What Happened On
Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch with Oscar the Grouch
Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch with Oscar the Grouch
Sesame Street Frightens Children
February 10, 1976
Today's episode of the children's educational program Sesame Street frightens the children watching it so much that many refused to watch future episodes, prompting angry letters from parents.
The episode featured Margaret Hamilton reprising her role as the wicked witch from the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz. Her witch character accidentally drops her broom over Sesame Street and terrorizes the residents while trying to retrieve it.
Jack Paar Censored
February 10, 1960
The Tonight Show host Jack Paar's water closet joke is censored, causing him to walk off the show the following night. Referring to a toilet, even as a water closet, was taboo. He returned a month later.
The Joke: An English lady, while visiting Switzerland, was looking for a room for a more extended stay, and she asked the schoolmaster if he could recommend any to her. He took her to see several rooms, and when everything was settled, the lady returned to her home to make the final preparations to move.
When she arrived home, the thought suddenly occurred to her that she had not seen a "W.C." around the place. So she immediately wrote a note to the schoolmaster asking him if there were a "W.C." near the room.
The schoolmaster was a very poor student of English, so he asked the parish priest if he could help in the matter. Together they tried to discover the meaning of the letters "W.C.", and the only solution they could come up with for the letters was for a Wayside Chapel. The schoolmaster then wrote the following note to the English lady:
Dear Madam:
I take great pleasure in informing you that the W.C. is situated nine miles from the room that you will occupy, in the center of a beautiful grove of pine trees surrounded by lovely grounds. It is capable of holding about 229 people and it is only open on Sunday and Thursday.
As there are a great number of people who are expected during the summer months, I would suggest that you come early; although, as a rule, there is plenty of standing room. You will no doubt be glad to hear that a good number of people bring their lunch and make a day of it. While others who can afford to go by car arrive just in time.
I would especially recommend that your ladyship go on Thursday when there is a musical accompaniment. It may interest you to know that my daughter was married in the W.C. and it was there that she met her husband.
I can remember the rush there was for seats. There were ten people to a seat ordinarily occupied by one. It was wonderful to see the expression on their faces. The newest attraction is a bell donated by a wealthy resident of the district. It rings every time a person enters.
A bazaar is to be held to provide plush seats for all the people, since they feel it is a long felt need. My wife is rather delicate, so she can't attend regularly. I shall be delighted to reserve the best seat for you, if you wish, where you will be seen by everyone.
For the children, there is a special time and place so they will not disturb the elders.
Hoping to have been of service to you, I remain,
Sincerely,
The Schoolmaster.
World War II - Paris Peace Treaties
February 10, 1947
The peace treaties between the Allied powers (United States, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, and France) and Germany's allies (Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Finland) are signed - in Paris, France.
Duck Tape Invented
February 10, 1943
While working at an ordnance plant during World War II, Vesta Stoudt noticed that the way ammunition boxes were sealed made them difficult to open quickly and this could cost soldiers precious time in battle. So, she developed a waterproof, tearable cloth tape to solve the problem. Her bosses at the plant were unimpressed, so on February 10, 1943 she wrote a letter to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt:
"I suggested we use a strong cloth tape to close seams, and make tab of same. It worked fine, I showed it to different government inspectors they said it was all right, but I could never get them to change tape."
Roosevelt liked the idea and sent it to the War Production Board who implemented her tape idea. They made a tape using woven fabric, known as "duck cloth", coated in waterproof plastic with a layer of rubber-based adhesive and could be torn by hand without the need for scissors. The tape worked great on ammo boxes and soon GIs found it was also useful for fixing leaks, repairing equipment, and even closing up wounds on the battlefield.
Stoudt received Chicago Tribune's War Worker Award for her idea.
So yes, it was originally called "Duck Tape", because it was first made from duck cloth. It wasn't used for duct work until many years later.
The Original Ouija Board
The Original Ouija Board
Ouija Board
February 10, 1891
The Ouija Board patent is granted to Elijah J. Bond of Baltimore, Maryland. The patent was initially denied, because the chief patent officer wanted proof that it worked. As a test, he asked the board to spell out his name, which it did. He then granted the patent.
The name Ouija had been determined in 1890 when Bond's sister-in-law, a spiritualist and medium, asked the board what its name was, to which the board spelled out "OUIJA". When asked what the word meant, it responded "GOOD LUCK".
The use of similar talking boards is recorded as far back as A.D. 1100 in China. They became popular in the United States in the 1860s after the Civil War when spiritualists used the devices to help people contact relatives lost in the war.
The scientific community generally believes the Ouija board works via unconscious movements, known as the ideomotor effect. This effect was described by Michael Faraday in 1853.
Many religious groups believe Ouija boards are connected to the occult and ban their use. Some believe their use can even result in demonic possession.
Cause of Michael Jackson's Skin Lightening
February 10, 1993
The pop star Michael Jackson announces that his skin has lightened due to a medical disorder and that he has had very little cosmetic surgery.
Mike Tyson Convicted of Rape
February 10, 1992
Boxer Mike Tyson is convicted of raping beauty contestant Desiree Washington. He was sentenced to six years in prison and fined $30,000, but was released in 1995 after serving less than three years of his sentence. During his incarceration, Tyson converted to Islam and took the Muslim name Malik Abdul Aziz.
25th Amendment
February 10, 1967
The Presidential Succession Act is ratified, designating the Speaker of the House and Senate pro tempore next in succession to the U.S. president after the vice-president.
Captured U-2 Pilot Released
February 10, 1962
Captured U-2 pilot Gary Powers is released by the Soviet Union in exchange for the Soviet spy Rudolf Abel. Abel had been convicted of spying in the hollow nickel spy case, in which he transported microfilm inside a hollowed-out nickel.
French and Indian War
February 10, 1763
Treaty of Paris of 1763 between England, France, and Spain is signed, ending the war.
Birthdays
Mark Spitz
Born February 10, 1950
American swimmer. He won 2 gold, 1 silver, and a bronze medal in the 1968 Olympics and 7 gold medals in the 1972 Olympics. Seven was the most Olympic gold medals ever won by a single athlete in a single Olympiad up to that time. That record was broken by Michael Phelps in 2008.
Spitz also held the national high school records in every stroke and in every distance.
Lon Chaney, Jr. (Creighton Chaney)
Born February 10, 1906 d. 1973
American horror actor. Known for his monster characters, such as the Wolf Man (1941), Frankenstein's monster, and the Mummy (1940).
"Even a man who is pure in heart
And says his prayers by night
May become a wolf when the wolfs bane blooms
And the autumn moon is bright"
Jimmy Durante
Born February 10, 1893 d. 1980
American comedian. Known for his Schnozzola (from the Yiddish slang "Schnoz" for big nose), which became his nickname. His trademark lines include "Ink-a-Dink-a-Doo" and "Goodnight Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are."
Laura Dern
Born February 10, 1967
American actress. Film: Blue Velvet (1986), Wild at Heart (1990), and Jurassic Park (1993).
Peter Allen
Born February 10, 1944 d. 1992
Australian Oscar-winning songwriter, actor. Music: Arthur's Theme (Oscar) and I Honestly Love You (hit for Olivia Newton-John).
Roberta Flack
Born February 10, 1939
American Grammy-winning singer. Music: Killing Me Softly with His Song (1973, Grammy).
Robert Wagner in 1967 and with Natalie Wood in 1960
Robert Wagner in 1967 and with Natalie Wood in 1960
Robert Wagner
Born February 10, 1930
American actor. TV: It Takes a Thief (1968-70, thief Al Mundy), Switch (1975-1978, Pete Ryan), and Hart to Hart (1979-84, Jonathan Hart). Film: Austin Powers movies (1997, 1999, 2002, Number 2).
In 1981, his wife, actress Natalie Wood, drowned at the age of 43 off the side of their yacht while it was anchored near shore. She was on board with Wagner, Christopher Walken, and the yacht's captain. How she ended up in the water was not determined, but she had bruises on her body and arms and an abrasion on her left cheek. Her blood alcohol content was 0.14% and there were traces of a motion-sickness pill and a painkiller in her bloodstream, both of which increase the effects of alcohol. According to Wagner, he and Wood had been arguing earlier and Wood went to bed first. When Wagner went to join her, he noticed that both she and the yacht's small inflatable dinghy were missing. A witness in a boat nearby said that around 11 p.m. she heard a woman calling out, "Somebody please help me, I'm drowning." Her body was found about a mile from the yacht with the dinghy beached nearby.
Her sister, Lana Wood, said Wood had a fear of water and would never have tried to enter the dinghy alone, especially only wearing a nightgown.
Wood's fear of water started as a child, when she almost drowned while filming The Green Promise (1949). She had also recently starred in the TV movie The Memory of Eva Ryker (1980), in which a character she played drowned.
Her death was initially ruled accidental, but the case was reopened in 2011 and the cause of death was changed to "drowning and other undetermined factors."
Stella Adler
Born February 10, 1901 d. 1992
American acting instructor. Her students included Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Judy Garland, Elizabeth Taylor, Martin Sheen, Harvey Keitel, Melanie Griffith, Peter Bogdanovich, and Warren Beatty.
Dame Judith Anderson (Frances Margaret Anderson)
Born February 10, 1897 d. 1992
Australian-born British Tony-Emmy-winning actress. Film: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958, Big Momma). TV: Santa Barbara (Minx Capwell).
Boris Leonidovich Pasternak
Born February 10, 1890 d. 1960
Russian author. Writings: Dr. Zhivago (1955). He rejected the 1958 Nobel Prize for literature after his nomination caused criticism from the Communist Party and his expulsion from the Soviet Writers union.
Deaths
Shirley Temple in Bright Eyes
Shirley Temple in Bright Eyes
Shirley Temple Black
Died February 10, 2014 b. 1928
American child actress. Temple was the #1 box-office draw as a child actress from 1934 to 1938 and became youngest person to earn over a $1,000,000. She got her start at age 4 in a series of films called Baby Burlesks, that used preschool children acting in 10-minute satires of recent films and events. She quickly became the star of the series.
As an adult, she served as U.S. Ambassador to Ghana (1974-76) and Ambassador to Czechoslovakia (1989-1992).
Film: Bright Eyes (1934), Stand Up and Cheer (1934), Curly Top (1935), Heidi (1937), and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938).
Little House on the Prairie
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Died February 10, 1957 b. 1867
American author. Her Little House on the Prairie books (1932-43) about her life on the frontier were the basis for the TV series.
Larry Flynt
Died February 10, 2021 b. 1942
American publisher. Creator of Hustler magazine (1974). Flynt was partially paralyzed from the waist down due to injuries sustained in a 1978 assassination attempt by serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin. The shooter confessed, saying he was outraged by an interracial photo shoot in Hustler.
Flynt served in both the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy.
Jan-Michael Vincent
Died February 10, 2019 b. 1945
American actor. Film: The World's Greatest Athlete (1973, Nanu the Greatest Athlete). TV: Airwolf (1984-86, Hawke). In 2014, Vincent revealed that he had a prosthetic right leg, because it had been amputated just below the knee in 2012 due to complications from peripheral artery disease.
Roy Scheider
Died February 10, 2008 b. 1932
American actor. Film: French Connection (1971), Jaws (1975), and All That Jazz (1979).
Arthur Miller
Died February 10, 2005 b. 1915
American Pulitzer-winning playwright. Writings: Death of a Salesman (1949, Pulitzer) and View from the Bridge (1955). He was also married to Marilyn Monroe (1956-61).
Jim Varney (James Albert Varney Jr.)
Died February 10, 2000 b. 1949
American actor, comedian. He played Ernest P. Worrell of the TV commercials and Ernest movies, "know what I mean Vern?" Film: Ernest Goes to Camp (1987, Ernest), The Beverly Hillbillies (1993, Jed Clampett) and Toy Story (1995, Slinky Dog).
Alex Haley
Died February 10, 1992 b. 1921
American Pulitzer-winning author. Writings: Roots: The Saga of an American Family (1976, Pulitzer). The 1977 TV miniseries Roots based on the book was watched by an estimated 130,000,000 people.
In 1978, Haley admitted that he copied large passages of Roots from the 1967 novel The African by Harold Courlander and settled out-of-court for $650,000.
Also, Haley's claim that he had traced his own ancestry back through slavery to a very specific individual and village in Africa as a basis for the book has been refuted by researchers.
Billy Rose (William Samuel Rosenberg)
Died February 10, 1966 b. 1899
American songwriter. Music: Me and My Shadow and It's Only a Paper Moon.
Pius XI
Died February 10, 1939 b. 1857
Italian religious leader, 259th Pope (1922-39). He created the Vatican radio station.
Roentgen's wife's hand
Roentgen's wife's hand
Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen
Died February 10, 1923 b. 1845
German physicist. Discoverer of X-rays (1895). He took the first x-ray of a human of his wife's hand. When she saw her skeleton, she exclaimed "I have seen my death!"
He died of cancer.
Founder of Antiseptic Surgery
Joseph Lister
Died February 10, 1912 b. 1827
English physician, founder of antiseptic surgery. He performed the first operation using antiseptic (1867, mastectomy on his sister).
Sir David Brewster
Died February 10, 1868 b. 1781
Scottish scientist and inventor. He patented a kaleidoscope (1817), popularizing its use and instituted the use of flat Fresnel lenses in lighthouses, and discovered many important aspects of polarized light.
Leo XII
Died February 10, 1829 b. 1760
Italian religious leader, 252nd Pope (1823-29).
Saint Scholastica
Died February 10, 543 b. ????
patron saint of scholars.