If they were still alive...

....today, the following notables would be celebrating their birthday:


Italian operatic composer Ruggero Leoncavallo was born in Naples 154 years ago today.  He can lay claim to having written the very first million-selling record:  "Vesti la giubba" (Put on your costume), from his opera, Pagliacci, sung by Enrico Caruso.  This one act opera (usually paired with another one-acter, Cavalleria Rusticana by Mascagni) is, in fact, one of the most beloved operas of all time.  Here is Franco Corelli (my choice for greatest tenor of all time) singing the aria, in a 1954 Italian television production.  Even if you think you know nothing about opera, you know this aria...guaranteed!:

(Skip to 2:50 in the clip if you'd only like to hear the aria)





Lovable Louise Beavers would be 109 today.  Although she was almost always cast as a "domestic," she somehow invested each performance with great dignity and avoided stereotypical portrayals of blacks in the 1930's.  She ended her career as she started--playing Beulah on the popular 1950's TV show, playing---a maid.


Sultry Claire Trevor would be 101.  She turned in countless memorable performances, perhaps most memorably as the broken-down lush in Key Largo, in which she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, mostly for this very moving scene: (click on this link, which will take you to YouTube) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vh8veUgPt8

The wonderful Lynn Redgrave would be 68, had she not lost her long battle against breast cancer last year.  Usually overshadowed by her domineering older sister, Vanessa, Lynn was a fine actress, and by all accounts, a lovely lady, too.


Alan Hale Jr., forever remembered as "The Skipper" on Gilligan's Island, would be 90.


Gorgeous dancer Cyd Charisse would have turned 90 today, had she not died in 2008.  Remarkably, she looked completely different in just about every film she made!  I'm always struck by that fact.  Always beautiful, but always....different!  How'djadoodat, Cyd?  She's survived by her husband of 60 years, the great Tony Martin, who is alive and well at age 97 and 1/4.  Here's my favorite of her dance numbers---and one of my favorite of Fred Astaire's as well: (click on this link--it will take you to YouTube)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duLFwcsc6Nc