A little bit Country, a little bit Rock & Roll...
A show even your mother could love, debuted on this date in 1976 when 18-year old Donny Osmond and 16-year old sister Marie took the stage for their first prime-time series, the "Donny & Marie Show" on ABC-TV. It was Fred Silverman, then president of the ABC-TV network that watched the pair co-host a week of "The Mike Douglas Show" in 1975 and became so impressed he signed Donny & Marie to their own variety series...
While there were numerous skits, sight gags and guests, the like of Bob Hope, Milton Berle, Kris Kristofferson, Andy Gibb, Paul Lynde and Ruth Buzzi, one of the most popular segments of the show was the song segment which was called "A little bit country, a little bit rock & roll". Marie was "country", Donny was "rock & roll". Comedy was another essential ingredient to the show's success as the pair would try to confuse each other and play their version of Sonny & Cher. It all worked somehow as "Donny & Marie" became one of the most popular variety shows of the 70s. In January of 1979 the show would move to Sunday night when it was retitled "The Osmond Family Show". It would end May 6, 1979...
Donny & Marie would return to TV as hosts of the syndicated "Donny & Marie" talk show on September 21, 1998. The one-hour talk show would last 2 years before production costs put an end to it. There would be family reunion shows, depression, books and breakups but through it all, Donny & Marie would always resurface. To paraphrase the title of their recent double-video compilation, "The best of Donny & Marie", that's exactly what they gave us when they debuted with their variety show 30 years ago today...
More January 16 Memories...
1896) The 1st 5-player college basketball game is played at Iowa City, IA...
1920) Prohibition (banning alcohol) goes into effect in the U.S. (bathtub gin is born)...
1939) The comic strip version of "Superman" debuts...
1957) Little Richard records "Lucille"...
1961) Mickey Mantle signs a contract making him the highest paid player in the American League at $75,000 for the 1961 season (that amount will be surmounted many times over)...
1964) "Hello Dolly!" starring Carol Channing opens on Broadway...
1965) "Outer Limits" bows out on ABC-TV after 2 years...
1970) Curt Flood files a civil lawsuit challenging baseball's reserve clause...
1972) The Dallas Cowboys win their 1st Super Bowl 24-3 as they dominate the Miami Dolphins in New Orleans...
1973) "Bonanza" airs its last episode (the show started on September 12, 1959)...
1974) Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame...
1974) "Jaws" by Peter Benchley is published and quickly becomes a best seller...
1976) The TV show "Donny & Marie" premieres on ABC-TV (feature story)...
1976) The LP "Frampton Comes Alive" is released...
1979) Cher and Greg Allman are divorced...
1988) CBS-TV fires Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder one day after his comment that during slavery, blacks had been bred to produce stronger offspring...
1991) The White House announces the start of Operation Desert Storm, designed to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait...
1996) Jamaican authorities fire upon Jimmy Buffett's seaplane, mistaking it for a drug trafficker's plane. Neither Buffett nor U2s Bono, also aboard, are hurt...
1997) Bill Cosby's only son, Ennis, 27, is shot to death while changing a flat tire on a dark road in Los Angeles...
1998) Federal judges secretly grant Kenneth Starr authority to probe whether President Clinton or Vernon Jordan urged Monica Lewinsky to lie about her relationship with Clinton...
2005) The Patriots beat the Colts 20-3 to win the AFC divisional playoffs (they will play and beat Pittsburgh in the championship game one week later)...
To ensure accuracy, multiple reference sources were used in the timeline...
Happy Birthday To...
1934) Opera singer Marilyn Horne...
1935) Race driver A. J. Foyt...
1942) Barbara Lynn...
1944) Jim Stafford...
1948) Movie director John Carpenter...
1950) Debbie Allen...
1959) Sade (Adu)...
1974) Kate Moss...
Commentary...
Martin Luther King, Jr. would have been 77 yesterday and today we honor his memory. King told us that "a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus". We'll leave you with 2 more quotes from the eloquent leader: "A man who won't die for something is not fit to live" and "Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that"...
Today is the 16th day of 2006 and there are 349 days left in the year. 63 days remain until the Spring, 31 days until pitchers and catchers...
