On This Day February 10 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1883 – Actor Lon Chaney, Jr., who portrayed the legendary monsters of film, including the Mummy, Wolf Man, Frankenstein and Dracula (d. 1930) 1893 – Singer-comedian-actor Jimmy Durante (d. 1980) 1930 – Actor Robert Wagner (“It Takes a Thief,” “Hart to Hart,” “Austin Powers”) 1937 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Roberta Flack (“The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” “Feel Like Makin’ Love,” “Where is the Love”) 1950 – American Olympic gold medal swimmer Mark Spitz 1961 – ABC News’ “Good Morning America” co-host and former Clinton administration advisor George Stephanopoulos 1964 – Conservative talk show host Glenn Beck 1967 – Actress Laura Dern (“Mask,” “Blue Velvet,” “Wild at Heart,” “Jurassic Park,” “Rambling Rose,” “Enlightened,” “The Founder”) 1974 – Actress Elizabeth Banks (“Catch Me if You Can,” “Seabiscuit,” “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “The Hunger Games” movie series, “Pitch Perfect”) History Highlights 1933 – The Postal Telegraph Company, based in New York City, introduces the first singing telegram. 1962 – American spy pilot Francis Gary Powers is released by the Soviets in exchange for Soviet Colonel Rudolf Abel, a senior KGB spy who was caught in the United States five years earlier. 1967 – The 25th Amendment to the Constitution is ratified. It clarifies procedures for presidential succession along with provisions for the continuity of power in the event of a disability or illness of the president. 1981 – A fire at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel-casino kills eight people and injures nearly 200 others. Investigators determine that the blaze was set by 23-year-old hotel employee Phillip Cline. He is convicted of eight counts of murder and sentenced to eight consecutive life terms without parole for the deaths, plus 15 years for first-degree arson. 1989 – Ron Brown is elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), becoming the first African American to lead a major American political party. 1996 – World chess champion Garry Kasparov loses the first game of a six-game match against Deep Blue, an IBM computer capable of evaluating 200 million moves per second. Man was ultimately victorious over machine, however, as Kasparov bested Deep Blue in the match with three wins and two ties and took home the $400,000 prize. Musical Milestones 1958 – “Don’t,” by Elvis Presley & The Jordanaires, tops the singles chart and stays there for five weeks. The ballad, written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller — the duo behind “Hound Dog” and “Jailhouse Rock” — becomes Elvis’ eleventh No. 1 single. 1968 – The instrumental “Love Is Blue,” by one-hit wonder Paul Mauriat begins a five-week reign over the Billboard Hot 100. 1972 – A little-known rock musician named David Bowie appears at the Tolworth Toby Jug, a London pub, and assumes the persona of the now-legendary Ziggy Stardust before some 60 guests. 1979 – Rod Stewart has the hottest single in the U.S. with “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” The song holds the No. 1 spot for four weeks. 1990 – “Opposites Attract,” by Paula Abdul with The Wild Pair, starts a three-week run as the No. 1 single. 1993 – On a special edition of the Oprah Winfrey show, Michael Jackson gives the first television interview in 14 years, live from his Neverland Ranch. Taking place before allegations about sexual abuse surfaced, the MJ interview draws a worldwide audience of 90 million people. 2001 – “It Wasn’t Me,” by Shaggy, begins its second and final week on top of the Billboard Hot 100. 2004 – Def Jam Recordings and Roc-A-Fella Records release “The College Dropout,” Kanye West’s debut album. READ MORE
On this Day June 17 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1904 – Tony-winning actor Ralph Bellamy (“His Girl Friday,” “The Winds of War,” “Trading Places”) (d. 1991) 1943 – Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich 1943 – Grammy, Emmy and Tony-winning singer-songwriter-arranger Barry Manilow (“I Write the Songs,” “Mandy,” “Copacabana”) 1951 – Actor-comedian Joe Piscopo, best remembered for his Frank Sinatra impersonations on “Saturday Night Live” in the 1980s 1960 – Actor Thomas Haden Church (“Wings,” “Sideways,” “Spider-Man 3”) 1963 – Actor Greg Kinnear (“As Good As It Gets,” “You’ve Got Mail,” “Stuck on You,” “Little Miss Sunshine,” “Green Zone”) 1980 – American tennis star Venus Williams 1987 – Grammy-winning rapper and producer Kendrick Lamar, born Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, who has the distinction of being the first artist ever to win a Pulitzer Prize for Music for a genre other than classical or jazz History Highlights 1885 – The disassembled Statue of Liberty, a gift of friendship from the people of France to the American people, arrives to great fanfare in New York Harbor aboard the French Navy ship, Isère. It will take a year to reassemble all its parts. 1928 – Aviator Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, as she completes a flight from Newfoundland to Wales in about 21 hours. 1972 – Five men are arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office-apartment-hotel complex in Washington, D.C. The busts eventually lead to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal. 1991 – The South African Parliament repeals the Population Registration Act, removing what served as the foundation of apartheid. The law, first enacted in 1950, required the racial classification of all South Africans at birth. 1994 – The NBA playoffs are interrupted as TV networks break in with live coverage of perhaps the most famous car chase ever to take place on Los Angeles freeways. It’s football legend O.J. Simpson, inside a white Ford Bronco, being pursued as a double-murder suspect by a convoy of police cars. Musical Milestones 1965 – The New York Academy of Music hosts the first-ever American performances of two British bands that would become staples of the classic rock scene: The Moody Blues and The Kinks. 1967 – “Groovin’,” by The Young Rascals, makes a return trip to the top of the Billboard singles chart. It spent two weeks there in mid-May and begins another two-week stay this time around. 1972 – Sammy Davis, Jr. holds at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “The Candy Man,” from the movie “Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory.” It is the only chart-topper of Davis’ long career as a celebrated entertainer and Rat Pack member. 1972 – The Rolling Stones’ “Exile On Main Street” starts a four-week run on top of the Billboard album chart. The double-album features “Rocks Off’,” “Rip This Joint,” “Happy” and “Tumbling Dice.” 1978 – Andy Gibb is the hottest act on the singles chart with “Shadow Dancing,” which holds the top spot for seven weeks. 1986 – Kate Smith, one of the most successful American singers of the 1920s-40s and best known for her rendition of “God Bless America,” dies at the age of 79. 1995 – Bryan Adams’ “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?” is in the middle of a five-week run at No. 1 on the singles chart. The song is from the soundtrack to the movie “Don Juan DeMarco,” starring Johnny Depp. 2006 – “Hips Don’t Lie, by Shakira featuring Wyclef Jean, begins two weeks on top of the pop chart. READ MORE