Desi Arnaz – Time Rewind

On This Day March 4

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On This Day March 2

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Celebrity Birthdays

1793 – American statesman Sam Houston, best known for his role in bringing Texas into the United States as a constituent state (d. 1863)

1904 – Children’s book author and illustrator Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel (“If I Ran the Zoo,” “Horton Hears a Who!” “If I Ran the Circus,” “The Cat in the Hat,” “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” “Green Eggs and Ham”) (d. 1991)

1917 – Actor Desi Arnaz, best known for playing Ricky Ricardo in the sitcom “I Love Lucy,” which starred his wife, Lucille Ball (d. 1986)

1931 – Former Soviet President and Nobel laureate Mikhail Gorbachev

1942 – Rock-punk singer-songwriter-guitarist Lou Reed, originally of the 60s band Velvet Underground and solo artist (“Walk on the Wild Side”) (d. 2013)

1950 – Pop sensation Karen Carpenter of the 70s sibling duo Carpenters (d. 1983)

1962 – Bon Jovi frontman Jon Bon Jovi (“Dead or Alive”, “Livin’ On A Prayer”, “You Give Love A Bad Name”, “Blaze Of Glory”), born John Francis Bongiovi, Jr.

1968 – Actor Daniel Craig, best known for playing British spy James Bond

1980 – Actress-comedian Rebel Wilson (“Bridesmaids,” “Pitch Perfect,” “Pitch Perfect 2,” “How To Be Single”)

History Highlights

1836 – The Republic of Texas declares its independence from Mexico. A convention of American Texans meets at Washington-on-the-Brazos (today commonly referred to as “the birthplace of Texas”) and confirms Sam Houston as the commander in chief of all Texan forces.

1925 – State and federal highway officials create the United States’ first system of numbered interstate highways.

1933 – The horror film “King Kong,” about the giant ape that runs loose across Manhattan, opens at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. Screenings sell out for the first four days.

1949 – The first automatic street light is installed in New Milford, Connecticut.

1955 – Nine months before Rosa Parks’ famous act of civil disobedience, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin is arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated Montgomery, Alabama bus. Colvin was traveling home from school when the driver ordered her and three fellow Black students to give up their row of seats to a White passenger.

1962 – Wilt Chamberlain sets the single-game scoring record in the NBA by scoring 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors in a match against the New York Knicks.

1965 – “The Sound of Music,” starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, based on the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical about the Von Trapp family, opens in New York. The movie goes on to capture five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director (Robert Wise).

1972 – NASA launches Pioneer 10 — the first spacecraft to pass through the asteroid belt and the first to make direct observations and capture close-up images of Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system.

1978 – Three months after his death, grave robbers steal the corpse of silent film legend Charlie Chaplin from a Swiss cemetery and demand $600,000 for its safe return.

Musical Milestones

1963 – “Walk Like a Man,” by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, starts a three-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart. It is the band’s third chart-topping hit.

1967 – The Beatles win three Grammys for records issued the previous year: Best Song for “Michelle,” Best Vocal Performance for “Eleanor Rigby” and Best Cover Artwork for the album design of “Revolver” by Klaus Voormann.

1974 – “Seasons in the Sun,” by one-hit wonder Terry Jacks, claims the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 and stays there for three weeks.

1974 – At the 16th Annual Grammy Awards, Stevie Wonder captures five honors: Album of the Year and Best Engineered Recording for “Innervisions,” Best R&B Song and Best Vocal for “Superstition,” and Pop Vocal Performance for “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life.”

1974 – Roberta Flack wins Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance Grammys for “Killing Me Softly with His Song.” The track also garners a Song of the Year Grammy for its writers, Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox.

1985 – “Careless Whisper,” by Wham! featuring George Michael, begins its third and final week at No. 1 on the singles chart.

1985 – Sheena Easton becomes the first musical artist ever to land Top 10 hits on the pop, R&B, country, dance and adult contemporary charts when “Sugar Walls,” written by Prince, reaches No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. That is the song that sparked the Parental Advisory music labeling system (listen carefully to the lyrics and you’ll know why).

1999 – Acclaimed British pop vocalist Dusty Springield (“I Only Want To Be With You,” “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me”) dies at the age of 59 following a five-year battle with breast cancer.

2002 – “Always on Time,” by Ja Rule featuring Ashanti, enters its second and final week as a No. 1 single.

On This Day October 15

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Celebrity Birthdays

1924 – Former Chrysler Corp. Chairman and Ford Motor Co. President Lee Iacocca (d. 2019)

1937 – Actress-singer Linda Lavin (“Alice”)

1943 – Actress-director Penny Marshall (“Laverne & Shirley,” “Big,” “Awakenings,” “A League of Their Own,” “Riding in Cars With Boys”) (d. 2018)

1946 – Singer-songwriter Richard Carpenter of the 1970s sibling pop duo, the Carpenters

1959 – Sarah Ferguson (“Fergie”), Duchess of York

1959 – TV chef-restaurateur Emeril Lagasse

History Highlights

1863 – The H.L. Hunley, the world’s first successful combat submarine, sinks during a test run, killing its inventor and seven crew members. The vessel is recovered, and four months later, becomes the first submarine to destroy a ship (USS Housatonic) in battle.

1915 – Exotic dancer and spy Mata Hari is executed by a French firing squad after it was discovered that she also worked for the Germans.

1951 – Television’s first, long-running, sitcom hit, “I Love Lucy,” debuts, starring comedian Lucille Ball and her real-life husband, Desi Arnaz. The half-hour show runs for six seasons on CBS, becoming one of the most beloved and enduring TV comedies of all time.

1966 – With the stroke of his pen, President Lyndon Johnson (LBJ) creates the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).

1989 – During a game against his old team, the Edmonton Oilers, Canadian ice hockey legend Wayne Gretzky breaks Gordie Howe’s National Hockey League career scoring record of 1,850 points.

1990 – Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev wins the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end Cold War tensions with the United States.

1991 – After a bitter confirmation hearing, the U.S. Senate votes 52 to 48 to confirm Clarence Thomas as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Musical Milestones

1930 – Legendary composer and bandleader Duke Ellington (a.k.a. “The Duke”) records his first big hit, “Mood Indigo.” Ellington explained that he wrote the the track, originally titled “Dreamy Blues,” in 15 minutes while waiting for his mother to finish cooking dinner.

1964 – Composer Cole Porter, whose musical notes fill much of the Great American Songbook, dies at the age of 73.

1966 – The Four Tops hit No.1 on the singles chart with “Reach Out And I’ll Be There.”

1973 – Ten years after her death, Patsy Cline (“Walkin’ After Midnight,” “I Fall to Pieces,” “Crazy,” “Sweet Dreams”) becomes the first female solo performer to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

1977 – Debby Boone begins 10 weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “You Light Up My Life.”

1983 – “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” by Bonnie Tyler, is in the middle of four weeks as a Billboard chart-topper.

1988 – UB40’s version of the Neil Diamond song “Red, Red Wine” spends a week on top of the Billboard Hot 100.

1994 – Boyz II Men are in the midst of a 14-week ride atop the pop chart with “I’ll Make Love to You.”

2006 – CBGB, the iconic New York City nightclub considered the birthplace of the punk rock movement, closes its doors after 33 years of business. The club, nestled in Manhattan’s East Village, helped launch the careers of such pioneering artists as the Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, Patti Smith Group and Joan Jett.