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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Today In History

In 1947: The Tennessee Williams play “A Streetcar Named Desire” opened on Broadway, starring Jessica Tandy as Blanche DuBois, Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski and Kim Hunter as Stella Kowalski.

In 1948: The “Pumpkin Papers” came to light. The House Un-American Activities Committee announced that former Communist spy Whittaker Chambers had produced microfilm of secret documents hidden inside a pumpkin on his Maryland farm.

In 1967: Surgeons in Cape Town, South Africa, led by Dr. Christiaan Barnard, performed the first human heart transplant. Louis Washkansky lived 18 days with the new heart.

In 1979: Eleven people were killed in a crush of fans at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Coliseum, where the British rock group The Who was performing.

In 1991: Radicals in Lebanon released American hostage Alann Steen, who had been held captive nearly five years.