Daily Almanac for Friday, April 26, 2024; National Arbor Day & Carol Burnett’s Birthday

By Lucy Santiago

(courtesy stepbystep.com)

“Arbor Day is not like other holidays. Each of those reposes on the past, while Arbor Day proposes for the future.” These are the words of J. Sterling Morton, the originator of the Arbor Day idea. He was among the many pioneers moving into the Nebraska Territory in 1854. With the decided lack of trees on the Nebraskan plains, Morton made it his cause to plant trees, not just for beautification but also to preserve the soil. He encouraged civic organizations to join in the effort, proclaiming the first Arbor Day in 1872. By 1885, Arbor Day was officially observed by the entire state and then by other states and schools nationwide. Today the most common date for the state observances is the last Friday in April, although many states celebrate it whenever conditions there are best for planting trees. Several U.S. presidents have proclaimed a national Arbor Day. Read more about Arbor Day.

Carol Burnett in 1973. Publicity from The Carol Burnett Show. By CBS Television, Public Domain, https commons.wikimedia.org

FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

Carol Creighton Burnett (born April 26, 1933) is an American comedian, actress, and singer. Her comedy-variety show The Carol Burnett Show, which originally aired on CBS, was one of the first to be hosted by a woman. She has performed on Broadway, on television, and in film of varying genres, including dramatic and comedic roles. She has received numerous accolades, including seven Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, a Grammy Award, and seven Golden Globe Awards. Burnett was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005, the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2013, and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2015.

Burnett was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, until her family moved to Hollywood, living a block away from Hollywood Boulevard. She attended Hollywood High School and eventually studied theater and musical comedy at UCLA. Later, she performed in nightclubs in New York City and had a breakout success on Broadway in 1959 in Once Upon a Mattress, for which she received a Tony Award nomination. She soon made her television debut, regularly appearing on The Garry Moore Show for the next three years, and won her first Emmy Award in 1962. Burnett had her television special debut in 1963 when she starred as Calamity Jane in the Dallas State Fair Musicals production of Calamity Jane on CBS.

Eventually, Burnett moved back to Los Angeles and began an 11-year run as star of The Carol Burnett Show on CBS television from 1967 to 1978. With its vaudeville roots, The Carol Burnett Show was a variety show that combined comedy sketches with song and dance. The comedy sketches included film parodies and character pieces. Burnett created many memorable characters during the show’s run, and both she and the show won numerous Emmy and Golden Globe Awards. During and after her variety show, Burnett appeared in many television and film projects.

Burnett’s film roles include Pete ‘n’ Tillie (1972), The Front Page (1974), A Wedding (1978), The Four Seasons (1981), Annie (1982), Noises Off (1992), and Horton Hears a Who! (2008). She has acted in the dramas 6 Rms Riv Vu (1974) and Friendly Fire (1979); in guest roles such as in Mad About You, for which she won an Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series; and in various specials with Julie AndrewsDolly Parton, and Beverly Sills. She returned to Broadway in Moon Over Buffalo (1995), receiving another Tony Award nomination. She returned to acting taking roles in the AMC drama series Better Call Saul (2022) and in the Apple TV+ comedy series Palm Royale (2024).

Burnett has written and narrated several memoirs, earning Grammy nominations for almost all of them, including a win for In Such Good Company. In 2019, the Golden Globes named an award after her for career achievement in television, the Carol Burnett Award, and Burnett received her first award. She was honored with an NBC special Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love celebrating her 90th birthday.

TODAY’S ALMANAC

Question of the Day

Can you tell me the difference between a sweet potato and a yam?

Literally and botanically speaking, the two are not related. Both the yam and the sweet potato grow underground and have yellowish-orange flesh, but there the similarity ends. Yams are large, starchy, edible tuberous roots that can grow two to three feet long and weigh as much as 80 pounds. They grow in tropical/subtropical countries and need eight to ten months of warm weather to mature. The two words became entwined in our household vernacular partly through a publicity campaign. Early in this century, sweet-potato promoters attached the word yam to the deep orange, moist-fleshed varieties and left the words sweet potato to the smaller, yellowish, dry-fleshed varieties. Today it is common to find either or both words used in supermarkets, but whichever is used, what’s on sale is the sweet potato.

Advice of the Day

Repel raccoons with dog hair, human hair, or mothballs.

Home Hint of the Day

Want to examine the condition of the paint on the bottom of a hanging door without taking it off its hinges? Simply slide a small mirror under the door and examine the paint job in the reflection.

Word of the Day

Snub

A post on a dock or shore, around which a rope is thrown to check the motion of a vessel.

Puzzle of the Day

What do sea monsters eat?

Fish and ships!

Born

  • John James Audubon (naturalist) – 
  • Frederick Law Olmsted (landscape architect) – 
  • Ma Rainey (blues singer) – 
  • Charles Richter (seismologist) – 
  • Carol Burnett (actress) – 
  • Duane Eddy (musician) – 
  • Jet Li (actor and martial artist) – 
  • Kevin James (actor) – 
  • Tom Welling (actor) – 

Died

  • John Wilkes Booth (assassin of President Lincoln, was shot by federal troops at a farmhouse near Washington, D.C.) – 
  • Eduard Suess (geologist) – 
  • Count Basie (jazz orchestra leader) – 
  • Lucille Ball (actress) – 
  • Mason Adams (actor) – 
  • Phoebe Snow (singer ) – 
  • George Jones (country music singer) – 

Events

  • William Shakespeare baptized– 
  • Meteorites fell on the town of L’Aigle, France– 
  • First U.S. weather report broadcast, by WEW in St. Louis, Missouri– 
  • America’s first guide dog for the blind, a German Shepherd named Buddy, was teamed up with its owner, Morris S. Frank– 
  • The first international satellite, Ariel 1, was launched from Cape Canaveral– 
  • A herd of buffalo got loose and wandered around an upscale neighborhood in Maryland, disrupting traffic and alarming homeowners before police officers managed to corral them in a tennis court– 
  • Five explorers reached the North Pole, setting a world record by coming in several hours earlier than a 37-day trek by American explorer Robert Peary for the same journey in 1909– 
  • Boston Red Sox outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury stole home. This was the first straight-steal of home plate by a Red Sox player since Billy Hatcher in April of 1994.– 

Weather

  • Severe frost, Huntsville, Alabama– 
  • Boston and the surrounding communities experienced a severe snowstorm– 
  • Twelve inches of snow, Hanover, NH– 
  • An F5 tornado hit Andover, Kansas, killing more than 15 people– 

 

COURTESY www.almanac.com