February 22 boasts a motley crew of historically unique people all born on this day. First of all, recall that a few centuries ago rulers were often known by their given name and some appropriate adjective, like Ivan the Terrible or Homer the Inept. Possibly the weirdest adjective of all is appled to Ladislaus the Posthumous, born February 22, 1440 in the Kingdom of Hungary. He was born after his father died, and thus he was a “posthumous son.” At various times he was Duke of Austria, King of Hungary, King of Croatia and King of Bohemia — and some of those thrones he occupied as a newborn.
Then there’s the Baden-Powells. Robert Baden-Powell was born in 1857 and founded the Boy Scouts. He was the world’s first “chief scout.” And Olave Baden-Powell founded the Girl Guides and was the world’s first “chief guide.” Since she was born 32 years after Robert and was sort of in the same business, it would be natural to assume a father-daughter relationship. But nope, she was his wife. I believe the Boy Scouts have more recently had some issues with other older gentlemen being interested in much younger people…
In 1928, Clarence13X was born in the US. Well actually Clarence Smith was born, he didn’t take the name Clarence13X until later, when he started his own religion. He was initially part of the Nation of Islam, but evidently found some of their rules a bit too strict — like the “no alcohol” one, and the prohibition against gambling. Clarence13X enjoyed those things, so his religion, which he called the Five-Percent Nation, allowed them. They also did away with the strict dress code enforced by the Nation of Islam, and just for good measure, it wasn’t just alcohol that was okay, it was any drugs at all, legal or not. An unusual premise for a religion, but I guess it takes all kinds.
One of those kinds, and also one OF A kind, was Genesis P-Orridge (pronounced “porridge”), who was born February 22, 1950 in Manchester, England. I don’t have the time or space to list all the various weirdnesses of Genesis, but they founded Thee Temple of Psychick Youth, an informal group dedicated to something called “chaos magic” as well as experimental music. And they spent their last decade or so in a partnership with Lady Jaye, working on the Pandrogeny Project. The Pandrogency Project was an attempt to merge two people into a single being (a “pandrogyne”) by both undergoing extensive surgical modification to try to become physically identical.
Marni Nixon was born February 22, 1930 in California. She was an excellent singer, and performed in musical films including The King and I, West Side Story, and My Fair Lady. But you won’t find her listed in the credits of any of them. She was a “ghost singer” who performed the singing parts for the (more) famous actresses in the films — Deborah Kerr, Natalie Wood, and Audrey Hepburn. She dubbed the singing for Marilyn Monroe and other actresses as well, and provided singing voices heard in other films when the singer wasn’t visible (like the angels in the 1943 film Joan of Arc).
Finally we arrive at George Washington, who was born in Virginia Colony in 1732 and eventually became the first President of the US. He was not especially odd in any way, but over the years has become a major figure in American folklore, and in spite of what US schoolchildren are told, a lot of things are “known” about him that aren’t true at all. Most significantly, no, he never threw a silver dollar across the Potomac River (there weren’t any silver dollars in those days). As a boy he didn’t chop down his father’s cherry tree, then admit it by saying “I cannot tell a lie,” and and although he suffered from dental problems, he never had a set of wooden dentures.
