Today's Puzzle
Why is the letter "F" like death?
What Happened On
Patty Hearst (right) robbing bank
Patty Hearst (right) robbing bank
Stockholm Syndrome
August 23, 1973
Stockholm syndrome is when hostages bond with their captors. It takes its name from a hostage crisis that began on August 23, 1973, in which Jan-Erik "Janne" Olsson, while on parole, made a failed attempt to rob a bank in Stockholm, Sweden. Instead, he ended up taking four people hostage. Olsson then demanded his friend Clark Olofsson be released from prison and brought there. Olsson and Clark held the hostages in the bank vault for six days, often threatening to kill them. When the hostages were finally released, none of them would testify against their captors and even began raising money for their defense.
The following year, Patty Hearst was taken hostage and joined her captors in robbing banks. She would claim Stockholm Syndrome as her defense.
Indian Head Test Pattern
August 23, 1938
The artwork for the famous "Indian Head" test pattern is completed by RCA. Originally used to adjust television broadcast systems, it has since become a cultural icon.
The various elements of the test pattern are used by technicians to adjust aspects of the television set, such as brightness, contrast, resolution, size, etc.
The Human Fish
August 23, 1937
The legless swimmer, known as "The Human Fish," starts a six-day 150-mile (241 km) swim. He would swim from a pier in Albany, NY to the 125th Street Ferry dock in New York City. Forty-six-year-old Charles Zimmy lost his legs at age nine in an accident and his legless body provided enough buoyancy to float while sleeping.
Court-Martial of 64 soldiers
Court-Martial of 64 soldiers
Houston Black Soldier Riot
August 23, 1917
156 black soldiers of the Third Battalion of the all-black 24th United States Infantry Regiment riot, resulting in the deaths of four soldiers and 16 civilians. A total of nineteen would be executed and 41 were given life sentences. The riots began after police beatings of two black soldiers. The soldiers then armed themselves with munitions from Camp Logan and began a march on Houston. One of the officers involved in the beatings was killed in the riots.
Little Mermaid Statue and Ellen Price as the Little Mermaid, Royal Danish Ballet, 1909
Photo Credit: Avda-berlin
Little Mermaid Statue and Ellen Price as the Little Mermaid, Royal Danish Ballet, 1909Photo Credit: Avda-berlin
Little Mermaid Statue
August 23, 1913
The Little Mermaid statue in the harbor of Denmark, Copenhagen is dedicated. This tribute to the 1834 story by Hans Christian Andersen is visited by 500,000 tourists annually.
The statue was commissioned in 1909 by the son of the founder of Carlsberg, who had been fascinated by ballerina Ellen Price's portrayal of the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen's Royal Theatre and asked her to model for the statue. Price's head was used for the statue, but the body was modeled for by the sculptor's wife as Price refused to pose in the nude.
The statue has been vandalized numerous times, including having its head and arm sawed off, paint poured on it, political slogans drawn on it, and it is often dressed up in various outfits.
Photo Credit: André Karwath aka Aka
Photo Credit: André Karwath aka Aka
Slavery Abolition Act
August 23, 1833
The act is passed abolishing slavery in the British colonies. It went into effect August 1, 1834. However, the Act did not extend to the territories in the possession of the East India Company, or to the Island of Ceylon, or to the Island of Saint Helena. It also only freed slaves below the age of six. Older slaves had to continue to work as "apprentices." The apprenticeships were finally ended in 1838.
The U.S. State of Franklin
August 23, 1784
East Tennessee declares itself an independent state, choosing the name Franklin in honor of Benjamin Franklin. Its legitimacy was denied by the U.S. Congress and it ceased to exist in 1788.
Reaganomics
August 23, 1984
U.S. President Ronald Reagan on Liberals: "You know, we could say they spend money like drunken sailors, but that would be unfair to drunken sailors." However, Reagan's economic policies raised the national debt from approximately $900 billion to over $2 trillion. His administration transformed the United States from the world's leading creditor (as late as 1983) to the number-one debtor by 1986.
First Successful Man-Powered Flight
August 23, 1977
Bryan Allen flies Paul MacCready's Gossamer Condor three miles.
German bomber flying over London and London tube station being used as an air raid shelter
German bomber flying over London and London tube station being used as an air raid shelter
World War II
August 23, 1940
German bombers begin flying night raids on London.
First Hotel Passenger Elevator
August 23, 1859
Installation is completed in the Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York.
Birthdays
Photo Credit: Jean-Luc
Photo Credit: Jean-Luc
Keith Moon
Born August 23, 1946 d. 1978
British drummer, with The Who. He was a pioneer in rock and roll drummers in that he changed the drums from a background instrument into a lead instrument. He died of a drug overdose at the age of 32. Music: My Generation (1965) and Pinball Wizard (1969).
Dating Game Killer
Rodney Alcala
Born August 23, 1943 d. 2021
American serial killer. Alcala was featured as one of the bachelors on a 1978 episode of The Dating Game. The bachelorette chose Alcala as the winner, winning a prize-filled date with him, but she later refused to go on the date because she thought he was creepy.
Alcala killed at least three women after his Dating Game appearance before he was arrested in July of 1979.
Prior to his Dating Game appearance, Alcala had served two different jail terms for sexually assaulting young girls.
In 2012, he pleaded guilty to the 1977 murder of Ellen Jane Hover, the 23-year-old goddaughter of Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr.
He was sentenced to death in California for five murders committed between 1977 and 1979, and received an additional 25 years to life after pleading guilty to two other homicides committed in New York State in 1971 and 1977. Although the exact number is not known, he is believed to have killed up to 130 people.
Alcala posed as a professional photographer and compiled a collection of more than 1,000 photographs of women, teenage girls and boys, many in sexually explicit poses, some of whom became his victims.
Gene Kelly
Born August 23, 1912 d. 1996
American Emmy-winning actor, dancer. Film: Singin' in the Rain (1952, with his famous dance scene).
Oliver Hazard Perry
Born August 23, 1785 d. 1819
American naval hero. Famous for the quote: "We have met the enemy, and they are ours" (1813).
Photo Credit: Keith Allison
Photo Credit: Keith Allison
Kobe Bryant (Kobe Bean Bryant)
Born August 23, 1978 d. 2020
American Oscar-winning basketball player. He entered the NBA directly from high school, playing his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers (1996-2016), winning five NBA championships and NBA's Most Valuable Player in 2008. He is regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time. He also won gold medals as a member of the U.S. Olympic basketball team at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics. In 2018, Bryant won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for his film Dear Basketball.
Bryant died in a crash of his personal helicopter outside of Calabasas, California, at the age of 41. Eight others also died in the crash, including Bryant's 13-year-old daughter.
River Phoenix
Born August 23, 1970 d. 1993
American actor. Film: Stand By Me (1986), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), and My Own Private Idaho (1991). Phoenix died of an overdose of heroin and cocaine while waiting to perform with his close friend Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers onstage at The Viper Room, a Hollywood nightclub partly owned at the time by actor Johnny Depp.
Shelly Long
Born August 23, 1949
American Emmy-winning actress. TV: Cheers (1982-87, 1993, Diane Chambers). Film: Night Shift (1982), Irreconcilable Differences (1984), The Money Pit (1986), Outrageous Fortune (1987), and The Brady Bunch Movie (1995).
Rick Springfield
Born August 23, 1949
Australian singer, actor. Music: Jessie's Girl (1981, #1). TV: General Hospital (Dr. Noah Drake).
Richard Sanders
Born August 23, 1940
American actor. TV: WKRP in Cincinnati (Less Nessman).
Mark Russell (Joseph Marcus Ruslander)
Born August 23, 1932 d. 2023
American political satirist, piano player. Quote: "You've got the brain-washed, that's the Republicans, and the brain-dead, that's the Democrats!"
Barbara Eden (Barbara Jean Morehead)
Born August 23, 1931
American actress. TV: I Dream of Jeannie (1965-70, Jeannie) and Dallas (1990-91, Lee Ann De La Vega).
Vera Miles (Vera Ralston)
Born August 23, 1929
American actress, Miss Kansas (1948). Film: The Searchers (1956), Psycho (1960, shower scene victim's sister), and The Wrong Man (1957).
Jean Darling (Dorothy Jean LeVake)
Born August 23, 1922 d. 2015
American actress, one of the Little Rascals. She appeared in 35 Our Gang films. Film: Bride of Frankenstein (1935, a mermaid), Babes in Toyland (1934, Curly Locks).
Tex Williams (Sol Williams)
Born August 23, 1917 d. 1985
American country singer. Music: Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette) (1947, #1), which was Capitol Records' first million-seller.
Ernie Bushmiller (Ernest Paul Bushmiller)
Born August 23, 1905 d. 1982
American cartoonist. Creator of Nancy and her friend Sluggo. The character of Nancy first appeared in 1933 in the strip Fritzi Ritz as the title character's niece. Originally intended as an incidental character, she soon became the focus of the strip and the strip was renamed Nancy in 1938.
Louis XVI
Born August 23, 1754 d. 1793
King of France (1774-92). He is responsible for square handkerchiefs; as a favor to Marie Antoinette he decreed that all handkerchiefs must have this shape. He was beheaded by French revolutionaries.
Deaths
Rudolph Valentino (Rudolfo Guglielmi)
Died August 23, 1926 b. 1895
Italian actor. Rudolph Valentino was a sex symbol of the 1920s during the silent film era and was known in Hollywood as the "Latin Lover".
He was arrested for blackmail in 1916 and again for marrying his second wife before his divorce became final. Film: The Sheik (1921), The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), and Blood and Sand (1922).
He died at the age of 31 after developing peritonitis and pleuritis after surgery for gastric ulcers and suspected appendicitis. His young death caused mass hysteria by his fans.
Oliver Hazard Perry
Died August 23, 1819 b. 1785
American naval hero. Famous for the quote: "We have met the enemy, and they are ours" (1813).
Maynard Ferguson
Died August 23, 2006 b. 1928
Canadian jazz musician. Music: Conquistador (1977), which had the song Gonna Fly Now (from the movie Rocky).
Alfred Bloomingdale
Died August 23, 1982 b. 1916
American businessman. He is considered the "father of the credit card." He launched the "Dine and Sign" credit card (1950), which later merged with Diner's Club. He was an heir to the Bloomingdale's department store fortune.
Hoot Gibson (Edmund Richard Gibson)
Died August 23, 1962 b. 1892
American silent-western actor, performing in some 200 silent films and 75 talkies from 1912-59. He also won the title of World's All-Around Champion Cowboy (1912).
Oscar Hammerstein II
Died August 23, 1960 b. 1895
American lyricist,. Teamed with Richard Rodgers to form Rodgers and Hammerstein. Music: Oklahoma! (1943), Carousel (1945), South Pacific (1949, 1950 Pulitzer Prize for drama).
Philip Henry Gosse
Died August 23, 1888 b. 1810
English naturalist. He coined the word "Aquarium."
Charles Augustin Coulomb
Died August 23, 1806 b. 1736
French physicist, and for whom the coulomb (a measure of electrical charge) is named.