Happy Birthday RIP John Fitzgerald Kennedy(1917–1963) Leslie “Bob” Hope(1903–2003) George Clifton James(1920–2017) ; Anthony Geary–77 Daniel “Danny” Elfman–71 LaToya Jackson–68 Frank “Ted” Levine–67 Annette Bening-Beaty–66 Rupert Everett–65 Adrian Paul Hewett–65 Melissa Etheridge–63 Lisa Whelchel–61 Laverne Cox–52 David Burtka–49 Daniel Tosh–49 ; 1942 – Bing Crosby, the Ken Darby Singers and the John Scott Trotter Orchestra record Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas”, the best-selling Christmas single in history

Happy Birthday RIP Ian Fleming(1908–1964) Zelda Rubinstein(1933–2010) Elizabeth Howland(1941–2015) ; Gladys Knight–80 John Fogerty–79 Brandon Cruz(Williams)–62 Kylie Minogue–56 Justin Kirk–55 Mark Jake Johnson Weinberger–46 Jesse Bradford Watrouse–45 Carey Mulligan–39 Joseph Cross–38 ; 1892 – In San Francisco, California, John Muir organizes the Sierra Club ; 1936 – Alan Turing submits “On Computable Numbers” for publication

Happy Birthday RIP Hubert Humphrey Jr(1911–1978) Vincent Price Jr(1911–1993) Christopher Lee(1922–2015) Heinz “Henry” Kissinger (1923–2023) Louis Gossett Jr(1936–2014) ; Lee Meriwether–89 Bruce Weitz–81 “Siouxsie Sioux”(Susan Ballion)–67 Peri Gilpin(Oldham)–63 Adam Carolla–60 Todd Bridges–59 Edward McClintock–57 Joseph Fiennes–54 Paul Bettany–53 Christopher Colfer–34 ; 1896 – The F4-strength St. Louis-East St. Louis Tornado hits in St. Louis, Missouri and East Saint Louis, Illinois, killing at least 255 people and causing $2.9 billion in damage ; 1927 – The Ford Motor Company ceases manufacture of the Ford Model T and begins to retool plants to make the Ford Model A

Happy Birthday RIP “John Wayne”(Marion Morrison 1907–1979) Peter Cushing(1913–1994) “Jay Silverheels”(Harold Smith 1912–1980) “Peggy Lee”(Norma Egstrom 1920–2002) James Aurness(1923–2011) ; Brent Musburger–85 Stephanie “Stevie” Nicks–76 Philip Michael Thomas–75 Pamela Grier–75 Randall Hank Williams Jr–75 Eugenie “Genie” Francis–62 Robert “Bobcat” Goldthwait–62 Leonard “Lenny” Kravitz–60 Helena Bonham Carter–58 Matthew Stone–53 Lauryn Hill–49 ; 1896 – Charles Dow publishes the first edition of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The average price of the 11 initial stocks was $40.94. Today it closed at 32,120!

Happy Birthday RIP Belle Miriam Silverman(“Beverly Sills” 1929–2007) Claude Akins(1926–1994) Dixie Carter(1939–2010) Anne Heche(1969–2022) ; Ian McKellen–85 Leslie Uggams–81 Frank Oznowicz(“Oz”)–80 Karen Valentine–77 Concetta Sellecchia(“Connie Sellecca”)–69 Michael Myers–61 James “Jamie” Kennedy–54 Octavia Spencer–54 Cillian Murphy–48 ; 1953 – The first public television station(Public Broadcast) in the United States officially begins broadcasting as KUHT from the campus of the University of Houston ; 1968 – The Gateway Arch in St. Louis was dedicated http://bit.ly/2qXvmu6 ; 2020 –George Floyd is murdered by asphyxiation in police custody by Derek Chauvin with a knee on his neck for over 9 minutes. Chauvin was fired and charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder andsecond-degree manslaughter. He was sentenced to 22 years in prisonThe other three police officers are also in jail for being accessory to murder.

Happy Birthday RIP Queen Victoria(Alexandrina Hanover 1819–1901) ; “Bob Dylan”(Robert Zimmerman)–83 Gary Burghoff–81 Patricia “Patti” LaBelle (Holte-Edwards)–80 Priscilla Presley–Wagner–79 James “Jim” Broadbent–75 Alfred Molina–71 Kristin Scott Thomas–64 John C. Reilly–59 Eric Close–57 ; 1844 –Sam Morse sends the words, “What hath God wrought,” from the Supreme Court chamber in the basement of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., to the B&O’s Mount Clare Station in Baltimore in first test of Morse code.Annie Ellsworth chose these words from the Bible(Numbers 23:23). The telegraph machine could transmit thirty characters per minute ; 1883 –the Brooklyn Bridge, linking Brooklyn and Manhattan, is opened to traffic after 14 years of construction

Happy Birthday RIP Douglas Fairbanks(Ullman 1883–1939) Benjamin “Scatman” Crothers(1910–1986) Rose Mary Clooney(1928–2002) Elizabeth “Betty” Garrett (1919–2011) Charles Kimbrough(1936–2023); Dame Joan Collins–91 Lea DeLaria–66 Andrew “Drew” Carey–66 Jewel Kilcher–50 Kelly Monaco–48 ; 1934 – notorious bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were shot to death in a police ambush as they were driving a stolen Ford Deluxe along a road in Bienville Parish, Louisiana ; 1995 – The first version of the Java programming language is released (precompiled computer code for majority of electronics devices including Android and Apple phones and many others like smart TVs and tablets)

Happy Birthday RIP Laurence Olivier(1907–1989) Harvey Milk(1930–1978) Bernard Shaw(1940–2022) ; Frank Converse–86 Barbara Parkins–82 Bernard “Bernie” Taupin–74 Steven Morrissey–65 Brooke Smith–57 Naomi Campbell–54 ; 1973 – U.S. President Richard Nixon confesses his role in Watergate cover-up ; 1980 – Namco releases the highly influential arcade game Pac-Man

Happy Birthday RIP Raymond Burr(1917–1993) Jeffrey Dahmer(1960 – 1994) Mary “Peggy” Cass(1924–1999) Alice Drummond(1928–2016) Richard Hatch(1945–2017) ; Jonathan Hyde–76 Gerard “Leo” Sayer–76 Alan Franken–73 Lawrence Tureaud(“Mr. T”)–72 Edward “Judge” Reinhold Jr–67 Kevin Quinn–27 ; 1881 – Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross ; 1934 – Oskaloosa, Iowa, becomes the first municipality in the United States to fingerprint all of its citizens ; 1981 – Transamerica Corp agrees to sell United Artists to MGM for $380 million after the box office failure of 1980 film “Heaven’s Gate” considered one of the worst films ever made. In contrast the 1978 film ”Deer Hunter” by the same director was one of the highest acclaimed pictures and Meryl Streep was first academy nomination for best actress.

Happy Birthday RIP George Gobel(1919–1991) James “Jimmy” Stewart(1908–1997) John “Joe” Cocker(1944–2014) ; Cherilyn “Cher” Sarkisian–78 Jane Wiedlin–66 Matt McCoy–66 Bronson Pinchot–65 Anthony Goldwyn–64 Owen Teale–63 Melinda “Mindy” Cohn–58 Timothy Olyphant–56 Jack Gleeson–32 ; 1873 – Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a U.S. patent for pants called blue jeans with copper rivets.