Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

December 11

1988
Illegal fireworks explode, causing a fire and killing 62 people in a Mexico City market.

1985
General Electric Corp. agrees to buy RCA for $6.28 billion.

1959
Date of the opening scene of the Hitchcock thriller Psycho (1960).

1958
Jerry Lee Lewis marries his 13-year-old cousin. He is condemned by the church and his career takes a nosedive.

1941
U.S. declares war on Germany and Italy, during World War II.

1936
King Edward VIII of England renounces his throne so that he could marry American divorcee Mrs. Wallis Warfield Simpson. His brother, the Duke of York became King.

1917
Thirteen black soldiers are hanged for participation in a Houston, Texas race riot, in which 17 people were killed.

1895
First European automobile association is formed, the Automobile Club de France.

1816
Indiana becomes the 19th state.

1954
Jermaine Jackson, American singer, one of the Jackson Five.

1953
Bess Armstrong, American actress. TV: Married People (Elizabeth Meyers).

1950     d. 1988
Christina Onassis, Greek shipping executive, daughter of Aristotle Onassis.

1949
Teri Garr, American actress. Film: Young Frankenstein (1974), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Tootsie (1982), and Mr. Mom (1983).

1948
Elizabeth Baur, American actress. TV: Ironside (Fran Belding).

1944
Linda Day George, American actress. TV: Mission: Impossible (Lisa Casey).

1944
Brenda Lee (Brenda Mae Tarpley), American singer. Music: I'm Sorry (1960, #1), Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree (1960), and I Want To Be Wanted (1960, #1).

1943
Donna Mills, American actress. TV: Knots Landing (Abby Ewing).

1935
Ron Carey, American actor. TV: Barney Miller (Officer Carl Levitt).

1931
Rita Moreno (Rosita Alverio), Puerto Rican actress. Film: West Side Story (1961, Oscar). She is the first actress to have won an Oscar (1961), Tony (1975), and an Emmy (1976-77, 77-78). She has also won a Golden Globe (1962) and a Grammy (1972).

1923
Betsy Blair (Betsy Boger), American actress. TV: thirtysomething (Ellyn's mother).

1919
Joe Masteroff, American Tony-winning playwright. Writings: Cabaret (1966, Tony).

1918
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian novelist.

1899     d. 1981
Walter Marvin Knott, American entrepreneur.  He turned a roadside stand selling boysenberries and pies into the amusement park Knott's Berry Farm.

1892     d. 1965
John A. Larson, American criminologist. He developed the modern lie detector (1921).

1863     d. 1930
Thomas Coleman du Pont, American industrialist, president (1902-15) of E.I. du Pont Company, and U.S. Senator (1921-28).

1792     d. 1848
Joseph Mohr, Austrian clergyman. He wrote the words to Silent Night, Holy Night (1818). (Source: An Almanac of the Christian Church)

1781     d. 1868
Sir David Brewster, 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.

1475     d. 1521
Leo X, Italian religious leader, 217th Pope (1513-21). His granting of indulgences to the faithful who contributed to the Church led to the Reformation. He excommunicated Luther in 1521.

1964     b. 1931
Sam Cooke, American soul singer. Music: You Send Me (1957 #1) and Chain Gang (1960 #2), inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1986). He was shot and killed by the motel manager in a Los Angeles motel.

1964     b. 1888
Percy Kilbride, American actor. Film: Pa of the Ma and Pa Kettle films (1947-55).

1897     b. 1822
Gardiner Greene Hubbard, American lawyer, co-founder and president of the Clarke Institute for Deaf Mutes (1867-76) and founder and president of the National Geographic Society (1888-97). The Hubbard Memorial Hall in Washington D.C. and the Hubbard Glacier in Alaska are named for him.

1880     b. 1810
Oliver Fisher Winchester, American gun maker, developed the Winchester rifle (1866).

384     b. ????
Saint Damascus I, Spanish-born religious leader, 37th Pope (366-384).

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