MILESTONES: May 30, birthdays for Cee Lo Green, Idina Menzel, Remy Ma

May 30, 2019 Brooklyn Eagle

Cee Lo Green. Photo by John Salangsang/Invision/AP

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include actor Keir Dullea, who was born in 1936; soccer player Steven Gerrard, who was born in 1980; actor Jared Gilmore, who was born in 2000; singer, rapper and record producer Cee Lo Green, who was born in 1975; singer Wynonna Judd, who was born in 1964; actor Ted McGinley, who was born in 1958; actor Colm Meaney, who was born in 1953; actress and singer Idina Menzel, who was born in 1971; actor Michael J. Pollard, who was born in 1939; former baseball player Manny Ramirez, who was born in 1972; Hall of Fame football player Gale Sayers, who was born in 1943; rapper Remy Ma, who was born in 1980; and actor Stephen Tobolowsky, who was born in 1951.

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CARL FABERGE WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1846. The goldsmith, designer and jeweler made the House of Fabergé an internationally known name with fantastical bejeweled decorative objects. His workshop began creating the famous imperial Easter eggs for Czars Alexander III and Nicholas II in 1885. After the Russian Revolution, the Bolsheviks shut down the House of Fabergé, and the family fled the country. Fabergé died in France in 1920.

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BENNY GOODMAN WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1909. Known as the “King of Swing,” the jazz clarinetist and bandleader reigned in popularity, especially in the 1930s and 1940s. His band was the first to play jazz at New York’s Carnegie Hall. Goodman died in 1986 in New York.

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TODAY IS THE CHINESE DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL. An important Chinese observance, the Dragon Boat Festival commemorates a hero of ancient China, poet Qu Yuan, who drowned himself in protest against injustice and corruption. It is said that rice dumplings were cast into the water to lure fish away from the body of the martyr, and this is remembered by the eating of zhong zi, glutinous rice dumplings filled with meat and wrapped in bamboo leaves. Traditionally, dragon boat races are held on rivers.

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MEL BLANC WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1908. Although he performed more than 400 voices in his career, the voice actor is best remembered for “Looney Tunes” and “Merrie Melodies,” in which he performed the voices of Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Porky Pig, Sylvester, Tweetie Pie and Road Runner. Blanc died in 1989 in California. His gravestone reads, “That’s All, Folks.”

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COUNTEE CULLEN WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1903. As one of the leading writers of the Harlem Renaissance, he wrote poetry, novels, plays and children’s books. Cullen died in New York in 1946.

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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.

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“We shall not always plant while others reap.” — poet Countee Cullen, who was born on this day in 1903