By StephanieLee Elliott
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Barbara Feldon (born Barbara Anne Hall; March 12, 1933) is an American actress primarily known for her roles on television. Her most prominent role was that of Agent 99 in the 1965–1970 sitcom Get Smart.
Feldon was born Barbara Anne Hall in Butler, Pennsylvania, part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. Feldon and her older sister Patricia were the daughters of Raymond D. and Julia Stewart Hall. She graduated from Bethel Park High School and trained at Pittsburgh Playhouse. In 1955, she graduated from Carnegie Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Arts in drama. She was initiated into the Delta Xi chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma. In 1957, she won the grand prize on The $64,000 Question in the category of William Shakespeare.
Feldon studied acting at HB Studio. Following working as a model, Feldon’s break came in the form of a popular and much-parodied television commercial for “Top Brass,” a hair pomade for men by Revlon. Lounging languidly on an animal-print rug, she purred at the camera, addressing the male viewers who use it as “tigers.”
Feldon’s distinctive voice has been heard in numerous TV and radio commercials and film and TV documentaries. She has occasionally acted in off-Broadway plays but said she is “no longer interested in performing”.
Feldon is an accomplished writer and is still actively writing. In 2015, she had two editorial pieces featured in Metropolitan Magazine. She wrote a book, Living Alone and Loving It, in 2003.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Ember Days happen four times a year at the start of each season. Traditionally observed by some Christian denominations, each set of Ember Days is three days, kept on a successive Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.
Ember Days for 2023
September: 20, 22, 23
December: 20, 22, 23
Ember Days for 2024
February 21, 23, 24
May 22, 24, 25
September 18, 20, 21
December 18, 20, 21
These three days are set apart for fasting, abstinence, and prayer. The first of these four times comes in winter, after the Feast of St. Lucia, December 13; the second set comes with the First Sunday in Lent; the third set comes after Whitsunday/Pentecost Sunday; the four and last set comes after the Feast of the Holy Cross. Their dates can be remembered by this old mnemonic:
“Sant Crux, Lucia, Cineres, Charismata Dia Ut sit in angaria quarta sequens feria.”
Which means:
“Holy Cross, Lucy, Ash Wednesday, Pentecost, are when the quarter holidays follow.”
In Latin, Ember Days are known as the quattuor anni tempora (the “four seasons of the year”). Folklore has it that the weather on each of the three days foretells the weather for three successive months.
As with much folklore, this is grounded in some common sense since the beginning of the four seasons cue the changes in weather as well as a shift in how we keep harmony with the Earth and respect our stewardship of the Earth, our “garden of Eden.”“
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Born
- Thomas Augustine Arne (composer) –
- William Lyon Mackenzie (politician) –
- Jane Means Appleton Pierce (U.S. First Lady) –
- Clement Studebaker (wagon, carriage, & auto manufacturer) –
- Simon Newcomb (astronomer & mathematician) –
- Jane Delano (nurse) –
- Gordon MacRae (actor) –
- Jack Kerouac (author) –
- Edward Albee (dramatist) –
- Andrew Young (politician) –
- Al Jarreau (singer) –
- Barbara Feldon (actress) –
- Paul Kanter (musician) –
- Liza Minnelli (singer) –
- James Taylor (musician) –
- Darryl Strawberry (baseball player) –
Died
- Henry Bergh (ASPCA founder) –
- Dr. Sun Yat-Sen (Chinese revolutionary leader and statesman) –
- Billy Barker (Canadian WWI ace) –
- Charlie Parker (jazz saxophonist) –
- Olive Patricia Dickason (Métis Canadian historian) –
Events
- United States Post Office was established –
- Coca-Cola was first sold in bottles –
- Girl Scouts started by Juliette Low in Savannah, Georgia –
- First transatlantic radio broadcast made –
- Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi began his second civil disobedience campaign to protest the British government’s salt tax –
- President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave his first fireside chat” to the nation” –
- Germany invaded and annexed Austria (WW II) –
- Pope Pius XII crowned –
- Less than a year after signing the bill that made the New Hampshire Lottery the first state-run lottery in America, New Hampshire Governor John W. King purchased the first New Hampshire Lottery Sweepstakes ticket –
- Beatle Paul McCartney married photographer Linda Eastman –
- Boston Celtics’ Larry Bird scored 60 points in a basketball game against Atlanta Hawks –
- Les Misérables opened on Broadway –
- Janet Reno became the first woman to serve as attorney general of the U.S. –
- Lance Mackey won his second consecutive Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race –
- Fifty-three year old Mitch Seavey became the oldest winner of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. In 2012, Seavey’s son Dallas became the youngest winner of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. –
Weather
- Blizzard of ‘88 dumped 50 inches of snow on Middletown, Connecticut –
- All-New England Flood, the costliest and most widespread ever –
- Wichita Falls, Texas, reported a record high of 95F; but only six days earlier, the town had reported a record low of 8F. –
- “Superstorm” developed in eastern U.S. –
COURTESY www.almanac.com
