If they were still alive...

...today would be the birthday of these notables:





Giacomo Casanova would be 206.  He was the famed Venetian lothario whose very name has become synonymous with womanizers and "lady-killers".  I dunno...does he look that studly to you?

Eugen Sandow would be 144.  "Sandow the Magnificent" was the first world-famous bodybuilder, touring around the world, giving staged exhibitions in which he would strike poses and enact tableaux-vivants in little more than a fig leaf.  It was pretty heady stuff for the 1890's!

Jack Webb would be 91. He was enormously successful as a writer, producer and actor in the 1950's, with his show Dragnet.  What am I missing here?  Have you ever watched him?  He has absolutely no emotion whatsoever...ever!  A very curious thing, his success...
 
Thomas Jefferson would be 268.  Perhaps the greatest...everything in American history.  Let's see...what don't you know about him already?  Did you know that his wine bill during his first term in office ran to what would equate to $200,000 in today's dollars.  He and fellow former-president, John Adams, both died on July 4, 1826--the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.  Good timing, boys!

Charming, debonair Jack Buchanan would be 120 today.  He was England's greatest song-and-dance man of the 1920's and 30's (and beyond). He was always, it seemed, clad in immaculate white tie and tails, with top hat.  He's best remembered today as Fred Astaire's co-star in the wonderful MGM musical, The Bandwagon (1953).

Buddy Ebsen would be 103.  Though he's known to all as "Jed Clampett" of The Beverly Hillbillies, he was actually a talented singer/dancer in the 1930's.  His greatest almost claim-to-fame came in 1939.  He was cast as "The Tin Man" in The Wizard of Oz.  But the makeup they used (made from aluminum dust) on his skin to replicate tin very nearly killed him.  He was unceremoniously dumped from the film, replaced by Jack Haley, who earned his place in cinema immortality in the role.



Marvin Gaye would be 72.  The troubled Motown singer was one of the most talented performers to emerge from that legendary roster of greats.  His ending was epic in its scale of tragedy:  The drug-addicted Gaye angrily confronted his equally hot-headed father (a minister) at the Hollywood home Marvin had bought for his parents.  In a rage, the father shot his son dead.  Very sad, indeed.  What a voice that guy had.