This Day in History: Friday, October 22, 2021

Television and Radio
NBC presented the first televised professional football game in 1939, which was a match-up between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Brooklyn Dodgers. The game took place at the Dodgers’ home field, Ebbets Field…Family adventures drama “The Quest” premiered on ABC in 1982. The series, which starred Perry King, produced only nine episodes (but four never aired)…”Pardon the Interruption“, or “PTI” in short, debuted on ESPN in 2001. Then Washington Post sports reporters Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon are the program’s primary hosts. The duo are described as the Siskel & Ebert of the 21st century sports world. Tony Reali, host of ESPN’s “Around The Horn”, was “PTI’s” on-screen statistician for the show’s first 13 years; he was then known by the nickname “Stat Boy.” Since its inception, “PTI” has been TV’s most-watched weekday sports talk show…Also debuting: “RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars” on Logo in 2012, and game show “The Misery Index” hosted by Jameela Jamil and starring the “Impractical Jokers” comedy troupe The Tenderloins on TBS in 2019.

Movies:
“Red Dust” starring Clark Gable, Jean Harlow and Mary Astor opened in theaters in 1932…“Now, Voyager” starring Bette Davis, Paul Henreid and Clause Rains premiered in New York in 1943. In 2007, “Now, Voyager” was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.
 
Music:
“Red,” the fourth studio album by Taylor Swift was released in 2012. It was named the Billboard Album of the Year.

Theater:
New York’s original Metropolitan Opera House has its grand opening with a performance of the opera “Faust” in 1883.

News:
Ringling Brothers Greatest Show on Earth bought Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1907…Infamous criminal Charles (“Pretty Boy”) Floyd was fatally shot in a field near East Liverpool, Ohio, by FBI agents.

Celebrity Birthdays:
“Taxi” star Christopher Lloyd is 83; actor Derek Jacobi is also 83; actor Tony Roberts is 82; actress Catherine Deneuve is 78; musician Eddie Brigati of The Rascals and Joey Dee and the Starlighters is 76; actor Jeff Goldblum is 69; actor Luis Guzman (“Code Black”) is 65; actor Bob Odenkirk (“Better Call Saul”) is 59; singer-songwriter Wesley Stace (John Wesley Harding) is 56; actress Valeria Golino (“Rain Man,” “Hot Shots!”) is 55; comedian Carlos Mencia is 54; country singer Shelby Lynne is 53; reggae rapper Orville Burrell CD, better known as Shaggy is 53; director Spike Jonze is 52; actress Saffron Burrows (“Boston Legal”) is 49; actress Carmen Ejogo (“Selma”) is 48; “Modern Family” star Jesse Tyler Ferguson is 46; actor Michael Fishman (“Roseanne”; “The Conners”) is 40; drummer Zac Hanson of Hanson is 36; actor Corey Hawkins (“The Walking Dead,” film’s “Straight Outta Compton”) is 33; actor Jonathan Lipnicki (“Stuart Little,” ″Jerry Maguire”) is 31.

Did You Know?
Christopher Lloyd’s first movie role was as a psychiatric patient in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Next” in 1975. His role as Reverend Jim Igantowski on “Taxi” was originally planned as a one-shot guest appearance in season two. He ended up staying for the sitcom’s remaining four seasons and won two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.