Matthew Weiner, Mad Men’s showrunner, was born on June 29, 1965. And we’re so glad he was!
Happiest of birthdays, Matt. May this be your most satisfying, most joyous year yet.
Love, Deb, Roberta, the Basketwriters and all the Basketcases. We heart you.
It is much more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself rightly, then you are indeed a man of true wisdom.
“The Little Prince”
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Here are a few other things that happened on other June 29ths:
1236 – Ferdinand III of Castile and Leon took Cordoba in Spain
1776 – The Virginia constitution was adopted and Patrick Henry was made governor
1804 – Privates John Collins and Hugh Hall of the Lewis and Clark Expedition were found guilty by a court-martial consisting of members of the Corps of Discovery for getting drunk on duty. Collins received 100 lashes on his back and Hall received 50
1888 – Professor Frederick Treves performed the first appendectomy in England
1911 – Composer Bernard Herrmann was born
1925 – Marvin Pipkin filed for a patent for the frosted electric light bulb
1932 – “Vic and Sade” debuted on NBC radio
1941 – Joe DiMaggio got a base hit in his 42nd consecutive game. He broke George Sisler’s record from 1922
1953 – The Federal Highway Act authorized the construction of 42,500 miles of freeway from coast to coast
1956 – Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller were married. They were divorced on January 20, 1961
1957 – Buddy Holly recorded the song “Peggy Sue.”
1967 – Jayne Mansfield, at age 34, and two male companions died when their car struck a trailer truck east of New Orleans
1967 – Israel removed barricades, re-unifying Jerusalem
1969 – The Jimi Hendrix Experience played their last concert on the last day of the Denver Pop Festival
1970 – NBC aired the “Liza Minnelli Special”
1972 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty could constitute “cruel and unusual punishment.” The ruling prompted states to revise their capital punishment laws
1995 – The shuttle Atlantis and the Russian space station Mir docked, forming the largest man-made satellite ever to orbit the Earth
2000 – In Santa Rosa, CA, the official groundbreaking ceremony took place for the Charles M. Schulz Museum
2007 – The Apple iPhone went on sale
And a handful of other memorable birthdays:
Antoine de Saint-Exupery 1900
Frank Loesser 1910
Ruth Warrick 1915
Slim Pickens 1919
Ralph Burns 1922
Mousey Alexander 1922
Cara Williams 1925
Ian Bannen 1928
Robert Evans 1930
Stokeley Carmichael 1941
Roger Ruskin Spear 1943
Gary Busey 1944
Little Eva Boyd 1945
Richard Lewis 1947
Fred Grandy 1948
Ian Paice 1948 – Musician (Whitesnake)
Dan Dierdorf 1949
Colin Hay 1953
Maria Conchita Alonso 1957
Evelyn “Champagne” King 1960
Sharon Lawrence 1961
Amanda Donohoe 1962
DJ Shadow (Josh Paul Davis) 1972
Happy happy birthday Matt!! Amazing writer, showrunner and storyteller!! Many, many more to come!!
Happy Birthday, Matt! Considering he’s a native son, we here in Baltimore should make it “Matt Weiner Day” every June 29th. I’ll work on that!
“1925 – Marvin Pipkin filed for a patent for the frosted electric light bulb ”
I will have to remember that one. Learn something every day.
Roberta,
For about 2 years I used the same trick you just whipped out – “day in history”. I was the Sgt. at Arms for my Toastmasters club. Our club tradition is the Sgt. at Arms gives opening remarks and introduces the Toastmaster – the fallback was to do “this day in history” – bet you got that list from Wikipedia (as did I many times).
Here’s a fun challenge – without looking up the answer who are those famous birthday celebrators?
Here’s my shot:
Slim Pickens – musician (a “picker”?)
Stokeley Carmichael – songwriter?
Gary Busey – actor
Richard Lewis – smart comic
Dan Dierdorf – football due and announcer.
Dan Dierdorf – football DUDE (dood?) and announcer.
Happy day and many many more!
The world is a better place with you in (and MM) in it.
I definitely wish Matt a very, very Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!
Happy Birthday Matt! Thanks for making our world a happier (and classier) place!
Matt, it’s a better world with you in it and TV is certainly better.
Many happy returns of the day!
Stokeley Carmichael = civil rights leader
Hoagy Carmichael = songwriter
Only a true Cancerian like Matt would employ the beauty, the subtlety that is Mad Men. Happy Birthday!