Al Capone – Time Rewind

On This Day February 14

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On This Day January 17

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Celebrity Birthdays

1706 – U.S. Founding Father, statesman, publisher and inventor Benjamin Franklin (d. 1790)

1899 – American gangster Al Capone (d. 1947)

1922 – Actress-comedian Betty White, whose eight decades in show business included memorable roles in TV’s “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “The Golden Girls,” “Hot in Cleveland” and “Saturday Night Live”) (d. 2021)

1927 – Singer-actress Eartha Kitt, best known for her rendition of “Santa Baby” and for playing Catwoman in the 60’s “Batman” TV series (d. 2007)

1931 – Emmy, Golden Globe and Tony-winning actor James Earl Jones, whose many performances include providing the voice of Darth Vader in the “Star Wars” movie series and Mufasa in Disney’s “The Lion King”

1942 – Former World Heavyweight Boxing champion Muhammad Ali (d. 2016)

1957 – Comedian and “Family Feud” host Steve Harvey

1962 – Golden Globe-winning actor-comedian Jim Carrey (“Ace Ventura: Pet Detective,” “Dumb and Dumber,” “The Mask,” “Batman Forever,” “Liar Liar,” “The Truman Show,” “Man on the Moon,” “Bruce Almighty,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” “Mr. Popper’s Penguins”)

1964 – Former First Lady Michelle Obama

1971 – Rapper and singer-songwriter Kid Rock, born Robert James Ritchie

1980 – Actress-singer Zooey Deschanel (“All the Real Girls,” “Elf,” “The Happening,” “(500) Days of Summer,” “New Girl”)

History Highlights

1916 – Golf great Walter Hagen and some 30 other pro golfers meet in New York City and form the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA).

1950 – Eleven Boston bandits stage what comes to be called the “crime of the century,” the “perfect crime” and the “fabulous Brink’s robbery.” The group steals more than $2 million ($29 million today) from the Brink’s Armored Car depot in Boston. Six years later, the suspects are finally arrested — just days before the statute of limitations for the heist was to expire.

1953 – General Motors (GM) unveils a prototype Chevrolet Corvette sports car (code-named EX-122) at the Motorama auto show in New York City. Named for a fast type of naval warship, Corvette would eventually become an iconic American muscle car that is still in production today.

1955 – The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus (SSN 571), sets out to sea. Over the next several years, the vessel shatters all submerged speed and distance records.

1961 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers his farewell address to the nation and warns against the accumulation of power by “the military-industrial complex.”

1994 – A powerful earthquake rocks Los Angeles, leaving 57 people dead and causing billions of dollars in damage. The Northridge Quake, as it’s known, remains one of the most destructive in U.S. history.

Musical Milestones

1969 – Led Zeppelin’s self-titled debut album, featuring a stylized photo of the exploding Hindenburg airship on the cover, is released to a lackluster reception. The album, which includes the tracks “Good Times Bad Times” and “Dazed and Confused,” eventually climbs to No. 10 and helps shape the evolution of hard rock and heavy metal.

1970 – The Doors play the first of four shows at the Felt Forum in New York City. The performances are recorded for an eventual live compilation album.

1976 – Barry Manilow’s “I Write the Songs” reaches the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and goes on to win a Grammy for Song of the Year. Ironically, Manilow did not write this song. It was penned by Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys.

1987 – “Shake You Down,” by Gregory Abbott, is the No. 1 single.

1990 – The Four Seasons, The Platters, The Four Tops, Hank Ballard, Bobby Darin, Simon & Garfunkel, The Kinks, and The Who are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during the fifth annual awards presentation in New York.

1998 – The Australian pop duo Savage Garden kicks off two weeks as Billboard chart-toppers with “Truly Madly Deeply.”

2004 – OutKast is in the middle of a nine-week domination of the pop chart with “Hey Ya!”

On This Day October 17

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Celebrity Birthdays

1915 – Pulitzer-winning playwright Arthur Miller (“All My Sons,” “A View from the Bridge,” “The Crucible,” “Death of a Salesman”) (d. 2005)

1918 – Actress and dancer Rita Hayworth (“Only Angels Have Wings,” “Strawberry Blonde,” “You’ll Never Get Rich,” “Gilda”) (d. 1987)

1920 – Actor Montgomery Clift (“From Here to Eternity,” “The Young Lions,” “A Place in the Sun,” “I Confess”) (d. 1966)

1930 – Longtime New York columnist and author Jimmy Breslin (d. 2017)

1938 – Motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel, born Robert Craig Knievel (d. 2007)

1948 – Actor George Wendt, best known for his portrayal of Norm Peterson on the TV sitcom “Cheers”

1948 – Actress Margot Kidder, best known for her role as Lois Lane in the film “Superman,” opposite Christopher Reeve (d. 2018)

1958 – Grammy-winning country singer Alan Jackson

1962 – Cartoonist-actor Mike Judge (“Beavis and Butt-head,” “King of the Hill”)

1963 – Comedian-actor and “Saturday Night Live” alum Norm Macdonald (d. 2021)

1968 – Reggae guitarist and singer-songwriter Ziggy Marley

1972 – Grammy and Oscar-winning rapper and record producer Eminem, born Marshall Bruce Mathers III

History Highlights

1931 – A jury finds Chicago mob boss Al Capone guilty of tax evasion. One of the most notorious criminals of the 1920s and 1930s, Capone is later sentenced to 11 years in federal prison, ordered to pay $215,000 in back taxes and fined $50,000.

1966 – The TV game show takes on a new shape with the premiere of “The Hollywood Squares.”

1973 – OPEC announces it will cut oil exports to the U.S. and other nations friendly with Israel, a move that eventually leads to the “Energy Crisis.”

1973 – The romantic drama, “The Way We Were,” starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford, has its world premiere in New York before opening nationally three days later. The film captures the Academy Award for Best Original Dramatic Score and Best Original Song for the theme song, “The Way We Were,” sung by Streisand.

1974 – President Gerald Ford goes before Congress to explain his pardon of predecessor Richard Nixon.

1989 – A powerful 6.9 magnitude earthquake rocks the San Francisco Bay Area, killing 63 people, injuring 3,000 others and causing more than $5 billion in damage. Known as the Loma Prieta earthquake, the natural disaster strikes just as Game 1 of the World Series is starting at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park between local teams The Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants.

Musical Milestones

1964 – “Do Wah Diddy Diddy,” by Manfred Mann, kicks off two weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100. It’s the cover of a song originally recorded in 1963 by the American band The Exciters, but it was the British group Manfred Mann that made it an international smash.

1964 – The Ronettes release their classic ballad, “Walking in the Rain.” The single later earns producer Phil Spector the first and only Grammy of his career for sound effects (thunder and rain).

1967 – “Hair,” touted as “an American tribal love-rock musical,” opens on Broadway.

1970 – “I’ll Be There,” by the Jackson 5, begins a five-week run at No. 1 on the singles chart. It is the group’s fourth consecutive chart-topper.

1981 – Christopher Cross is king of the Billboard Hot 100 with music from the movies – “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do).” The track holds at No. 1 for three weeks and goes on to earn a Best Original Song Oscar.

1991 – Singer and TV host Tennessee Ernie Ford dies of liver failure at the age of 72. Ford was best known for his chart-topping 1955 cover of the Merle Travis song “Sixteen Tons.”

2008 – Levi Stubbs, lead singer of Motown giants the Four Tops, dies at the age of 72. Stubbs had been in ill health since a 1995 cancer diagnosis; a stroke and other health problems led him to stop touring in 2000.

On this Day May 4

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Celebrity Birthdays

1928 – Jazz trumpeter Maynard Ferguson (d. 2006)

1929 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actress Audrey Hepburn (“Roman Holiday,” “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”) (d. 1993)

1937 – Musician Dick Dale, known as the “King of the Surf Guitar” (d. 2019)

1939 – Actor Paul Gleason (“All My Children,” “The Breakfast Club,” “Trading Places,” “Die Hard”) (d. 2006)

1941 – Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist-author George Will

1947 – Emmy-winning actor Richard Jenkins (“Six Feet Under,” “The Visitor,” “Burn After Reading,” “White House Down,” “Olive Kitteridge,” “The Shape of Water”)

1953 – Golden Globe-winning actress-singer Pia Zadora (“Santa Claus Conquers the Martians”)

1959 – Grammy-winning country music singer and actor Randy Travis (“On the Other Hand,” “Forever and Ever Amen,” “Deeper Than a Holler,” “Three Wooden Crosses”)

1970 – Actor Will Arnett (“Arrested Development,” “30 Rock,” “Let’s Go To Prison,” “Blades of Glory,” “The Lego Movie”)

History Highlights

1932 – Mobster Al Capone begins serving an 11-year sentence for income tax evasion in a federal prison in Atlanta.

1961 – Civil rights activists calling themselves the “Freedom Riders” decide to test a recent Supreme Court decision prohibiting racial segregation in interstate travel. They set out on a dangerous journey aboard buses from Washington, D.C. through the Deep South to New Orleans, defying segregated restrooms, restaurants and bus station waiting areas along the way.

1970 – Four students are killed, nine others wounded when National Guard troops open fire during a Vietnam War protest at Kent State University in Ohio. Guardsmen fire 67 rounds in 13 seconds. The tragedy sends shockwaves across the U.S. and around the world.

1977 – British journalist David Frost sits down with former President Richard Nixon for the first of four revealing television interviews. Nixon apologizes for putting “the American people through two years of needless agony” during the Watergate scandal.

1979 – Britain’s Conservative Party leader, Margaret Thatcher, becomes that nation’s first female prime minister.

2008 – The term “May the 4th be with you,” a tribute to the popular Star Wars phrase, “May the force be with you,” becomes a part of pop culture as it begins to be used among members of Star Wars-related Facebook groups that turn it into a celebration of the beloved sci-fi franchise. In 2011 and 2012, Star Wars Day is observed by fans in Toronto during a festival that draws significant media coverage. In 2013, just months after purchasing Lucasfilm, Disney officially recognizes May 4 as Star Wars Day, and its marketing of new movies, TV shows and merchandise continues to explode today.

Musical Milestones

1959 – The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences presents the first Grammy Awards with ceremonies held simultaneously in New York and Los Angeles. Among the awards handed out, “Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu” (better known as “Volare”) wins both song and record of the year for composer Domenico Modugno.

1968 – Bobby Goldsboro is in the middle of a five-week run on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Honey.”

1973 – Led Zeppelin opens its 1973 North American tour in Atlanta. Billed as “the biggest and most profitable rock & roll tour in the history of the United States,” the group would gross more than $4 million from it.

1974 – The soundtrack to the motion picture “The Sting,” featuring Marvin Hamlisch’s interpretation of ragtime music by Scott Joplin, begins a five-week run at No. 1 on the album chart.

1974 – Grand Funk Railroad chugs its way to the top of the Billboard singles chart with “The Loco-Motion.”

1985 – “We Are The World,” the musical collaboration produced under the baton of Quincy Jones as a fundraiser for African famine relief, begins its fourth and final week as a chart-topper.

1990 – Madonna kicks off the North American leg of her 57-date Blond Ambition World Tour with a performance in Houston, Texas at The Summit (now Lakewood Church). Years later, Rolling Stone magazine would call the tour “the Greatest Concert of the 1990s.”

2002 – Ashanti has the No. 1 single in the U.S. with “Foolish.” The single remains on top of the pop chart for 10 weeks.