September 23rd History, Facts and Trivia

September 23rd History Highlights

1845 – The Knickerbockers Baseball Club, the first baseball team to play under the modern rules, was founded in New York.
1846 – The planet Neptune was discovered by Johann Galle.
1952 – Richard Nixon gave his ‘Checkers Speech’.
1962 – The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts opened in New York City.
September 23, 19** Birthday (fictional) Barbara Gordon (Batgirl, Oracle), DC Comics
If you were born on September 23rd,
You were likely conceived the week of… December 31st (prior year)

Banned Books Week

Since its inception in 1982, Banned Books Week has helped people to recognize and circumvent censorship. The ‘Week of Forbidden Books’ celebrates the freedom to read and draws attention to forbidden and challenged books. Many of the greatest books of history and present have been banned, past or present. This international campaign recognizes the plight of people persecuted for their ability to produce, distribute, and read writings, as well as for their freedom of speech and expression.

September 23rd is…

Checkers Day
Chocolate Day
Key Lime Pie Day

“So I feel like success is opportunity plus preparation, so work begets work, and as long as you’re prepared it’s going to continue to come your way.”
– Anthony Mackie

“Talk about a dream, try to make it real.”
– Bruce Springsteen

“I don’t regret anything I’ve ever done. I only wish I could have done more.”
– Mickey Rooney

“It specifically says in the Torah that you can eat shrimp and bacon in a Chinese restaurant.”
– Jason Alexander

“There are no such things as happy endings. Never. They’re totally manufactured by fiction writers who choose to end the story on a high point.”
– Peter David

September 23rd Birthdays

1897 – Walter Pidgeon, Canadian-American actor, and singer (died in 1984)
1907 – Tiny Bradshaw, American singer-songwriter and pianist (died in 1958)
1920 – Mickey Rooney, American actor, and singer (died in 2014)
1926 – John Coltrane, American saxophonist, and composer (died in 1967)
1930 – Ray Charles, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and actor (died in 2004)
1931 – Hilly Kristal, American businessman, founded CBGB (died in 2007)
1938 – Romy Schneider, Austrian-French actress (died in 1982)
1943 – Julio Iglesias, Spanish singer-songwriter
1949 – Bruce Springsteen, American singer-songwriter
1956 – Peter David, American comic book author, writer
1959 – Jason Alexander, American actor, singer, and voice artist
1978 – Anthony Mackie, American actor
1984 – Anneliese van der Pol, Dutch-American actress

September 23rd History

“On the 23rd day of the month of September, in an early year of a decade not too much unlike our own, the human race suddenly encountered a deadly threat to its very existence. And this terrifying enemy surfaced, as such enemies often do, in the seemingly most innocent and unlikely of places.”
-Little Shop of Horrors
The last permitted visit to the Fort Knox gold vault, by members of the US Congress and some journalists, who saw a presentation and were allowed to take a handful of photographs, was on September 23, 1974.

1551 (Tornado) Grand Harbour at Valletta, Malta

1642 – Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusettes, had its first graduating class.

1846 – German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle discovered the planet Neptune.

1913 – Mark Sennet presented the first Keystone Cops film, although some say it was Hoffmeyer’s Legacy, in 1912.

1938 – A time capsule, to be opened in 6939, was buried at World’s Fair in NYC.

1955 – When James Dean first met Alec Guinness (Ben Kenobi) he asked him to take a look at his brand new Porsche Spyder. Guinness told Dean: “If you get in that car, you will be found dead in it by this time next week.” This encounter took place on September 23, seven days before Dean’s death.

1957 – The first movie (1953) to become a TV series was How to Marry a Millionaire. It was syndicated and not on a regular network.

1962- The Jetsons cartoon debuted on ABC – ABC’s first full-color program.

1967 – #1 Hit September 23, 1967 – October 20, 1967: Box Tops – The Letter

1972 – #1 Hit September 23, 1972 – October 13, 1972: Mac Davis – Baby, Don’t Get Hooked on Me

1979 – Archie Bunker’s Place debuted on CBS

September 23, 19** Birthday (fictional) Barbara Gordon (Batgirl, Oracle), DC Comics

1986 – The U.S. Congress voted the rose the official flower of the US.

1988 – Jose Canseco became baseball’s first player to steal 40 bases & hit 40 Home Runs in a season. He later admitted to using steroids.

1989 – #1 Hit September 23, 1989 – October 6, 1989: Milli Vanilli – Girl I’m Gonna Miss You

1992- Mad About You premiered on NBC.

2003 – NCIS premiered on CBS

2003 – One Tree Hill debuted on The WB

2007 – During the 2007 baseball season, the Los Angeles Dodgers added an infielder named Chin-Lung Hu. After Hu singled in his third at-bat in a game on September 23, Dodgers announcer Vin Scully said, “Shades of Abbott and Costello, I can finally say, ‘Hu is on first base.'”

2009 – Modern Family premiered on ABC

Today’s Random Trivia and Shower Thoughts

Freddie Mercury – Real Name: Frederick Bulsara

“Today we’re answering a cry for help from the scariest place in the universe. A child’s bedroom.” – The Doctor

There was a time when the word ‘newfangled’ was newfangled.

Useless Pronunciation: X as in Xerxes

Bronze’s golden age was the Bronze Age

“Schwing!” – Mike Myers and Dana Carvey as Wayne and Garth (Saturday Night Live)

‘Peggy’ in the Discover Card ads is played by Romanian-American actor Tudor Petrut.

“I do a great impression of a hot dog.” – Daniel Hillard in Mrs. Doubtfire #moviequotes

“Die Hard” came from the original script of “Commando 2”.

A group of Thrush is called a Mutation.

All of Disney’s Aladdin was a story told by the merchant to get us to buy a worthless lamp.