With music and lyrics by Cole Porter (and songs like What a Swell Party This is), the film also featured Louis Armstrong as a jazz musician getting ready for the Newport Jazz Festival, which Crosby’s character is organizing. It was a musical remake of Philadelphia Story, and was the last role for leading lady Grace Kelly before she left Hollywood to become Princess of Monaco, having married Prince Rainier. Starring Bing Crosby and a young Frank Sinatra, it was the first time the pair ever collaborated. Britain announced that Queen Elizabeth II had signed into law the bill passed by Parliament legalizing same-sex marriages in England and Wales (2013)Ħ6 years ago today, the MGM musical comedy High Societywas released.US Air Force pilot Gail Halvorsen first met the suffering, yet appreciative, children of Berlin during the humanitarian airlift and went on to pioneer for them the idea of dropping candy with miniature parachutes, resulting in 23 tons of candy being delivered throughout the blockade (1948).The first electrical air conditioner was switched on by Willis Carrier, the engineer who invented, designed, and built the machine in Buffalo, New York (1912).US President Lincoln signed the first federal law allowing persons of African descent to serve in the U.S.The king was so pleased with Water Music that he ordered it to be repeated at least three times, both on the trip upstream to Chelsea and on the return, until he landed again at Whitehall. On arriving at Chelsea, the king left his barge, then returned to it at about 11 p.m. According to The Courant, “the whole River in a manner was covered” with boats and barges. Many other Londoners also took to the river to hear the concert. Another barge, provided by the City of London, contained about 50 musicians who performed Handel’s music. The rising tide propelled the barge upstream without rowing. King George I and several aristocrats boarded a royal barge at Whitehall Palace, for an excursion up the Thames toward Chelsea. George Frideric Handel (left) with King George I of Great Britain, traveling by barge on the Thames River, by Edouard Jean Conrad Hamman – Public domain.
READ what the papers said 300 years ago… (1717) According to the conductor Sir Thomas Beecham the piece is perfectly suited for an outdoor performance because of the large orchestra, but also by a rather strong influence of monotony. A collection of orchestral movements, often published as three suites, Water Musicwas composed in response to a request from the British monarch King George I who wanted a piece of music to be played on riverboat. 305 years ago today, Water Music by George Frideric Handel premiered literally on the water the River Thames to be precise.