Today's Puzzle
What game do cannibal children play?
What Happened On
Bloody Sunday
March 7, 1965
Unarmed marchers are attacked by state troopers with billy clubs and tear gas. Amelia Boynton and others organized a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in response to the fatal shooting of activist and deacon Jimmie Lee Jackson by a state trooper the previous month. The unarmed marchers were attacked by state troopers and county possemen with billy clubs and tear gas after they passed over the county line. Boynton was beat unconscious, and the media publicized worldwide a picture of her lying wounded on the bridge. The event became known as Bloody Sunday.
Sex-Change "Woman of the Year"
March 7, 1953
Christine Jorgensen is selected "Woman of the Year" by the Scandinavian Societies of Greater New York. She was previously George Jorgensen before the sex-change operation. She became the first widely-known sex change recipient in the U.S. after the New York Daily News ran a front page story with the headline, "Ex-GI Becomes Blonde Bombshell" about her.
First Jazz Record
March 7, 1917
Original Dixieland 'Jass' Band releases Livery Stable Blues and Dixieland Jass Band One-Step. The record was a best seller and established jazz as popular music.
The Original Dixieland 'Jass' Band was a group of white musicians from New Orleans and became largely responsible for making the New Orleans style popular on a national level.
Telephone Patent
March 7, 1876
Alexander Graham Bell receives a patent for his telephone. Elisha Gray had filed for a similar patent on the same day that Bell filed. Bell eventually won out.
End of Wooden Warships
March 7, 1862
The Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia is completed. The Confederate navy built it by adding iron plates to the captured Union steam frigate USS Merrimac. When the Union heard this was being built, they responded by building the USS Monitor. Their Battle of the Ironclads two days later brought about the end of wooden warships. Both ships survived the battle.
Two months later, the Virginia was trapped by Union forces, so its crew blew it up rather than allow it to fall into Union hands.
The Monitor sank in a storm off the coast of North Carolina the following December.
Jack Paar Returns
March 7, 1960
The Tonight Show host Jack Paar returns to his show. He had walked out a month earlier after a water closet joke had been censored. Referring to a toilet, even as a water closet, was taboo.
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.
Texas Ban on Blacks Voting
March 7, 1927
A Texas law prohibiting blacks from voting in primary elections is ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.
First Non-Stop Flight from Paris to London
March 7, 1912
French aviator Henri Seimet makes the journey in three hours.
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Resigns
March 7, 1911
U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Richard Ballinger, resigns after charges of favoritism in granting claims to Alaskan coal lands.
Birthdays
Created the Russet Potato
Luther Burbank
Born March 7, 1849 d. 1926
American naturalist. He created hundreds of new breeds of flowers, plants, and trees, including the Russet Burbank Potato (1873), which launched the Idaho potato industry.
The Russet Burbank potato has dark brown skin and few eyes and is most widely grown potato in North America. It is good for baking, mashing, and french fries.
Founder of Chiropractic - Which He Learned From a Ghost
Daniel David Palmer
Born March 7, 1845 d. 1913
Canadian-born American magnetic healer. Founder of chiropractic treatment (c1895). Palmer claimed to have "received chiropractic from the other world" via a deceased physician named Dr. Jim Atkinson. He believed that the human body had natural healing power transmitted through the nervous system and that if any one organ was affected by an illness, it was merely not receiving its normal "nerve supply" which he dubbed a "spinal misalignment", or subluxation.
Alpine Mastiffs Reanimating a Distressed Traveler (1820)
Alpine Mastiffs Reanimating a Distressed Traveler (1820)
Rescue Dogs with Brandy Barrels
Sir Edwin Henry Landseer
Born March 7, 1802 d. 1873
British artist. He was the first to portray St. Bernard dogs carrying brandy casks around their necks, although the real rescue dogs never did.
The Earliest Surviving Photograph of a Real-World Scene - Niépce's view from the window at Le Gras (c1826)
The Earliest Surviving Photograph of a Real-World Scene - Niépce's view from the window at Le Gras (c1826)
First Photographer
Joseph Nicéphore Niepce
Born March 7, 1765 d. 1833
French inventor. He created the first true photographs (1826) and the world's first internal combustion engine (1807), which he developed with his older brother Claude. He also took what is now the earliest surviving photograph of a real-world scene - Niépce's view from the window at Le Gras (c1826).
Ivan Lendl
Born March 7, 1960
Czech-American tennis player. Considered one of the greatest in tennis history. He was the world No. 1 player for 270 weeks in the 1980s.
Photo Credit: Governor Tom Wolf
Photo Credit: Governor Tom Wolf
Franco Harris
Born March 7, 1950 d. 2022
American Football Hall of Famer. Franco Harris was a four-time Super Bowl winner with the Pittsburgh Steelers and was the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of Super Bowl IX. He also scored the "Immaculate Reception" touchdown, one of professional football's most famous plays, which gave the Steelers their first playoff win en route to their first Super Bowl title.
Richard Lawson (Rickey Lee Lawson)
Born March 7, 1947
African-American actor. TV: Dynasty (1986-87, Nick Kimball), The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd (1989-91, Det. Nathaniel Hawthorne), and All My Children (1992-94, Lucas Barnes).
Peter Wolf (Peter Blankfield)
Born March 7, 1946
American singer, with J. Geils Band. Music: Must Have Got Lost (1974), Freeze-Frame (1981), and Centerfold (1981, #1).
John Heard
Born March 7, 1946 d. 2017
American actor. Film: Head Over Heels (1979) and Home Alone (1990, boy's father).
Daniel J. Travanti
Born March 7, 1940
American Emmy-winning actor. TV: Hill Street Blues (1981-87, Capt. Frank Furillo).
Janet Guthrie
Born March 7, 1938
American auto racer, aerospace engineer. She was the first woman to compete in the Indianapolis 500 (1977).
Scott as Ronald McDonald (1963)
Scott as Ronald McDonald (1963)
Willard Scott (Willard Herman Scott Jr.)
Born March 7, 1934 d. 2021
American TV personality. He created and was the original Ronald McDonald (1963-66). TV: The Hogan Family (1987-89, Mr. Poole), Today (1980-2015, weatherman), and as Bozo the Clown for the Washington D.C. TV show (1959-62).
James Broderick
Born March 7, 1927 d. 1982
American actor. TV: Family (1976-80, father Doug Lawrence). He is the real-life father of actor Matthew Broderick.
Maurice Ravel (Joseph Maurice Ravel)
Born March 7, 1875 d. 1937
French composer. Music: Boléro (1928).
Inventor of the Blueprint
Sir John Herschel
Born March 7, 1792 d. 1871
English mathematician, astronomer, chemist, inventor, experimental photographer. He invented the blueprint (1842), which allowed for the rapid, and accurate, production of an unlimited number of copies of technical drawings.
Stephen Hopkins
Born March 7, 1707 d. 1785
American politician. Signer of the Declaration of Independence, and three-time governor of Rhode Island (1755-68).
Clement XIII
Born March 7, 1693 d. 1769
Italian religious leader, 248th Pope (1758-69).
Deaths
Little Orphan Annie
Mary Alice "Allie" Smith Gray
Died March 7, 1924 b. 1850
American orphan. She was the inspiration for the Little Orphan Annie character. When James Whitcomb Riley was a child, his family took in twelve-year-old orphan Mary Alice "Allie" Smith as a "bound" servant to help his mother with the housework. Riley wrote the poem The Elf Child based on her. He decided to rename it Little Orphant Allie for the 3rd edition. However, a printer mistakenly typeset it as Little Orphant Annie and the name stuck. The poem was Harold Gray's inspiration for the comic strip Little Orphan Annie (1924).
"Little Orphant Annie's come to our house to stay,
An' wash the cups an' saucers up, an' brush the crumbs away
An' shoo the chickens off the porch, an' dust the hearth, an' sweep,
An' make the fire, an' bake the bread, an' earn her board-an'-keep;"
Steve Lawrence (Sidney Leibowitz)
Died March 7, 2024 b. 1935
American singer. Steve Lawrence was married to partner Eydie Gormé.
In 1953, 18-year-old Lawrence was hired by talk show host Steve Allen to be one of the singers on Allen's local New York City late night show, along with Eydie Gormé and Andy Williams. Music: Go Away Little Girl (1962, #1).
Jimmy Boyd
Died March 7, 2009 b. 1939
American singer. Music: I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus (1952, #1).
Stanley Kubrick
Died March 7, 1999 b. 1928
American director. Film: Dr. Strangelove (1964), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), A Clockwork Orange (1971), The Shining (1980), and Full Metal Jacket (1987).
Divine (Harris Glenn Milstead)
Died March 7, 1988 b. 1945
American transvestite actor. Film: Pink Flamingos and Polyester.
Robert Winship Woodruff
Died March 7, 1985 b. 1889
American businessman. As president of Coca-Cola (1923-55), he changed it from a faltering debt-ridden business into a multi-million dollar empire. Six weeks after his death Coca-Cola announced it was changing its 99-year-old formula.
Robert Bray
Died March 7, 1983 b. 1917
American actor. TV: Lassie (forest ranger Corey Stuart). He died from an accidental gunshot wound sustained while out hunting alone.
Jean Pierre Francois Blanchard
Died March 7, 1809 b. 1753
French balloonist. He was the first to cross the English Channel in a balloon (1785) and is credited with inventing the parachute.
Jean Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville
Died March 7, 1767 b. 1680
French governor of Louisiana (1701-13, 1717-18, 1724-28, 1733-43) and founder of New Orleans (1718) and co-founder of Mobile, Alabama (1711). In 1717, after Bienville found a crescent bend in the Mississippi River which he felt was safe from tidal surges and hurricanes he was given permission the following year to build the new capital of the colony there naming it New Orleans.
Innocent XIII
Died March 7, 1724 b. 1655
Italian religious leader, 244th Pope (1721-24).
Antonius Pius
Died March 7, 161 b. A.D. 86
Roman emperor (A.D. 138-161).