December 18, 1974: "The Missiles of October" Premieres On ABC

William Devane as JFK

December 18, 1974: The TV-movie The Missiles of October airs on ABC. William Devane plays President John F. Kennedy, and Martin Sheen plays his brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. The film is based on Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis, written by RFK but not published until 1969, after his assassination.

The film also stars Howard Da Silva as Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, and Ralph Bellamy as U.N. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson.

In 1979, Sheen starred in Blind Ambition, based on the memoir of John Dean, counselor to President Richard Nixon and defendant/informant in the Watergate case. In 1983, he starred in the NBC miniseries Kennedy, making him, as far as I know, to this day, the only actor ever to play both Jack and Bobby Kennedy. That same year, in The Dead Zone, he played a Senate candidate who, in a vision of the future by Johnny Smith (Christopher Walken), becomes a President who starts World War III.

In 2003, playing fictional President Jed Bartlet on The West Wing, Sheen was reunited with Devane, who played Secretary of State Lewis Berryhill. In 2007, he provided the voice of George Washington for the documentary Searching for George Washington.

Devane has also played fictional Presidents on Stargate SG-1 and 24, and in The Dark Knight Rises. In 1991, in the NBC film A Woman Named Jackie, he played Jack Bouvier, father of Jacqueline Kennedy.

Bellamy had played Franklin D. Roosevelt in Sunrise at Campobello in 1960, telling of FDR's initial struggle with polio before becoming President. He played FDR as President in the 1984 ABC miniseries The Winds of War and its 1988 sequel War and Remembrance, based on the World War II novels of Herman Wouk.

Da Silva, the original Jud Fry in Oklahoma! in 1943, played Benjamin Franklin in the 1969 Broadway musical 1776 and its 1972 film version. And he played FDR in the 1977 film The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover.

In 2000, a theatrical release about the Crisis was released, taking the Thirteen Days name from RFK's book, but based on another book about the Crisis, based on information declassified long after The Missiles of October aired.

*

December 18, 1974 was a Wednesday. Pro Bowl linebacker Peter Boulware was born.

Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 3 games in the NBA:

* The Boston Celtics beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 131-99 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Washington Bullets beat the New Orleans Jazz, 113-90 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Detroit Pistons, 100-97 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit. Fred Brown scored 34 for the Sonics.

There were 4 games in the American Basketball Association:

* The Virginia Squires beat the Memphis Sounds, 112-86 at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the San Antonio Spurs, 128-122 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. George McGinnis led all scorers on the night with 45.

* The Kentucky Colonels beat the Spirits of St. Louis, 110-94 at the St. Louis Arena. Artis Gilmore scored 36 for the Colonels.

* And the San Diego Conquistadors beat the Utah Stars, 113-99 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena).

There were 6 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Minnesota North Stars, 7-0 at Madison Square Garden. Former Boston Bruins star Derek Sanders scored 3 goals and had an assist for the Rangers.

* The New York Islanders lost to the Buffalo Sabres, 3-2 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-4 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Chicago Black Hawks beat their arch-rivals, the Detroit Red Wings, 7-5 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Kansas City Scouts, 6-0 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City.

* And the Montreal Canadiens beat the California Golden Seals, 4-3 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

And there were 2 games in the World Hockey Association. The Quebec Nordiques beat the Winnipeg Jets, 5-1 at the Colisée de Québec. And the Phoenix Roadrunners beat the Vancouver Blazers, 5-3 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

May 10, 1979: "Apocalypse Now" Premieres

May 10, 1979: Apocalypse Now premieres, Francis Ford Coppola’s film that moved Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness from colonial Africa to the Vietnam War. This is a long movie: 2 hours and 33 minutes. Even the trailer is 4 minutes long.

The filming was long, too: Coppola started in the Philippines in July 1976 -- just over a year after the fall of Saigon -- and ending in May 1977. Things were complicated by Coppola's re-editing, by Marlon Brando being way overweight and more eccentric than ever, and Martin Sheen suffering a heart attack at the age of 36.

The film stars Sheen as a U.S. Army Captain -- named Ben Willard, combining the names of the 1971 horror-film rat and the misfit boy who takes care of him -- assigned to find rogue Colonel Walter E. Kurtz, played by Brando, and "terminate, with extreme prejudice."

This film made Sheen a bigger star, but it almost killed him. It gave Robert Duvall, after 2 Godfather movies, his own catchphrase. And it made it impossible to ever again view Brando as a dashing matinee idol. The joke was that, in the 1950s, men wanted to look like Brando; but, from the 1980s onward, men wanted to not look like Brando.

Also, next time you watch Back to the Future II, set in 2015, check out a poster at the travel agency: "Surf Vietnam." It is an inside joke, a reference to Duvall's line in this film: "Charlie don't surf!" I don't know if surfing is good on the Vietnam coast, but the country does now welcome American tourists. It's their former colonial masters, the French, that they really hate.

Later in 1979, Star Trek: The Motion Picture was released. It, too, was a lot longer than it should have been, earning it the nicknames "Star Trek: The Motionless Picture" and, in a nod to this movie, "A Spockalypse Now." (With the antagonist V'Ger resembling the that of the series' episode "The Changeling," it was also nicknamed "Where Nomad Has Gone Before."

*

May 10, 1979 was a Thursday. This was also the day the Boston Bruins committed the most famous penalty in hockey history, leading to them losing Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Semifinals to the Montreal Canadiens, 5-4 in overtime at the Montreal Forum. I have a separate entry for that event.

The World Hockey Association's last Finals, as it turned out, began the next day. The Winnipeg Jets beat the Edmonton Oilers in 6 games.

Football was out of season. The NBA's Conference Finals were in progress, but no games were scheduled for this day. These games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees beat the Seattle Mariners, 8-1 at Yankee Stadium. Tommy John went the distance for the win. Mickey Rivers hit a home run. Reggie Jackson went 3-for-4 with a walk and an RBI.

* The New York Mets lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers, 14-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Andy Messersmith was the winning pitcher, but injury ended his career after 4 more starts. This was the 130th and last win of his career, only 33 years old. His place in baseball history was secure, however, not because he a 4-time All-Star and a 20-game winner for a Pennant winner (the 1974 Dodgers), but because he was the free agent whose arbitration broke the reserve clause after the 1975 season.

Ron Cey, Bill Russell and Steve Yeager hit home runs for the Dodgers. Lee Mazzilli hit one for the Mets.

* The California Angels beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. Don Aase outpitched Dennis Eckersley. Rod Carew went 2-for-5. Brian Downing hit a home run for the Angels, Jim Rice for the Red Sox.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Oakland Athletics, 3-1 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Gary Roenicke hit a home run. Eddie Murray went 0-for-4.

* Unusually, both Chicago teams were at home on the same day. The Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-2 at Comiskey Park. Claudell Washington hit a home run. George Brett went 0-for-4.

* And the Chicago Cubs played the Cincinnati Reds at Wrigley Field. The game went to extra innings, and, because Wrigley did not have lights, it was called due to darkness in the top of the 10th, with the score 7-7. It was resumed on July 23.

Each team scored a run in the 11th. Ken Henderson led off to the bottom of the 18th inning with a single, and was bunted over to 2nd base by relief pitcher Lynn McGlothen. Dave Kingman was intentionally walked to set up the double play. It didn't work, as Steve Ontiveros singled Henderson home, and the Cubs won, 9-8. So, while both Chicago teams were at home on the same day, and both won, they did not both win at home on the same day.

Kingman hit a home run, surprising few people. Barry Foote and Ted Sizemore also hit home runs, surprising nearly everybody. Johnny Bench went 2-for-8 with 3 RBIs, but Dave Concepción hit the only Cincy homer.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 8-1 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Robin Yount went 1-for-3 with a walk. Paul Molitor went 1-for-5.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Houston Astros, 3-1 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Diego Padres, 3-2 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium.) Pete Rose went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-4. Dave Winfield went 1-for-3 with a walk.

Nino Espinosa outpitched Gaylord Perry. Perry did, however, hit a home run, the 5th of 6 he would hit during his career. Legend has it that, early in his career, Giants manager Alvin Dark saw Perry take a pathetic batting practice, and said that a man would be on the Moon before he hit a home run. Was Dark right? Sort of: Perry did indeed hit his 1st major league home run on July 20, 1969, apparently just a few minutes after Apollo 11 landed on the Moon, but a few hours before Armstrong stepped onto its surface. 

* The Montreal Expos beat the San Francisco Giants, 3-0 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Steve Rogers (not the fictional superhero of the same name, a.k.a. Captain America) pitched a 3-hit shutout.

* And the Detroit Tigers, the Minnesota Twins, the Texas Rangers, the Toronto Blue Jays, the Atlanta Braves and the Pittsburgh Pirates were not scheduled. 

February 12, 1952: “Life Is Worth Living” Premieres

"WABD" were the original call letters of Channel 5 in New York.

They stood for the network's founder, Allen B. DuMont.

February 12, 1952: Life Is Worth Living premieres on the DuMont Television Network, hosted by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. The DuMont Network went out of business in 1955, but ABC picked the show up, and ran it for another 2 years, until April 8, 1957.

A native of Central Illinois, Sheen had previously hosted an NBC radio program titled The Catholic Hour. Afterward, he hosted the nationally-syndicated The Fulton Sheen Program from 1961 to 1968. He is often considered the first "televangelist."

The series consisted of Sheen speaking to the camera, and discussing moral issues of the day, often using blackboard drawings and lists to help explain the topic. When the blackboard was filled, Sheen would move to another part of the set, and request one of his "angels," one of the TV crew, to clean the blackboard.

Airing opposite NBC's highly popular Texaco Star Theatre, later renamed The Milton Berle Show for its host, on Tuesday nights, Sheen was the only person to be competitive with Berle. Sheen drew as many as 10 million viewers each week.

The Catholic Sheen and the Jewish Berle enjoyed a friendly rivalry. Berle is reported to have joked, "We both work for the same boss, 'Sky Chief Supreme,'" making reference to a grade of gasoline produced by show sponsor Texaco. Later, when Sheen won an Emmy Award, Berle quipped, "He's got better writers: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John!" As a take-off on Berle's popular nickname, "Uncle Miltie," Sheen once opened his program by saying, "Good evening, this is Uncle Fultie."

On February 26, 1953, Sheen read a passage from William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, with the names of high-ranking Soviet officials replacing the key characters. At the end of the reading, Sheen intoned that "Stalin must one day meet his judgment." Stalin died 7 days later. It was probably just a coincidence.

Life Is Worth Living was canceled because the Archdiocese of New York withdrew its support. It did so on the order of the Archbishop, Francis Cardinal Spellman. There was a personal dispute between them, involving money and a charity for which Sheen had raised more money than anybody. Spellman wanted a cut. Sheen refused. They went to Rome, and personally pleaded their respective cases before Pope Pius XII. The Pope sided with Sheen. Spellman swore he would get even with Sheen, and did. Nevertheless, in an autobiography published after his death, Sheen praised Spellman, who died in 1967, for his charity efforts.

Sheen remained popular well after his heyday. In 1970, at the height of protests against the Vietnam War, President Richard Nixon wanted a counter-protest for the 4th of July. Sheen and the nation's leading Protestant clergyman, Billy Graham, were among the speakers at the Lincoln Memorial, but it was not well-attended. Those who did attend gave Sheen a standing ovation.

Sheen died in 1979, 2 months after meeting Pope John Paul II upon his visit to St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. Both Sheen and Spellman are buried in the vault underneath St. Patrick's.

On a 1992 episode of the CBS sitcom Brooklyn Bridge, centered on a Jewish family in Brooklyn in the 1950s, the kids end up watching Life Is Worth Living, something their parents would not have liked. At that point, I had never heard of Sheen. I was confused and horrified, thinking it was Father Charles Coughlin, the anti-Semitic "radio priest" of the 1930s. My parents, who knew about Sheen, set me straight.

Starting in 2009, Sheen's shows were being re-broadcast on the cable networks EWTN (Eternal World Television Network, a Catholic network) and Trinity Broadcasting Network's Church Channel.

Actor Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez named himself Martin Sheen after the Archbishop.

*

February 12, 1952 was a Tuesday. British actor Simon MacCorkindale was born on this day.

Baseball and football were out of season. And no games were scheduled for the NHL. But there were 3 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Syracuse Nationals, 78-69 at the old Madison Square Garden.

* The Rochester Royals beat the Philadelphia Warriors, 86-75 at the Philadelphia Arena. Fulton Sheen later served as the Archbishop of Rochester, New York, making it retroactively appropriate that the city's NBA team won on this night. Of course, the Royals had moved to Cincinnati in 1957, shortly after Life Is Worth Living was canceled. They became the Kansas City Kings in 1972 and the Sacramento Kings in 1985.

* And the Indianapolis Olympians beat the Fort Wayne Pistons, 80-78 at the Butler Fieldhouse (now the Hinkle Fieldhouse) in Indianapolis.

January 31, 1945: The Execution of Eddie Slovik

January 31, 1945: Private Edward Slovik is executed for desertion. He remains the only American serviceman executed by his own country since the Civil War.

Slovik was born on February 18, 1920 in Detroit. He was first arrested at age 12, for breaking and entering. He served a year in prison from 1937 to 1938, and 3 years from 1939 to 1942.

After getting out, he got a job at a plumbing company, and got married. His criminal record originally made him classified as "morally unfit for duty." But as World War II dragged on, and the U.S. Army needed more men, he was reclassified as fit for duty in 1944, and drafted.

He was sent to France, to a rifle platoon unit. He got scared, and deserted on October 9. When he was caught, he made a complete confession, saying he didn't want to fight anymore. He had been in jails before, and fully expected to be sent to prison, which he considered preferable to dying in combat.

Instead, on November 11, in a court-martial lasting less than a day, he was convicted, and was sentenced to death, which is the traditional penalty for desertion. Terrified, on December 9, he wrote a letter to the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, asking for clemency. "Ike" didn't get the letter until after the Battle of the Bulge began, and he needed to discourage further desertions, so he upheld the sentence on December 23.

On January 31, 1945, near the village of Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, near the German border, Slovik told the soldiers preparing him for execution, "They're not shooting me for deserting the United States Army. Thousands of guys have done that. They just need to make an example out of somebody, and I'm it, because I'm an ex-con. I used to steal things when I was a kid, and that's what they are shooting me for. They're shooting me for the bread and chewing gum I stole when I was 12 years old."

In 1960, Frank Sinatra wanted to make a movie out of the story -- although, at 44 years old, he was already much too old to play the part himself. Needing his support, but not wanting the controversy, John F. Kennedy, then the Democratic nominee for President, talked him out of it.

In 1974, The Executive of Private Slovik aired on NBC, but it was made without Sinatra's involvement. It starred Martin Sheen, who, at 34, also too old for the part. He would go on to play JFK in an NBC miniseries 9 years later. Sheen played Slovik as terrified at his execution, reciting "The Lord's Prayer" through his tears, before the firing squad did their duty.

In fact, according to Father Carl Cummings, the priest attending the execution, Slovik was calm. Cummings told him, "Eddie, when you get up there, say a little prayer for me." And Slovik said, "Okay, Father. I'll pray that you don't follow me too soon."

*

January 31, 1945 was a Wednesday. New York Giants football player Al Blozis was killed in action in France on the same day. I have a separate entry for that event.

Baseball and football were out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. And while the NHL season was in progress, it had no games scheduled. So there were no scores on this historic day.