This Day…

1947  – 1st “Howdy Doody Show” (Puppet Playhouse), telecast on NBC

1937“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, the first full-length animated feature film and the earliest in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, premieres at the Carthay Circle Theatre, Los Angeles

1917  – The 18th Amendment to the US Constitution, authorizing prohibition of alcohol, is approved by the US congress and sent to the states for ratification

1939 – “Gone With The Wind”, drama film directed by Victor Fleming and starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh, premieres in Atlanta (Best Picture 1940, inflation not adjusted highest-grossing film of all time)

1928 George Gershwin‘s – “An American In Paris” symphonic poem premieres at Carnegie Hall, NYC, performed by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Walter Damrosch

1960 – Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh’s musical “Wildcat” with Lucille Ball premieres in New York City

1961 – “Let It Ride” closes at Eugene O’Neill Theater NYC after 68 performances

1941 – Imperial Japanese Navy with 353 planes attack the US fleet at Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Hawaii, killing 2,403 people

1848 – US President James K. Polk triggers gold rush of 1849 by confirming a gold discovery in California

1933 – Jack Kirkland’s play “Tobacco Road” premieres in NYC, became the longest-running play of its time