1918 David Belasco produces and directs Tiger! Tiger!, by Edward Knoblock. The play, with a cast that includes Wallace Erskine, Dorothy Cumming and Lionel Atwill, runs 183 performances.

1931 Actor Fritz Tiden dies at age 54. He appeared in When We Were Twenty-One; Sherlock Holmes with William Gillette, and 100 Years Old with Otis Skinner.

1950 Lerner and Loewe ask all to Paint Your Wagon. The show, based on Bret Harte's "Millionaire of Rough and Ready," paints the town for nine months. Holding the brushes are James Barton and Olga San Juan, with choreography by Agnes de Mille.

1967 Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway head a black cast in tonight1s opening of a revamped version of Hello, Dolly! at the St. James Theatre. After the curtain call, Carol Channing, who has been in the audience, is invited on stage by Pearl Bailey to sing the title song. The show has been running since January 1964 and will rack up a total of 2,844 performances.

1971 Rudolf Friml, pianist and composer of The Firefly, Rose Marie and The Vagabond King dies at the age of 93. 1989 Tommy Tune directs and choreographs Grand Hotel: The Musical which opens tonight at the Martin Beck Theatre, based on the early thirties play and film. The score is by Robert Wright, George Forrest and Maury Yeston, but the emphasis is on staging and spectacle. The show will run 1,018 performances.

? by Sam Maher, Steve Luber and Anne Bradley