Serving Whitman County since 1877

MOMENTS IN TIME - Nov. 25, 2010

The History Channel

* On Nov. 30, 1886, the Folies Bergre in Paris introduces an elaborate revue featuring women in sensational costumes. The theater spared no expense, staging revues that featured as many as 40 sets. Among other long traditions, the show's title always contains 13 letters and includes the word "Folie."

* On Dec. 5, 1933, the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified, repealing the 18th Amendment and bringing an end to the national prohibition of alcohol. Mississippi, the last dry state in the Union, ended Prohibition in 1966.

* On Dec. 4, 1945, in an overwhelming vote of 65 to 7, the U.S. Senate approves full U.S. participation in the United Nations. Some senators proposed a resolution designed to force the president to receive congressional consent before approving U.S. troops for any U.N. peacekeeping forces. The resolution was defeated.

* On Dec. 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Ala., Rosa Parks is jailed for refusing to give up her seat on a public bus to a white man, a violation of the city's racial segregation laws. Parks' refusal was not merely brought on by her tired feet, as is the popular legend. Local civil-rights leaders had been planning a challenge to Montgomery's racist bus laws for several months.

* On Dec. 3, 1967, 53-year-old Lewis Washkansky receives the first human heart transplant in Cape Town, South Africa. After surgery, he was given drugs to suppress his immune system and keep his body from rejecting the heart. He died 18 days later from double pneumonia.

* On Dec. 2, 1972, the Temptations earn the last of their four chart-topping hits when "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" reaches No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Earlier hits by producer-songwriter Smokey Robinson were "The Way You Do the Things You Do" (1964) and "My Girl" (1965).

* On Nov. 29, 1981, actress Natalie Wood, who starred in such movies as "Rebel Without a Cause" and "West Side Story," drowns in a boating accident near California's Catalina Island. It was believed she somehow slipped overboard while untying a dinghy attached to the boat.

(c) 2010 King Features Synd., Inc.

 

Reader Comments(0)