1886 Future stage actress and second wife of Florenz Ziegfeld, Billie Burke is born today in Washington, D.C. Born Mary William Ethelbert Appleton, Burke spent her childhood in England, where her father was a popular clown performer. For this reason, most of Burke's early stage successes were in London, not New York. In fact, Burke only appeared in one American musical, 1924's Annie Dear, produced by her husband. Other New York stage appearances included Jerry, The Intimate Strangers, and Rose Briar. In the 1930s Burke would lend her name as a producer to many editions of her husband's Follies and make some film appearances. Burke is best-preserved on film as Glinda, the Good Witch in "The Wizard of Oz."

1947 Today's Variety announces that John Garfield will star in the premiere production of a new Tennessee Williams play, titled A Streetcar Named Desire. As history will have it, however, contractual demands rule him out, only to be replaced by a little-known newcomer, Marlon Brando.

1999 Chicago City Limits, a Chicago-born but New York-based improv troupe, present their Y2K, You're OK at the Chicago City Limits Theatre in Manhattan starting tonight. The group celebrated its 20th year in New York City with this comedy, which recaps the past millennium from the Crusades to the trouble in the Middle East.

2001 The two-person memoir show, If You Ever Leave Me...I'm Going With You! starring Renee Taylor and Joseph Bologna, opens on Broadway at the Cort Theatre. Also on this date, Urinetown begins previews for its Tony-winning Broadway run.

2002 Lyricist Sheldon Harnick, long absent from the stage since his 1960s glory days of Fiorello!, Fiddler on the Roof and The Rothschilds, returns to the stage with a new musical adaptation of Norton Juster's classic children's book, The Phantom Toolbooth, with music by Arnold Black and a book adapted by Juster himself. The world premiere is hosted by Harwich Junior Theatre in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

More of Today's Birthdays: Guthrie McClintic 1893. Lucille Ball 1911. Lois Nettleton 1929.