As I wrote last month on my birthday, which fell on Thanksgiving this year, that was a problem for my mother when she tried to plan birthday parties for me. My friends were often out of town for the holiday. Consequently, I cannot recall a time when my birthday party was held on my actual birthday.
I can only imagine the difficulties the parents of Christmas babies encounter.
But I thought it would be fitting today to give some recognition to entertainers who were born on Christmas. Like me, they probably never had a birthday party on their actual birthday when they were children.
You may never have heard of Evelyn Nesbit. She was a model and a chorus girl who is mostly remembered for her role in the murder of her former lover, architect Stanford White, by her husband, Harry K. Thaw, in 1906. She was born on Dec. 25, 1884.
Thaw was tried twice for the crime. The jury deadlocked the first time. The second time, Thaw pleaded temporary insanity, and Thaw's mother promised Nesbit a quick divorce and a lucrative divorce settlement if she would testify that White had raped her, thus prompting Thaw to seek to avenge her honor. Nesbit complied, and she did receive her divorce but not the money.
The episode was re–created in the 1981 film "Ragtime," which was based on E.L. Doctorow's 1975 novel of the same name. In the movie, Nesbit was played by actress Elizabeth McGovern.
Likewise, you may not be familiar with the name of Robert Ripley, who was born on Dec. 25, 1890.
In 1918, he was the creator of "Ripley's Believe It or Not!" that shared unusual facts from around the world with millions via newspapers, radio and TV.
Originally, it focused on sports facts, but, in 1922, when Ripley took his first trip around the world, he incorporated the format for which the feature is famous. In 1929, he used the feature to bring attention to the fact that the United States, at that time, had no official national anthem. Thanks in large part to his efforts, a law was passed and signed in 1931 designating "The Star–Spangled Banner" as the national anthem.
"Ripley's Believe It or Not!" is still going strong, still entertaining readers 60 years after Ripley's death.
Humphrey Bogart is such a famous actor that the mention of his name probably requires little elaboration.
But it is worth remembering that he appeared in many great motion pictures — "The Maltese Falcon," "Casablanca," "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre," "The Caine Mutiny" and the film for which he received his only Oscar, "The African Queen."
In 1999, the centennial of Bogart's birth, he was named the greatest male star of all time by the American Film Institute.
Bogart, who was born on Dec. 25, 1899, is the featured star on Turner Classic Movies this month.- Similarly, Rod Serling's name is probably familiar to most people — certainly to anyone who know of the Twilight Zone and Night Gallery TV series on which he worked.
Serling, who was born on Dec. 25, 1924, also wrote movie screenplays, including one he wrote that eventually, after numerous rewrites, served as the foundation for 1968's "Planet of the Apes."
A heavy smoker like Bogart, Serling died of a heart attack at the age of 50. - Want something a little more recent? How about singer Jimmy Buffett, who was born on Christmas Day in 1946?
Or singer/actress Barbara Mandrell, who was born on Christmas Day in 1948?
Or Oscar–winning actress Sissy Spacek, who was born on Christmas Day in 1949?
I admit, it is hard to believe that Spacek is 60 years old today. The first thing I remember seeing her in was 1976's "Carrie," although I saw several of her earlier efforts in later years.
She isn't the young beauty she was when she made "Carrie," but, like the Energizer Bunny, she just keeps going.
And so do we all.
Happy birthday, Sissy.
