Today's Puzzle
Prove that a dollar is better than heaven
a dollar is better than nothing;
therefore a dollar is better than heaven.
What Happened On
Calvin and Hobbes
November 18, 1985
Bill Watterson's comic strip is first published. It follows the antics of six-year-old Calvin and his stuffed tiger Hobbes.
A Christmas Story
November 18, 1983
The movie A Christmas Story premieres. Ralphie gets a Red Ryder air rifle and "The Old Man" wins a major award in this collection of semi-fictional anecdotes based on Jean Shepherd's 1966 book In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash.
Photo Credit: Jonestown Institute
Photo Credit: Jonestown Institute
Jonestown Massacre
November 18, 1978
More than 900 followers, including 304 minors, of Rev. Jim Jones commit suicide, in Guyana, at the request of their leader. Jones had ordered them to kill themselves by drinking cyanide-laced grape drink. Just hours before, Jones had ordered the killing of U.S. Representative Leo Ryan of California, three journalists, and a temple defector. Ryan was there to investigate reports of abuse within the cult.
Beatles' First Appearance On U.S. TV
November 18, 1963
A report about the Beatles and Beatlemania in England is aired on the U.S. television show The Huntley-Brinkley Report, with the commentary, "One reason for the Beatles' popularity may be that it's almost impossible to hear them."
The video for this report has been lost, but an audio recording still exists.
They would make a taped video appearance on The Jack Paar Program the following January and their famed first live appearance on U.S. TV on The Ed Sullivan Show in February.
First Black to Win a Major-League MVP Award
November 18, 1949
Jackie Robinson of the National League's Brooklyn Dodgers wins the MVP making him the first black to do so.
First U.S. TV Sitcom
November 18, 1947
Mary Kay and Johnny debuts on DuMont Television Network, starring real-life married couple Mary Kay and Johnny Stearns. The show was also the first program to show a couple sharing a bed, and the first TV series to show a woman's pregnancy. The episodes were written by the Stearnses and televised live. Most of the action took place in their apartment and centered around a bank employee and his zany wife.
Originally on DuMont, the show moved briefly to CBS and then to NBC. In 1948, the live episodes were recorded on kinescopes to be shown delayed on the West Coast. However in 1975, DuMont's successor Metromedia dumped the remaining DuMont archives into the East River. It is unknown what happened to the NBC episodes, but in the 1970s, NBC destroyed many of their older recordings. There is only one full episode known to still exist.
The first TV sitcom was Pinwright's Progress is a British show that aired on the BBC Television Service from 1946 to 1947.
Mickey Mouse in Steamboat Willie
November 18, 1928
Steamboat Willie, Disney's first cartoon with synchronized sound, is released. Mickey's voice was provided by none other than Walt Disney himself. The Disney company celebrates Mickey's birthday on this day. Mickey had first appeared in the silent version of Plane Crazy six months earlier.
Catholicism
November 18, 1966
This is the last Friday, except during lent, that U.S. Roman Catholics were required to abstain from eating meat.
First ship to transit the canal, the SS Ancon (1914)
First ship to transit the canal, the SS Ancon (1914)
Panama Canal
November 18, 1903
The Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty is signed. It established the Panama Canal Zone and construction of the Panama Canal, allowing the U.S. to maintain exclusive rights to the Panama Canal. The Panama Canal would officially open in 1914.
U.S. and Canada are Divided into Standard Time Zones
November 18, 1883
This was replaced the following year by a World wide system having the prime meridian passing through British Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England.
Birthdays
First Person to Appear on Network Television Via Videotape
Dorothy Collins (Marjorie Chandler)
Born November 18, 1926 d. 1994
Canadian-born actress. She was the first person to appear on network television via videotape. In 1956, a two and a half minute video-taped segment of her performing aired during the live broadcast of The Jonathan Winter's Show. The videotape recorder was new and NBC engineers wanted to see if the viewing public could tell the difference between a videotape and the live portion of the show. They played the segment as if it were part of the live show, and it passed the test.
TV: Your Hit Parade (1951-59, co-host and the Lucky Strikes Lady) and Candid Camera (1960-62, self).
Alan Shepard (Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr.)
Born November 18, 1923 d. 1998
American astronaut. He was one of the seven original Project Mercury astronauts, the first American in space (1961), the 5th man to walk on the Moon (1971), and the first to play golf on the Moon (1971).
Inventor of the Frosted Light Bulb
Marvin Pipkin
Born November 18, 1889 d. 1977
American chemist. Inventor of the light bulb frosted on the inside (1925). As a practical joke, new employees at General Electric's National Electric Lamp were assigned the task of making a practical light bulb frosted on the inside, as it was believed impossible to do. Until new employee Marvin Pipkin was assigned this task - He didn't know it couldn't be done, so he did it.
First Prime Minister of Poland
Ignacy Paderewski
Born November 18, 1860 d. 1941
Polish pianist, composer, statesman. He was the first prime minister (1919-20) of the newly independent Poland, although he resigned after ten months to resume his concert career.
Earliest Photo of a Living Person (1838)
Earliest Photo of a Living Person (1838)
Inventor of the Daguerreotype Photograph
Louis Daguerre (Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre)
Born November 18, 1787 d. 1851
French photographer. Inventor of the Daguerreotype photographic process (1839).
This photo made in 1838 by Daguerre is believed to be the earliest photograph of a living person. It is a view of a busy street, but because the exposure lasted for several minutes, moving objects left no trace. Only the two men near the bottom left, one apparently having his boots polished by the other, stayed in one place long enough to be visible.
Jameson Parker
Born November 18, 1947
American actor. TV: Somerset (Dale Robinson), One Life to Live (the first Brad Vernon), and Simon & Simon (A.J. Simon).
Susan Sullivan
Born November 18, 1942
American actress. TV: Another World (1971-76, Lenore Curtin Delaney), Falcon Crest (1981-89, Maggie Gioberti), and Dharma & Greg (1997-2002, Kitty Montgomery).
Linda Evans
Born November 18, 1942
American actress. TV: The Big Valley (Audra Barkley) and Dynasty (Krystle Carrington).
Brenda Vaccaro
Born November 18, 1939
American Emmy-winning actress. Film: Jacqueline Susann's Once Is Not Enough (1975).
Imogene Coca (Imogene Fernandez de Coca)
Born November 18, 1908 d. 2001
American actress, comedienne.
Inventor of the Gallup Poll
George Gallup (George Horace Gallup)
Born November 18, 1901 d. 1984
American pollster. Inventor of the Gallup Poll (1935), which legitimized the use of polls to predict elections.
Deaths
Photo Credit: Jonestown Institute
Photo Credit: Jonestown Institute
Jim Jones
Died November 18, 1978 b. 1931
American cult leader. When practices at his Guyana commune were about to be exposed (1978), he ordered the killing of California Rep. Leo Ryan, and then ordered his 900 followers to commit suicide by drinking cyanide-laced grape drink in what became known as the Jonestown Massacre.
33rd U.S. Vice-President
Henry Agard Wallace
Died November 18, 1965 b. 1888
American politician. 33rd U.S. Vice-President (1941-45), Secretary of Agriculture (1933-1940), and Secretary of Commerce (1945-1946). In 1926, he founded the Hi-Bred Corn Company, which made him a wealthy man. The company later became Pioneer Hi-Bred, and was acquired in 1999 by the DuPont Corporation for approximately $10 billion.
Chester A. Arthur (Chester Alan Arthur)
Died November 18, 1886 b. 1829
American politician. 21st U.S. President (1881-85) and 20th U.S. Vice-President (1881). He became President after the assassination of President James A. Garfield.
James Coburn
Died November 18, 2002 b. 1928
American actor. Film: The Magnificent Seven (1960) and Our Man Flint (1966).
Cab Calloway (Cabell Calloway III)
Died November 18, 1994 b. 1907
American singer, bandleader, actor. His orchestra was one of the leading bands of the 1930s and '40s. Music: Minnie the Moocher (the first million-selling jazz record).
Leo J. Ryan
Died November 18, 1978 b. 1925
American politician, San Francisco mayor (1972) and California Representative (1972-78). He was killed by Jim Jones' followers in the Jonestown Massacre.
Ted Heath
Died November 18, 1969 b. 1902
British band leader. He was one of the U.K.'s most famous post-war big band leaders, selling over 20 million records.
Niels Bohr
Died November 18, 1962 b. 1885
Danish Nobel-winning physicist. "The father of atomic energy," he developed the quantum theory of atomic structure (1913).
Jimmy Walker
Died November 18, 1946 b. 1881
American politician, New York Mayor (1925-32), nicknamed Beau James. He hosted the first regularly-scheduled daily TV broadcasts (1931). He resigned as mayor after corruption in his administration was exposed.
Harriet Maxwell Converse
Died November 18, 1903 b. 1836
American folklorist, historian of the Iroquois. She was the first white woman Indian chief. She became an honorary chief of the Six Nations Tribe in 1892, due to her advocacy for the rights of the Seneca and Iroquois tribes in New York state, helping them retain their lands and preserve their culture. Writings: Myths and Legends of the New York State Iroquois (1908, published posthumously).