Feb. 28: GenX birthdays are Pretty in Pink
Feb. 28 — OTD in GenX history …
Charles Aaron “Bubba” Smith (1945) would’ve turned 76 today. Known to most of us as Moses Hightower from the “Police Academy” franchise, the 6-foot-7, 265-pound Smith also was a fixture in the early days of the Miller Lite All-Stars commercials. The first overall pick in 1967 by the Baltimore Colts, he played defensive end for them, the Raiders, and the Oilers through 1976. He passed away in August 2011 of drug intoxication and had an enlarged heart, as well as signs of CTE.
Gilbert Gottfried (1955), now 66, probably shouldn’t be as funny as he is. He’s loud, obnoxious, and grating. Yet that’s the precise formula that seems to have worked for him. Interestingly, he got his start on TV with SNL in its sixth (1980–81) season, where he did not use that voice and persona. But when he’s on, he can be hilarious. Given that he’s about as well known for voicing Disney characters such as the parrot Iago in “Aladdin” (1992) as he his for absolute filth in his standup acts, some of his popularity may stem from not really knowing what’s going to come out of his mouth. A roast just isn’t a roast without Gottfried, who would’ve held his own in the old Dean Martin Celebrity Roast days.
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The final episode of “M*A*S*H” aired in 1983, bringing “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen” to a record that remains the most sets of eyes ever to watch an episode of a TV show. Build-up to the two-hour finale on CBS was unprecedented, and in those pre-YouTube days, it didn’t re-air in syndication until 1992. Commercials cost $1.1 million in today’s dollars, more than the Super Bowl at the time. The episode checked a lot of boxes, incorporating relationships built and lost, the yin/yang of violence and repair, and the psychological tolls of war. And with Hawkeye’s final lift-off revealing Hunnicutt’s message to him, as well to all who loved the show: “Goodbye.”
“Pretty in Pink” released nationwide OTD in 1986, regaling us with another John Hughes tale of the sheer awkwardness of teenage infatuation. Molly Ringwald and Jon Cryer lead the “good guys” against he snobby “bad guys” of Andrew McCarthy and James Spader. It made $40 million on a $9 million budget.
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He may have been the voice of our parents’ generation, but Paul Harvey was a fixture in ours as well until his death OTD in 2009. His “News and Comment” aired mornings and mid-days during the week and at noon on Saturdays from 1951 to 2008. And he may be best known for his “Rest of the Story” segments that didn’t reveal the subject’s name until after he’d given you the background you hadn’t known.
The Waco Seige began OTD in 1993. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms faced a standoff with David Koresh and his Branch Davidian cult at a compound near Waco, Texas. The feds were on hand to serve search warrants related to weapons charges, but Koresh and his cronies would not go quietly. Shots were exchanged, killing both federal agents and Davidians. The standoff ended when the feds rolled in on April 19. A fire erupted, never conclusive whether it was started by federal incendiary devices or by Davidians within, ultimately killing 76 Davidians.
The Kosovo War began OTD in 1998. The splintering of Yugoslavia pitted forces from Serbia and Montenegro against those of the Kosovo Liberation Army, which had formed in the early ’90s to fight what it said was persecution of Kosovar Albanians. The KLA also got air support from NATO in the conflict, which raged until June 11, 1999. Long story short, Yugoslav forces withdrew from Kosovo, and Albanians refugees returned there.
