July 13th Birthdays

1821 Nathan Bedford Forrest -Tennessee, brilliant cavalry leader, Lt Gen

Everybody agrees that CSA General Nathan Bedford Forrest was a brilliant strategist and a brave man. Whether he was a hateful racist or not is debatable.

 

1913 Dave Garroway - Schnectady NY, TV host (Today Show)

Dave Garroway was the first TODAY SHOW host. He co-anchored it with chimpanzee J. Fred Muggs. I think Garroway fitted the spot perfectly and J. Fred didn’t do bad either. Dave Garroway took his own life. I don’t know why he committed suicide but being upstaged by a primate probably didn’t help.



 

1942 Harrison Ford actor (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Frantic).

Man! Harrison Ford has starred in some great movies. If I was 65 years younger I would imagine myself in whatever role Harrison Ford played in just after I saw the movie. I’m one year older than he is, where did the time go?

 

1946 Richard "Cheech" Marin comedian (Cheech & Chong).

Cheech and Chong have made some hilarious movies about not giving a hoot about authoritarian figures, the same as the Marx Brothers did – anarchism at its funniest. Richard Marin metamorphosed himself out of Cheech and is now an established fine-art collector and dealer.