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20 Years Ago
Smackdown
President George H.W. Bush orders U.S. troops to Panama, where military strongman Manuel Noriega, having nullified election results in order to have himself declared the country's leader, announced a state of war with the United States. Spurred by violence against three American servicemen, the invasion begins December 20, 1989; some 20,000 U.S. troops battle to secure the capital. Noriega surrenders January 3, and, convicted of drug trafficking, is sent to U.S. prison. He remains in custody in 2009, fighting extradition.
50 Years Ago
Nice Ice
The United States and 11 other nations agree, on December 1, 1959, to keep Antarctica a peaceful place of scientific research. The Antarctic Treaty, signed in Washington, D.C., bans nuclear testing and the dumping of radioactive waste, freezes territorial claims and fosters scientific cooperation. Today 47 countries have signed on, and scientists at over 100 research stations pursue subjects—in addition to the hole in the ozone layer, first reported in 1985—from the continent's biodiversity and geology to climate evolution.
70 Years Ago
Gone Hollywood
The long-awaited film version of Margaret Mitchell's Civil War saga Gone With the Wind (1936) premières in Atlanta December 15, 1939. Some 2,000 people, including four Confederate veterans—but not black actress Hattie McDaniel, barred for her race—enter the theater's faux plantation facade to see the four-hour epic , which will win eight Oscars.
70 Years Ago
The Nose Knows
Montgomery Ward copywriter Robert L. May introduces a reindeer with an unusual talent to American children when the store hands out more than two million copies of his story verse Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in December 1939. Eight years later, Montgomery Ward gives May the rights to the tale of Rudolph's foggy flight; the reindeer soars to the top of the music charts in 1949 after Gene Autry records a song about him written by May's brother-in law, Johnny Marks. An animated television special, aired annually since 1964, ensures that Rudolph will "go down in his-tor-ee."
140 Years Ago
Go West, Young Woman
The women of the recently organized Wyoming Territory are the first American females since 1807 to gain the right to vote, when Gov. John Campbell signs their enfranchisement into law December 10, 1869. Some speculate it's a ploy to attract potential wives to the state, where men outnumber women six to one, or to keep white voters in the majority. When in 1890 Wyoming applies for statehood, it successfully insists—despite Congressional pressure—that votes for women be included in its new constitution.
Comments
Regarding "The Nose Knows":
The full story of Rudolph, that reindeer with the red nose that saved Christmas one foggy Christmas Eve goes as follows: Hecky Krasnow, Director of Children's Records at Columbia (1949-1956) was three days into his new job as the artist and repertoire producer hired to build up the children's catalog for Columbia. A song came upon his desk that, for two years, had been rejected by every major record company. Hecky saw the light, so to speak. Against the admonitions and wishes of VP Goddard Lieberson, and with a reluctant Gene Autry recording the song, Hecky managed to produce the first record in history to go Platinum -- "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer." Without his gut instinct that people would like this simple ditty about a rejected misfit who gains recognition for a job well done, "Rudolph" would never have been recorded. Hecky had to follow up on this song -- the first also to cross over from children's to pop. He did so with the likes of "Here Comes Peter Cottontail," (the second song in media history to go Platinum), "Frosty The Snowman," and a host of other songs still heard and sung today. The story of "Rudolph" (celebrating its 60th birthday this year) and all the other still popular songs, plus anecdotes about the celebrities who clamored to record for Hecky after Autry's big hit, all set to the backdrop of an era filled with McCarthyism and the advent of television and rock 'n' roll, can be found in the memoir by his daughter Judy Gail Krasnow entitled "Rudolph, Frosty, And Captain Kangaroo." (Yes, Hecky also was The Captain's record producer and wrote the bulk of that program's early musical material.)
Posted by Judy Gail Krasnow on December 10,2009 | 12:22 PM
In reference to "This Month In History: The Nose Knows," Dec. 2009 Smithsonian
Neither my sister, age 80 years, or I, now 84 years old, can remember our ages at which our mother came home from a Christmas shopping trip with a free Christmas book, "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer", from Montgomery Ward store. Both of us think we were younger in age than we would have been if our book, "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" were first printed in 1938. The front and back pages of the book are missing (It may not ever had these.) so we cannot refer to these for needed information. We are wondering if any readers can give us information on the original story. We understand about the modern version of the book being a rewrite. Our book seems to be a forerunner of the present version since the story is some different and we think it originated before 1938.
Posted by Mary Frances Smith on February 8,2010 | 08:35 AM