November 8, 1914
Norman Nathan Lloyd is
born.
Actor, producer,
and director with a career in entertainment spanning roughly eight decades.
Lloyd has appeared in over sixty films and television shows. In the 1980s, he
gained a new generation of fans for playing Dr. Daniel Auschlander, one of the
starring roles on the groundbreaking medical drama St. Elsewhere.
November 8, 1979The program, "The Iran Crisis: America Held Hostage", premiered on
ABC-TV. The
show was planned to be temporary, but it evolved into "Nightline" in
March of 1980. The program had its beginnings on November 8, 1979, just four days after the Iran hostage crisis started. ABC News president Roone Arledge felt
the best way to compete against NBC's The
Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was
to update Americans on the latest news from Iran. At that time, the show was
called The Iran Crisis–America Held Hostage: Day "xxx",
where xxx represented each day that Iranians held hostage the
occupants of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran. Originally, World News Tonight lead anchor Frank Reynolds hosted
the special report. Shortly after its creation, Reynolds stopped hosting the
program. Ted Koppel, then ABC News's State Department Correspondent, took
on the hosting duties. It was not until a few days later that a producer had
the idea of displaying the number of days on America Held Hostage:
Day 15, Day 50, Day 150, and so on.
November 8, 1994:
Salvatore
"Sonny" Bono is elected to the U.S. Congress.
If
you had made a friendly wager back in 1974 as to which recent or current
pop-music figure might go on to serve in the United States Congress in 20
years' time, you might have picked someone with an apparent political agenda,
like Joan Baez, or at least one who was associated with some kind of cause,
like nature-lover John Denver. You almost certainly wouldn't have placed your
bet on Sonny Bono, a singer of arguably limited talents who appeared content to
stand, literally and figuratively, in the shadow of his far more popular wife,
Cher. It was indeed Salvatore "Sonny" Bono, however, who had a future
in elective politics—a future that included his election to the United States
House of Representatives from California's 44th Congressional District on this
day in 1994Sonny
Bono fell almost completely out of the public eye following the cancellation of
The Sonny and Cher Show in 1977. While his ex-wife and erstwhile musical
partner, Cher, launched a hugely successful second phase of her career with
well-received acting roles in the 1980s, Sonny left the spotlight behind to
focus on the restaurant business. Although he presented himself as a
none-too-bright bumbler during his days on television, Bono had been an astute
operator in shepherding his and Cher's early musical career and in his later
business dealings. The owner of several successful restaurants, Bono got
involved in politics after growing frustrated with the bureaucratic hurdles
placed before one of his restaurant construction projects by local officials in
Palm Springs, California, in the late 1980s. Though he himself had registered
to vote for the first time only one year earlier, Bono was elected mayor of
Palm Springs in 1988. Following a failed run in the California Republican
Senatorial primary in 1992, Bono turned his attention to the 44th District's
Congressional seat in 1994. A conservative Republican, Bono was swept into
office as part of the Newt Gingrich-led Republican "revolution" that
year, and he was re-elected in 1996.
During
his time in office, Bono did not treat his fellow lawmakers to any singing
performances, but the man behind the hits "I Got You Babe" (1965) and
"The Beat Goes On" (1967) did trade on his public persona as a
good-natured, non-threatening nice guy. As The Washington Post noted in its
obituary following Bono's death in a skiing accident in 1996, "Bono
brought to Congress a rare skill: He could make lawmakers—even the most pompous
among them—laugh at themselves." Or as President Bill Clinton said,
""His joyful entertainment of millions earned him celebrity, but in
Washington he earned respect by being a witty and wise participant in
policymaking processes that often seem ponderous to the American people."
November 10, 1924
Russell David Johnson is
born.
Best known as “The
Professor” on the CBS television sitcom Gilligan’s Island. He is one of three remaining cast members from that
series, the last surviving male.
November 10, 1969
Sesame Street premiered.
The longest running children's program on television.
The show is produced by the non-profit organization Sesame Workshop,
formerly known as the Children's
Television Workshop (CTW), founded by
Joan Ganz Cooney and Ralph Rogers.
As a result of its extensive influence, Sesame Street is one of the
most highly regarded, and most watched, educational shows for children in the
world. The original series has been televised in more than 120 countries, and
25 independent versions have been produced. The show has been called
"perhaps the most vigorously researched, vetted, and fretted-over
program". As of 2009, the series has received 118 Emmy Awards,
more than any other television series. An estimated 77 million Americans
watched the series as children.
Sesame Street uses a combination of animation, puppets, and live actors to
stimulate young children's minds, improve their letter and word recognition,
basic arithmetic,
geometric forms, classification, simple problem solving, and socialization by
showing children or people in their everyday lives. Since the show's inception,
other instructional goals have been basic life skills, such as how to cross the
street safely, proper hygiene, healthy eating habits, and social skills; in
addition, real-world situations are taught, such as death, divorce, pregnancy and
birth, adoption, and even all of the human emotions such as happiness, love,
anger, and hatred. Also, recently, the Sesame Street Muppets discussed
the late-2000s recession with their latest
prime-time special Families Stand Together: Feeling Secure in Tough Times.
The series has made many published lists, including greatest all-time show
compilations by TV
Guide and Entertainment Weekly. A 1996 survey
found that 95% of American preschoolers have watched the show by the time they
are three years old.
Sesame Street will celebrate its 40th anniversary and will include a segment
with First Lady Michelle Obama interacting with the Muppets.
Jon Stone was responsible for hiring the first cast of Sesame Street.
He did not audition actors until Spring 1969, a few weeks before the five test
shows were due to be filmed. He videotaped the auditions, and Ed Palmer took
them out into the field to test children's reactions. The actors who received
the "most enthusiastic thumbs up" were cast. For example, Loretta
Long, was chosen to play Susan when the children who saw
her audition stood up and sang along with her rendition of "I'm a Little Teapot". It was Stone's goal
to cast white actors in the minority. As Stone said, casting was the only
aspect of the show that was "just completely haphazard". Most
of the cast and crew found jobs on Sesame Street through personal
relationships with Stone and the other producers. Stone also hired Bob McGrath
to play Bob, Will
Lee to play Mr. Hooper, and Matt Robinson to play Gordon.
Sesame Street's cast became more diverse in the 1970s. The cast
members who joined the show during this time were Sonia
Manzano (Maria), Northern Calloway (David), Emilio
Delgado (Luis), Linda Bove (Linda), and Buffy
Saint-Marie (Buffy). Roscoe Orman succeeded Matt Robinson, the original Gordon, and Hal Miller, in
1975.
November 8, 1914
Norman Nathan Lloyd is born.
November 8, 1994:
Salvatore
"Sonny" Bono is elected to the U.S. Congress.
Sonny Bono fell almost completely out of the public eye following the cancellation of The Sonny and Cher Show in 1977. While his ex-wife and erstwhile musical partner, Cher, launched a hugely successful second phase of her career with well-received acting roles in the 1980s, Sonny left the spotlight behind to focus on the restaurant business. Although he presented himself as a none-too-bright bumbler during his days on television, Bono had been an astute operator in shepherding his and Cher's early musical career and in his later business dealings. The owner of several successful restaurants, Bono got involved in politics after growing frustrated with the bureaucratic hurdles placed before one of his restaurant construction projects by local officials in Palm Springs, California, in the late 1980s. Though he himself had registered to vote for the first time only one year earlier, Bono was elected mayor of Palm Springs in 1988. Following a failed run in the California Republican Senatorial primary in 1992, Bono turned his attention to the 44th District's Congressional seat in 1994. A conservative Republican, Bono was swept into office as part of the Newt Gingrich-led Republican "revolution" that year, and he was re-elected in 1996.
During his time in office, Bono did not treat his fellow lawmakers to any singing performances, but the man behind the hits "I Got You Babe" (1965) and "The Beat Goes On" (1967) did trade on his public persona as a good-natured, non-threatening nice guy. As The Washington Post noted in its obituary following Bono's death in a skiing accident in 1996, "Bono brought to Congress a rare skill: He could make lawmakers—even the most pompous among them—laugh at themselves." Or as President Bill Clinton said, ""His joyful entertainment of millions earned him celebrity, but in Washington he earned respect by being a witty and wise participant in policymaking processes that often seem ponderous to the American people."
November 10, 1924
Russell David Johnson is born.
Best known as “The
Professor” on the CBS television sitcom Gilligan’s Island. He is one of three remaining cast members from that
series, the last surviving male.
November 10, 1969
Sesame Street premiered.
The longest running children's program on television.
The show is produced by the non-profit organization Sesame Workshop,
formerly known as the Children's
Television Workshop (CTW), founded by
Joan Ganz Cooney and Ralph Rogers.
As a result of its extensive influence, Sesame Street is one of the
most highly regarded, and most watched, educational shows for children in the
world. The original series has been televised in more than 120 countries, and
25 independent versions have been produced. The show has been called
"perhaps the most vigorously researched, vetted, and fretted-over
program". As of 2009, the series has received 118 Emmy Awards,
more than any other television series. An estimated 77 million Americans
watched the series as children.
Sesame Street uses a combination of animation, puppets, and live actors to
stimulate young children's minds, improve their letter and word recognition,
basic arithmetic,
geometric forms, classification, simple problem solving, and socialization by
showing children or people in their everyday lives. Since the show's inception,
other instructional goals have been basic life skills, such as how to cross the
street safely, proper hygiene, healthy eating habits, and social skills; in
addition, real-world situations are taught, such as death, divorce, pregnancy and
birth, adoption, and even all of the human emotions such as happiness, love,
anger, and hatred. Also, recently, the Sesame Street Muppets discussed
the late-2000s recession with their latest
prime-time special Families Stand Together: Feeling Secure in Tough Times.
The series has made many published lists, including greatest all-time show
compilations by TV
Guide and Entertainment Weekly. A 1996 survey
found that 95% of American preschoolers have watched the show by the time they
are three years old.
Sesame Street will celebrate its 40th anniversary and will include a segment
with First Lady Michelle Obama interacting with the Muppets.
Jon Stone was responsible for hiring the first cast of Sesame Street.
He did not audition actors until Spring 1969, a few weeks before the five test
shows were due to be filmed. He videotaped the auditions, and Ed Palmer took
them out into the field to test children's reactions. The actors who received
the "most enthusiastic thumbs up" were cast. For example, Loretta
Long, was chosen to play Susan when the children who saw
her audition stood up and sang along with her rendition of "I'm a Little Teapot". It was Stone's goal
to cast white actors in the minority. As Stone said, casting was the only
aspect of the show that was "just completely haphazard". Most
of the cast and crew found jobs on Sesame Street through personal
relationships with Stone and the other producers. Stone also hired Bob McGrath
to play Bob, Will
Lee to play Mr. Hooper, and Matt Robinson to play Gordon.
Sesame Street's cast became more diverse in the 1970s. The cast members who joined the show during this time were Sonia Manzano (Maria), Northern Calloway (David), Emilio Delgado (Luis), Linda Bove (Linda), and Buffy Saint-Marie (Buffy). Roscoe Orman succeeded Matt Robinson, the original Gordon, and Hal Miller, in 1975.
