Born 1919: Red Buttons, comedian and Academy Award-winning actor (1957: "Sayonara"), became a star with 1952-55's "The Red Buttons Show" on television. Also, a fixture at celebrity roasts with his "Never Got a Dinner" rants.

1927: "The General," Buster Keaton's Civil War comedy was released at the movies.

1929: Making its debut on the funny pages: Jimmy Hatlo's "They'll Do It Every Time."

1936: The final appearance of Charlie Chaplin's Tramp character premiered in "Modern Times," essentially a silent film with orchestrated soundtrack. Chaplin spoke on screen for the first time, but only in a short bit of gibberish.

1942: Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn in their first comedy together, "Woman of the Year," premiered at New York's Radio City Music Hall.

Born 1948: Christopher Guest, actor, writer, and film director, best recalled for his movies "This Is Spinal Tap" (1984), "Waiting for Guffman," (1996), and "Best in Show" (2000). He was also a regular cast member on "Saturday Night Live" (1984-85).

1948: Hollywood production began on "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein."

1953: Opening in theatres: Walt Disney's "Peter Pan."

Born 1961: Tim Meadows, one of the longest-running performers on TV's "Saturday Night Live" (1991-2000), where he was best known as The Ladies' Man, a character spun-off into a feature movie (2000).

1967: "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" began its controversial broadcasts on CBS-TV.

1969: "Turn-On," a black-out comedy show in the vein of "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In," debuted on ABC and was cancelled the same evening, considered too risqué for television.

1973: The comic strip "Hagar The Horrible" appeared for the first time in newspapers.

Copyright ©2003 Mike Durrett. All rights reserved.