(September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004)

Ray Charles Robinson, known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles,
was a pioneer musician in the soul music genre during the 1950s. He style
fused jazz, rhythm and blues, and gospel. Frank Sinatra called Charles “the
only true genius in sow business.” Rolling Stone ranked Ray Charles number
10 on their list of “100 Greatest Artists of All Time” in 2004, and number two
on the magazines November 2008 list.

According to The Los Angeles Times, the famous ruby slippers worn by Judy
Garland’s character Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz"(1939) are expected to sell
between $2 million and $3 million at an auction in December.The paper reports
the slippers are one of only four pairs used on-screen that are known to have
survived.   

The Checkers speech or Fund speech was a television and radio address given on 
September 23, 1952 by Richard Nixon, who at the time, was the Republican vice 
presidential candidate and junior United States Senator from California. Senator
Nixon had been accused of improprieties relating to a fund established by his
backers to reimburse him for his political expenses. During the speech in which he defended himself, he stated that regardless of what anyone said, he intended to
keep one gift: a black and white dog (above) named Checkers by the Nixon children,
thus giving the address its famous name. Nixon’s speech was broadcast from The
El Capitan Theater, now known as the Avalon Hollywood in California. He had been staying at a hotel in Portland, Oregon prior to making the address. 

The Avalon Theater 

The song “That’ll Be the Day” had its genesis as the result of a trip to the
movies by Buddy Holly, Jerry Allison and Sonny Curtis in June 1956. The
John Wayne film The Searchers was playing at the theater. Wayne’s
frequently used catchphrase…”that’ll be the day” inspired the
musicians and this song was written.

Marcus Welby, M.D. is a medical drama that aired on ABC-TV from Tuesday
September 23, 1969, to July 29, 1976. The pilot, A Matter of Humanities, had
previously aired as a ABC Movie of the Week on March 26, 1969. The shows
handling of many varied medical cases, some common and some uncommon,
made it an instant hit for ABC.

 James Brolin     

                                                   
                                                    Elena Verdugo