What Happened On
Kurt Gödel Starves Himself to Death
January 14, 1978
Although Kurt Gödel is considered one of the greatest logicians in history, he suffered mental instability in his later years. The 71-year-old mathematician starved to death after developing a fear of being poisoned. His paranoia was so great that he would only eat food prepared by his wife. When she became ill and was hospitalized for six months and unable to prepare his food, he refused to eat and ultimately starved to death. He weighed only 65 pounds (29 kg) at the time of his death.
His two incompleteness theorems (1931) of mathematical logic demonstrate the inherent limitations of every formal axiomatic system containing basic arithmetic and is considered a groundbreaking achievement.
Gödel left Austria in 1939 after it became part of Nazi Germany. His association with Jewish scientists made it difficult for him to find work and he was in danger of being drafted, so he and his wife moved to Princeton, New Jersey, becoming a U.S. citizen in 1947. At Princeton he befriended and worked with Albert Einstein.
Dave Garroway, Today's first host and J. Fred Muggs and Phoebe B. Beebe
Dave Garroway, Today's first host and J. Fred Muggs and Phoebe B. Beebe
Today
January 14, 1952
Network TV's first early-morning show, Today, debuts on NBC. Dave Garroway was Today's first host, hosting until 1961. Still running, it is now the fifth-longest-running U.S. television series.
In 1953, to boost sagging ratings the chimpanzee J. Fred Muggs was added to the cast. He was an instant hit and it's estimated that Muggs earned the network over $100 million in advertising and merchandising.
Nannygate
January 14, 1993
The New York Times runs a story that Zoë Baird, U.S. President Bill Clinton's choice for U.S. Attorney General (who is in charge of INS), had hired illegal aliens and not paid their social security taxes. Her nomination was later withdrawn.
America's Funniest Home Videos
January 14, 1990
The TV series America's Funniest Home Videos debuts on ABC. It originally aired in 1989 as a special based on the Japanese variety show Fun TV with Kato-chan and Ken-chan. Bob Saget hosted the show for the first eight seasons.
The Bionic Woman
January 14, 1976
The TV show The Bionic Woman debuts on ABC. It starred Lindsay Wagner as Jamie Sommers who uses her bionic powers to carry out high-risk government missions. It was spin-off of The Six Million Dollar Man.
Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii
January 14, 1973
Elvis Presley makes TV history when a claimed "estimated" 1½ billion viewers worldwide tune in to watch the live broadcast of Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii Via Satellite. However, this estimated viewership is somewhat inflated, considering there were less than 1 billion total viewers in the countries in which it aired.
It was also the most expensive entertainment special up to that time, costing $2.5 million.
This concert was a way for Elvis to perform live overseas, since his manager Col. Tom Parker was an illegal immigrant and feared that if he tried to leave the country he might be deported back to his native Holland.
Edgar Allan Poe's Metzengerstein
January 14, 1832
Metzengerstein: A Tale in Imitation of the German, Edgar Allan Poe's first published short story appears in Philadelphia's Saturday Courier magazine. The story was Poe's entry to a writing contest held by the magazine, though it did not win.
First Written Constitution in America
January 14, 1639
The Fundamental Orders are created for the government of Connecticut. These earned Connecticut its nickname of The Constitution State.
Birthdays
The Life of Riley Star
William Bendix
Born January 14, 1906 d. 1964
American actor. William Bendix is best known for playing Chester A. Riley on radio (1944-51), film (1949), and TV (1953-58). Riley's exclamation of "What a revoltin' development this is!" became one of the most famous catchphrases of the 1940s.
At age 15, Bendix was a bat boy for the New York Yankees, and became a personal favorite of Babe Ruth. He said he saw Babe Ruth hit more than 100 home runs at Yankee Stadium. However, he was fired after fulfilling Ruth's request for a large order of hot dogs and soda before a game, which resulted in Ruth not being able to play that day. Bendix played Ruth in the 1948 movie The Babe Ruth Story.
Bendix died at the age of 58 as a result of a chronic stomach ailment that brought on malnutrition and ultimately lobar pneumonia.
TV: The Life of Riley (1953-58, Chester A. Riley). Film: The Babe Ruth Story (1948, title role - critics said it was one of the worst movies ever made) and The Life of Riley (1949, Chester A. Riley). Radio: The Life of Riley (1944-51, Chester A. Riley).
The Story of Dr. Dolittle (1920)
The Story of Dr. Dolittle (1920)
Creator of Doctor Doolittle
Hugh John Lofting
Born January 14, 1886 d. 1947
English-born American children's author, illustrator. Writings: The Story of Dr. Dolittle (1920) and its 10 sequels.
Creator of the Modern-Style Comic Strip
Richard Felton Outcault
Born January 14, 1863 d. 1928
American cartoonist. He is considered the creator of the modern-style comic strip. He created the first recurring comic strip character (1894), the Yellow Kid of Hogan's Alley. He also popularized the use of word balloons (1896) and multi-paneled comics. Outcault also created Buster Brown (1902).
The Yellow Kid represented the kids of the New York slums of the late 1800s. His head was shaved, as was common in children that had been treated for lice, and wore a nightshirt that was a hand-me-down from an older sister.
Benedict Arnold
Born January 14, 1741 d. 1801
American general, traitor. He attempted to betray West Point to the British during the American Revolution. Before this, he was considered an American hero of the Revolution: Arnold helped capture the British garrison of Fort Ticonderoga, hindered a British invasion of New York at the Battle of Lake Champlain, and played a crucial role in the surrender of British General John Burgoyne's army at Saratoga. However, he began spying for the British and plotted to surrender West Point. When his plot was exposed, he began fighting for the British.
Mark Antony (Marcus Antonius)
Born January 14, 83 B.C. d. 30 B.C.
Roman general, politician. Antony married Cleopatra, although he was married to Octavian's sister when they met. Cleopatra bore him three children. After Antony was defeated by Octavian's forces at the Battle of Actium, he and Cleopatra fled to Egypt, where they separately committed suicide.
Jason Bateman
Born January 14, 1969
American actor. TV: The Hogan Family (David Hogan).
Faye Dunaway
Born January 14, 1941
American Oscar-winning actress. Film: Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Chinatown (1974), and Network (1976, Oscar).
Frank Aletter
Born January 14, 1926 d. 2009
American actor. He had appearances in almost every TV series between 1955 and 1991. His first wife was Lee Meriwether.
TV: Bringing Up Buddy (1960-61, title role) and It's About Time (1966-1967, Mac). Film: Mister Roberts (1955, Gerhart) and Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970).
Guy Williams (Armando Catalano)
Born January 14, 1924 d. 1989
American actor. TV: Zorro (1957-61, title role) and Lost in Space (1965-68, Dr. John Robinson, father of the family).
Mary Ann Jackson
Born January 14, 1923 d. 2003
American actress, one of The Little Rascals (older sister of Wheezer). She appeared in 32 Our Gang films (1928-31).
Popularized the Jump Shot
Ken Sailors (Kenneth Lloyd Sailors)
Born January 14, 1921 d. 2016
American pro basketball player. College basketball player of the year (1943). At 5′10″ (1.78 m) he popularized the jump shot, which he developed while playing against his much taller brother.
Photo Credit: Stephenson Brown
Photo Credit: Stephenson Brown
Andy Rooney
Born January 14, 1919 d. 2011
American Emmy-winning commentator. TV: 60 Minutes (1978-2011, "Did you ever wonder…").
He was one of the first American journalists to visit and write about Nazi concentration camps at the end of World War II. Rooney stated that he had been opposed to World War II because he was a pacifist, but what he saw in the concentration camps made him ashamed that he had opposed the war and permanently changed his opinions about whether "just wars" exist.
He built the walnut table he used on 60 Minutes himself.
Mark Goodson
Born January 14, 1915 d. 1992
American producer. TV: To Tell the Truth, What's My Line?, The Price Is Right, and Family Feud.
Harold Russell
Born January 14, 1914 d. 2002
Canadian-born American Oscar-winning actor. He was the first visibly handicapped person to appear in a major motion picture, having lost both hands in World War II. He won an Oscar for The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) which he sold in 1992, making him the first person to publicly sell their own Oscar. He needed the money for his wife's medical expenses.
Hal Roach
Born January 14, 1892 d. 1992
American Oscar-winning film director, producer. His films starred Harold Lloyd, Laurel & Hardy, and the Little Rascals.
Albert Schweitzer
Born January 14, 1875 d. 1965
German Nobel-winning medical missionary, philosopher.
Thornton Waldo Burgess
Born January 14, 1874 d. 1965
American author of children's books. Creator of Peter Rabbit and the briar patch, Reddy Fox, and Grandfather Frog.
Burgess' Peter Rabbit was based on Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit.
Deaths
Ray Kroc
Died January 14, 1984 b. 1902
American businessman. Kroc built McDonald's into a hamburger empire. The brothers Dick McDonald and Maurice "Mac" McDonald started the chain in 1940. Kroc met the McDonald's brothers while trying to sell them Multimixers. After seeing their operation he decided to open one of his own in Des Plaines, Illinois. His first day sales were $366.12. It was the ninth restaurant in the chain. Kroc eventually bought out the brothers and built McDonalds's into the hamburger empire it is now.
The McDonald brothers introduced the "Speedee Service System" in 1948. The original McDonald's mascot was a chef hat on top of a hamburger called "Speedee." Speedee was replaced in 1962 by the Golden Arches. The clown Ronald McDonald was introduced in 1965.
Kurt Friedrich Gödel
Died January 14, 1978 b. 1906
Austrian-born American mathematician. Although considered one of the most significant logicians in history, in his later years Gödel developed an obsessive fear of being poisoned. His paranoia was so great that he would only eat food prepared by his wife. But, when she became ill and was hospitalized for six months and could no longer prepare his food, he refused to eat, eventually starving to death. He weighed only about 65 pounds (30 kg) when he died.
His two incompleteness theorems (1931) of mathematical logic demonstrate the inherent limitations of every formal axiomatic system containing basic arithmetic.
Gödel had left Austria in 1939 after it became part of Nazi Germany. His association with Jewish scientists made it difficult for him to find work and he was in danger of being drafted, so he and his wife moved to Princeton, New Jersey, becoming a U.S. citizen in 1947. At Princeton he befriended and worked with Albert Einstein.
Humphrey Bogart (Humphrey DeForest Bogart)
Died January 14, 1957 b. 1899
Oscar-winning actor. Film: The Maltese Falcon (1941), Casablanca (1943), The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), and The African Queen (1952). According to legend, his upper lip was scarred and partially paralyzed while transporting a prisoner in the Navy during World War I and that this was the cause of his lisp.
Bogart was a founding member of the Hollywood Rat Pack, along with Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, David Niven, Angie Dickinson, and others. They got their name in 1955, when after a long night of partying Lauren Bacall quipped, "You look like a goddamn rat pack."
A heavy smoker and drinker, Bogart died of esophageal cancer.
Invented Crossword Puzzles
Arthur Wynne
Died January 14, 1945 b. 1871
British-born American puzzle maker. Invented the crossword puzzle (1913). Originally called "Word-Cross Puzzle", but due to a typesetting error it was called a "Cross-Word" and the name stuck. Can You Solve It?
Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson)
Died January 14, 1898 b. 1832
English mathematician, author. While on a rowboat to a picnic, 10-year-old Alice Liddell asked Carroll to tell her and her sisters a story. He spun the story of a girl named Alice and her adventures when she fell down a rabbit hole. He then turned this into his most famous book. Writings: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1872).
Conrad Bain
Died January 14, 2013 b. 1923
Canadian actor. TV: Maude (1972-78, Dr. Arthur Harmon) and Diff'rent Strokes (1978-86, the father Philip Drummond).
Ricardo Montalbán (Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán Merino)
Died January 14, 2009 b. 1920
Mexican Emmy-winning actor. Film: Escape From the Planet of the Apes (1971) and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982). TV: Fantasy Island (1977-84, Mr. Roarke), How the West Was Won (1978, Emmy), and pitchman for the Chrysler Cordoba with its "rich Corinthian leather."
Shelley Winters (Shirley Schrift)
Died January 14, 2006 b. 1920
American Oscar-Emmy-winning actress. Film: A Place In the Sun (1951), The Diary of Anne Frank (1959, Oscar as Mrs. Petronella Van Daan), A Patch of Blue (1965, Oscar), Bloody Mamma (1970, Ma Barker), and The Poseidon Adventure (1972). TV: Roseanne (1991-96, Roseanne's grandmother).
The American Venus
Esther Ralston (Esther Worth)
Died January 14, 1994 b. 1902
American silent-film actress. Film: The American Venus (1926, The American Venus became her moniker) and Peter Pan (1925, Mrs. Darling). TV: Our Five Daughters (the mother).
Donna Reed and as Mrs. Bailey (right)
Donna Reed and as Mrs. Bailey (right)
Donna Reed (Donna Belle Mullenger)
Died January 14, 1986 b. 1921
American Oscar-winning actress. Film: The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), It's A Wonderful Life (1946, Mrs. Bailey), and From Here to Eternity (1953, Oscar win as Alma the prostitute). TV: The Donna Reed Show (1958-66, Donna Stone).
Note: In an episode of The Donna Reed Show, it is revealed that Donna Reed's character's maiden name is Donna Belle Mullenger (the same as Donna Reed's birth name) and she is also from her home town of Denison, Iowa.
Blossom Rock (Blossom MacDonald)
Died January 14, 1978 b. 1895
American actress. TV: The Addams Family (1964-66, Grandmama).
Peter Finch (William Mitchell)
Died January 14, 1977 b. 1916
British Oscar-winning actor. Film: Sunday, Bloody Sunday (1971, British Film Academy Award) and Network (1976, Oscar - the first posthumously-awarded Oscar).
Sergei Korolev
Died January 14, 1966 b. 1906
Soviet scientist, rocket pioneer. He designed the rocket systems used for launching the first Soviet satellites and rockets to the Moon.