Are
we ready to look at the final Tuesday Timeline for 2016? It's been a wild year, let me tell you. You'll see what I mean when I go over my
annual retrospective of 2016 - a year that many of us wish never happened.
But
for now, we're taking a break to go back in time even further than 2016! Let's have a look at what happened
throughout history on December the 27th.
1703 - The Methuen Treaty is signed by both
England and Portugal
1814 - The American schooner USS Carolina is
destroyed
1831 - Charles Darwin departs on a journey aboard
the HMS Beagle - it would be on this journey that he would craft his
"Theory of Evolution"
1836 - Eight people lose their lives when an
avalanche occurs in Lewes, Sussex
1845 - Ether anesthetic is used for childbirth for
the first time
1905 - Actor Cliff Arquette (d. 1974) is born in
Toledo, Ohio
1918 - The Great Poland Uprising against Germany
begins
1927 - "Show Boat" opens on Broadway at
the Ziegfeld Theatre
1935 - In the United States, Regina Jonas is
ordained as the first female rabbi
1939 - Over 39,000 lose their lives when a
powerful earthquake occurs in eastern Turkey
1945 - The International Monetary Fund is
established
1955 - CNN commentator Barbara Olsen (d. 2001) is
born in Houston, Texas
1970 - Professional wrestler Joanie
"Chyna" Laurer (d. 2016) is born in Rochester, New York
1972 - Former Prime Minister of Canada Lester B.
Pearson dies at the age of 75
1975 - Actress Heather O'Rourke (d. 1988) is born
in San Diego, California
1978 - After four decades of fascist
dictatorship, the country of Spain becomes a democracy
1980 - John Lennon's "(Just Like) Starting
Over" hits the #1 spot on the charts just three weeks after his death
1981 - Composer/singer Hoagy Carmichael dies at
the age of 82
1985 - Palestinian gunmen kill eighteen people in
two separate attacks in the airports of Rome, Italy and Vienna, Austria
2001 - China is granted permanent normal trade
relations with the United States
2003 - Sir Alan Bates, CBE, passes away, aged 69
And
for celebrity birthdays, the following famous faces are one year older today; John Amos, Mike Pinder, Nolan Richardson, Byron Browne, Cokie Roberts, Roy White, Mick Jones, Janet Street-Porter, Gerard Depardieu, Tovah Feldshuh, David Knopfler, Mandie Fletcher, Maryam d'Abo, Eva LaRue, Savannah Guthrie, Matt Slocum, Emilie De Ravin, and Hayley Williams.
Okay,
so what date will we be having a look back at this week?
Oh...December 17, 1932. That was
decades before I was born! My
grandparents were all kids during this time!
That's how long ago it was.
And yet it was the date that one of New York City's most visited landmarks was opened to the public.
And yet it was the date that one of New York City's most visited landmarks was opened to the public.
Perhaps
you might have visited it during the Christmas holidays where the world famous
Rockettes demonstrated just how limber they were during their annual Christmas
show. Or, perhaps you went there to
watch your favourite artists perform a concert or two. Maybe you were in that building during one
of the times the Daytime Emmys were broadcast and you saw your favourite
"Days of our Lives" actor win for Outstanding Supporting Actor. Or if you're old enough to remember this,
you may have even watched a couple of motion pictures at this very spot.
A
post that is located in Rockefeller Center, New York. The precise address being 1260 Avenue of the Americas.
It
was on this date eighty-four years ago today that Radio City Music Hall opened
its doors to the general public. And in
those eighty-four years, some of the finest entertainment has passed through
those doors and have appeared on stage.
Having been declared a landmark by the city of New York in 1978, Radio
City Music Hall is considered one of the most visited tourist destinations in
all of New York.
When
Radio City Music Hall was first developed, its original name was going to be
the International Music Hall. The name
was changed to Radio City Music Hall because one of the building's first
tenants was the Radio Corporation of America.
The building was a project orchestrated by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., RCA
chairman David Sarnoff, and Samuel Roxy Rothafel - who had opened up the
successful Roxy Theatre two years prior and remained until its closure in the
early 1960s.
Radio
City Music Hall opened with huge fanfare on December 17, 1932, and the first
performers were Doc Rockwell, Martha Graham, and Ray Bolger (whom you might
remember played the Scarecrow in "The Wizard of Oz"). And when the venue opened up, its original
intent was to put the spotlight on high-class variety entertainment.
Unfortunately,
that intent was not executed very well, and not many audiences were too
receptive of it. I wonder if the fact
that at the time it opened that America was smack dab in the middle of the
Great Depression had anything to do with it?
Whatever the case, something had to be done or else the music hall would
close its doors just as fast as they had opened.
The
decision was made to move the stage show to Roxy Theatre, and put the attention
towards showing motion pictures instead.
The format was changed in early 1933, and it became a huge success over
the next four decades. The very first
film screened at Radio City Music Hall was "The Bitter Tea of General
Yen", and it soon became the premiere source for screening films from the
RKO-Radio Studio. This format would
continue until the 1970s, when the venue found it difficult to secure exclusive
bookings for film screenings due to changes in how films were distributed.
In
fact, it was right around that time that Radio City Music Hall was experiencing
financial difficulties and it was announced in 1978 that it would close up for
good. You can imagine that announcement
didn't sit well with a large number of New Yorkers, and shortly after that
announcement was made, the protests started to grow. John Belushi, Johnny Carson, Rosemary Novellino (who at that time
was the dance captain of the venue's ballet company), Lt. Gov. Mary Anne
Krupsak, Tom Snyder, and thousands of others lobbied the Rockefeller
establishment to save Radio City Music Hall, dubbing it "The Showplace of
the Nation".
The
protests lasted a couple of months, but the persistence paid off. The building was declared a historical
landmark, was renovated in 1979, and reopened to the public in 1980 where it
has stayed ever since.
Of
course, with some notable exceptions, Radio City Music Hall no longer shows
motion pictures. It's more or less a
concert and performance hall these days.
And the venue has hosted several awards shows such as the MTV Video
Music Awards, the Daytime Emmy Awards, the Grammy Awards, and the Tony Awards.
How's that for a history lesson to end off the year?
No comments:
Post a Comment