On This Day November 15

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Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1956 – “Love Me Tender,” Elvis Presley’s first movie, opens at the Paramount Theater in New York. Presley plays one of three brothers turned outlaws in the musical Western.

1969 – The Fifth Dimension are in the midst of a three-week hold on the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Wedding Bell Blues.”

1975 – Host Dick Clark welcomes Swedish pop phenom ABBA to TV’s “American Bandstand.”

1975 – Elton John begins his third and final week as captain of the pop chart with “Island Girl,” from his “Rock of the Westies” album.

1980 – After years of success on the music charts with the New Christy Minstrels and The First Edition, Kenny Rogers scores his first No. 1 single as a solo act with “Lady.” The song, written and produced by Lionel Richie, holds the top spot for six weeks.

1986 – “Amanda,” by Boston, begins its second and final week as a No. 1 single. It is the band’s first officially released single since 1978.

1990 – One of pop music’s biggest scandals unfolds as Milli Vanilli producer Frank Farian confirms rumors that band members Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan never actually sang any of their hit records. The duo are stripped of the Grammys they had won for Best New Artist and duped fans file class-action lawsuits.

1997 – Elton John is in the middle of a 14-week domination of the pop chart with his tribute to Princess Diana, “Candle in the Wind 1997.”

2003 – “Baby Boy,” by Beyoncé featuring Sean Paul, is the No. 1 single. 

On This Day October 26

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History Highlights
History Highlights

1881 – The Earp brothers face off against the Clanton-McLaury gang in a legendary shootout at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. The gunfight only lasts 30 seconds, but when the dust clears, Billy Clanton and the McLaury brothers are dead, and Virgil and Morgan Earp and Doc Holliday are wounded.

1958 – The Jet Age begins as the first Boeing 707 commercial airliner, operated by Pan Am, takes off from New York’s Idlewild Airport (now JFK) and crosses the Atlantic to Paris-Le Bourget Airport on an 8.5-hour flight.

1970 – The “Doonesbury” comic strip, created by Garry Trudeau, premieres in 28 newspapers across the U.S.

1982 – “St. Elsewhere,” a drama set at the fictional St. Eligius Hospital in Boston, captivates viewers when it premieres on NBC. Then-unknown actors Denzel Washington and Howie Mandel co-star.

1984 – Surgeons place a baboon heart into the chest of Baby Fae (Stephanie Fae Beauclair), an infant with a heart defect that normally kills newborns within their first 10 days of life. The transplant keeps Baby Fae alive for 21 days.

1984 – Director James Cameron’s career-launching sci-fi action film, “The Terminator,” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, opens in theaters. The movie is produced on a $6.4 million budget and grosses more than $78 million worldwide. It supercharges Schwarzenegger’s acting career, and “I’ll be back” becomes a popular catch-phrase.

2001 – President George W. Bush signs the Patriot Act, an anti-terrorism law drawn up in response to the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.