Today in History: Sunday, November 19, 2023

Television and Radio
Animated “Rocky & His Friends” debuted in 1959. If aired initially on ABC and then on NBC on Saturday morning through 1964, and was also known under the following titles: “The Bullwinkle Show” from 1961 to 1964, and “The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show” and “The Adventures of Bullwinkle and Rocky” in syndication. There have been numerous feature film adaptations of the series’ various segments, such as the 2000 film “The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle” and the 1999 live-action film “Dudley Do-Right”…CBS banned a commercial in 1980 featuring then 15-year-old Brooke Shields, who sat in a suggestive pose in tight Calvin Klein jeans and delivered the line, “You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing.” The ad was so provocative for its time that CBS refused to broadcast it…Part one of a series crossover between “Magnum, P.I.” and “Murder, She Wrote” aired on CBS in 1986, where Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) visited Magnum (Tom Selleck) in Hawaii to investigate a murder case.

Movies:
Samuel Goldwyn and Edgar Selwyn established Goldwyn Pictures in 1916…“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” based on book by Ken Kesey, directed by Milos Forman and starring Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher was released in 1975. The film won five Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor and Actress in a Leading Role. Ryan Murphy drama “Ratched,” which is based on Louise Fletcher’s Nurse Ratchet, aired in 2020…“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1,” the 7th film based on the books by J.K. Rowling was released worldwide in 2010.

Music:
Pop duo Milli Vanilli were stripped of their Grammy Award in 1990 after it is learned they did not sing on their “Girl You Know Its True” album.

History:
US President Abraham Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg address beginning; “Four score and seven years ago…” in 1863.

Sports:
In 2018, the Los Angeles Rams defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 54-51, marking the first time in NFL history two teams scored at least 50 points in the same game. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw for six touchdowns, the most ever on “Monday Night Football”. It drew 16.6 million viewers for ESPN that night — the second-largest Monday audience within the past five years with the multi-platform telecast of Ravens-Raiders (17 million) to open the 2021 season as the sole game to have drawn more.

Art:
Vincent van Gogh’s “Portrait of the Artist Without Beard” sells at auction for $71.5 million in 1998.

Celebrity Birthdays:
Talk show host Dick Cavett is 87; media mogul Ted Turner is 85; fashion designed Calvin Klein is 81; sportscaster Ahmad Rashad is 74; actress Kathleen Quinlan is 69; actress Glynnis O’Connor (“Ode to Billie Joe”) is 67; former “Today” anchor Ann Curry is also 67; “Mom” star Allison Janney is 64; actress Meg Ryan is 62; two-time Oscar winner Jodie Foster is 61; actress Terry Farrell (“Becker”) is 60; actress Erika Alexander (“Living Single”) is 54; dancer-choreographer Savion Glover is 50; country singer Billy Currington is also 50; director Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”) is 46; actor Reid Scott (“Veep”) is also 46; actor Adam Driver (“Girls”) is 40; rapper Micheal Ray Stevenson aka Tyga is 34.

Did You Know?
At age 12, Brooke Shields starred as a child prostitute named Violet in 1978 theatrical “Pretty Baby.” Jodie Foster was offered the role, but turned it down because she was currently working with Walt Disney and did not want to get typecast playing underage prostitutes (following “Taxi Driver”). Other candidates considered included (in alphabetical order) Rosanna Arquette, Jamie Lee Curtis, Bo Derek, Laura Dern, Carrie Fisher, Melanie Griffith, Amy Irving, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tatum O’Neal, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michelle Pfeiffer and Ally Sheedy.