The song "Ode to Billie Joe" was written and recorded by Bobbie Gentry, a
singer-songwriter from Chickasaw County, Mississippi. It became a number-
one hit in the U.S., and a big international seller. Billboard ranked the record
as the No. 3 song for 1967. The song is ranked #412 on Rolling Stone‘s list
of "the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". It also generated eight Grammy
nominations, resulting in three wins for Gentry and one win for arranger
Jimmie Haskell.

Bobby Gentry in Capitol Studio C, Hollywood, CA.

Bobby Gentry (Roberta Lee Streeter) will be 72
on July 27.

George Leslie Gobel (May 20, 1919 – February 24, 1991)

George Gobel initially pursued an entertainment career as a country
music singer, appearing on the National Barn Dance on WLS radio,
and later on KMOX in St. Louis. Gobel enlisted in the U.S. Army Air
Forces during World War II and served as a flight instructor in AT-9 
aircraft at Altus, Oklahoma and later in B-26 Marauder bombers
at Frederick,Oklahoma. After his discharge at the end of the war,
he switched from singing to comedy and soon began a comedy
show on NBC in 1954 that ran until 1960. It won him an Emmy
in 1955. 

SANDY KOZEL

Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is 60 today.

During his years studying theater, Hanks met Vincent Dowling, head of  
the Great Lakes Theater Festival in Cleveland, Ohio. Dowling’s urged
Hanks to become an intern at the festival. That internship stretched into
a three-year experience that covered most aspects of theater production,
including lighting, set design, and stage management, prompting Hanks
to drop out of college.

Forrest Gump, 1994

Apollo 13, 1995

Saving Private Ryan, 1998

Cast Away, 2000

2015

The song Learnin’ the Blues by Frank Sinatra ranked #14 on the Billboard
Year-End chart. He re-recorded the song in 1962 for the album Sinatra-Basie.

The Wall Street Journal, a business-focused international daily newspaper based 
in New York City. It is published six days a week by Dow Jones & Company, a
division of News Corp. According to the Alliance for Audited Media, the paper
is the largest in the U.S. by circulation and has won 39 Pulitzer Prizes through
2015.