Let’s get to it on this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
One of my favorite Martin Luther King Jr. stories is how he convinced Nichelle Nichols to stay on “Star Trek.” She tells it way better than I do, of course, but here’s the podcast we made about it.
Speaking of Star Trek, today’s the 100th birthday of DeForest Kelley, who was unforgettable as Dr. McCoy on the Enterprise but also in another iconic sci-fi franchise… “Night of the Lepus.”
It’s also the birthday of Buzz Aldrin, astronaut, scientist, space exploration enthusiast and occasional puncher of moon truthers. (via the Salina, KS Journal, 9/22/02)
It’s also Inauguration Day in the U.S., or at least it is in the years following presidential elections. Here’s a famous moment from 1961 at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy, when Robert Frost tried to read “Dedication,” the poem he’d written for the event, but was literally stopped by the bright sun. Outgoing vice president Richard Nixon offered his hat as a sunblock, to no avail; Frost had to read a poem from memory instead.
Twenty years later, the inauguration of Ronald Reagan came as word broke that the Iranian hostage crisis was over and the hostages were freed. Here’s an article that notes how they missed, among other things, the “Who Shot JR” episode of “Dallas”:
