1907 Actor Ray Middleton is born in Chicago, Illinois. In 1946, he stars opposite Ethel Merman in Annie Get Your Gun, and in 1965, he is featured in Man of La Mancha.
1937 Maxwell Anderson continues his effort to bring back verse plays with his portrait of Emperor Franz Josef of Austria, The Masque of Kings. It runs at the Shubert (and later Majestic) Theatre with Dudley Digges and Henry Hull .
1940 The revue Two for the Show opens at the Booth Theatre with a cast that includes Eve Arden, Alfred Drake, and Betty Hutton.
1947 The Story of Mary Surratt plays at the Henry Miller's Theatre. John Patrick's depiction of the execution of the boarding house-keeper in whose home President Lincoln's assassination was planned stars Dorothy Gish.
1954 The Immoralist stars James Dean as an Arab boy attempting a seductive blackmail. Louis Jourdan and Geraldine Page are the couple he may ensnare. Based on Andre Gide's novel, Ruth and Augustus Goetz's play runs for three months at the Royale Theatre.
1956 Paddy Chayefsky's drama Middle of the Night opens at the ANTA Playhouse. Edward G. Robinson and Gena Rowlands play an older man and younger woman who fall in love. Joshua Logan directs.
1973 Barbara Bel Geddes and Gene Rupert star in Jean Kerr's domestic comedy Finishing Touches, which runs at the Plymouth Theatre.
2007 The Off-Broadway premiere of In The Heights opens at 37 Arts Theatre. The Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegria Hudes' musical stars Mandy Gonzalez, Priscilla Lopez, Andrea Burns, Christopher Jackson, Robin de Jesus, Karen Olivo, and Miranda himself. The show would eventually transfer to Broadway and win the Tony Award for Best Musical.
More of Today's Birthdays: Charles Ruggles (1886–1970). Edith Evans (1888–1976). Myron McCormick (1908–1962). Betty Field (1913–1973). Michael Benthall (1913–1974). George W. George (1920–2007). Jack Lemmon (1925–2001). James Dean (1931–1955). Joe Raposo (1937-1989). Lucy Martin (b. 1942). Robert Klein (b. 1942). Michel Stewart (1945–1997). Bernard Telsey (b. 1960). Sherie Rene Scott (b. 1967). Mary McCormack (b. 1969). Enid Graham (b. 1980).
