NOVEMBER 8 — 1994 Sonny Bono elected to Congress; 1972 HBO is founded; 1789 Elijah Craig distills bourbon whiskey; SPORT: 192 NBA Kings beat lakers for 1st time in L.A. since ’72, CY YOUNG: 2005 Bartolo Colon, 1961 Whitey Ford, MVP: 1998 Sammy Sosa, 1991 Cal Ripkin, 1983 Dale Murphey, 1966 Frank Robinson, 1961 Yogi Berra
NOVEMBER 8
1994 – Sonny Bono gets elected to the US Congress.
…From Detroit Michigan, Sonny Bono was a second generation immigrant from Sicily who tried odd jobs young in life, such as a waiter, truck driver, and construction worker, before making it to the music business. He met Cherilyn Sarkisian, but just call her Cher, and they struck it big with I Got you Babe and a couple songs. They got married, did a TV show together in 1971 where their little girl Chastity appeared, and got divorced. We all know what happened next: her career was a huge success and his wasn’t. Fortunately or Sonny he quit his day job and got into the restaurant business. But he grew weary of the bureaucratic mess he was always running into with local officials for his construction projects, he turned to politics and was elected mayor of Palm Springs.
No Beavus and Butthead, he was not a cop in San Diego. He served from 1988-1992. He unsuccessfully ran for Senate after that, but two years later, on November 8, 1994, Sonny Bono would be elected to Congress as a Representative from California’s 44th Congressional District. Just to switch gears for a moment, in 1994, the Republicans won control in both the House of Representatives and the Senate in midterm congressional elections for the first time in 40 years. Newt Gingrich and the GOP had a 10-point Contract with America, or as the left called it, a contract On America. It was designed to cut taxes, balance the budget, and dismantle a host of welfare programs enacted and expanded during 40 years of democratic rule. What became known as the Republican Revolution, every bill in the Contract with America was passed within the first 100 days of the 104th Congress; the only exception was a term-limits constitutional amendment. But getting back to Sonny.
He turned out to be a great politician. President Bill Clinton said about him, His joyful entertainment of millions earned him celebrity, but in Washington he earned respect by being a witty and wise participant in policymaking processes that often seem ponderous to the American people. Sonny would die in a skiing accident in 1997, but his wife Mary would be elected to, and serve on, his seat. Mary Bono would then sever California’s 45th district until 2013.
1924 – Harvey Hubbell receives the first US patent for an electric attachment plug. The actual power plugs, yes, Harvey’s design.
1972 – HBO is founded.
Originally called the Green Channel, it was started by Charles Dolan, who had experience in closed circuit cable TV in New York. Investors through Time Life, now Time Warner, persuaded Dolan to change the name to Home Box Office to give it more of a movie cinematic experience viewers can enjoy at home. It had 300 subscribers in the northeastern Pennsylvania area its first day. The first movie before it started showing live sporting events was sometimes a Great Nation featuring Henry Fonda and Paul Newman.
Their first live event regrettably was a 1973 Pennsylvania Polka Festival. Bad move. Several big movie studios began to take notice of the 12 million subscribers to HBO and grew concerned HBO was cutting into their market share, so they created Showtime and The Movie Channel. In 1986 HBO angered dish subscribers by scrambling their signals, and a dish dealer named John Macdougall hacked HBO’s services and interrupted an episode of Falcon and the Snowman for a picture that said $12.95/month? No Way! Macdougall would have to pay a $5000 fine. The Sopranos would be the first show to win an Emmy.
Thanks to huge hits like Game of Thrones and Broadway Empire, HBO has received the most Primetime Emmy Award nominations for a network in a single year which would be 126 in 2015.
1910 – William Frost patents the bug zapper, except he called it an insect destroyer which sounds so much more ominous.
1789 – Elijah Craig distills bourbon whiskey from corn. There are several claims to this yummy American liquor, but whether the name came from Bourbon street in New Orleans or Bourbon in Kentucky, Craig gets most of the credit. He was a middle of the road Baptist preacher who went west from Virginia to present day Kentucky to escape religious persecution from other hardliner Baptists.
1992 – Sacramento Kings beat the LA Lakers in Los Angeles, first win there since 1974 after 43 straight losses. In Baseball news,
Cy Young awards go to Bartolo Colon in 2005, and Whitey Ford in 1961.
MVPs go out to Sammy Sosa 1998, Cal Ripken Jr. 1991, Dale Murphy of Atlanta for the second year in a row in 1983, Frank Robinson of the Orioles in 1966 , and Yogi Berra in 1951.