Today in History, 12/19

1732: Ben Franklin begins publishing Poor Richard's Almanac.
1777: The Continental Army goes into winter quarters in Valley Forge, PA.
1843: A Christmas Carol is first published.
1894: Ford Frick, the third commissioner of baseball is born.
1907: A coal mine explosion in Jacobs Creek, PA kills 239 workers.
1918: Professor Longhair, bluesman is born.
1940: Phil Ochs, folk singer is born.
1941: Adolf Hitler becomes Supreme Commander of the German Army.
1941: Maurice White, frontman for Earth, Wind & Fire is born.
1946: Robert Urich is born.

1848: Emily Bronte is born.
1949: Nancy Keyes is born. She played the hapless babysitter in Halloween.
1960: Mike Lookinland is born. He played Bobby Brady on The Brady Bunch.
1963: Jennifer Beals is born. Everyone remembers her from Flashdance, but I was always partial to The Bride.
1969: Kristy Swanson is born. She played Buffy in the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer and had a small but memorable role in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
1972: The last manned lunar flight, Apollo 17, returns to Earth.
1972: Alyssa Milano is born. A fabulous babe who knows baseball and once punched Tony Danza in the face. My kind of gal!
1986: V.C. Andrews dies. She wrote the terrible teen potboiler Flowers in the Attic. Interestingly, Kristy Swanson starred in the terrible movie adaptation.
1997: Titanic premieres.
1999: Desmond Llewelyn dies. He played Q in the James Bond movies.
2003: Hope Lange dies. She played the ill-fated wife of Charles Bronson in Death Wish.