On This Day February 27 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1902 – Pulitzer and Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck (“The Grapes of Wrath,” “East of Eden,” “Of Mice and Men”) (d. 1968) 1930 – Oscar-winning actress Joanne Woodward (“The Three Faces of Eve,” “Rachel Rachel,” “Summer Wishes,” “Winter Dreams,” “Mr. and Mrs. Bridge”) 1932 – Oscar-winning actress Elizabeth Taylor (“National Velvet,” “A Place in the Sun,” “Giant,” “Cat On a Hot Tin Roof,” “Butterfield 8,” “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”) (d. 2011) 1940 – Actor Howard Hesseman, best known for playing DJ Johnny Fever on the 1970s TV sitcom “WKRP in Cincinnati” 1980 – Presidential daughter and businesswoman Chelsea Clinton 1981 – Pop and classical singer-songwriter Josh Groban, who has performed at both the Olympics and the Super Bowl 1983 – Actress Kate Mara (“Brokeback Mountain,” “We Are Marshall,” “Shooter,” “The Open Road,” “Transcendence,” “Fant4stic” “House of Cards”) History Highlights 1827 – Masked and costumed students dance through the streets of New Orleans, Louisiana, marking the first of the city’s traditional Mardi Gras celebrations. Early French settlers introduced the original Mardi Gras festivities to New Orleans until Spanish governors banned them in the 1700s. Once Louisiana became part of the U.S., laws prohibiting masks and public dancing were rescinded. 1922 – The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, providing for female suffrage, is declared constitutional by unanimous vote of all eight members of the U.S. Supreme Court. 1936 – Shirley Temple receives a new contract from 20th Century Fox that pays the seven-year-old star an unprecedented $50,000 per film. Over the course of the 1930s, the box office success of her more than 40 films helps Fox weather the Depression. 1951 – On the heels of FDR’s four successive presidential terms, Congress ratifies the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution in 1, limiting the tenure of presidential office to two terms. 1964 – The Italian government announces that it is accepting suggestions on how to save the renowned Leaning Tower of Pisa from collapsing. 1991 – During the Persian Gulf War, President George H. W. Bush announces that “Kuwait is liberated.” Musical Milestones 1954 – Doris Day has the No. 1 single with “Secret Love” from the movie “Calamity Jane.”” The recording goes on to capture an Academy Award for Best Original Song. 1961 – “Pony Time” by Chubby Checker gallops away as the No. 1 single for three weeks. 1971 – Five months after her death, Janis Joplin begins nine weeks on top of the Billboard album chart with her second and final solo studio album, “Pearl,” which contains her smash “Me and Bobby McGee.” 1980 – The first and last Grammy ever awarded for Best Disco Recording goes to Gloria Gaynor for “I Will Survive,” unofficially marking the end of the disco era. 1988 – George Michael kicks off two weeks on top of the singles chart with “Father Figure,” off his debut studio album, “Faith.” 1993 – Whitney Houston wraps up a 14-week reign over the pop chart with “I Will Always Love You,” a song written and originally recorded by Dolly Parton in 1973. 1999 – “Angel of Mine,” by Monica, is in the midst of a four-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. READ MORE
On This Day November 5 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1911 – American singer, cowboy and actor Roy Rogers, born Leonard Franklin Slye and known as the “King of the Cowboys” (d. 1998) 1913 – Actress Vivian Leigh (“Gone With the Wind,” “A Streetcar Named Desire”) (d. 1967) 1931 – R&B singer-songwriter Ike Turner who had a string of hits with then-wife Tina Turner (d. 2007) 1940 – Golden Globe-winning actress Elke Sommer (“The Prize,” “A Shot in the Dark,” “The Art of Love,” “The Oscar,” “Boy, Did I Get the Wrong Number”) 1941 – Singer-songwriter Art Garfunkel, formerly of the Grammy-winning rock-folk duo Simon & Garfunkel 1943 – Pulitzer Prize-winning actor and playwright Sam Shepard (“Days of Heaven,” “Paris, Texas,” “The Right Stuff,” “Country,” “Steel Magnolias”) (d. 2017) 1947 – Peter Noone, born Peter Blair Denis Bernard Noone, frontman for the 1960s British pop group Herman’s Hermits 1959 – Grammy-winning rock singer-songwriter Bryan Adams (“Cuts Like a Knife,” “Summer of ’69,” “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You”) 1960 – Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton (“Edward II,” “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe,” “Michael Clayton,” “Burn After Reading,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “Doctor Strange”) 1963 – Oscar-winning actress Tatum O’Neal (“Paper Moon,” “The Bad News Bears,” “Nickelodeon,” “Little Darlings”) 1968 – Actor Sam Rockwell (“The Green Mile,” “Galaxy Quest” “Iron Man 2,” “Cowboys & Aliens,” “A Single Shot”) History Highlights 1912 – Democrat Woodrow Wilson is elected the 28th president of the United States in a landslide victory, defeating Republican incumbent William Howard Taft and Progressive Party candidate Theodore Roosevelt. It is the only presidential election in American history in which two former presidents were defeated by another candidate. 1940 – Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt is re-elected for an unprecedented third term as president of the United States. He is re-elected again in 1944, which paves the way for ratification of the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution in 1951, limiting all future presidents to two elected terms. 1968 – Republican Richard Nixon wins the presidential election, defeating Vice President Hubert Humphrey in one of the closest political races in U.S. history. 1968 – New York Democrat Shirley Chisholm becomes the first African American woman elected to the U.S. Congress. She serves for 14 years. In 1972, she becomes the first woman and African American to seek the nomination for president of the United States from one of the two major political parties. 1994 – Forty-five-year-old George Foreman knocks out 26-year-old Michael Moorer to become the oldest heavyweight champion in the history of boxing. More than 12,000 spectators at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas watch Foreman dethrone Moorer, who entered the fight with a 35-0 record. 2007 – A writers strike in New York and Los Angeles interrupts the production of more than 60 television shows and results in the loss of an estimated $3 billion to the LA economy alone. The walkout, by members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA), lasts more than three months. 2009 – Thirteen people are killed and more than 30 others are wounded, nearly all of them unarmed soldiers, when a U.S. Army officer goes on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood in central Texas. The deadly assault, carried out by Major Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, becomes the worst mass murder at a U.S. military installation. Musical Milestones 1956 – “The Nat King Cole Show” debuts on NBC as the first network TV series hosted by an African-American. The musical variety show, featuring some of the biggest entertainers of the day, begins as a 15-minute program and eventually expands to half an hour. Thirteen months later, NBC pulls the plug after being unable to find a national sponsor. 1960 – Country-rockabilly artist Johnny Horton, whose Grammy-winning “Battle of New Orleans” topped the singles charts for six weeks in 1959, dies in a car crash. 1966 – The Monkees rule the singles chart for a week with “Last Train to Clarksville.” The track is featured in seven episodes of “The Monkees” TV show, the most for any Monkees song. 1977 – “You Light Up My Life,” by Debby Boone, is in the midst of a 10-week domination of the pop chart. 1988 – “Kokomo,” by The Beach Boys, is No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart. The track is from the movie “Cocktail,” starring Tom Cruise. 1989 – Grammy-winning classical pianist Vladimir Horowitz dies at the age of 86. 1994 – Boyz II Men are in the midst of a 14-week conquest of the Billboard Hot 100 with “I’ll Make Love to You.” 2005 – “Gold Digger,” by Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx, is a Billboard chart-topper, and remains there for 10 weeks. READ MORE