On This Day: February 4

On This Day February 4

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1913 – Civil rights crusader Rosa Parks, who helped pave the way for desegregation in the U.S. when she refused to give up her seat aboard a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama (d. 2005)

1936 – Standup comedian David Brenner (d. 2014)

1940 – Horror film director-screenwriter George A. Romero, the master behind the cult classic “Night of the Living Dead” as well as “Dawn of the Dead,” “Land of the Dead” and “Creepshow” (d. 2017)

1948 – Rock And Roll Hall of Fame singer-songwriter Alice Cooper, considered “The Godfather of Shock Rock” (“Schools Out,” “Eighteen”, “Poison”, “No More Mr Nice Guy”)

1962 – Country music singer-songwriter Clint Black (“A Better Man,” “Nothing’s News,” “Walking Away,” “Nobody’s Home,” “Killin’ Time”)

1973 – Retired professional boxer and Olympic gold medalist Oscar De La Hoya

1977 – Singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw (“I Don’t Want to Be,” “Chariot,” “Follow Through”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1789 – George Washington — commander of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War — is unanimously elected the first president of the United States, garnering all 69 electoral votes. No other American president since has come into office with a universal mandate to lead.

1922 – The Ford Motor Company acquires the bankrupt Lincoln Motor Company for $8 million, giving Ford a luxury division to compete against Cadillac, Packard and Auburn.

1938 – Disney releases “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” the first full-length animated feature (83 minutes in length) in color and with sound, and a pioneering classic tale in film history.

1945 – President Franklin Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin meet at the Yalta Conference to discuss the Allied war effort against Germany and Japan.

1957 – Smith Corona Manufacturing of New York begins selling portable electric typewriters. The first machine, known as the model 5TE, weighs 19 pounds.

1974 – The radical group Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patty Hearst, the 19-year-old daughter of newspaper publisher Randolph Hearst, from her California apartment. 

2004 – Nineteen-year-old Harvard University sophomore Mark Zuckerberg launches “TheFacebook.com,” an online directory designed to connect fellow Harvard students with one another. By the next day, more than a thousand people had registered. The service sparks a social media revolution, with billions now using Facebook each day.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1967 – The Monkees maintain their grip on the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with “I’m a Believer.” In all, the track remains a chart-topper for seven weeks.

1968 – The Beatles record “Across The Universe” at London’s Abbey Road Studios with backup vocals from two teenage fans who were among the groupies (“Apple scruffs”) that routinely gathered outside the facility on recording days.

1975 – Known as “The King of the Jukebox,” American jazz, blues and rhythm & blues musician, songwriter and bandleader Louis Jordan dies at the age of 66.

1977 – Fleetwood Mac’s 11th studio album, “Rumours,” is released, introducing fans to the Top 10 hits “Go Your Own Way,” “Dreams,” “Don’t Stop,” and “You Make Loving Fun.”

1978 – The Bee Gees have a No. 1 single with “Stayin’ Alive,” while another single of theirs, “Night Fever,” debuts on the pop chart, later staking its own claim to the top spot for eight weeks. Both songs are from the Grammy-winning “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack.

1982 – “Centerfold,” by the J. Geils Band, reaches No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remains there for six weeks.

1983 – Heart failure caused by chronic anorexia nervosa claims the life of 32-year-old singer Karen Carpenter of the acclaimed 1970s brother-sister pop duet, Carpenters.

1984 – Culture Club begins a three-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Karma Chameleon,” the band’s fifth Top 10 hit.

1995 – “Creep,” by TLC, is midway through a four-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It is the trio’s first chart-topper.

2006 – “Check On It,” by Beyoncé, featuring Bun B and Slim Thug, kicks off five weeks on top of the singles chart. 

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On This Day: November 24

On This Day November 24

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1784 – Zachary Taylor, 12th U.S. president (d. 1850)

1868 – Ragtime composer and pianist Scott Joplin (“The Maple Leaf Rag,” “The Entertainer”) (d. 1917)

1925 – Conservative author-commentator William F. Buckley, Jr. (d. 2008)

1938 – Basketball Hall of Famer Oscar “Big O” Robertson

1941 – Original Beatles drummer Pete Best

1978 – Emmy-winning actress Katherine Heigl (“Grey’s Anatomy,” “Knocked Up,” “State of Affairs”)

1990 – Actress Sarah Hyland (“Private Parts,” “Modern Family,” “Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1859 – “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection,” a groundbreaking scientific work by British naturalist Charles Darwin, is published in England, and every copy sells the first day. Darwin concluded that organisms gradually evolve through a process he called “natural selection.” 

1960 – Philadelphia Warrior Wilt Chamberlain snags 55 rebounds in a game against the Boston Celtics, setting an NBA record for the most rebounds in a single game.

1963 – Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby shoots and kills accused JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald in the garage of Dallas police headquarters. The incident is captured on live television as media outlets cover Oswald’s transfer from the police station to a county jail.

1971 – A hijacker identifying himself as D.B. Cooper takes $200,000 in ransom money and parachutes from a Seattle-bound passenger jet flying through a thunderstorm at 10,000 feet. Cooper’s fate remains a mystery to this day.

1978 – David Letterman makes his first guest appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.”

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1950 – The musical comedy “Guys and Dolls” premieres on Broadway at the 46th Street Theatre. Two years later, it spawns a film adaptation starring Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra. 

1962 – The Four Seasons, featuring Frankie Valli, are in the second week of a five-week run as Billboard chart-toppers with “Big Girls Don’t Cry.”

1966 – The Beatles gather in a studio for the first time since wrapping up their U.S. summer concert tour and spend the entire day recording John Lennon’s “Strawberry Fields Forever.”

1972 – Don Kirshner’s “Rock Concert” TV show debuts, featuring Chuck Berry, Blood, Sweat & Tears and Alice Cooper.

1973 – Ringo Starr’s “Photograph” begins a week as the No. 1 single.

1979 – The Barbra Streisand-Donna Summer duet “No More Tears (Enough is Enough)” kicks off two weeks as a No. 1 single.

1984 – “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” by Wham!, rules the Billboard Hot 100.

1991 – Queen frontman Freddie Mercury dies of complications from AIDS exactly one day after publicly disclosing that he is HIV positive. He was 45 years old.

1997 – Johnny Rotten of The Sex Pistols is the defendant in an episode of TV’s “Judge Judy.” The case is a wrongful termination suit brought on by his former drummer, which Rotten wins.

2007 – Jay-Z climbs to the top of the Billboard album chart with “American Gangster,” his 10th chart-topping album. This ties the rapper to 2nd place with Elvis Presley for the most No. 1 albums. Only The Beatles have had more, with 19. 

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