JANUARY 22 — 1973 Roe Vs. Wade; 1994 Irving Kahn (cable guru) passes away; 1951 Carl Nelson takes a try at The Perm; 2019 Black Panther becomes first superhero movie to be nominated for Oscar
JANUARY 22
1973 – Roe v Wade.
Need I really say that this is one of the most controversial issues a politician can deal with. Because of Roe v Wade, women, as part of their constitutional right to privacy, can terminate a pregnancy during its first two trimesters. The third trimester would be up to individual states as far as how to regulate abortion laws.
The debate began in Texas which outlawed all types of abortion unless the doctor determined the mother’s life was in danger. The anonymous Jane Roe challenged this notion and took it all the way up to the Supreme Court. Once the decision was made in favor of Roe, women groups everywhere were ecstatic. But then the Roman Catholic Church stepped in. Those who believe that life begins at conception argue that this is murder. The Pro-choice group argues that women should have control over their own bodies. But wait! It maybe the women’s body, but that’s the man’s seed inside that womb, an argument I never hear about for some reason. Is it because possession is 9/10ths of the law?
Planned Parenthood has been at the center of this battle, offering safe and inexpensive abortions. Protestors have picketed, even on occasion bombed a Planned Parenthood center. In In 2015 Planned Parenthood was found to be riddled with scandals regarding child sexual abuse, deceptive counseling, sex-trafficking, sex-selection abortion, racism, etc etc. The debate rages on to this day.
1994 – Irving B. Kahn passes away.
He founded the TelePrompTer Corporation and cable TV. He had a great career except for the time he had to serve 20 months after trying to bribe members of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania city council to award his company a local cable franchise, then convicted of perjury.
1951 — Karl Nellser, who fled to New Jersey from Germany during the outbreak of WWI; invented the perm. However, by the time he got to the States the curling iron was already in use.
2010 Conan O’Brien makes his final appearance as the Tonight Show host. The Tonight Show started in1954, hosted by Jack Paar, and Steve Allen, then later Johnny Carson starting in 1962. Jay Leno took over in 1992, and in September 27 2004 NBC announced that O’Brien would be taking over Leno’s spot starting in 2009. O’Brien already had his own late night TV show. So he moved his staff from New York to LA to start hosting the Tonight Show beginning June 1, 2009. Leno started his own show, which had unfavorable ratings. It didn’t help that O‘Brien’s takeover of the Tonight Show was dipping in ratings as well.
NBC really screwed it up by rearranging the lineup: Leno would have a half hour show starting at 11:35 pm while The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien would move to 12:05. As O’Brien pointed out; the Tonight Show at 12:095 simply isn’t the Tonight Show. There were protests, and on January 21 O’Brien made a deal with NBC to walk away from the show and get paid $30Million. There’s more on this in Bill Carter’s book The War for Late Night: When Leno Went Early and Television Went Crazy.