The original Broadway production of Fidler On The Roof" opened on this day, September 22 1964 at the Imperial Theatre, transferred in 1967 to the Majestic Theatre and in 1970 to The Broadway Theatre, and ran for a total of 3,242 performances.

The production was directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins – his last Broadway staging. Original producer Fred Coe was replaced by producer Harold Prince. The cast included Zero Mostel as Tevye the milkman, Maria Karnilova as his wife Golde (each of whom won a Tony for their performances), Beatrice Arthur as Yente the matchmaker, Austin Pendleton as Motel, Bert Convy as Perchik the student revolutionary and Julia Migenes as Hodel.

During the original run, Joanna Merlin originated the role of Tzeitel, which was later assumed by Bette Midler. Adrienne Barbeau took a turn as Hodel, and Pia Zadora played the youngest daughter, Bielke. Other stage actors who have played Tevye include Theodore Bikel and Leonard Nimoy.

Labels: broadway, music, musical

On this day, 21st September 1999, the Google.com search engine was officially launched.

Google was founded in 1998 by Stanford graduates Sergey Brin and Larry Page, following their success in 1996 with the prototype BackRub and beta version Goo.

At the end of 1999 Google employed 39 people and was answering 3 million search queries per day. In 2006 it had over 5000 employees, covered more than 8 billion items, and the number of daily searches was over 200 million.



Not since Gutenberg invented the modern printing press more than 500 years ago, making books and scientific tomes affordable and widely available to the masses, has any new invention empowered individuals or transformed access to information as profoundly as Google. I first became aware of this while covering Google as a beat reporter for The Washington Post. What galvanized my deep interest in the company was its unconventional initial public offering in August 2004 when the firm thumbed its nose at Wall Street by doing the first and only multi-billion dollar IPO using computers, rather than Wall Street bankers, to allocate its hot shares of stock.

A few months later, in the fall of 2004, I decided to write the first biography of Google, tracing its short history from the time founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page met at Stanford in 1995 until the present. In my view, this is the hottest business, media and technology success of our time, with a stock market value of $110 billion, more than the combined value of Disney, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Amazon.com, Ford and General Motors.

Labels: Google, Googleplex, internet, inventions, Larry Page, Sergey Brin

Theodore John Kaczynski (born May 22, 1942), also known as the Unabomber, is an American convicted murderer and political philosopher who had a campaign of mail bombings that killed three and wounded 23. He sent bombs to several universities and airlines from the late 1970s through early 1990s.

In his Industrial Society and Its Future (commonly called the "Unabomber Manifesto") he argued that his actions were a necessary (although extreme) ruse by which to attract attention to what he believed were the dangers of modern technology. The Unabomber was the target of the most expensive investigations in the FBI's history.

For his actions, Kaczynski was charged with numerous federal offenses stemming from his mail bombing campaign. In his April 24, 1995 letter to the New York Times, he promised "to desist from terrorism." To avoid the death penalty, Kaczynski entered into a plea agreement, under which he pled guilty and was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.

Kaczynski's moniker as the Unabomber developed as a result of an FBI codename. Before his real identity was known, the FBI used the handle "UNABOM" ("university and airline bomber"), which resulted in variants such as Unabomer, Unibomber, and Unabomber when the media started using the name.

Labels: crime, ludite, terrorism, Unabomber

Jimi Hendrix, born 1942 James Marshall Hendrix in Seattle, Wash., died on this day, September 18th 1970, following a barbituate and alcohol overdose.

Hendrix, in his short musical career, was known for an innovative and extremely influential guitar style that involved the explosive, yet often sensitively nuanced, use of feedback, distortion, and other electronically manipulated sound effects. His recordings include the albums Are You Experienced? (1967), Axis: Bold as Love (1967), and Electric Ladyland (1968). He toured with his bands The Experience (1967-69) and Band of Gypsys (1969-70) and appeared at both the Monterey Pop Festival and Woodstock.

Labels: celebrity, drugs, Jimi Hendrix, music

Amos Alonzo Stagg, 1862-1965, American football coach, b. West Orange, N.J., grad. Yale, 1888, announced his retirement after 71 years of coaching on this day, 16th September 1960.

Stagg played end on the Yale football team and began his career as a coach (1889-91) at Springfield (Mass.) College. In 1892 he became athletic director at the Univ. of Chicago, coaching football there until 1933. In these 41 years he five times (1899, 1905, 1908, 1913, and 1924) coached undefeated teams. An authority on football, Stagg served (1904-32) on the football rules committee. Because of his age, he was compelled to resign his post at the Univ. of Chicago, but the "grand old man of football" later coached (1933-46) at the College of the Pacific and was (1947-52) assistant coach to his son at Susquehanna Univ. He collaborated in writing several books on football and is credited with the invention of numerous innovations in football play.

Labels: American Football, human achievement, sport