Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986)
Benny Goodman was an clarinetist and bandleader who’s bands
started the careers of many jazz musicians.
Despite health problems, he continued to perform, his last concert
being six days before his death. Goodman died on June 13, 1986,
from a heart attack while taking a nap at his apartment in Manhattan House.
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Glenn Miller (March 1, 1904 – December 15, 1944)
General James Doolittle of the United States Army Air Forces
(USAAF), hero of the daring “Doolittle Raid” on mainland Japan
and later the unified commander of Allied air forces in Europe
in World War II, offered the following high praise to one of his
staff officers in 1944: “Next to a letter from home, Captain Miller,
your organization is the greatest morale builder in the European
Theater of Operations.”
The Captain Miller in question was the trombonist and bandleader
Glenn Miller, the biggest star on the American pop-music scene
in the years immediately preceding World War II and a man who
set aside his brilliant career right at its peak in 1942 to serve his
country as leader of the USAAF dance band.
It was in that capacity that Captain Glenn Miller boarded a single-
engine aircraft (like below) at an airfield outside of London on
December 15, 1944—an aircraft that would go missing over the
English Channel en route to France for a congratulatory
performance for American troops that had recently helped to
liberate Paris.
Alton Glenn Miller (March 1, 1904 – disappeared December 15, 1944)
Glenn Miller was a big-band trombonist, arranger, composer, and bandleader
in the swing era. He was the best-selling recording artist from 1939 to 1942,
leading one of the best-known big bands. Miller’s recordings include "In the
Mood", "Moonlight Serenade", "Pennsylvania 6-5000", "Chattanooga Choo
Choo", "A String of Pearls", "At Last", "(I’ve Got a Gal In) Kalamazoo",
"American Patrol", "Tuxedo Junction", "Elmer’s Tune", and "Little Brown
Jug". In just four years Glenn Miller scored 16 number-one records and 69
top ten hits—more than Elvis Presley (38 top 10s) and the Beatles (33 top -
10s) did in their careers.
In 1942, Miller volunteered to join the U.S. military to entertain troops during
World War II, ending up with the U.S. Army Air Forces. On December 15,
1944, while flying to Paris, Miller’s aircraft disappeared in bad weather over
the English Channel. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal.
TIM MAGUIRE
Jodie Foster in "Courtship of Eddie’s Father”, 1969.
Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster is 57 today.
Actress, director, and producer Jodie Foster has received
two Academy Awards, three British Academy Film Awards,
two Golden Globe Awards, and the Cecil B. DeMille Award
along with a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award for
her work as a director.
Foster began her professional career as a child model when
she was three years old, and she made her acting debut in
1968 in the television sitcom Mayberry R.F.D. In the late
1960s and early 1970s (below).
Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver (1976).
October 14, 1991
ROSS SIMPSON
In New York on this day in 2002, a ceremony was held to officially
mark the end of the clean up from the World Trade Center terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
