Happy Gay Day, Marcia Marcia Marcia Edition

TODAY IN HISTORY (April 29): 1813 - Rubber was patented by J.F. Hummel.  (Always wear a raincoat!) 1852 - The first edition of Peter Roget's Thesaurus was published. 1945 - The German Army in Italy surrendered unconditionally to the Allies. 1945 - American soldiers liberated the Dachau concentration camp. 1945 - In a bunker in Berlin, Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun were married. Hitler designated Admiral Karl Doenitz his successor. 1968 - Hair made its way from Greenwich Village to to the Biltmore Theatre on Broadway. The show certainly opened eyes. It was the first time that actors appeared nude in a Broadway musical. 1974 - U.S. President Nixon announced he was releasing edited transcripts of secretly made White House tape recordings related to the Watergate scandal. 1975 - The U.S. embassy in Vietnam was evacuated as North Vietnamese forces fought their way into Saigon. 1977 - Florida governor Reubin Askew urged Miami voters to repeal the new gay rights ordinance. 1980 - Speaking to 200,000 at a rally for Jesus in Washington, Pat Robertson stated that "only God Almighty is qualified to govern the affairs of man. The Congress and the President are second to us." (Us? My, someone has a high opinion of himself.) 1980 - Film director Alfred Hitchcock died at age of 80. 1986 - Pitcher Roger Clemens set a major league baseball record by striking out 20 Seattle Mariners in a regular nine-inning game. He repeated his feat in 1996. 1987 - Dallas City Council rejected the appointment of Michael Milliken, a gay man, to the Cable Access of Dallas Board after a board member questioned the moral implications of approving a gay man for the position. 1990 - The destruction of the Berlin Wall began. 1992 - A Los Angeles jury acquitted four police officers accused of beating Rodney King, which led to massive rioting and looting. 1996 - Thomas Zaremba filed a palimony suit against pianist Van Cliburn, claiming the pair had been lovers for 17 years until their relationship ended in 1994. 1997 - The first joint U.S.-Russian space walk was made by Jerry Linenger and Vasily Tsibliyev from space station Mir. 1998 - Afghanistan's Taliban militia brutally beat two soldiers who had been accused of homosexuality. Law required those convicted of sodomy to be executed by having a stone wall pushed on top of them. Born on this day: 1863 - William Randolph Hearst 1899 - Duke Ellington 1901 - Hirohito 1909 - Tom Ewell 1919 - Celeste Holm 1922 - George Allen (the football coach, not his senator son) 1932 - Gore Vidal 1933 - Singer Rod McKuen, Oakland, California. His sugary "new age" songs made him a celebrity in the late 60s. He once told an interviewer "I have had sex with men. Does that make me gay?" 1936 - Zubin Mehta 1951 - Dale Earnhardt 1954 - Jerry Seinfeld 1955 - Kate Mulgrew 1957 - Daniel Day-Lewis 1957 - Michelle Pfeiffer 1958 - Eve Plumb 1968 - Carnie Wilson 1970 - Andre Agassi 1970 - Master P 1970 - Uma Thurman