On this day in history, October 29, 1964, gems are stolen during the 'Jewel Heist of the Century'
Some of the stones were recovered in a Miami bus terminal


Jack Roland Murphy, who also went by "Murf the Surf," was sentenced to three years in jail for stealing 24 gems from the American Museum of Natural History.

Two men broke into the American Museum of Natural History in New York City and made off with millions of dollars in gems on this day in history, Oct. 29, 1964.

The theft was the largest jewel heist in U.S. history.

Among the 24 gems stolen by Allan Dale Kuhn, 26, and Jack Roland Murphy (also known as "Murf the Surf"), 27, were the Star of India, a 563.35 carat sapphire; the DeLong Star Ruby, a 100.32 carat ruby; and the Midnight Star, a black sapphire weighing 116 carats.

The Star of India and the Midnight Star are the largest sapphire and black sapphire, respectively. The DeLong Star Ruby is considered to be the "world's most perfect" ruby, notes the Smithsonian Magazine.

The heist revealed that security at the American Museum of Natural History was shockingly lax.

Murphy and Kuhn were able to enter the museum after scaling a fence and a fire escape. Once on the fire escape, the pair tied a rope to a pillar above one of the windows in the J.P. Morgan Hall of Gems and Minerals, says Smithsonian Magazine.

Using the rope, one of the thieves "swung to an open window and used his feet to lower the sash," said the magazine.

Their methods of thievery were also extremely low tech: the two used a glass cutter and duct tape to break into three display cases, and then used a squeegee to collect their loot.

They then split up and took separate cabs to avoid suspicion, said Smithsonian.

"For us, it wasn’t anything," said Murphy. "We just swung in there and took the stuff."

It was later determined that the batteries in the display's burglar alarms had been dead for months, something a geology curator at the museum did not even know. Additionally, none of the windows had burglar alarm, said Smithsonian.

 

1792: Mt. Hood is named

Britain's Lt. William Broughton, traveling in Captain Vancouver's company, spots a "very high, snowy mountain," as he stands on present-day Sauvie Island in the American Northwest's Columbia River. He'll name the stratovolcano 'Mount Hood' in tribute to British admiral Samuel

 

29 Oct 1940
Conscription, as allowed by the Selective Training and Service Act, began; it was the first military draft during peacetime in US history.

29 Oct 1948
In Germany, a 30 day valid "Interzonepass" was required to travel between the different sectors of the country.

29 Oct 1989
A public mourning, involving over 20,000 East Berliners, was observed with a minute of silence for the people who had been killed while trying to flee over the Berlin Wall.

 

The original "Savannah 9" were the original 9 black cops sworn onto the police force in Savannah, Georgia in 1947.

Now, 9 blacks sworn in as cops is unnews today, but in 1947 with the full integration of the military a hot topic that wouldn't happen for another year, and the Tuskagee Airmen showing crackers that yes, indeed, black men could operate complicated machinery in stressful circumstances, this was a big deal.

Well, the last surviving member of the Savannah 9 turned 100 and celebrated his birthday today.

Last living member of Savannah ‘Original Nine’ turns 100
Last living member of Savannah ‘Original Nine’ turns 100
Story by Hollie Lewis
• 1d

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) – On Saturday, Lt. John White, a Savannah living legend celebrated his 100th birthday with his family and friends.

White is the last living member of the Original Nine Black police officers who integrated the Savannah Police Department (SPD) in 1947.

In a social media post, the SPD stated, “Happy 100th birthday John A White. A Savannah Legend, a giant amongst men. If you don’t know about this hero look up the “The Original Nine”,”

White was the first in the group to take oath in May of 1947, and served nearly four decades in the SPD before retiring in 1984. During his tenure, he met a young, aspiring politician named Jimmy Carter.





So anyway, Happy Birthday Lt. White!

 

October 28

MOVIES, TV and THEATER

1936 - Colle Porter's musical "Red, white and Blue" starring Ethel Merman, Jimmy Durante and Bob Hope opens at the Alvin Theater in NYC. It runs for 183 performances.


1977 - John Kandar and Fred Ebb's musical "The Act" starring Liza Minnelli and directed by Martin Scorsese opens at the Majestic Theater. It runs for 233 performances and ins a Tony Aard for Liza. That is Lizza ith a Z.


SPORTS

1960 - Cassius Clay(Muhammed Ali) in his first professional fight beats Tunney Hunnsaker in 6 rounds in Louisville, Kentuucy.


1987 - Thomas Hearns an unprecedented 4th different eight boxing title.


MUSIC1
1787 - The opera "Don Giovanni" with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart premieres at the National Theater of Bohemia in Prague


1936 - Ella Fitzgerald and the Chick Webb Orchestra record "(If You Can't Sing It) You'll Have To Sing IT (Mr. Paganini)"




1968 - Duane Allman passes away in a motorcycle accident hitting a truck' Rumor has it the ruck as loaded with peaches so the Allman Bros, named "Eat a Peach". Check latecummers post.

1c994 - Pink Floyd finishes their final concert with a show at Earls Court in London, England.

 

October 30

637 - Antioch surrenders to the Muslim forces under Eashidun Caliphate after the "Battle of Ironbridge"


1137 - The Battle of Rinalgo" between Ranuff of Apulia and Roger II of Sicilly.


1270 - The Eiegthh Crusade and siege of Tunis ended by Charles I of Sicily (brother of King Louis IX of Franceho had died months earlier) and the Sultan of Tunis.



1502 - Vasco da Gama returns to Caliicut, India for the second time.


1766 - St. Paul's Cathedral in New York City is consecrated.


1866 - Jesse James' gang robs a bank in Lexington, Missouri for $2,000.

1873 - P.T. Barnum's circus, Greatest Show on Earth" debuts in New York City.


1938 - A radio broadcast of H.G. Wells's "The ar of the Worlds" narrated by H.G.ells, allegedly causes a mass panic because some people thought it was a r
true news show.


1944 - Anne Frank is deported from Auschwitz to Belsen.


1952 - Clarence Birdseye sells the first frozen peas.


1961 - The Soviet Party Congress unanimously approves a resolution removing Stalin's body from Lenin's tomb in Red Square as part of the de-Stalinization effort.

1973 - The Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, connecting Europe and Asia over the Bosphorus Strait for the first time.

 

Although plenty of interesting shit happened on October 30 over the years, from Ali beating Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle, to Orson Welle's Mercury Theater's broadcast of 'War of the Worlds' which caused hysteria, to the beginning of 'The Killer Smog' deaths in Donora, PA, but my narrow focus is on something else:

On October 30, 1971, Pink Floyd released their sixth studio album 'Meddle' in the US. The album features 'One Of These Days,' Fearless' (my fave) and the 23-minute track 'Echoes' which took up all of side 2 on the vinyl record. The cover image was photographed by Bob Dowling. The image represents an ear, underwater, collecting waves of sound, represented by ripples in the water.

After their internal dissatisfaction with their previous album 'Atom Heart Mother' (which still performed well in sales), the band tried a number of experimental techniques to come up with material.

One exercise involved each member playing on a separate track, with no reference to what the other members were doing. The tempo was entirely random while the band played around an agreed chord structure, and moods such as "first two minutes romantic, next two up tempo". Each recorded section was named, but the process was largely unproductive; after several weeks, no complete songs had been created.

After reverting to more standard methods of collaboration, the band finished the popular album, which produced good sales and generally positive reviews, being called everything from 'their best ever' to 'a soundtrack to a non-existent movie.'

The album was voted number 255 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums in 2000. Despite the monstrous follow-up hit album 'Dark Side of the Moon,' Meddle remains my personal favorite, mostly for its palette of idiosyncrasies.




The full album:

 

October 30

FILM and TV

1921 - "The Shiek" , a silent film starring Rudolph Valentino premieres in Las Angeles, California.


1940 - "One Night in the Tropics" , the first film for Abbott and Costello premieres in Patterson, New Jersey.


1965 - Suprr model Jill Shrimpton causes a sensation at Derby Day at the Melbourne races earing a white shift dess four inches above the knee. The "first miniskirt.


1979 - Tamla/ Moton releases Stevie Wonder's documentary film soundtrack "Journey Through the Secret Liffe of Plants"


2003 - Stephen Schwartz's musical "Wicked" , a retelling of "The Wizard of Oz" from the Wicked Witch of the West point of view opens at the Graham Theater. It stars Inda Menzel and Kristin Chenoithh. It ins 2 Tony Awards, 7 Drama Desk Awards and a Grammy.



SPORTS

1945 - Branch Rickey signs Jackie Robinson to a contract ith the Montreal Royals, the top minor league affiliate of the Brooklyn Dodgers.



1956 - Dodgers sell Ebbets Field to real estate group.' They agree to stay until 1959 ith an option until 1961.


1974 - Muhammed Ali KOs George Foreman in the 8th round in the "Rumble in the Jungle" in Kinshasa, Zaire. He uses his famous "rope-a-dope" tactic.

 

Historic Invention

1994 Thomas Nicely reports bug in Intel's Pentium-processor on the Internet


Thomas Nicely

Profession: Semiconductor Pioneer and CEO of Intel

Nationality:

American

Hungarian
Biography: Andrew Grove was a Hungarian-American businessman and engineer who served as the third Chief Executive Officer of Intel Corporation. During his tenure, Intel would become the largest semiconductor company in the world.

Alongside his direct influence at Intel, Grove was indirectly influential in the global electronics manufacturing industry.

He was named "Man of the Year" in 1997 by Time magazine, and he has been described as "the guy who drove the growth phase” in Silicon Valley.

Born: September 2, 1936
Birthplace: Budapest, Hungary

Generation: Silent Generation
Chinese Zodiac: Rat
Star Sign: Virgo

Died: March 21, 2016 (aged 79)
Cause of Death: Parkinson's disease

 

1974: Rumble in The Jungle
Former heavyweight boxing champ Muhammad Ali challenges reigning champ George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaïre, for a $5 million purse. In the heavily promoted fight, Ali introduces his 'rope-a-dope' style, taking punches against the ropes to wear Foreman down before Ali knocks him out in the eighth round.

 

October 30

MUSIC

1896- Amy Beach's "Gaelic Symphony" debuts y the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the first major work by an American female conductor. It receives public and journalistic acclaim.
usicl G

1940 - Cole Porter's musical "Panama Hattie" opens at 46th Street Theater in NNYC. It ran for performances.


1967 - Dolly Parton releases her debut single with Porter Wagoner, "The Last Thing On My Mind".



1978 - Blondie released the single Hanging on the Telephone". The song gave them their third UK Top 10 hit.


1998 - All four original members of Black Sabbath momentarily reunite to play "Paranoid" on the David Letterman Show.

 

October 31 is yet another day that saw a number of noteworthy events, from the passings of Sean Connery, Harry Houidini, River Phoenix and the assassination of Indira Ghandi, to the completion of Mount Rushmore to the freak explosion at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum that killed 74 people, but let's sort the wheat from the chaff, shall we?

October 31, 1963 was the day The Beatles landed at London's Heathrow Airport from their tour in Sweden and were greeted by hundreds of screaming fans and a mob of photographers and journalists.

American television host Ed Sullivan was at Heathrow as The Beatles arrived, and was struck by the sight of Beatlemania in full swing; he decided to look into getting this group to appear on his US television program.

A little over 3 months later, when The Beatles' appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964, it was a huge success, drawing an estimated 73 million viewers. It's considered a milestone in American pop culture and the beginning of the British Invasion.

The Beatles at Heathrow, Halloween, 1963:

The Beatles with Ed:


The show:

 

October 31

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

1517 - Martin Luther sends his Ninet-five Thesis to Albert of Brandenburg, Archbishop of Mainz, precipitating the Protestant Reformation.


1517 - Michelangelo Buonarroti finishes painting "The Last Judgement" in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City.


1756 - Giacomo Casasanovs escapes from "The Leads" prison in Venice by climbing onto the roof. Some say it as January 5, 1757.


1794 - John Dalton's first lecture to the Manchester Literary/Philosophical Society, "Extraordinary facts relating to the vision of colors".


1799 - Francisco Goya is appointed the first court painter at the Spanish court in Madrid. This is the highest honor for a Spanish painter.


1815 - Cornishman Sir Humphrey Davy patents the first miner's safety lamp.


c - The collision of a riverboat Monmouth & Tremont on the Mississippi: 300 die.


1846 - The Donner party, unable to cross The Donner Pass construct a winter camp.


1917 - World War I : The Battle of Beersheba in southern Palestine - "the last successful cavalry charge in history is performed by the 4th Australian Light Horse.


1918 - The Spanish Flu kills 21,000 people in the US in a single week .

 

1950: NBA Racial Barrier Broken

Just three years after Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color line, Earl Lloyd does the same for the sport of basketball as he takes the court with the Washington Capitols. The first African American NBA player scores 6 points in his opening game against the Rochester Royals.