Rant #2,523: Light Sings

Today is February 11, the 42nd day of 2020.

On this day, someone was born that we all owe a great amount of debt to, whether we live in the United States, overseas, or even if we are an astronaut in space.

His name is Thomas Alva Edison, and on this date in 1847, he came into this world, and later in his life, changed it and shaped it like few have in their lifetimes.

Among his many inventions were the light bulb and the phonograph, two inventions that certatinly changed the way we viewed things and the way we listened to things.

He was also a businessman, and less known about him was that he was one of the first moviemakers, developing devices that allowed him to capture the moving image on film.

Interestingly enough, he was also one of the first pornographers, capturing the female form on celluloid in the altogether, sensing that there was a need for this type of photography was before Hugh Hefner was even born.

Edison died in 1931, and on a personal note, to prove that my mother seen it all and done it all in her 88 years, she were actually alive when Edison was still with us. My father missed by a month but just think of all the advances we have seen during the past decades that were spawned in some way by Edison's work, everything from radio to television to the very Internet you are reading this Rant on.

Without Edison, there would have been one of this, and when it comes to inventors, he has to come in at the top of the list for his innovative thinking and his brilliance in creating things that we still heavily rely on today.

And without Edison, we would not have ever known about a few other people who claim today as their birthday, somewhat lesser lights but still people who have touched our lives in one way or another.

Actress Eva Gabor was born today, in 1919, and as one of the Gabor sisters, she was, along with sister Zsa Zsa, her own social media empire before that entity really ever existed.

Appearing on every talk show around during her peak period, the engaging Gabor talked about everything and anything, and with her diamonds and pearls and thick Hungarian accent, just about everything she said was funny.

She really made her name in the mid 1960s with the classic TV sitcom "Green Acres," where she played the city socialite who married the country lawyer. Playing off her own often inappropriate used of words and phrases, the show hit it big by creating its own world, where everything right was skewered, and we laughed as her husband--Eddie Albert--tried to work his way through all the ensuing entanglements.

After the show's long run, Gabor continued to be a staple of talk shows, and she passed away in 1995.

Another person who was born today that benefited from Edison's genius was actor Leslie Nielsen, who was born today in 1926.

The good looking Canadian actor made a name for himself in any number of movies and TV show appearances for most of his career, but he really hit it big when he starred in Hollywood spoofs "Airplane" and the short-lived "Police Squad" TV show.

This once straight-laced actor gave straight-faced performances in these vehicles amid the spoofs that they were, and he won an incredibly large fan following because of them.

"Police Squad," in particular, was a failed series that mocked police and detective TV shows like "Dragnet," to the hilt, and even though the original show lasted just a few episodes, producers believed the concept would work well on the big screen, and it did, through a couple of "Naked Gun" film series.

He also appeared in a number of other Hollywood spoof films, including "Repossessed"--which took on films like "The Exorcist"--and he died in November 2010 as the true "King of the Spoofs."

So there you have it.

At your next party, ask this trivia question: "What is the link between Eva Gabor, Leslie Nielsen and Thomas Edison?" I bet few will know that they were all born on the same day.

Pretty incredible when you think about it.