Today in History: Wednesday, October 23, 2024

Television and Theater
Neil Simon play “Barefoot in the Park” opened in New York City in 1963 and was spun-off into a 1967 movie and a short-lived sitcom of the same name on ABC in the 1970-71 season. Robert Redford and Elizabeth Ashley starred in the original play.…Fox high school drama “Boston Public” from David E. Kelley debuted in 2000 and stayed on the air through 2004.

ABC fantasy drama “Once Upon a Time” premiered in 2011. It aired for seven seasons and spun-off one season entry “Once Upon a Time in Wonderland” in the 2013-14 season.

Movies:
Walt Disney’s animated film “Dumbo” was released in theaters in 1941. In 2017, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically and aesthetically significant.

“Limelight,” directed, written, produced and starring Charlie Chaplin with appearance by Buster Keaton opened in 1952…Animated blue characters The Smurfs first appeared in the story “Johan and Pirlouit” by Belgium cartoonist Peyo in 1958.

“Skyfall,“ the 23rd James Bond film, and starring Daniel Craig and Javier Bardem opened in London in 2012.
 
Music:
“If You Leave Me Now” by Chicago reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1976…George Harrison released “Best of Dark Horse 1976-89 album in 1989…Britney Spears released her debut single “Baby One More Time” in 1998…Beyonce released single “Irreplaceable” in 2006. It was named the Soul Train Music Awards Best R&B/Soul Single 2007 and the Billboard Song of the Year in 2007…Adele released her single “Hello,“ which became the first song with more than a million downloads in the first week (1.1 million).

News:
The arcade game “Frogger” was released in the United States in 1981…Apple released the original iPod portable music player in 2001

Sports:
USA’s Joe Frazier defeated Germany’s Hans Huber to win the gold medal in boxing at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan in 1964. Six years later, Frazier became the heavyweight boxing champion of the world…In 1993, Joe Carter hit a walk-off 3-run home run in the bottom of the 9th inning to lift the Toronto Blue Jays to an 8-6 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 6 of the World Series. It also earned the Blue Jays its second consecutive world title. The moment provided the most memorable game call by the “Voice of the Toronto Blue Jays” Tom Cheek who said, “Touch ‘em all, Joe! You’ll never hit a bigger home run in your life!” The game, which averaged 28.8 million viewers, was the final Major League Baseball telecast on the CBS network…In 1996, down 0-6 at one point in World Series Game 4 in Atlanta, the New York Yankees would come back to eventuality win 8-6 and tie the series with the Atlanta Braves at two games apiece…Down 30-7 versus the Miami Dolphins on ABC’s “Monday Night Football” in 2000, the New York Jets scored four touchdowns and a field goal in the fourth quarter to send the game into overtime where the Jets would win 40-37 in the game dubbed as the Monday Night Miracle.

 
Celebrity Birthdays:
Director Ang Lee (“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”) is 70; country singer Dwight Yoakam is 68; director Sam Raimi (“Spider-Man”) is 65; singer-comedian “Weird Al” Yankovic is 65; college football Hall of Fame quarterback Doug Flutie is 62; 3-time World Series champion starting pitcher Al Leiter is 59; actor Jon Huertas (“This Is Us”) is 55; actor Ryan Reynolds (“The Proposal”) is 48; “So You Think You Can Dance” host Cat Deeley is also 48; former “The View” co-host Meghan McCain is 40; R&B singer Miguel Pimentel aka Miguel is 39; actress Emilia Clarke (“Game of Thrones”) is 38.