If they were still alive...

...today, the following notables would be celebrating their birthday (it's only a small party today):


Brooding, sensitive British leading man Alan Bates would be 77.






















Australian Wagnerian soprano, Marjorie Lawrence, would be 104. She was a noted soprano worldwide and at The Metropolitan Opera until she was stricken with polio in 1941.  She continued her career while seated on stage and was widely admired for her fortitude.  Her autobiography, Interrupted Melody, was filmed in 1955, with Eleanor Parker playing her.  She died in Hot Springs, Arkansas in 1979.

Wayne Morris would be 97.  Handsome, sunny, youthful Warner Brothers leading man of the 1930's.  Reportedly, Ronald Reagan was signed by the studio as a "threat," to keep the demanding Morris in line.  Reagan, in fact, did surpass him, taking his place as the Warner's first choice when casting the "best friend" roles.




Margaret Truman Daniel, 87.  Only child of Harry and Bess Truman, she launched a singing career after her father took office in the White House.  Her singing was widely panned by critics, but the curiosity factor of the "First Daughter"'s career did give her a brief career as a concert singer--and she was even given the cover of Time magazine. Following a performance in December of 1950, the music critic of the Washington Post, Paul Hume, wrote that "..she was extremely attractive on the stage... [but] cannot sing very well. She is flat a good deal of the time".  Her furious father told the press the following day, ""I have never met you, but if I do you'll need a new nose and plenty of beefsteak and perhaps a supporter below."  She later went on to become a successful writer of Washington-based murder mysteries.  I had never heard her sing before coming across this clip of her performing (below).  She sounds amateurish, but not nearly as bad as legend has made her out to be: