Communist Party – Time Rewind

On This Day March 20

Musical Milestones

1961 – Elvis Presley is King of the Billboard pop chart with “Surrender.” The track holds the top spot for two weeks and is among six No. 1 hits Elvis enjoys that decade.

1964 – The Temptations release their debut album, “Meet the Temptations,” on the Gordy (Motown) label.

1969 – John Lennon and Yoko Ono tie the knot at the British Embassy in Gibraltar.

1971 – Five months after her death from a drug overdose, Janis Joplin dominates the singles chart for a second and final week with “Me and Bobby McGee,” off her “Pearl” album.

1982 – Joan Jett and the Blackhearts begin a seven-week run on top of the singles chart with “I Love Rock ‘n Roll.”

1993 – The reggae-rap single “Informer,” by Snow, is in its second week at No. 1 on the pop chart. It remains there for another five weeks.

1999 – “Believe,” by Cher, is mid-way through a four-week run on top of the Billboard Hot 100.

2004 – “Yeah!,” by Usher featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris, maintains its hold on the summit of the singles chart.

History Highlights

1916 – Albert Einstein publishes his “General Theory of Relativity.”

1953 – Two weeks after the death of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev is among five men named by the Soviet government to the new office of Secretariat of the Communist Party. Khrushchev eventually leads the Soviet Union through some of the tensest periods of Cold War relations with the U.S.

1965 – President Lyndon Johnson places the Alabama National Guard under federal control to protect a civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Governor George Wallace had assured Johnson that the National Guard would protect marchers. But Wallace, a segregationist, reneged and demanded that federal troops be sent instead.

1987 – A major medical breakthrough is achieved as the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approves the anti-HIV/AIDS drug Zidovudine, better known as AZT.

1995 – A nerve gas attack in the Tokyo subway system by members of a religious cult kills 13 people and injures thousands of others. The incident sparks global worries about terrorist groups obtaining chemical weapons.

Celebrity Birthdays

1906 – Bandleader, actor and director Ozzie Nelson (“The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet”) (d. 1975)

1922 – Emmy and Grammy-winning actor-comedian-writer-director-producer Carl Reiner (“Your Show of Shows,” “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” “2000 Year Old Man,” “The Jerk”)

1928 – Fred Rogers, minister and host of the beloved PBS children’s show “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” (d. 2003)

1931 – Emmy and Tony-winning actor-singer Hal Linden, best known for his role as an NYPD police captain in the 1970s sitcom “Barney Miller”

1950 – Oscar-winning actor William Hurt (“Altered States,” “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” “Children of a Lesser God,” “Broadcast News,” “The Accidental Tourist,” “The Doctor,” “The Challenger Disaster,” “Captain America: Civil War”)

1957 – Emmy and Peabody-winning director-producer and actor Spike Lee (“She’s Gotta Have It,” “Do The Right Thing,” “Mo’ Better Blues,” “Jungle Fever,” “Malcolm X,” “Crooklyn,” “Clockers,” “Summer of Sam,” “The Original Kings of Comedy”, “BlacKkKlansman”)

1958 – Oscar and Emmy-winning actress Holly Hunter (“Raising Arizona,” “Broadcast News,” “Always,” “The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom,” “The Piano,” “The Firm,” “The Incredibles,” “Saving Grace”)

Own a Piece of This Day

SHOP HERE:

Pearl

Janis Joplin

I Love Rock N' Roll

Joan Jett & The Blackhearts

Cold War Roadshow

Directed by Robert Stone and Tim B. Toidze

Selma 1965: The March That Changed The South

Charles Fager

Into the Wild

Starring Emile Hirsch, Marcia Gay Harden and William Hurt, and directed by Sean Penn

Do the Right Thing

Starring Ossie Davis, Danny Aiello and Giancarlo Esposito, and directed by Spike Lee

On This Day February 7

Musical Milestones

1964 – The Beatles are mobbed by thousands of adoring fans after landing at New York’s Kennedy Airport to start their first U.S. tour. Later in the day, they appear on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” becoming the first British rock group to perform on American television.

1970 – The No. 1 single is “Venus” by the Dutch rock band Shocking Blue.

1976 – Paul Simon begins three weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.”

1981 – Kool & the Gang have reason to celebrate as their single, “Celebration,” tops the Billboard Hot 100.

History Highlights

1812 – The most violent in a series of earthquakes near Missouri causes the Mississippi River to flow backward for several hours, a phenomenon known as a fluvial tsunami. It triggers landslides and leaves massive cracks in the ground. Research completed in 2011 determines that these powerful New Madrid earthquakes could be felt in varying intensity across a nearly 965,000-square-mile stretch of the U.S.

1979 – Dr. Josef Mengele, the infamous Nazi doctor known as the “Angel of Death,” who performed medical experiments at the Auschwitz death camps, dies of a stroke while swimming in Brazil. However, his death is not confirmed until 1985.

1984 – While in orbit 170 miles above Earth, Navy Captain Bruce McCandless becomes the first human being to fly untethered in space when he exits the space shuttle Challenger and maneuvers freely, using a rocket pack of his own design.

1986 – Twenty-eight years of one-family rule end in Haiti when President Jean-Claude ”Baby Doc” Duvalier flees the Caribbean nation.

1990 – The Soviet Union crumbles when the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party agrees to give up its monopoly on power.

1999 – Jordan’s King Hussein bin Talal, the 20th century’s longest-serving executive head of state dies, and his son Prince Abdallah bin Hussein ascends to the throne.

Celebrity Birthdays

1812 – Author Charles Dickens (“David Copperfield,” “Oliver Twist,” “A Christmas Carol”) (d. 1870)

1867 – Pioneer author Laura Ingalls Wilder, best known for her “Little House on the Prairie” series (d. 1957)

1885 – Novelist Sinclair Lewis, the first American author to win the Nobel prize for literature (d. 1951)

1955 – Actor Miguel Ferrer (“Twin Peaks,” “Crossing Jordan,” “Traffic,” “NCIS: Los Angeles”) (d. 2017)

1960 – Emmy-winning actor James Spader (“Less Than Zero,” “The Practice,” “Boston Legal,” “The Blacklist”)

1962 – Grammy-winning country music singer-songwriter Garth Brooks

1965 – Emmy and Grammy-winning comedian, actor, producer and “SNL” alum Chris Rock (“New Jack City,” “Lethal Weapon 4,” “Everybody Hates Chris”)

1978 – Actor-producer Ashton Kutcher (“That 70s Show,” “Dude, Where’s My Car?”, “Guess Who,” “A Lot Like Love,” “What Happens in Vegas,” “No Strings Attached,” “Two and a Half Men,” “Jobs”)

Own a Piece of This Day

SHOP HERE:

The Beatles - The 4 Complete Ed Sullivan Shows

Ed Sullivan and The Beatles

Still Crazy After All These Years

Paul Simon

On Shaky Ground: The New Madrid Earthquakes of 1811-1812

Norma Hayes Bagnall

Yeltsin: A Life

Timothy J. Colton

Sex, Lies, and Videotape

Starring James Spader, Andie MacDowell and Peter Gallagher, and directed by Steven Soderbergh

No Strings Attached

Starring Natalie Portman, Ashton Kutcher and Kevin Kline, and directed by Ivan Reitman

On This Day October 14

Musical Milestones

1957 – The Everly Brothers have their first No. 1 single with “Wake Up Little Susie.” The song also spends seven weeks on top of the Billboard country chart.

1967 – The Box Tops enter their fourth and final week as chart-toppers with “The Letter.”

1968 – The Jackson 5 make their national television debut when they appear on ABC’s “Hollywood Palace,” performing with Diana Ross and Sammy Davis, Jr.

1972 – Michael Jackson’s first solo single, “Ben,” reaches the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song, used for the closing credits of the horror film, “Ben,” goes on to capture a Best Song Golden Globe Award.

1978 – Exile is in the middle of four weeks atop the singles chart with “Kiss You All Over.”

1989 – The Grammy-nominated “Miss You Much,” by Janet Jackson, tops the Billboard Hot 100.

1990 – Internationally renowned Grammy and Tony-winning composer-conductor Leonard Bernstein (“On The Waterfront,” “Candide,” “West Side Story”) dies in New York at the age of 72.

1995 – Mariah Carey is in the middle of an eight-week domination of the U.S. pop chart with “Fantasy.” The track is the first by a female artist and second overall to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

2000 – “Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You),” by Christina Aguilera, begins four weeks on top of the singles chart.

History Highlights

1947 – U.S. Air Force pilot Chuck Yeager ushers in the era of supersonic flight when he breaks the sound barrier in his Bell X-1 experimental plane, which he named “Glamorous Glennis,” in tribute to his wife.

1962 – The Cuban Missile Crisis begins as an American U-2 spy plane snaps aerial photos showing the installation of Soviet-made medium-range missiles, capable of carrying nuclear warheads, just 90 miles off the Florida coast in Cuba.

1964 – Civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. becomes the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent resistance to racial prejudice in America. The 35-year-old King donates the entire $54,000 prize money to furthering civil rights causes.

1964 – Nikita Khrushchev is ousted as both premier of the Soviet Union and chief of the Communist Party after 10 years in power. He is succeeded by his former protégé, Leonid Brezhnev.

1987 – While playing in her aunt’s back yard in Midland, Texas, 18-month-old Jessica McClure (“Baby Jessica”) slips and falls into an abandoned well. Millions of people around the world are riveted to news coverage of her rescue over the next 58 hours.

1994 – “Pulp Fiction,” a crime drama starring John Travolta, Uma Thurman and Samuel L. Jackson, and directed by Quentin Tarantino, opens in theaters and becomes a cult classic.

Celebrity Birthdays

1927 – Actor Sir Roger Moore, who played Simon Templar in the 1960s spy series “The Saint” and secret agent James Bond in seven movies between 1973 and 1985 (d. 2017)

1939 – Fashion designer Ralph Lauren

1940 – Singer Cliff Richard ( “Devil Woman,” “We Don’t Talk Anymore”)

1946 – Singer-songwriter and guitarist Justin Hayward of the rock band The Moody Blues (“Nights in White Satin,” “Tuesday Afternoon,” “Question”)

1958 – Synth-pop musician-producer Thomas Dolby, best known for his 1980s hits “She Blinded Me With Science” and “Hyperactive!”

1978 – Grammy-winning R&B singer-songwriter and actor Usher, born Usher Terry Raymond IV (“Nice & Slow,” “You Make Me Wanna…,” “My Way,” “Yeah!”, “There Goes My Baby,” “Climax”)

Own a Piece of This Day

SHOP HERE:

The Very Best of The Everly Brothers

The Everly Brothers

Dinner With Lenny

Jonathan Cott

The Right Stuff

Tom Wolfe

Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis

Robert F. Kennedy

The Man With The Golden Gun

Starring Roger Moore, Christopher Lee and Britt Ekland, and directed by Guy Hamilton

The Best Of The Moody Blues: The Millennium Collection

The Moody Blues

On this Day June 16

Musical Milestones

1967 – The Monterey Pop Festival opens in California, featuring the first major appearances by The Who, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin.

1973 – “My Love,” by Paul McCartney & Wings, is mid-way through a four-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100.

1979 – “Queen of Disco,” Donna Summer, claims the No. 1 spot on the pop chart with “Hot Stuff.”

1980 – “The Blues Brothers,” starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, premieres in Chicago, where most of the movie takes place and was filmed. Directed by John Landis, the cult classic is based on characters from NBC’s “Saturday Night Live (SNL).”

1984 – Cyndi Lauper begins her second and final week on top of the singles chart with “Time After Time.”

1990 – Swedish pop duo Roxette is No. 1 on the singles chart with “It Must Have Been Love.”

2001 – Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Mýa and Pink hold the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with their cover of “Lady Marmalade.”

History Highlights

1884 – The first roller coaster in America opens along the boardwalk at Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York, and is called a “switchback railway.” It was the brainchild of inventor-businessman LaMarcus Adna Thompson, traveled approximately six miles per hour and cost a nickel to ride.

1903 – Entrepreneur Henry Ford incorporates the Ford Motor Company. With a dozen investors and a thousand shares, the company spends almost all of its $28,000 cash investment by the time it sells the first Ford Model A on July 23, 1903. By that October, Ford Motor Company had made a profit of $37,000.

1963 – Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman to venture into space, traveling aboard the Soviet spacecraft Vostok 6. She orbits Earth 48 times over three days and is hailed as a national hero upon her return, receiving the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star Medal. While Tereshkova has since traveled the world to promote science, she never flew in space again.

1977 – Leonid Brezhnev, first secretary of the Soviet Communist Party since 1964, is elected president of the Supreme Soviet, becoming both head of party and head of state.

Celebrity Birthdays

1907 – Oscar and Tony-winning actor Jack Albertson (“The Subject Was Roses,” “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” “The Poseidon Adventure”) (d. 1981)

1937 – Award-winning author Joyce Carol Oates

1943 – Actress Joan Van Ark (“Dallas,” “Knots Landing”)

1955 – Emmy-winning actress Laurie Metcalf, best known for her role as Jackie on TV’s “Roseanne”

1970 – World Golf Hall of Famer Phil Mickelson

1971 – Iconic hip-hop artist, actor and poet Tupac Shakur (d. 1996)

1972 – Actor John Cho (the “Harold & Kumar” movies, “American Pie,” the 2009 “Star Trek” movie)

Own a Piece of This Day

SHOP HERE:

A Perfect Haze: The Illustrated History of the Monterey International Pop Festival

Harvey Kubernik and Kenneth Kubernik

The Blues Brothers

Starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, and directed by John Landis

Amusing the Million: Coney Island at the Turn of the Century

John F. Kasson

The People's Tycoon: Henry Ford and the American Century

Steven Watts

Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory

Starring Gene Wilder, Jack Albertson and Peter Ostrum, and directed by Mel Stuart

Lovely, Dark, Deep: Stories

Joyce Carol Oates

On this Day June 8

Musical Milestones

1968 – The Rolling Stones release “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” which goes on to top the U.K. singles chart. In the U.S., it climbs as high as No. 3.

1974 – Dolly Parton reaches No. 1 on the country chart with “I Will Always Love You.” In 1982, she re-records it for the soundtrack of “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. And, in 1992, Whitney Houston records her own version that spends 14 weeks on top of the pop chart.

1974 – Paul McCartney & Wings scale the summit of the singles chart with “Band on the Run,” off the album of the same title.

1985 – Tears For Fears rules the Billboard Hot 100 with “Everybody Wants To Rule The World.” The band’s first No. 1 hit in the U.S. holds the top spot for two weeks. Two months later, the band scores another chart-topper with “Shout.”

1991 – The rock band Extreme claims the No. 1 spot on the Billboard singles chart with “More Than Words.”

1996 – “Tha Crossroads,” by Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, is in the midst of an eight-week domination of the pop chart.

History Highlights

1949 – An FBI report names Hollywood figures, including film stars Frederic March, John Garfield, Paul Muni and Edward G. Robinson as members of the Communist Party.

1966 – The rival National Football League (NFL) and American Football League (AFL) announce plans to merge. The first “Super Bowl” between the two leagues is held at the end of the 1966 season, though it takes until the 1970 season for the leagues to unite their operations and integrate their regular season schedules.

1968 – James Earl Ray is arrested in London and questioned by authorities in connection with the murder of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. three months earlier.

1968 – The body of Senator Robert Kennedy is laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery three days after his assassination.

1984 – “Ghostbusters” opens in U.S. movie theaters, starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. Directed by Ivan Reitman, the film grosses $242 million in the U.S. and more than $295 million worldwide, is nominated for two Oscars and becomes an 80s cinematic classic.

2001 – Tropical Storm Allison makes a second pass over the Houston, Texas area, dumping more than three feet of rain in some neighborhoods, causing deadly flooding and billions of dollars in damage. The storm is blamed for 23 deaths in Texas.

Celebrity Birthdays

1867 – Architect Frank Lloyd Wright (d. 1959)

1918 – Actor Robert Preston (“The Music Man,” “Victor Victoria,” “The Last Starfighter”) (d. 1987)

1925 – Former First Lady Barbara Bush (d. 2018)

1927 – Comedian-actor Jerry Stiller, best known for his roles in the sitcoms “Seinfeld” and “The King of Queens” and for the Stiller & Meara comedy routines with his late wife, Anne Meara (d. 2020)

1933 – Comedian-TV host Joan Rivers (d. 2014)

1940 – Singer-actress Nancy Sinatra (“These Boots Are Made for Walkin’,” “Somethin’ Stupid,” “Sugar Town”)

1944 – Singer-songwriter Boz Skaggs (“Lowdown,” “Lido Shuffle”)

1966 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress Julianna Margulies (“ER,” “The Sopranos,” “The Good Wife”)

1977 – Grammy-winning rapper-music producer Kanye West

Own a Piece of This Day

SHOP HERE:

Ultimate Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton

Rule The World: The Greatest Hits

Tears For Fears

Killing the Dream: James Earl Ray and the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Gerald Posner

Ghostbusters

Starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Sigourney Weaver, and directed by Ivan Reitman

The Music Man

Starring Robert Preston, Shirley Jones and Buddy Hackett, and directed by Morton DaCosta

The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty

Susan Page