Day Tripping: February 10

Prize winners and famous firsts

Welcome to my daily feature where each day on the calendar marks a part of our shared history.

A Genre Defined

The world premiere of Stagecoach, directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne in his first feature role launched an era of pure American cinema, the Western. The filmmaker and his star went on to make some of Hollywood’s most iconic movies together.

In 1939, the Stagecoach story wasn’t only the Western’s first commercial success in talking pictures, it became a template for all in that genre to emulate. John Ford was famous for writing his films as he made them, but as stated in my earlier review of the film, I believe it is the geometry of this narrative and the tensions created therein that make the movie a true classic.

Racial stereotypes were rampant in those days of American filmmaking, but the role of women took at least a small step forward.

Hal’s Gambit

Forgiving the reference to the recent Netflix drama and 2001, A Space Odyssey’s interactive computer, on this day in 1996, Russian chess champion Garry Kasparov, became embroiled in a battle of wits with an IBM computer named Deep Blue. The world champion chess master defeated the machine in the first round of six matches, 4 to 2.

The following year Deep Blue exacted its chippy revenge on Kasparov, becoming the first computer ever to defeat human chess champion. Tournament rules were abided by in both matches. This seemingly innocent publicity event became a harbinger for the future evolution of Artificial Intelligence.

An Inventive Day

Strange that on this particular day in the calendar, there were several notable firsts like the issuing of a patent for the fire extinguisher in 1863, the first use of electric light in a California theatre in 1879, and a patent issued to chemist James Franklin Hyde for his invention of fused silica in 1942.

Now, I don’t pretend to fully understand what fused silica actually is, but I do know that as the basis for silicone, it has more meaning today in many of the products we use daily.

Worth noting also, this also the day in 1961 when Niagara Falls began producing hydroelectric power, and the first singing telegram was delivered in 1933. How’s that for a day of invention?

Musical Milestones

1968 — You gotta love this marketing campaign initiated by the fledgling magazine Rolling Stone. In their fifth issue, the publication promised to send every new subscriber a free roach clip. If you don’t know what that is, you didn’t grow up in the sixties and seventies. Of course, to avoid prosecution Rolling Stone called it a ‘handy little device’.

1971 — Carole King releases her landmark album, Tapestry. The songwriter already had a list of hit songs for other people including The Loco-Motion and Aretha Franklin’s You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman, but this second record performing her own work made, transformed Carole King into a superstar.

Narratives

Don’t mess with writers or their wives for that matter. In 1837, Russian author Alexandr Pushkin, fought a duel to defend his wife’s honour against a French soldier. Pushkin was mortally wounded and died from his injury two days later.

Remembrance

A personal favourite, Irish painter Francis Danby in 1867.

The acclaimed author of Roots and Malcolm X, Alex Haley passed away in 1992, and award-winning playwright Arthur Miller who wrote Death Of A Salesman, in 2005.

Notable Births

Boris Pasternak — Nobel prize winner and author of Doctor Zhivago was born in Moscow in 1890.

Roberta Flack — beloved soul singer of hits The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and Killing Me Softly With His Song in 1937.

Thanks for taking the time to read this article dedicated to the days of our history. I hope to see you tomorrow for another instalment.

Katie Wallace Maria Rattray Joseph M. Learned Maryam Merchant Dr Mehmet Yildiz Tree Langdon Myriam Ben Salem Phil Truman Chelsea Handler Terry Mansfield