Day Tripping: October 14

America’s Sweetheart

In 1893, Lillian Gish was born in Springfield, Ohio. When her father died, the young Lillian traveled to Oklahoma to live with an aunt and uncle. The family later moved to New York where Lillian and her younger sister Dorothy were befriended by a neighbor named Gladys Smith.

Gladys’ stage name was Mary Pickford, and she introduced the sisters to producers at Biograph Studios.

“A happy life is one spent in learning, earning, and yearning.”

By the time she was nineteen years old, Lillian Gish was a favorite star in silent cinema. Yet she told the directors she was only 16, and soon she was The First Lady of American Cinema.

Gish lived to the age of 99, maintaining close friendships with Mary Pickford and Helen Hayes.

Today is:

Dessert Day — Enough said!

Musical Ride

The Country music old guard had a meltdown when Australian ‘outsider’ Olivia Newton-John won Female Vocalist of the year 1974 at the Country Music Awards. Led by George Jones and Tammy Wynette, 50 musicians left the Country Music Association to “preserve the identity of country music as a separate and distinct form of entertainment.”

Olivia won again the next year and the new group of artists disbanded. Newton-John then recorded in Nashville two years later, welcomed as a member musician.

Interesting Notes

In 1947, Chuck Yeager piloted a Bell X-1 aircraft fast enough to create the sonic boom that signaled the breaking of the sound barrier.

Gone But Not Forgotten

The first American conductor to earn worldwide acclaim, Leonard Bernstein was also one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century. Among other works, Bernstein wrote the score for the Broadway smash hit, West Side Story. Bernstein passed away in 1990 at age 72.

Notable Births

1927 — Roger Moore said, “It’s easy to sit in relative luxury and peace and pontificate on the subject of the Third World debts.”

1978 — Usher said, “Success is all about having the confidence to shoot for something even if it seems impossible.”

K. Barrett Maria Rattray Maryam Merchant Dr. Mehmet Yildiz Tree Langdon Myriam Ben Salem Phil Truman Chelsea Mandler MAT Terry Mansfield Hollie Petit, Ph.D. Terry Trueman Dr. Preeti Singh John Gruber Bill Abbate James G Brennan ScienceDuuude Marcus Liam Ireland Claire Kelly Noorain Hassan, BMS Amy Pierovich David Acaster Nora Thewriteyard David Perlmutter Joe Luca Holly Kellums Michael Burg, MD Lucy Dan Dave Logan

All previous Day Tripping entries are available at the following links:

The Story Of Day Tripping Through History What’s Past Is Often Present

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