. With commercials, it runs 4 hours and 44 minutes, so it has to begin at 7:00 PM Eastern Time, and pushes back the local 11:00 news. It was usually aired on Palm Sunday or Easter Sunday, but since 2006 has aired on Easter Saturday.

The film tells the story of the Bible's book of Exodus, from the birth to the death of Moses, played as an adult by Charlton Heston. Yul Brynner (who also starred in The King and I) plays the main antagonist, the Pharoah Rameses II (as his name was spelled in the film's credits). The real Ramesses II (as it's usually spelled in English) reigned 66 years, 1279 to 1213 BC, and may not have been as vindictive as Brynner's portrayal; and the Exodus, if it happened at all, may have preceded him.

(An estimated date of 1300 BC has been suggested. This would put it at about 100 years before the Trojan War is said to have been fought, and about 300 years before the time of King David. However, it has been suggested that the loss of hundreds of thousands of people would have been noted in Egyptian records, and the surviving records make no such mention.)

The film is star-studded: Anne Baxter, Edward G. Robinson, Yvonne De Carlo, Debra Paget, John Derek, Cedric Hardwicke, Nina Foch, Judith Anderson and Vincent Price.

In the 1980s, Billy Crystal, himself Jewish, developed a comedy routine about the film, based largely on the campy dialogue, including his belief that Robinson, best known for his gangster roles in the 1930s, should never be in a biblical movie.

I guess he forgot that Robinson was Jewish, born Emanuel Goldenberg. (And, like Price, he was an amateur painter and a major art collector.) What's more, Robinson had been not quite blacklisted, but "graylisted" for alleged Communist activities. The virulently anti-Communist DeMille's casting of him restored his career.

In the years to come, Heston would become a gun rights activist, and it was said by his detractors that he acted as if he thought he really was Moses, bringing the Word of God, and treating the 2nd Amendment like it was one of the Commandments.

In a 2012 episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History, "Nice" Peter Shukoff played Santa Claus, with "Epic" Lloyd Ahlquist played 3 different elves, against rapper Snoop Dogg as Moses.

A movie like The Ten Commandments could not be made today. Not because it would cost so much, or because it reminds us that the Jews were oppressed, but because it reminds us that people believing the lies of a demagogue and worshiping a golden idol look like the bad guys.

*

November 8, 1956 was a Thursday. Baseball season was over. Football was in midweek. Although the NBA season had begun, there were no games scheduled for this day.

But the NHL's entire "Original Six" was in action.

* The New York Rangers lost to the Montreal Canadiens, 4-2 at the Montreal Forum. 

* The Boston Bruins beat the Detroit Red Wings, 3-1 at the Boston Garden.

* And the Chicago Black Hawks beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-2 at the Chicago Stadium.

October 18, 1953: Orson Welles' TV Version of "King Lear"

Orson Welles and Natasha Parry

October 18, 1953: The CBS TV anthology series Omnibus airs a version of William Shakespeare's 1606 play King Lear. Orson Welles directed, and starred. It is heavily abridged, to fit in the broadcast's 90-minute limit, making room for commercials, so it comes in at 73 minutes.

Already having starred in Citizen Kane, in which he played a man whose empire falls apart as he ages, Welles, though just 38 years old, was ideal to play the elderly, senile Lear. The fact that his massive weight gain had begun may have helped.

In the play, Lear decides to divide his kingdom among his 3 daughters: In descending order of age, they are Goneril, Duchess of Albany (played here by Beatrice Straight); Regan, Duchess of Cornwall (Margaret Phillips); and Cordelia (Natasha Parry), who later marries the King of France (a nation which did not exist in Lear's alleged time, but, as he often did, Shakespeare took some dramatic license).

Goneril and Regan make flattering speeches, but Cordelia, who had previously been his favorite daughter, says she loves him according to her duty. Outraged, Lear disowns Cordelia, dividing her inheritance between her two sisters. Lear sets conditions: He retains the title of King, he will reside with Goneril and Regan, and he keeps a retinue of a hundred knights. The Duke of Kent chastises Lear for abdicating and for disowning Cordelia, so Lear banishes him. Lear offers Cordelia without a dowry to her suitors. France accepts, admiring her honesty.

One thing leads to another, and Lear goes mad, and loses control of his kingdom. But he reconciles with Cordelia. Goneril poisons Regan, thinking it will gain her full control of the kingdom. But her plan falls apart, and she commits suicide. The remaining forces of Goneril and Regan hang Cordelia, and leave her body for Lear to find. He dies of grief, and the play leaves the kingdom's fate unresolved.

Supposedly, Lear was a real king, who ruled over part of Britain in the 8th Century BC. But, as with King Arthur centuries later, there seems to be no evidence of his existence except for stories written centuries later.

Pretty much every actor who specializes in Shakespeare's works has played Lear at least once. Paul Scofield played him in a 1971 film, Michael Holden played him in BBC productions in 1975 and 1982, Laurence Olivier for Granada Television in 1983, Ian Holm for the BBC in 1998, and Anthony Hopkins for BBC Two in 2018. The ending of The Godfather Part III, where Mary (Sofia Coppola) dies in the arms of an aging, ailing, screaming Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), has been compared to Cordelia's death.

Omnibus was funded by the Ford Foundation, and filmed at CBS Studio 58, at 851 9th Avenue at 55th Street in Midtown Manhattan. It ran from 1952 to 1961. After canceling it, CBS donated Studio 58's building to Educational Television for the Metropolitan Area, which became the national network NET in 1962 and PBS in 1970. They renamed it Studio 55, and taped Sesame Street and The Dick Cavett Show there. It was torn down in 2002, and the Joan Weill Center for Dance was opened by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater on the site.

*

October 18, 1953 was a Sunday. These NFL games were played:

* The San Francisco 49ers beat the Chicago Bears, 35-28 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Willie Thrower was sent in as a relief quarterback for the Bears, completing 3 of 8 passes, and thus became the 1st black man to play quarterback in the NFL. I have a separate entry for that event.

* The New York Giants beat the Chicago Cardinals, 21-7 at the Polo Grounds.

* The Cleveland Browns beat the Washington Redskins, 30-14 at Griffith Stadium in Washington.

* The Los Angeles Rams beat the Detroit Lions, 31-19 at Briggs Stadium (later Tiger Stadium) in Detroit.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the Baltimore Colts, 37-14 at Green Bay City Stadium in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

* The day before, Philadelphia Eagles beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 23-7 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia.

Baseball season had ended 12 days earlier, with the New York Yankees winning the World Series, beating the Brooklyn Dodgers, in 6 games. The NBA season started 12 days later. The NHL's entire "Original Six" was in action:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Boston Bruins, 3-2 at the Boston Garden.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Montreal Canadiens, 4-0 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* And the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 2-1 at the Chicago Stadium.

October 7, 1960: "Spartacus" and "Route 66" Premiere

October 7, 1960: The film Spartacus premieres, a dramatization of the story of the Thracian gladiator who led a slave revolt in Rome in 71 BC. The film was based on the 1951 novel by Howard Fast, was directed by Stanley Kubrick, and was written by Dalton Trumbo, one of the Hollywood Ten. All were selected by the film's star, Kirk Douglas, who wanted to break the Hollywood Blacklist for once and for all. He did.

Among the film's other stars: Jean Simmons, Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov, Tony Curtis, Nina Foch, John Ireland, Herbert Lom, John Hoyt, and Woody Strode, who had previously broken a different barrier: He was 1 of the 4 black players who broke professional football's color barrier in 1946, before becoming an actor, working mainly in Westerns.

The film is best remembered for a scene near the end, where the Roman commander Crassus (Olivier), having surrounded Spartacus' army, offers a pardon (and return to enslavement) if the men will identify Spartacus, living or dead. But this would mean a return to slavery, and they would rather die. So every surviving man responds by shouting "I'm Spartacus!" (Most people trying to quote the movie get that wrong, saying, "I am Spartacus!")

History suggests that Spartacus died in battle, and no marriage or children have been ascribed to him. The film shows the character crucified, but living long enough for his wife to show him his infant son.

In modern times, Spartacus became an icon for the Communist movement. The most popular sports team in the Soviet Union was the soccer team run by Spartak Moscow, ironically because it turned the Spartacus ideal back on the Communist government, and became "the people's team." It remains the most popular sports team in the Russian Federation. Many other teams in former Soviet countries have the Spartak name.

*

Also on this day, Route 66 premieres on CBS. It stars Martin Milner as Tod Stiles, and George Maharis as Buz Murdock, who travel around the country in a Chevrolet Corvette convertible, helping people wherever they can, because they were no longer needed or wanted where they were.

Maharis (left) and Milner

Tod grew up rich in Rye, Westchester County, New York, the son of a wealthy businessman. When his father died, he learned that his father's company was virtually bankrupt. The only thing his father had to leave him was the Corvette.

In contrast, Buz was a working-class orphan, who worked for the eldery Mr. Stiles in a New York shipyard. He talked Tod into going around the country together in the 'Vette.

U.S. Route 66 was commissioned in 1926. It started on Chicago's Loop, went down through Illinois, crossed the Mississippi River into St. Louis, went southwest across Missouri, briefly across the southeastern corner of Kansas, into Oklahoma through Tulsa to Oklahoma City. Then, it turned west, crossed the Texas Panhandle, and went through New Mexico, Arizona and California, including Los Angeles, before terminating at the Santa Monica Pier.

The federal government decommissioned the highway in 1985, as it had been mostly replaced by Interstate highways that bypassed some of the smaller towns along the route: I-55 in Illinois, I-44 from St. Louis to Oklahoma City, I-40 from there to Barstow, California, and I-15 and I-10 in California. Nevertheless, many of those small towns still call the remaining street "Route 66." For many of those towns, it served as their Main Street, and the road is still remembered as "America's Main Street."

But the show didn't exclusively stick to 66: Many of its adventures took place further east, even showing Tod and Buz working with lobstermen in Maine, and the series finale took place in Florida. 

Maharis came down with hepatitis, and decided to leave the show to focus on his health, saying, "Even if you have $4 million in the bank, you can't buy another liver." This soon proved to be incorrect, as liver transplants were becoming more common.

So, late in the show's 3rd season, with no explanation for what happened to Buz, Tod encountered Lincoln Case, played by Glenn Corbett. (Star Trek fans will recognize his name, as the first actor to play warp-drive inventor Zefram Cochrane.) "Linc" was a former U.S. Army Ranger and prisoner of war in Vietnam. This episode aired on March 22, 1963, so it was the 1st TV series featuring a character who was a Vietnam War veteran, and the earliest pop-culture representation of a Vietnam vet with post-traumatic stress disorder. After a difficult opening encounter, Tod invited Linc to join him on his travels.

Route 66 may have been the 1st regular TV series to have a planned series finale: On March 20, 1964, with the action in Tampa, far from the actual highway for which the show was named, Tod met Margo Tiffin, a commodities trader from Houston, played by Barbara Eden. They got married, and, since Linc was also from Texas, that's where Tod and Linc both ended up.

This show inspired many imitators, including The Fugitive and Run For Your Life in the 1960s, The Incredible Hulk in the 1970s, and Knight Rider and Hot Pursuit in the 1980s.

Despite having to leave the show due to illness, Maharis recovered. As of October 7, 2022, he is still alive, age 93. Milner died in 2015, Corbett in 1993. (UPDATE: Maharis died on May 24, 2023.)

In 1993, NBC tried a reboot, starring James Wilder as Nick Lewis, whose estranged father has recently died. It turns out, his father was Buz Murdock, who left him the Corvette, which suggests that Tod gave it to him at some point between 1964 and 1993. He then picks up Dan Cortese as hitchhiker Arthur Clark, and they start off on their own adventures together. But not many: Fans of the original series hated it, especially the suggestion that the orphaned Buz would gain and then abandon a family; and viewers not old enough to remember the original series didn't like it, either. Only 4 episodes aired.

*

October 7, 1960 was a Friday. So there was neither collegiate nor professional football played. The World Series was in a travel day. The NBA season hadn't started yet. And, while the NHL season had, 2 days earlier, no games were played on this day.

But there was one score, in the Canadian Football League: The Toronto Argonauts beat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, 24-14 at Varsity Stadium in Toronto.

October 1, 2013: "The Book of Daniel" Premieres

October 1, 2013: The film The Book of Daniel is released on DVD, going straight there rather than being released to movie theaters. Directed by Anna Zielinski, it tells the story of the Bible's book of the same title.

In Jerusalem in 605 BC, Daniel (played as a young man by Andrew Bongiorno) is a slave who serves Nebuchadnezzar II (Rolf Saxon), who has just ascended to the throne of Babylonia after the death of his father. Daniel proves to be a trusty advisor, and becomes one of Nebuchadnezzar's "wise men."

Later, during the reign of King Darius (Peter Kluge), known as Darius the Mede, Daniel (played as an older man by Robert Miano) is accused of worshipping the God of the Jews instead of the King, and is thrown into a den of lions. But he maintains his faith, an angel saves him, his accusers are destroyed, and Daniel is restored to his position by Darius.

The real Nebuchadnezzar -- usually listed as "Nebuchadrezzar II" in non-biblical sources, sometimes as "Nebuchadnezzar the Great" -- ruled from 605 BC until his death in 562 BC. He is regarded as the empire's greatest king, having conquered the Assyrian Empire in 609 BC. Just before the death of his father Nabopolassar in 605 BC, Nebuchadnezzar defeated Pharoah Necho II and his Egyptian army, making himself the most powerful man in what would now be called the Middle East.

But a failed invasion of Egypt led to some insurrections against his rule. In 587 BC, conquered Jerusalem, beginning the Babylonian Captivity of the Jews, and symbolizing the restoration of his previous level of power.

In contrast, there is no non-biblical source for a King of Babylonia named Darius. Cyrus II became King of Persia in 559 BC, King of Media in 549 BC, King of Lydia in 547 BC, and King of Babylon in 539 BC. He reigned over the Achaemenid Empire, stretching from the Indus River in present-day Pakistan in the east to a portion of Greece in the west, until his death in 530 BC.

In 539 BC, he allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem. His tolerance for the cultures under his rule led both Jews and Greeks to call him Cyrus the Great. In this film, he is played by Lance Henriksen.

*

October 1, 2013 was a Tuesday. Author Tom Clancy died.

In baseball, the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated their traditional rivals, the Cincinnati Reds, 6-2 in the National League Wild Card game at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. Catcher Russell Martin hit 2 home runs, Marlon Byrd added 1, and Francisco Liriano was the winning pitcher. It is the 1st time the Pirates had advanced in the postseason in 34 years, since winning the 1979 World Series. Century, and owned a small share of the Baltimore Orioles.

Football was in midweek. The NBA was in its preseason. There were 3 games on this opening night of the 2013-14 NHL season:

* In the NHL's oldest rivalry, the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Montreal Canadiens, 4-3 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Washington Capitals, 6-4 at the United Center in Chicago.

* And the Winnipeg Jets beat the Edmonton Oilers, 5-4 at Rexall Place, as the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton was then known.

September 30, 1952: The Revised Standard Version of the Bible Is Published

September 30, 1952: The Revised Standard Version of the Bible is published by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. It becomes the most familiar version of the Bible in America.

In the beginning, there was the Word. At first, "the Word of God" was called the Torah, or the Pentateuch, because it consisted of the 1st 5 books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. This formed the written basis of Judaism.

  

It is traditionally said that these books, known as the Mosaic Books because of their association with Moses, were written by Moses himself. But while Moses could have written most of them in the third person, detailing his own exploits, Deuteronomy 34:5 says, "And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in Moab, as the Lord had said." So, clearly, Moses didn't write that.

The remaining books written before the birth of Jesus became known as "The Law and the Prophets." After Jesus' time, they became known as the Old Testament, with the books written about Jesus, known as the Gospels, and the books about his Apostles, together, became known as the New Testament.

There's an old joke about a preacher demanding English as America's official language, holding up a Bible, and saying, "If English was good enough for the Good Book, then it's good enough for me!" In fact, the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, the Gospels in Aramaic, and the books by and about the Apostles in Greek.

For a majority of the history of Christianity, the leading version of the Bible was the Vulgate Bible, published in Latin in AD 382. Since priests studied Latin, and most people they preached to were illiterate, they could tell their flocks that the Bible said pretty much anything, and there wasn't much they could do about it.

This is why the Roman Catholic Church was very resistant to the Bible being translated into the native language of countries it oversaw. In 1521, while hiding at Wartburg Castle after telling the Diet of Worms, "Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise," Martin Luther translated the Bible from ancient Greek into what was then the current version of German. William Tyndale translated the New Testament into English in 1536, and was executed for it by the head of the Church of England, King Henry VIII.

But in 1611, King James I of England (and VI of Scotland) commissioned a definitive English version of the Bible, and "The King James Bible" or "The King James Version" (KJV) was regarded as the definitive English version for over 400 years, including through the House of Stuart, the House of Hanover, the religious-tinged English Civil War of the 1640s, the Glorious Revolution of 1688-90, the Victorian Era, and the early years of the United States of America.

The desire for an American version led to the publication in 1901 of the American Standard Version, which, in its preface, said it aimed to "preserve all that is best in the English Bible as it has been known and used through the years," and "to put the message of the Bible in simple, enduring words that are worthy to stand in the great Tyndale-King James tradition."

The discover of the Dead Sea Scrolls led to the desire for a new version, with the cleared-up translation of the text. This led to the Revised Standard Version.

But for many of us who grew up in the 1970s, the RSV was our parents' Bible. Ours was The Living Bible, published in 1971 and translated by Kenneth N. Taylor into simpler prose. In a 1979 interview, he explained:

The children were one of the chief inspirations for producing the Living Bible. Our family devotions were tough going because of the difficulty we had understanding the King James Version, which we were then using, or the Revised Standard Version, which we used later. 

All too often I would ask questions to be sure the children understood, and they would shrug their shoulders. They didn't know what the passage was talking about. So I would explain it. I would paraphrase it for them, and give them the thought. It suddenly occurred to me one afternoon that I should write out the reading for that evening thought by thought, rather than doing it on the spot during our devotional time. So I did, and read the chapter to the family that evening, with exciting results: They knew the answers to all the questions I asked!

An example: Jesus starts the Sermon On the Mount with the Beatitudes. In the RSV, Matthew 5:3 reads, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." In The Living Bible, it becomes "Humble men are very fortunate! For theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven."

In 1978, yet another translation was published, the New International Version, or the NIV. Its publisher, Biblica, formerly the New York Bible Society, claims, "The NIV delivers the very best combination of accuracy and readability." For the most part, it follows the text of the RSV. It has become the best-selling translation in America.

*

September 30, 1952 was a Tuesday. There were no games on this day: Baseball was between the end of the regular season and the World Series, football was in midweek, and it was too early for the NBA and NHL seasons.

September 28, 1966: "The Bible: In the Beginning… " Premieres

September 28, 1966: The film The Bible: In the Beginning… premieres. Give the scope of the Bible, covering the whole thing would work better as a TV series. This film covers the 1st 22 out of the 50 chapters in the opening book, Genesis, and still runs 6 minutes short of 3 hours.

20th Century Fox released it, Dino De Laurentiis produced it, and John Huston directed it, narrated it, provided the voice of God, and played Noah.

Michael Parks played Adam, and, when the film was shown on television, provided American TV viewers one of their earliest glimpses of a bare butt. Ulla Bergryd played Eve. It was her 1st film. She made just 1 more, and returned to her native Sweden, becoming a professor of sociology.

The film was mostly filmed in Italy, and aside from the biggest stars, most of the actors were Italian. The Garden of Eden was filmed at, as Bergryd put it, "an old botanical garden on the outskirts of Rome." Mount Vesuvius, the volcano outside Naples, whose eruption in AD 79 had famously destroyed the city of Pompeii, was also used as a filming location, as were the Mediterranean islands of Sicily and Sardinia.

Richard Harris played Cain, and Franco Nero played Abel. This foreshadowed their subsequent casting as Arthur and Lancelot, respectively, in the film version of the musical Camelot. George C. Scott played Abraham. Ava Gardner played his wife, Sarah. Stephen Boyd played Nimrod, an opponent of Abraham's. Peter O'Toole played The Three Angels.

Five reproductions of Noah's Ark were built, the largest being 200 feet long, 64 feet wide, and 50 feet high -- as opposed to Genesis' description of it being, according to God's order, 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high. In modern terms, this comes to about 510 feet long, 85 feet wide, 51 feet high, and a volume of roughly 1.88 million cubic feet, equal to about 450 semi-truck trailers.

It still seems like hardly enough to have a male and female of every animal on Earth, going in "by twosies-twosies" according to the children's song, to say nothing of going out "by threesies-threesies, all because of birds and beesies-beesies" -- which confused the hell out of me as a kid. How did the birds and bees on board the Ark result in a 3rd of each animal? It wasn't until I was 12 that the term "the birds and the bees" was explained to me. (I was 11 when I learned that "The Facts of Life" wasn't just the title of a sitcom.)

The Bible: In the Beginning… was America's highest-grossing film of 1966. But putting it together was so expensive that it still lost money. "Historical epics" were already on their way out, due to their huge cost, and this film was one reason why. In other words, for historical epics, The Bible: In the Beginning… was pretty much the end.

The film ends with God letting Abraham out of his promise to sacrifice Isaac. It doesn't discuss the later adventures of Isaac, his sons Jacob and Esau, Jacob's 12 sons including Joseph who founded the Twelve Tribes of Israel, or anything after Genesis.

The Ten Commandments, in 1956, had already told the story of the Exodus, which, if it happened at all, probably happened in the 13th Century BC, during the reign of Pharoah Ramesses II in Egypt, the Mycenean Age in Greece, and the Shang Dynasty in China.

A few films have been made about King David, and a few have been made about his son, King Solomon, both of whom are said to have lived in the 10th Century BC, when Egypt was in its 21st Dynasty, Greece was in its Dark Age, and China was in its Western Zhou Dynasty. A few have been made about the Babylonian Exile of 597-537 BC, during the Saite Dynasty in Egypt, the early Athenian Democracy in Greece, and the Eastern Zhou Dynasty in China.

And, of course, many movies have been made about Jesus, including The Greatest Story Ever Told, a year before this in 1965. But the New Testament after Jesus' Ascension has not been a popular topic. There aren't many films about the Apostles as a whole, or any of them in particular, including Paul and John. And The Revelation of John, the last book in the Bible -- or, as a few really dumb Americans call it "The Book of Revelations" -- defies description to the point of possibly being unfilmable, so films about the idea tend to be present-day allegories.

*

September 28, 1966 was a Wednesday. These baseball games were played:

* A doubleheader was split at Shea Stadium. The Chicago Cubs won the opener, 4-1. Dick Ellsworth outpitched Dennis Ribant, and went 2-for-4 with an RBI in his own cause. The New York Mets won the nightcap, 1-0. Bob Shaw pitched a 6-hit shutout, outpitching Rich Nye. Cleon Jones singled Jerry Grote home with the only run in the bottom of the 7th inning. On the day, Jones went 3-for-7 with a walk, and both Met RBIs.

For the Cubs, over the 2 games, Ernie Banks went 1-for-3 with a walk, Ron Santo went 4-for-7 with a home run, a walk and 2 RBIs, and Billy Williams went 0-for-7 with a walk.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates swept a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1 and 4-2 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Steve Blass outpitched Jim Bunning in the 1st game, and Bob Veale outpitched Larry Jansen in the 2nd game.

Willie Stargell did not play in either game. Over the 2 games, Roberto Clemente went 2-for-8 with an RBI, and Dick Allen went 3-for-7 with a walk.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-2 at Atlanta Stadium (later Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium). Gaylord Perry outpitched Tony Cloninger. Willie Mays went 0-for-5. Willie McCovey went 2-for-3 with 2 walks and an RBI.

* A doubleheader was split at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. The Cincinnati Reds won the 1st game, 7-1. The Houston Astros won the 2nd game, 4-3. After not playing in the 1st game, Pete Rose went 0-for-4 in the 2nd game.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-0 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Luis Tiant pitched a 6-hit shutout, outpitching Jim Kaat. Tony Oliva got 3 of those hits. Harmon Killebrew went 0-for-4. Joe Azcue hit a home run for the Tribe.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 2-0 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Larry Jaster pitched a 4-hit shutout, outpitching rookie Don Sutton. Lou Brock went 0-for-2 with 2 walks and a stolen base.

The Dodgers now led the National League by a game and a half over the Pirates, and 3 over the Giants, with 4 games to play. They hung on to beat the Giants by a game and a half, and the Pirates by 3.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the California Angels, 5-4 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). The Angels scored 2 runs in the 8th and 1 in the 9th to send the game to extra innings, but Al Kaline hit his 2nd home run of the game, for 2 runs, in the top of the 10th, and the Angels could only pull 1 run back in the bottom of the 10th.

* And the New York Yankees, the Baltimore Orioles, the Boston Red Sox, the Chicago White Sox, the Kansas City Athletics and the Washington Senators were not scheduled. The Orioles ran away with the American League Pennant, beating the defending Champion Twins by 9 games.