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On This Day November 19

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Celebrity Birthdays

1933 – Award-winning TV and radio talk show host Larry King, born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger

1936 – Retired Emmy-winning TV talk show host and comedian Dick Cavett, who tackled controversial topics and featured countless celebrities over the years on “The Dick Cavett Show”

1938 – Media mogul Ted Turner, born Robert Edward Turner III, who founded Cable News Network (CNN) and Turner Broadcasting (TBS)

1942 – Fashion designer Calvin Klein

1961 – Actress-producer Meg Ryan, born Margaret Hyra (“Top Gun,” “When Harry Met Sally…,” “Sleepless in Seattle,” “French Kiss,” “Addicted to Love,” “You’ve Got Mail,” “City of Angels,” “Proof of Life,” “Kate & Leopold”)

1962 – Oscar-winning actress-producer-director Jodie Foster (“Taxi Driver,” “The Accused,” “Silence of the Lambs,” “Contact,” “Anna and the King,” “Panic Room,” “Flightplan,” “Elysium”)

History Highlights

1863 – During the dedication of a military cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln delivers one of the most memorable speeches in American history: the Gettysburg Address.

1954 – The first automatic toll machine in the United States goes into service along the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey, charging motorists 25 cents to pass.

1959 – It’s the end of the road for the Edsel, as Ford Motor Company terminates production of an automobile line that proved to be a marketing disaster.

1964 – Something other than bread pops in and out of the toaster, as Kellogg’s introduces the Pop-Tart in four flavors: strawberry, blueberry, apple currant and brown sugar-cinnamon.

1969 – Apollo 12 becomes the second manned space mission to land on the moon. The crew touches down within walking distance of the Surveyor III spacecraft, which landed in April 1967. The astronauts bring some Surveyor III instruments back to Earth to examine the effects of long-term exposure to the lunar environment.

1975 – “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” opens in theaters, starring Jack Nicholson as a patient in a 1960s psychiatric hospital, and Louise Fletcher as the head nurse. It becomes only the second movie of all time to clinch five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor (Nicholson).

Musical Milestones

1955 – Carl Perkins records “Blue Suede Shoes” at Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. Written by Perkins, it is considered one of the first rockabilly recordings. The single reaches No. 2 on the pop chart in 1956 and is later famously covered by Elvis Presley.

1966 – Reigning supreme on the singles chart: “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” by Diana Ross and The Supremes. The track hangs on to the No. 1 position for two weeks and is the Motown sensation’s seventh chart-topper.

1977 – Debby Boone is midway through a 10-week hold on No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “You Light Up My Life.”

1979 – Chuck Berry walks out of prison a free man after serving a four-month sentence for tax evasion.

1983 – Tina Turner has her first chart single in more than a decade with her cover of Al Green’s 1972 hit, “Let’s Stay Together.” The track, from her “Private Dancer” album, climbs as high as No. 26 on the Hot 100.

1994 – Boyz II Men have the No. 1 single with “I’ll Make Love to You.” 

2003 – California authorities issue an arrest warrant for Michael Jackson on multiple counts of child molestation and ask the pop superstar to turn himself in and surrender his passport.

2005 – “Gold Digger,” by Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx, begins its tenth and final week on top of the Billboard singles chart.

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