Today in History of Culture

March 25th:
1 - Origin of Dionysian Incarnation of the Word
31 - 1st Easter, according to calendar-maker Dionysius Exiguus
421 - Friday at 12 PM - city of Venice founded
708 - Constantine begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1655 - Christiaan Huygens discovers Titan, (Saturn's largest satellite)
1668 - 1st horse race in America takes place
1811 - Percy Bysshe Shelley is expelled from the University of Oxford for his publication of the pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism.
1817 - Tsar Alexander I recommends formation of Society of Israeli Christians
1847 - Pope Pius IX encyclical "On aid for Ireland"
1852 - Friedrich Hebbel's "Agnes Bernauer," premieres in Munich
1856 - A E Burnside patents Burnside carbine
1857 - Frederick Laggenheim takes 1st photo of a solar eclipse
1882 - 1st demonstration of pancake making (Dept store in NYC)
1896 - Modern Olympics began in Athens, Greece [NS=Apr 6]
1902 - Irving W Colburn patents sheet glass drawing machine
1903 - Racing Club de Avellaneda, one of the big five of Argentina, is founded.
1911 - L D Swamikannu publishes "Manual of Indian Chronology" in Bombay
1931 - Hal Kemp & his orchestra record Whistles, with Skinnay Ennis
1939 - Billboard Magazine introduces hillbilly (country) music chart
1943 - 97% of all Dutch physicians strike againt nazi registration
1946 - 1st performance of Igor Stravinsky's "Ebony Concerto"
1954 - Pope Pius XII encyclical "Sacra virginitas" (On consecrated virginity)
1955 - United States Customs seizes copies of Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl" as obscene.
1960 - DH Lawrence' "Lady Chatterley's Lover" ruled not obscene (NYC)
1961 - "13 Daughters" closes at 54th St Theater NYC after 28 performances
1961 - "Gypsy" closes at Broadway Theater NYC after 702 performances
1961 - Elvis Presley performs live on the USS Arizona
1961 - Sputnik 10 carries a dog into Earth orbit; later recovered
1962 - "Family Affair" closes at Billy Rose Theater NYC after 65 performances
1966 - Beatles pose with mutilated dolls & butchered meat for the cover of the "Yesterday & Today" album, It is later pulled
1967 - The Turtle's "Happy Together" goes #1
1971 - Tom Jones, "She's a Lady," goes gold
1972 - "Selling of the President" closes at Shubert Theater NYC after 5 perfs
1974 - Barbra Streisand records the album "Butterfly"
1976 - "My Fair Lady" opens at St James Theater NYC for 384 performances
1976 - "Rex" opens at Lunt-Fontaine Theater NYC for 48 performances
1988 - "Les Miserables," opens at Chunichi Theatre, Nagoya Japan
1989 - "Les Miserables," opens at Auditorium Theatre, Chicago
1990 - "Lettice & Lovage" opens at Barrymore Theater NYC for 284 performances
1993 - "Candida" opens at Criterion Theater NYC for 45 performances
1996 - Comet C/1996 B2 (Hyakutake) approaches within 0.1018 AUs of Earth
1997 - "Barrymore," opens at Music Box Theater NYC for 240 performances

March 27th:
1309 - Pope Clement V excommunicates Venice and all its population.
1329 - Pope John XXII issues his 'In Agro Dominico' condemning some writings of Meister Eckhart as heretical.
1613 - The first English child born in Canada at Cuper's Cove, Newfoundland to Nicholas Guy.
1642 - The sixth Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Joseph takes office.
1808 - Joseph Haydns oratorio "Die Schopfung" premieres in Vienna
1945 - Ella Fitzgerald & Delta Rhythm Boys record "It's Only a Paper Moon"
1962 - Ann Jellicoe's "Knack," premieres in London
1968 - Japanese Trade & Cultural Center (Japan Center) dedicated in SF
1969 - Black Academy of Arts & Letters forms in Boston
1970 - Ringo releases his 1st solo album "Sentimental Journey"
1978 - Bob Fosse's "Dancin'" opens at Broadhurst Theater NYC for 1,774 perfs
1980 - "Happy New Year" opens at Morosco Theater NYC for 17 performances
1980 - "Reggae" opens at Biltmore Theater NYC for 21 performances
1981 - John Lennon releases "Watching the Wheels" in UK
1983 - Neil Simon's "Brighton Beach Memoirs," premieres in NYC
1984 - Andrew Lloyd Webber/Richard Stilgoe's "Starlight Express," premieres
1992 - Bruce Springsteen releases "Human Touch" & "Lucky Town"
1996 - "State Fair," opens at Music Box Theater NYC for 118 performances
1997 - "Young Man From Atlanta," opens at Longacre NYC for 85 performances

March 29th:
1795 - Beethoven (24) debuts as pianist in Vienna
1827 - 20,000 attend Ludwig von Beethovens burial in Vienna
1860 - Dion Boucicault's "Colleen Bawn," premieres in NYC
1879 - Tsjaikovski's opera "Jevgeni Onegin," premieres in Moscow
1882 - Knights of Columbus chartered for Catholic men
1886 - Chemist John Pemberton begins to advertise for Coca-Coke
1912 - Capt Robert Scott, storm-bound in a tent near South Pole, makes last entry in his diary "the end cannot be far"
1941 - 1st performance of Benjamin Britten's "Symphony da Requiem"
1947 - "Beggar's Holiday" closes at Broadway Theater NYC after 111 perfs
1951 - "King & I" opens at St James Theater NYC for 1246 performances
1966 - "It's a Bird... It's Superman" opens at Alvin NYC for 129 perfs
1970 - "Look to the Lilies" opens at Lunt-Fontanne Theater NYC for 25 perfs
1971 - Conrad Van Emde Boas becomes West Europe's 1st sexology professor
1971 - Development of a serum hepatitis vaccine for children announced
1971 - Royal Albert Hall opens
1979 - Caryl Churchill's "Cloud Nine," premieres in London
1981 - "Woman of the Year" opens at Palace Theater NYC for 770 performances
1988 - "Oba Oba" opens at Ambassador Theater NYC for 46 performances
1992 - "Conversations with My Father" opens at Royale NYC for 462 perfs
1992 - Herb Gardner's "Conversations With My Father," premieres in NYC
2004 - The Republic of Ireland becomes the first country in the world to ban smoking in all work places, including bars and restaurants.

March 31st:
1146 - Bernard of Clairvaux preaches his famous sermon in a field at Vézelay, urging the necessity of a Second Crusade. Louis VII is present, and joins the Crusade.
1492 - Queen Isabella of Castilia & Ferdinand of Aragon expels Jews
1717 - A sermon on "The Nature of the Kingdom of Christ" by Benjamin Hoadly, the Bishop of Bangor, provoked the Bangorian Controversy.
1745 - Jews are expelled from Prague
1796 - Johann Wolfgang von Goethes "Egmont," premieres in Weimar
1822 - The massacre of the population of the Greek island of Chios by soldiers of the Ottoman Empire following a rebellion attempt, depicted by the French artist Eugène Delacroix.
1841 - 1st performance of Robert Schumann's 1st Symphony in B
1849 - Col John W Geary arrives as 1st postmaster of SF
1883 - 1st performance of Caesar Franck's "Le Chasseur Maudit"
1906 - GB Shaws German version of "Caesar & Cleopatra," premieres in Berlin"
1918 - 1st daylight savings time in US goes into effect
1930 - The Motion Pictures Production Code is instituted, imposing strict guidelines on the treatment of sex, crime, religion and violence in film for the next thirty eight years.
1932 - Ford publicly unveils its V-8 engine
1933 - 1st newspaper published on pine pulp paper, "Soperton News" (Ga)
1933 - Congress authorizes Civilian Conservation Corps
1934 - Netherlands Indies BC Ltd begins radio transmission (Indonesia)
1941 - Ground broken for Union Square Garage, SF
1944 - Hungary orders all Jews to wear yellow stars
1945 - Tennessee Williams' "Glass Menagerie," premieres in NYC
1954 - US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs Colo, established
1959 - Dalai Lama fled China & was granted political asylum in India
1960 - Gore Vidal's "Best Man," premieres in NYC
1977 - Michael Cristofer's "Shadow Box," premieres in NYC
1978 - Wings release "London Town" album
1981 - 53rd Academy Awards - "Ordinary People," R De Niro & Sissy Spacek win
1983 - Marsha Norman's "'night, Mother," premieres in NYC
1991 - Musical "Will Rogers Follies," premieres in NYC
1991 - Soviet Rep of Georgia endorsed independence; Warsaw Pact dissolves
1996 - "Getting Away With Murder" closes at Broadhurst NYC after 17 perfs
1996 - "Midsummer Night's Dream" opens at Lunt-Fontanne NYC for 66 perfs

April 2nd:
1800 - 1st performance of Ludwig von Beethoven's 1st Symphony in C
1819 - 1st successful agricultural journal ("American Farmer") begins
1878 - 1st issue of Rotterdam's Newspaper
1900 - 1st edition of The Volk published (Amsterdam)
1902 - 1st motion picture theater opens (LA)
1902 - "Electric Theatre", the first full-time movie theater in the United States, opens in Los Angeles, California.
1908 - Mills Committee declares baseball was invented by Abner Doubleday
1944 - Dmitri Shostakovitch' 8th Symphony, premieres in NY
1947 - Carlo Terron's "Il diamente del profeta," premieres in Rome
1956 - Peter Ustinovs' "Romanoff & Juliet," premieres in Manchester
1956 - Soap operas "As the World Turns" & "Edge of Night" premieres on TV
1965 - Hochhuths play "Stellvertreter" banned in Italy
1968 - Beatles form Python Music Ltd
1970 - 2 men begin ascent of south face of Annapurna I, highest final stage in a wall climb in world
1971 - Sci-fi soap opera "Dark Shadows" concludes an almost 5 year run
1972 - 44th Academy Awards - "French Connection," G Hackman & Jane Fonda win
1972 - Tennessee Williams' "Small Craft Warnings," premieres in NYC
1973 - CBS radio begins on hour news 24 hours a day
1977 - Fleetwood Mac's "Rumors," album goes to #1 & stays #1 for 31 weeks
1987 - "Mikado" opens at Virginia Theater NYC for 46 performances
1992 - "Hamlet" opens at Criterion Theater NYC for 45 performances
1997 - "Doll's House," opens at Belasco Theater NYC

April 4th:
1460 - University of Basle in Swizerland forms
1541 - Ignatius of Loyola becomes 1st superior-general of Jesuits
1655 - The miraculous statue entitled the Infant of Prague is solemnly crowned by command of Cardinal Harrach.
1660 - English king Charles II sends Declaration of Breda (freedom of religion)
1686 - English king James II publishes Declaration of Indulgence
1687 - King James II orders his declaration of indulgence read in church
1859 - Opera "Dinorah" is produced (Paris)
1859 - Bryant's Minstrels debut "Dixie" in New York City in the finale of a blackface minstrel show.
1914 - "Perils of Pauline" shown for 1st time in LA
1929 - "New Moon" musical opens in London
1932 - George Bernard Shaw's "Too True to be Good," premieres in NYC
1940 - R Rodgers/Lorenz Hart's "Higher & Higher," premieres in NYC
1956 - Enid Bagnold's "Chalk Garden," premieres in London
1957 - Heitor Villa-Lobos' 10th Symphony, premieres in Paris
1958 - Eugene Ionesco's "Tueur sans Gages" premieres in Darmstadt
1964 - "Anyone Can Whistle" opens at Majestic Theater NYC for 9 performances
1964 - Beatles' "Can't Buy Me Love," single goes #1 & stays #1 for 5 weeks
1968 - "Education of Hyman Kaplan" opens at Alvin Theater NYC for 28 perfs
1971 - "Follies" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 524 performances
1990 - "Marshall Chronicles" premieres on ABC-TV
1991 - "Lucifer's Child" opens at Music Box Theater NYC for 28 performances

April 6th:
610 - Lailat-ul Qadar, night koran descended to Earth
1320 - The Scots reaffirm their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath.
1327 - Italian poet Petrarch 1st sets eyes on his beloved Laura
1722 - Peter the Great ends tax on men with beards
1883 - Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of Speckled Band" (BG)
1896 - 1st modern Olympic games open in Athens Greece [3/25 OS] American, James Connolly, wins 1st Olympic gold medal in mod history
1955 - "3 for Tonight" opens at Plymouth Theater NYC for 85 performances
1975 - "Night... Made America Famous" closes at Barrymore NYC after 75 perfs
1975 - "Rocky Horror Show" closes at Belasco Theater NYC after 45 perfs
1976 - 1st quadrophonic movie track: "Ladies & Gentlemen the Rolling Stones"
1977 - Judge rules Beatles 1962 Hamburg album can be released
1995 - "Having Our Say" opens at Booth Theater NYC for 308 performances
1997 - "3 Sisters" closes at Criterion Theater NYC

April 8th:
1341 - Francesco Petrarca crowned in Rome
1378 - Bartolomeo Prignano elected as Pope Urban VI
1455 - Alfonso de Borgia elected as Pope Callistus III
1730 - 1st Jewish congregation in US forms synagogue, "Shearith Israel, NYC"
1781 - Premiere of Mozart's violin sonata K379
1802 - French Protestant church becomes state-supported & -controlled
1808 - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Baltimore was promoted to an archdiocese, with the founding of the dioceses of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Bardstown (now Louisville) by Pope Pius VII.
1869 - American Museum of Natural History opens (NYC)
1876 - Amiliare Ponchielli's opera "La Gioconda," premieres in Milan
1916 - Norway approves active & passive female suffrage
1931 - "White Horse Inn" opens in London
1931 - Dmitri Sjostakovitch' ballet "The Arrow," premieres
1935 - Bartoks 5th String quartet premieres in Wash DC
1935 - Works Progress Administration approved by Congress
1942 - A Schoenberg & Tudor's ballet "Pillar of Fire," premieres in NYC
1950 - "Miss Liberty" closes at Imperial Theater NYC after 308 performances
1954 - "By the Beautiful Sea" opens at Majestic Theater NYC for 270 perfs
1961 - "Show Girl" closes at Eugene O'Neill Theater NYC after 100 perfs
1970 - "Cry for Us All" opens at Broadhurst Theater NYC for 8 performances
1975 - 47th Academy Awards - "Godfather II," Ellen Burstyn & Art Carney win
1979 - "Carmelina" opens at St James Theater NYC for 17 performances
1985 - "Leader of the Pack" opens at Ambassador Theater NYC for 120 perfs
1990 - "Aspects of Love" opens at Broadhurst Theater NYC for 377 performances
1991 - "I Hate Hamlet" opens at Walter Kerr Theater NYC for 88 performances
1992 - "5 Guys Named Moe" opens at Eugene O'Neill Theater NYC for 445 perfs

April 10th:
837 - Comet 1P/837 F1 (Halley) approaches within 0.0334 AUs of Earth
847 - St Leo IV begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1407 - the lama Deshin Shekpa visits the Ming Dynasty capital at Nanjing. He is awarded with the title Great Treasure Prince of Dharma.
1512 - Pope Julius II opens 5th Council of Lateranen
1516 - 1st ghetto, Jews are compelled to live in specific area of Venice
1821 - Patriarch Gregory V of Constantinople is hanged by the Turks from the main gate of the Patriarchate and his body is thrown into the Bosphorus.
1825 - 1st hotel in Hawaii opens
1841 - NY "Tribune" begins publishing under editor Horace Greeley
1856 - The Theta Chi Fraternity is founded at Norwich University.
1858 - The original Big Ben, a 14.5 tonne bell for the Tower of London is cast in Stockton-on-Tees by Warner's of Cripplegate. This however cracked during testing and was recasted into the 13.76 tonne bell by Whitechapel Bell Foundry and is still in use to date.
1868 - 1st performance of John Brahms' "Ein german Requiem"
1872 - Arbor day 1st celebrated in Nebraska, later changed to Apr 22
1935 - Vaughan Williams' 4th Symphony premieres in London
1944 - "Patrolling the Ether" is shown on 3 TV stations simultaneously
1957 - John Osborne's "Entertainer," premieres in London
1968 - "George M!" opens at Palace Theater NYC for 435 performances
1981 - "Caveman" with Ringo premieres
1986 - "Big Deal" opens at Broadway Theater NYC for 70 performances
1994 - "Les Miserables," opens at Hiten Theatre, Osaka
1995 - "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" opens at Lyceum Theater NYC for 24 perfs

April 12th:
1583 - William of Orange marries Louise de Coligny
1606 - England adopts Union Jack as its flag
1648 - University of Harderwijk Neth solemn opens
1709 - 1st edition of Tattler magazine in England
1826 - Weber's opera "Oberon," premieres in London
1857 - Gustave Flaubert's "Madame Bovary" published
1887 - Henrik Ibsen's "Rosmersholm," premieres in Oslo
1892 - George C Blickensderfer patents portable typewriter
1917 - Bijou Theater opens at 222 W 45th St NYC (Demolished 1982)
1917 - Domenico Scarlatti & Jeab Cocteaus ballet premieres in Rome
1926 - Dutch Catholic Radio Broadcast (KRO) forms
1935 - Germany prohibits publishing "not-Arian" writers
1935 - Royal Proclamation sets design of Canada's new Jubilee Silver Dollar
1938 - 1st US law requiring medical tests for marriage licenses (NY)
1944 - Lillian Hellman's "Searching Wind," premieres in NYC
1945 - Richard Strauss completes his "Metamorphosis"
1951 - Israeli Knesset officially designated April 13 as Holocaust Day
1954 - Bill Haley & Comets records "Rock Around Clock"
1954 - Joe Turner releases "Shake, Rattle & Roll"
1958 - Flemish Open air museum opens in Bokrijk
1960 - Bill Veeck & Chicago Comiskey Park debuts "Exploding Scoreboard"
1963 - Beatles "From Me to You" is released in UK
1969 - Simon & Garfunkel releases "Boxer"
1975 - Linda Ronstadt releases "When Will I Be Loved"
1980 - BCMA, Black Consciousness Movement of Azania, forms
1980 - Terry Fox begins his "Marathon of Hope" at St. John's, Newfoundland.
1992 - "Streetcar Named Desire" opens at Ethel Barrymore NYC for 137 perfs
2012 - Bodleian, Oxford University and Vatican libraries announce over 1.5 million pages of ancient texts will be made available across the internet