Monday

Apr. 21, 1997

Always Marry an April Girl

by Ogden Nash

MONDAY 4/21

Today's Reading:"Always Marry an April Girl" by Ogden Nash from VERSES FROM 1929 ON, published by Little, Brown & Co.

Today the Jewish holiday of Passover, or "Pesach," begins at sundown with eight days of celebration commemorating the delivery of the Jews from slavery in Egypt.

The 101st Boston Marathon takes place today, beginning in rural Hopkinton and finishing in downtown Boston.

The World's Largest Fish Fry starts today in Paris, Tennessee, with over 13,000 pounds of catfish being prepared.

It's the 65th birthday of comedy writer Elaine May in Elaine Berlin, Philadelphia, 1932. She teamed up with Mike Nichols in the 1950s and they became a popular comedy duo appearing on many television programs. They recently reunited to work on several films.

It's the birthday of author and one of Britain's leading attorneys John Mortimer (A VOYAGE AROUND MY FATHER), born in London, 1923.

It's the birthday of French film director Marcel Camus, remembered for his 1958 film, BLACK ORPHEUS, which won the Oscar for best foreign film. He was born in Chappes, in the Ardennes region of France in 1912.

It was on this day in 1910 that novelist Mark Twain died at the age of 75, as he had predicted, with the return of Halley's Comet. The same comet had appeared at the time of his birth in 1835.

It's the birthday in Ada, Ohio, 1909, of psychologist Rollo May , known as the father of existential psychotherapy. Though popular with the counter-culture students of the 1960s, he had harsh judgments of that era, saying that it was foolish to believe "that somehow one escapes the tragedies and complexities of life simply by being simple."

Max Weber, one of the founders of modern sociology, was born on this day in Erfurt, Prussia, 1864.

It's the birthday of naturalist John Muir, born in Dunbar, Scotland, 1838, and largely responsible for the founding of the Sequoia and Yosemite national parks in California.

Humorist Josh Billings was born on this day in Lanesboro, Massachusetts, 1818. He once said, "As scarce as truth is, the supply has always been in excess of the demand."

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.®

 

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