On This Day: February 29

On This Day February 29

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1904 – Jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, big band leader and composer Jimmy Dorsey (“I’m Glad There is You,” “It’s the Dreamer in Me”) (d. 1957)

1916 – Singer-actress Dinah Shore, born Frances Rose Shore (“Blues in the Night,” “I’ll Walk Alone,” “The Gypsy,” “Buttons and Bows”) (d. 1994)

1936 – Retired astronaut Jack Lousma who served aboard the Skylab space station in 1973 and commanded STS-3, the third Space Shuttle mission in 1982

1944 – Chicago cop-turned-actor Dennis Farina (“Midnight Run,” “Snatch,” “Out of Sight,” “Get Shorty,” “Law & Order”) (d. 2013)

1960 – Motivational speaker and author Tony Robbins

1972 – Actor and model Antonio Sabato, Jr. (“General Hospital,” “Melrose Place,” “Charmed”)

1976 – Rap artist Ja Rule, born Jeffrey Atkins (“Between Me and You,” “Always on Time,” “Put It on Me”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1940 – The epic Civil War drama “Gone With The Wind” clinches eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Hattie McDaniel, who played “Mammy,” is crowned Best Supporting Actress, becoming the first African American performer to win an Oscar.

1956 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower holds a nationally televised address to announce his intentions to seek a second term in The White House.

1968 – President Lyndon Johnson’s National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (also known as the Kerner Commission) warns Americans that “our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white — separate and unequal.”

1968 – Astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell announces the discovery of the first pulsar — a star that emits radio waves.

1976 – The 1965 film “The Sound of Music,” starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, airs on network television for the first time. ABC paid $15 million for a one-time only broadcast that became one of the top 20 rated movies ever shown on TV to that point.

1984 – Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau announces that he is stepping down after more than 15 years in power.

1996 – A four-year siege of the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo finally ends after shelling and sniper attacks that killed thousands.

2004 – Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigns as president of Haiti following popular rebel uprising.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1958 – Frank Sinatra cruises along the top of the Billboard album chart with “Come Fly With Me,” featuring the tracks “Isle of Capri,” “Autumn in New York,” “April in Paris,” “Blue Hawaii” and, of course, the title track, “Come Fly With Me.” The album holds the top spot for five weeks.

1964 – The Beatles are in the middle of a seven-week domination of the Billboard singles chart with “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”

1968 – The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” album scores big at the 10th Grammy Awards, earning statuettes for Album of the Year (first rock LP to do so), Best Album Cover, Best Engineered Recording and Best Contemporary Album.

1980 – Buddy Holly’s distinctive eyeglasses and The Big Bopper’s watch turn up inside a file at the Mason City, Iowa police station. Both articles had been misplaced 21 years earlier after the plane crash that killed them and rocker Ritchie Valens.

1980 – At age 84, comedian George Burns becomes the oldest person with a hit on the Billboard Hot 100, as “I Wish I Was 18 Again” peaks at No.49. The last charting record Burns had before this was a spoken word comedy routine with his wife and partner Gracie Allen in 1933.

1992 – Mr. Big kicks off three weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “To Be with You.”

2004 – Usher, Lil Jon and Ludacris have the No. 1 single with “Yeah!” It remains on top of the Billboard Hot 100 for 12 weeks.

2012 – Singer and actor Davy Jones, who was part of the pop group The Monkees, dies of a heart attack at the age of 66.

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On This Day: February 28

On This Day February 28

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1923 – Actor Charles Durning (“The Front Page,” “North Dallas Forty,” “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”)  (d. 2012)

1931 – Actor Gavin MacLeod, best known for his TV roles as Murray, the news writer in “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” and as Captain Stubing in “The Love Boat” 

1939 – Tony Award-winning actor, dancer, singer, theatre director, producer and choreographer Tommy Tune

1940 – Auto racing legend Mario Andretti 

1948 – Tony Award-winning actress Bernadette Peters (“Dames at Sea,” “The Jerk,” “Pennies from Heaven,” “Silent Movie”)

1957 – Actor-producer John Turturro (“Do The Right Thing,” “Barton Fink,” “The Quiz Show,” “The Big Lebowski,” “Brother, Where Art Thou?,” the “Transformers” movie series) 

History Highlights
History Highlights

1953 – Cambridge University scientists James Watson and Francis Crick announce that they have confirmed the double-helix structure of DNA, the molecule containing human genes. They are later honored with the Nobel Prize for their achievement.

1958 – A school bus in Prestonsburg, Kentucky hits a tow truck and plunges down an embankment into the rain-swollen Big Sandy River. The driver and 26 children die in what remains the worst school bus accident in U.S. history. 

1983 – After 11 seasons, CBS broadcasts the finale of the popular sitcom “M*A*S*H” as a special two and a half-hour episode (“Goodbye, Farewell and Amen”) watched by 77 percent of the viewing audience. It’s the largest viewership ever for a single TV show up to that time.

1993 – Four federal agents are killed in Waco, Texas after attempting to serve an arrest warrant for weapons charges on Branch Davidian sect leader David Koresh, triggering a 51-day standoff.

1994 – U.S. fighter planes shoot down four Serbian warplanes engaged in a bombing mission that violates Bosnia’s no-fly zone. It marks the first military action in the 45-year history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1970 – “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” by Simon & Garfunkel, tops the singles chart and remains there for six weeks. It captures Record of the Year and Song of the Year Grammys in 1971 and goes on to sell over six million copies worldwide.

1976 – The No. 1 single comes from a prime time police drama on ABC-TV. It’s “Theme From S.W.A.T.” by Rhythm Heritage.

1976 – Paul Simon’s “Still Crazy After All These Years” captures an Album Of The Year Grammy. In his acceptance speech, Simon tells the audience, “I’d like to thank Stevie Wonder, who didn’t make an album this year.”

1981 – Eddie Rabbitt hops to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “I Love a Rainy Night.”

1983 – U2 release “War,” the Irish rock band’s third studio album, which gives us their earliest signature songs, “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and “New Year’s Day.”

1987 – Bon Jovi holds the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with what becomes their signature song: “Livin’ on a Prayer”

1996 – At the 38th Annual Grammy Awards, Kiss shock the audience by appearing in full makeup. Introduced by rapper Tupac Shakur (2Pac), it marks the first time in more than 15 years that all four band members appeared together. Just a few weeks later, they announce a reunion tour.

1998 – Céline Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On”, the theme from the blockbuster movie “Titanic,” is captain of the pop chart.

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