Oct 26-Pumpkins, Mahalia Jackson, Pat Sajak, Natalie Merchant, Keith Urban, Gunfight at OK Corral

0:19 Hi everyone, I am Jeff and welcome to History and Factoids About Today presented by Cool Media. Today is August the 26th. Big round pumpkin lying on the ground. Little fat pumpkins, orange and brown. Pumpkin on the vine, looking so fine. Gonna take you home, it's Halloween time. Pumpkin on the vine, looking so fine. Gonna take you home, it's Halloween time. Today is National Pumpkin Day. With Halloween only a couple days away, perfect day to celebrate the pumpkin. Now pumpkins, they're more than just that jack-o'-lantern you throw away when you're done with Halloween. Pumpkins are really healthy for you.

0:59 They're high in antioxidants, fiber, potassium, vitamin C. Pumpkins are actually a fruit. Yeah, they're part of the squash family. Yeah, squash are fruit. Pumpkins, they are native to North America. Now, today, just enjoy carving your pumpkin and make sure you bake those pumpkin seeds. Yeah, they'll probably be the healthiest thing you eat all Halloween. All right. Let's see what happened on October 26th. Let's go back to your 1994. Top album was Monster by R.E.M. Boyz II Men has it in one song with I'll Make Love to You. I will do. Anything Girl, you need only I'll make love to you Like you want. Me to.

1:48 Alan Jackson had the number one country song with Living on Love. Just like an old-fashioned storybook rhyme, living on love. It sounds simple. That's what you're thinking. Love can walk through fire without blinking. It doesn't take much when you get enough. Living on love. The number one selling book was Insomnia by Stephen King. Top movie was Stargate. An Egyptologist. He is brought in to figure out what's going on with this ancient portal. Stars Kurt Russell, James Spader, and Jay Davidson. Okay, what happened on October the 26th? 1825, the Erie Canal opened up.

2:34 It connected the Hudson River and Lake Erie. It still does. 1881, the most famous gunfight in the Wild West took place in Tombstone, Arizona at the O.K. Corral. The Earp brothers and Doc Holliday, they went at it with the Clayton and the McCleary brothers and Billy Claiborne. Now, the shooting only lasted 30 seconds. Tom and Frank McCleary and Billy Claiborne were all killed. Now, no one knows for sure who fired that very first shot that started the whole thing, but the Earps were charged for murder, but they got off. Let's just say that no one and none of those participants were any good guys. The OK Corral, it was actually the old Kindersley Corral, but once it became a big tourist attraction in Tombstone, yeah, they shortened it to OK Corral. 1918 in Britain, Cecil Chubb, he gave the prehistoric monument Stonehenge to the British people. Yeah, he told them they could do with it what they want. See, he'd actually bought Stonehenge at an auction for 6,600 pounds as a gift for his wife. Well, his wife, she wasn't impressed at all. She didn't want anything to do with that damn thing. No, she said, get rid of that bloody damn thing. Well, he couldn't find anyone to buy it from him, so he just donated it to the British nation. Now, 6,600 pounds in 1918, that would be $ 135, 000 today. So she was pissed about receiving $ 135, 000 present.

3:45 I think I would have kept the rocks and get rid of her. Baseball in 1934. The Washington Senators manager, Joe Cronin. Now he was on his honeymoon with his new wife, Mildred. Now Mildred, she was also the daughter of Clark Griffith, who owned the Washington Senators. Well, they found out that her father had sold jewelry to the Boston Red Sox. 1972, the Park Service started giving tours of the former prison Alcatraz. It was closed in 1963. In 2018, Catholics around the world celebrated. Woo-hoo! Singer Sinead O'Connor, she announced she had converted to Islam.

4:33 Let's see who was born on October the 26th. Mahalia Jackson. She was one of the greatest, if not the greatest, gospel singer of all time. Mahala, she was born in New Orleans in 1911. She sold over 22 million records, which was big nowadays for gospel music, so it was huge for gospel records during her lifetime. That song we played, I Will Move On Up A Little Higher, got it number two on the pop charts in 1948. She sang at John Kennedy's inauguration. She sang at Martin Luther King's funeral.

5:20 Did a bunch of sold-out tours all over Europe. She had two short marriages. She died in 1972 during surgery to remove a bowel obstruction. 60 years old. Yesterday we celebrated Minnie Pearl's birthday. Minnie Pearl and Mahalia, yep, they owned a chain of chicken restaurants together. Actor Bob Hoskins, he was born in Bury St. Edwards, England in 1942. He played the band manager in Pink Floyd's movie The Wall. And he's in Mona Lisa, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Mario Brothers. He had two children from his first wife. Second wife he married in 1982 and they had two children. Bobby died in 2014 from pneumonia. Once upon a time, there were three little girls who went to the police academy. And they were each assigned very hazardous duties. But I took them away from all that, and now they work for me. My name is Charlie.

6:23 Now, if you want to talk about aging, well, 81-year-old actress Jacqueline Smith. She was born in Houston, Texas in 1945. Started out studying to be a ballerina. Found out that modeling paid a lot better. Then she hit huge on TV's Charlie's Angels. She made a whole bunch of TV movies over the years. She's been a very, very successful business owner. Yeah, she has her own fashion line, her own line of home apparel. Now, on The Simpsons, they even had an episode where they made fun of her business success. So I guess you know you made it then. She had two children from her third husband. She married her fourth husband in 1997. Now, if that doesn't sound familiar, that was from the 1980s. Pat Sajak is 80. He was born in Chicago. He was a radio DJ. Then he got drafted in the Army and sent to Vietnam.

7:23 Then he ended up following Adrian Konauer. Yeah, Adrian Konauer, he is the DJ that Robin Williams played in the movie Good Morning Vietnam. So when Adrian came home, Pat, he took his spot on Armed Forces Radio Vietnam. Then when Pat came home, he went back to work as a DJ. Then he got a job as a TV weatherman. Merv Griffin's son, yeah, gave him the job of hosting Wheel of Fortune in 1981. Yeah, he just retired not too long ago. Patty's been married to a second wife since 1989, and they have two children. Actress Rita Wilson was born in Los Angeles. She's 70 today. Her first acting job was 1972. Yeah, she had a guest appearance on The Brady Bunch. She was going against Marsha for head cheerleader. Summer read his movies, Volunteers, That Thing You Do, Runaway Bride, Jingle All the Way. She married actor Tom Hanks in 1988, and they have two sons. Actor Dylan McDermott is 65. He was born in Waterbury, Connecticut. His first acting job was in the movie Hamburger Hill, and he's in Twister, Steel Magnolia, The Cowboy Way. Biggest success has been TV. He started on The Practice, an American horror story, been doing FBI Most Wanted since 2022. He got married once for 14 years, and they have two daughters from it.

8:31 Can't hurt you now. Because the night belongs to lovers. Because the night belongs to us. That was Natalie Merchant singing for 10,000 Maniacs. She's 63. She was born in Jamestown, New York. She joined 10,000 Maniacs in 1981. Now, she joined just to be a backup singer. Ended up singing lead on their first seven albums. Yeah, she sang the hits Like the Weather, What's the Matter Here, Because of the Night. She went solo in 93. It's her least nine solo albums since. She married once for 10 years, then they had a daughter. Natalie, she spends a lot of her time nowadays teaching arts and crafts to underprivileged kids out there in New York. Now, you can see some of her own paintings. She displays them pretty good on her website. Country singer Keith Urban is born in Wangare, New Zealand. He's 59. Moved his family to Australia when he was two. Then he moved himself to Nashville in 1992. He did some songwriting. He played guitar on a lot of other artists' records. Finally got his first album, released it in 1999. All nine of

10:04 his albums have gone platinum. He just released his tenth one not too long ago. Some of his 22 number one songs are Better Life, Somebody Like You, You Look Good in My Shirt, Sweet Thing. Married actress Nicole Kidman in 2006, and they have two daughters. They just divorced earlier this year. Yeah, apparently if your wife's really pretty and she makes more than you, you probably shouldn't cheat on her, Keith. Keith, he had a lot of trouble with alcohol and cocaine over the years. Finally got sober for Nicole, so he's been clean since 2007. What a. Day this has been. What a rare mood I'm in. Why, it's almost like being in love.

10:55 Animator, actor, singer, writer, producer. Seth MacFarlane, he's 53. He was born in Kent, Connecticut. Started out as an animator for Hanna-Barbera. He went out on his own and hit big on TV. The Family Guy, American Dad, The Cleveland Show. He created a TV show that wasn't animated. It was The Orville. Then he's done the movies, the Ted's movies, both of them. A Million Ways to Die in the West. He hasn't married yet. Actor John Iter, he was born in Fort Collins, Colorado. He grew up in Oregon. He's 49 today. He had big starring in the movie Napoleon Dynamite, then The Binge Warmers, Blades of Glory, Mama's Boy. Done a lot of voice work. Met his wife when they were both going to Brigham Young University. They graduated and got married in 2002. Now they have four kids. Let's go back to Halloween. Now, there are either three or four full moons on Halloween every century. Well, thank you for listening today. We appreciate you coming. Now, don't forget to follow us on whoever you're listening to us on.

11:51 It comes here at coolmedia.com. That's cool with three O's. Let's end with actress Hattie McDowell. She died today in 1952 at 59 years old. She said, I did my best and God did the rest. I get asked quite often, people asking, how do we put a request in for you? Well, all you have to do is ask. That's pretty much it. There's plenty. Country Underground Radio or coolmedia.com or even on the show notes, just type in, hey, I want to hear this song. That's what Abby did. She's from Austin. She wants to hear the Mustang Red song, Hill Country Queen. You guys have an awesome day. We'll talk tomorrow. He said I may not be George Strait. And I may not.

12:31 Be Zach Top But I'll take you straight To the top of the tallest hill in Wimberley I may not be Garth Brooks. And I may not be Riley Day. crystal brooks till we hear green hall through the trees. We may never take a trip to paris france and i may not even be.

13:12 The right guy for this dance. I may never take you to a california beach but the banks of the river always. Suit We'll get. Us down to those willow trees. No, I don't have no money for a big wedding ring. But if you'll give me a chance, I'll make you a hill country queen. I said, boy, that sounds like heaven to me. I've never been about material things. Wherever you are is where I want to be. Yeah, I choose Texas any day of the week because I'm so addicted. Paris, France, and you look.

14:18 Like the right guy for this dance and i never cared for that california beach but. The banks of the river always suited me and i don't want a. Cadillac fit for a queen but your truck will. Get us down to those willow trees now money or a big wedding ring. Yeah, I'll give you a chance. I'll be your hill country queen.