Starring Mary Martin as Maria and Theodore Bikel as Captain
von Trapp, the original Broadway production of The Sound
of Music premiered at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on November
16, 1959, where it won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical
and Best Leading Actress. It later moved to the Mark Hellinger,
where it would end its lauded run on June 15, 1963 after 1,443 performances.
On November 15, 1965 at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah,
28-year-old Californian Craig Breedlove set a new land-speed
record of 600.601 miles an hour in his car, the Spirit of America,
which cost $250,000 and was powered by a surplus engine from
a Navy jet.
He actually drove across the desert twice that day, since
international world-record rules require a car to make two
timed one-mile runs in one hour. (Officials log the average
speed of the two trips.)
During his first trip, Breedlove traveled at a rate of 593.178
mph; during his second, the first time any person had
officially gone faster than 600 mph, he traveled at a rate
of 608.201 mph. “That 600 is about a thousand times better
than 599,” he said afterward. “Boy, it’s a great feeling.”
Norman Craig Breedlove Sr. (March 23, 1937 – April 4, 2023)
Diana Duyser, a resident of Florida.
On this day in 2004 a grilled cheese sandwich with toast
bearing an image of the Virgin Mary sold on eBay for
$28,000.
The seller claimed the 10-year-old sandwich had never
sprouted any mold.
Left: The crew of Apollo 12 – Charles “Pete” Conrad,
left, Richard F. Gordon, and Alan L. Bean. Right:
Apollo 12, the second manned mission to the surface of
the moon,was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida,
with astronauts Charles Conrad, Jr.; Richard F. Gordon,
Jr.; and Alan L. Bean aboard.
President Richard Nixon viewed the liftoff from Pad A at
Cape Canaveral. He was the first president to attend the
liftoff of a manned space flight.
Thirty-six seconds after takeoff, lightning struck the
ascending Saturn 5 launch rocket (below )which tripped
the circuit breakers in the command module and caused
a power failure.
Fortunately, the launching rocket continued up normally,
and within a few minutes power was restored in the
spacecraft.
President Richard Nixon (white coat) viewing the liftoff of
Apollo 12.
Herman Melville (August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891)
On November 14, 1851, Moby-Dick was published. Now
considered a great classic of American literature—with
one of the most famous opening lines in fiction: “Call
me Ishmael”—the book about Captain Ahab and his
quest to catch a giant white whale was originally a big
flop.
Its author, Herman Melville was born in New York City
in 1819. As a young man, he spent time in the merchant
marines, the U.S. Navy and on a whaling ship in the South
Seas.
In 1846, he published his first novel, Typee, a romantic
adventure based on his experiences in Polynesia.
The book was a success and a sequel, Omoo, was
published in 1847. Three more novels followed, with
mixed critical and commercial results.
Melville died in 1891, largely forgotten by the literary
world. By the 1920s, scholars had rediscovered his
work, particularly Moby-Dick, which would eventually
become a staple of high school reading lists across
the United States. Billy Budd, Melville’s final novel,
was published in 1924, 33 years after his death.
First U.S. edition.
