On This Day: September 16

On This Day September 16

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1924 – Tony and Golden Globe-winning actress Lauren Bacall, born Betty Joan Perske (“To Have and have Not,” “The Big Sleep,” “Key Largo,” “How to Marry a Millionaire, “Designing Woman,” “The Mirror Has Two Faces”) (d. 2014)

1925 – Legendary blues artist B.B. King (d. 2015)

1949 – Actor Ed Begley, Jr. (“St. Elsewhere,” “Best in Show,” “A Mighty Wind,” “Six Feet Under”)

1952 – Golden Globe-winning actor Mickey Rourke (“Diner,” “Angel Heart,” “Sin City,” “The Wrestler”)

1953 – Grammy-winning jazz fusion guitarist Earl Klugh

1956 – Illusionist David Copperfield

1968 – Singer-songwriter Marc Anthony

1971 – Actress, comedian and “Saturday Night Live” alum Amy Poehler

1992 – Pop singer-songwriter and actor Nick Jonas (Jonas Brothers)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1908 – Auto giant General Motors (GM) is founded By William “Billy” Durant, a leading manufacturer of horse-drawn carriages in Flint, Michigan.

1919 – The American Legion is incorporated by an act of Congress.  It was established to support and assist veterans returning from World War I, but has since grown to support veterans of all wars and veterans of peacetime as well.

1920 – A bombing in New York’s financial district kills 38 people and injures nearly 200 others, becoming the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history until the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995. While those responsible were never found, the so-called “Wall Street Bombing” was thought to be the work of communist agitators associated with the Bolshevik Revolution.

1932 – Civil rights crusader Mohandas Gandhi begins a six-day hunger strike in his Bombay, India prison cell to protest the British government’s decision to separate India’s electoral system by caste.

1940 – President Franklin Roosevelt signs the Selective Service and Training Act, which requires all male citizens between 26 and 35 to register for the military draft.

1981 – Sugar Ray Leonard beats Thomas Hearns in their first of two epic boxing bouts. 

1993 – “Cheers” spin-off “Frasier,” starring Kelsey Grammer, premieres on NBC.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1967 – Bobbie Gentry wraps up four weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with her Grammy-winning “Ode to Billie Joe.”

1972 – “Black and White,” by Three Dog Night, is No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart. The song was originally recorded by Pete Seeger in 1956 and a year later by Sammy Davis, Jr.

1978 – A Taste of Honey is in the middle of a three-week ride atop the singles chart with “Boogie Oogie Oogie.”

1979 – “Rapper’s Delight,” by The Sugarhill Gang, is released. While it is not the first single to feature rapping, it is generally considered to be responsible for introducing hip hop music to audiences around the world. The track reaches No. 36 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2011, The Library of Congress preserved it in the National Recording Registry as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

1989 – “Don’t Wanna Lose You,” by Gloria Estefan, is the No. 1 single.

1995 – “Gangsta’s Paradise,” by Coolio featuring L.V., is in the middle of three weeks as a No. 1 single.

2000 – Madonna is queen of the pop chart as “Music” kicks off three weeks at No. 1.

2006 – Justin Timberlake owns the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with “SexyBack.” The single remains at No. 1 for seven weeks.

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On This Day: September 9

On This Day September 9

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1923 – Oscar and Emmy-winning actor Cliff Robertson (“Charly,” “PT-109,” “Spider-Man”) (d. 2011)

1941 – Soul singing sensation Otis Redding, best known for his 1968 smash “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay” (d. 1967)

1952 – Musician-producer Dave Stewart, who made up half of the Eurythmics

1960 – Golden Globe-winning actor Hugh Grant (“Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Notting Hill,” “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” “About a Boy,” “Love Actually,” “Cloud Atlas,” “Man From U.N.C.L.E.”)

1966 – Comedic actor and musician Adam Sandler (“Saturday Night Live,” “Billy Madison,” “Happy Gilmore,” “The Wedding Singer,” “Punch-Drunk Love,” “50 First Dates,” “Click,” “Grown Ups”)

1971 – Actor Henry Thomas (“E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” “Legends of the Fall,” “All the Pretty Horses,” “Gangs of New York”) 

1975 – Grammy-winning jazz/standards singer Michael Bublé

History Highlights
History Highlights

1893 – President Grover Cleveland’s wife Frances becomes the first first lady to give birth in the White House when the couple’s daughter, Esther, is born. She remains the only presidential child born in the White House.

1965 – President Lyndon Johnson signs a bill establishing the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) — a Cabinet-level agency — to oversee housing programs across the U.S. 

1971 – A riot erupts at Attica Prison in upstate New York as inmates lash out over living conditions. By the time the tear gas clears four days later, 10 hostages and 29 inmates are dead — most of them killed by state troopers retaking the maximum-security facility. Nearly 90 others are injured.

1974 – The sitcom “Rhoda,” starring Valerie Harper, debuts on CBS and runs for five seasons. It’s a spinoff of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”

1975 – The TV show that launches John Travolta’s acting career premieres on ABC. It’s “Welcome Back, Kotter,” starring Gabe Kaplan as a Brooklyn high school teacher with his classroom full of troublemaking “Sweathogs.”

1976 – Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong dies in Beijing at the age of 82.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1956 – Elvis Presley makes his first appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” singing “Don’t Be Cruel,” “Love Me Tender,” “Ready Teddy” and “Hound Dog.” The show garners the largest TV audience ever up to that time, 50 million viewers—one third of the U.S. population. 

1957 – “Diana,” by Paul Anka, tops the pop chart, becoming the Canadian singer-songwriter’s first No. 1 single.

1978 – A Taste Of Honey starts a three-week run at No. 1 on the singles chart with “Boogie Oogie Oogie.” The track also dominates the U.S. soul and disco charts.

1989 – The Massachusetts-based boy band New Kids On the Block rules two major U.S. music charts. Their “Hangin’ Tough” album is No. 1 on the Billboard 200 while the title track is No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

1995 – “Gangsta’s Paradise,” by Coolio featuring L.V., kicks off four weeks as a No. 1 single. The song is part of the soundtrack to the 1995 movie “Dangerous Minds,” starring Michelle Pfeiffer, who also appears in the music video. The track garners Coolio a Best Rap Solo Performance Grammy along with other music industry honors.

2000 – Janet Jackson begins her third and final week on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Doesn’t Really Matter.”

2006 – Justin Timberlake kicks off seven weeks on top of the pop chart with “SexyBack.” The track is his first No. 1 hit.

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