America’s 40th President Ronald Wilson Reagan was born
in Tampico, Illinois, on this day in history, Feb. 6, 1911.
Prior to his presidency, he served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 to 1975 and was the president of the
Screen Actors Guild from 1947 to 1952 and from 1959 until
1960.
On February 5, 1919, Hollywood heavyweights Charlie Chaplin,
Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith joined
forces to create their own film studio, which they called the
United Artists Corporation.
United Artists quickly gained prestige in Hollywood, thanks to
the success of the films of its stars, notably Chaplin’s The Gold
Rush (1925), as well as the work of actors such as Buster
Keaton, Rudolph Valentino and Gloria Swanson. Chaplin
directed UA films as well as acted in them, and Pickford
concentrated on producing after she retired from acting in
the 1930s. With the rise of sound during that decade, UA was
helped by the talents (and bankrolls) of veteran producers
like Joseph Schenck, Samuel Goldwyn, Howard Hughes and
Alexander Korda.
The corporation began to struggle financially in the 1940s,
however, and in 1951 the production studio was sold and
UA became only a financing and distributing facility.
From left, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin
(seated) and Douglas Fairbanks Sr. signing the original
contract that created the United Artists studio in 1919.
Henry Louis Aaron (February 5, 1934 – January 22, 2021)
On February 5, 1934, Henry Louis Aaron Jr., the baseball slugger
who broke Babe Ruth’s legendary record of 714 homers, was
born in Mobile, Alabama.
Aaron began his professional baseball career in 1952 in the Negro League and joined the Milwaukee Braves of the major league in
1954, eight years after Jackie Robinson had integrated baseball.
Aaron was the last Negro League player to compete in the majors
and established himself as an important player for the Braves
winning the National League batting title in 1956. The following
season, he took home the league’s MVP award and helped the
Braves beat Mickey Mantle and the heavily favored New York
Yankees in the World Series.
In 1959, Aaron won his second league batting title. Season after
season, he turned in strong batting performances.
Melinda Dillon (October 13, 1939 – January 9, 2023)
Oscar and Tony-nominated actor Melinda Dillon, who played
Mother Parker in “A Christmas Story,” and appeared in
“Magnolia” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,”
died Jan. 9. No mention as to the cause of her death.
Melinda Dillon with Darren McGavin, Ian Petrella, and
Peter Billingsley (1983).
1978
On this day in history, the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
was ratified — granting African American men the right to vote.
The amendment declared that the "right of citizens of the United
States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United
States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous
condition of servitude."
