On This Day: September 25

On This Day September 25

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1897 – Nobel Prize-winning novelist William Faulkner (“‘The Sound and the Fury,” “As I Lay Dying”) (d. 1962)

1929 – Emmy-winning TV journalist Barbara Walters, the first woman to co-anchor a network evening news broadcast and who appeared as a host of numerous TV programs, including “Today,” “The ABC Evening News,” “20/20” and “The View” (d. 2022)

1944 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actor Michael Douglas (“The Streets of San Francisco,” “The China Syndrome,” “Romancing the Stone,” “Wall Street,” “The War of the Roses,” “Falling Down,” “The American President,” “Wonder Boys,” “Last Vegas”)

1947 – Supermodel-actress Cheryl Tiegs, remembered for adorning covers of the “Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue” and for her 1978 “Pink Bikini” poster, which became an iconic image of 1970s pop culture

1951 – Actor Mark Hamill, best known for playing Luke Skywalker in the “Star Wars” movies

1952 – Actor Christopher Reeve, who was paralyzed in a 1995 horse-riding accident (“Superman,” “Somewhere in Time,” “Deathtrap,” “The Remains of the Day”) (d. 2004)

1961 – Actress Heather Locklear (“TJ Hooker,” “Melrose Place,” “Spin City”)

1968 – Grammy-winning actor-rapper Will Smith (“The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” “Independence Day,” “Men in Black,” “Ali,” “I, Robot,” “I Am Legend,” “Hancock,” “After Earth,” “Suicide Squad,” “King Richard”)

1969 – Oscar-winning actress Catherine Zeta-Jones (“The Mask of Zorro,” “Entrapment,” “Traffic,” “Chicago,” “Oceans Twelve,” “The Terminal”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1957 – Nine Black students (the “Little Rock Nine”) enter all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas escorted by the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division. Three weeks earlier, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus had surrounded the school with National Guard troops to block federal court-ordered racial integration. After a tense standoff, President Dwight D. Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas National Guard and deployed 1,000 army paratroopers to Little Rock to enforce the court order.

1959 – Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev kicks off two days of meetings with President Dwight Eisenhower at Camp David. The two men reach general agreement on several issues, but a spy plane incident in May 1960 crushes any hopes for further improvement in U.S.-Soviet relations during the Eisenhower years.

1961 – President John F. Kennedy gives his “Sword of Damocles” speech before the United Nations General Assembly. He outlines the threat nuclear weapons had on the world, and challenges the Soviet Union to a “peace race…until general and complete disarmament has been achieved.” 

1963 – The first in a series of 1960s teen beach movies is launched when “Beach Party,” starring Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon, opens in U.S. theaters. 

1978 – Tragedy erupts in the skies over San Diego as a small Cessna aircraft being used for flying lessons collides with a Pacific Southwest Airlines 727 (PSA Flight 182). The accident kills 153 people, including seven on the ground, and 22 homes where the burning jet fell are damaged or destroyed. 

1981 – Sandra Day O’Connor is sworn in as the first female associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. 

1997 – NBC’s prime time medical drama “ER,” which supercharged George Clooney’s acting career, opens its fourth season with live performances — first for East coast viewers and a second time for its West coast audience. The episode, entitled “Ambush,” draws a record 42.7 million viewers, becoming the series’ highest rating ever. “ER” aired for a total of 15 seasons, making it the longest-running primetime medical drama.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1965 – The Beatles get animated — literally — as they join the Saturday morning cartoon lineup in ABC’s “The Beatles,” which runs for three seasons. While authentic Beatles music was used in the show, the speaking parts were recorded by voice actors.

1967 – The Beatles begin recording the Paul McCartney song “The Fool on the Hill” at Abbey Road Studios. John and George play harmonicas, Paul plays a recorder and handles lead vocals while Ringo plays drums. 

1970 – “The Partridge Family,” starring Oscar-winner Shirley Jones and her actual stepson, teen heartthrob David Cassidy, premieres on ABC. Inspired by real-life vocal group The Cowsills, the show runs for 96 episodes through September 1974.

1982 – The Steve Miller Band works some magic on the singles chart by making “Abracadabra” return to the No. 1 spot where it had been three weeks earlier before Chicago’s “Hard to Say I’m Sorry” bumped it.

1993 – “Dreamlover,” by Mariah Carey, is in the midst of an eight-week reign over the Billboard Hot 100.

1999 – TLC top the pop chart with “Unpretty,” the trio’s fourth No. 1 single.  It goes on to receive Grammy nominations for Song of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group.

2004 – “Goodies,” by Ciara featuring Petey Pablo, is the No. 1 single.

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On This Day: September 19

On This Day September 19

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1928 – Actor Adam West, best known for playing Batman in the 1960s TV series (d. 2017)

1933 – Actor David McCallum, best known as secret agent Illya Kuryakin in the 1960s “Man from U.N.C.L.E.” TV series and as Dr. Donald Mallard on “NCIS.”

1940 – Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe-winning songwriter Paul Williams, known for “We’ve Only Just Begun,” “Evergreen,” “Rainy Days and Mondays” and many others 1970s standards.

1941 – Singer Mama Cass Elliot, born Ellen Naomi Cohen, member of the 1960s band The Mamas & the Papas (d. 1974)

1948 – Oscar, Emmy and Tony-winning actor Jeremy Irons (“Brideshead Revisited,” “Reversal of Fortune,” “Kafka,” “The House of the Spirits,” “The Lion King,” “Die Hard With a Vengeance,” “Margin Call,” “The Man Who Knew Infinity”)

1949 – Lesley Hornby, a.k.a. “Twiggy,” the 60s British fashion icon

1964 – Grammy-winning country music singer Trisha Yearwood

1974 – Emmy-winning “The Tonight Show” host and “Saturday Night Live” alum Jimmy Fallon

History Highlights
History Highlights

1881 – U.S. President James Garfield dies of injuries suffered two months earlier when he was shot at a Washington railroad station by a mentally disturbed lawyer and writer named Charles Guiteau. Garfield was getting ready to leave town for a family vacation on the Jersey shore when the attack took place.

1957 – Scientists detonate a 1.8 kiloton nuclear weapon in an underground tunnel at the Nevada Test Site, a 1,375-square-mile research center located north of Las Vegas. The test, known as Rainier, marks the first fully contained underground detonation and produces no radioactive fallout.

1969 – President Richard Nixon tries to appease Vietnam War protesters by announcing the cancellation of two upcoming draft calls. 

1970 – Americans meet and fall in love with a single career woman, TV news producer Mary Richards, when CBS introduces “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” 

1985 – Mother Nature deals Mexico City a devastating one-two punch. A powerful earthquake and almost equally powerful aftershock rock the Mexican capital, killing nearly 10,000 people, injuring 30,000 and causing billions of dollars in damage. 

1994 – “ER,” the medical drama that gave George Clooney’s acting career a shot in the arm, premieres on NBC. The primetime series was the creation of novelist and physician Michael Crichton and captured 116 awards, including 22 Emmys, during a 15-season run.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1960 – Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” kicks off a week on top of the Billboard singles chart and sets off a new dance craze across America.

1966 – “The House of the Rising Sun,” by The Animals, begins its third and final week as a No. 1 hit.

1970 – Diana Ross climbs to the summit of the singles chart with “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” — her first No. 1 since leaving The Supremes. 

1981 – Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel reunite for a free concert in New York’s Central Park that draws half a million fans. 

1987 – The duet “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” by Michael Jackson and Siedah Garrett, off MJ’s “Bad” album, begins a week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. 

1998 – Aerosmith is in the midst of a four-week domination of the pop chart with “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” from the movie “Armageddon.” The song is the band’s first No. 1 hit.

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On this Day: July 19

On this Day July 19

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1941 – Grammy-winning singer Vikki Carr, best known for her 1967 hit “It Must Be Him” 

1947 – Singer-songwriter Brian May, best known as lead guitarist for the rock band Queen

1954 – Actress Kathleen Turner (“Body Heat,” “Peggy Sue Got Married,” “Romancing the Stone,” “War of the Roses”)

1961 – Actor Campbell Scott (“Longtime Companion,” “Dying Young,” “Big Night,” “The Amazing Spider-Man,” “The Amazing Spider-Man 2”)

1962 – Golden Globe and Emmy-winning actor Anthony Edwards (“Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” “Revenge of the Nerds,” “Top Gun,” “Zodiac,” “Miracle Mile,” “ER”)

1976 – Emmy-winning actor Benedict Cumberbatch (“War Horse,” “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” “Star Trek: Into the Darkness,” “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” “12 Years a Slave,” “The Fifth Estate,” “The Imitation Game”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1848 – The first women’s rights convention called by abolitionists Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott takes place in Seneca Falls, New York. More than 300 men and women gather for the two-day event to “discuss the social, civil and religious rights and condition of woman.”

1879 – Dentist-turned-gunslinger Doc Holliday kills for the first time, shooting a man who started randomly firing his gun outside the Las Vegas, New Mexico saloon that Holliday owned.

1956 – Secretary of State John Foster Dulles announces that the U.S. will not help Egypt fund construction of the Aswan High Dam on the Nile River. The move leads to bumpy U.S.-Middle East relations for years to come.

1984 – New York Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro officially wins the Democratic nomination for vice president during the party’s convention in San Francisco. She becomes the first woman to run on a major party ticket.

1989 – It’s a tragic day for commercial air travel as 112 people are killed when United Airlines Flight 232, a DC-10 en route to Chicago from Denver, crashes during an emergency landing at Sioux City, Iowa. 

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1966 – Wedding bells ring as legendary entertainer Frank Sinatra marries actress Mia Farrow. He’s 50, she’s 21. The marriage lasts just two years.

1969 – Zager and Evans are No. 1 on the pop chart with “In the Year 2525.”

1974 – The three-day Ozark Music Festival opens at the Missouri State Fairgrounds in Sedalia, Missouri, and draws a crowd estimated at 350,000 — bigger than the more famous Woodstock Festival. Acts include Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Blue Öyster Cult, Eagles, Aerosmith, America, Jefferson Starship, the Marshall Tucker Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Joe Walsh.

1975 – Paul McCartney and Wings reach the top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Listen To What The Man Said” off the “Venus and Mars” album.

1980 – Billy Joel holds the top position of both the album and singles charts. His album, “Glass Houses,” contains his first and biggest No. 1 hit, “It’s Still Rock ’n’ Roll to Me.”

1986 – “Invisible Touch,” off the Genesis album of the same name, grabs hold of the top spot on the Billboard singles chart for a week. It is the band’s first and only U.S. No. 1.

1988 – A year before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Bruce Springsteen performs for more than 300,000 fans in East Berlin, saying “I’m not here for any government. I’ve come to play rock ‘n’ roll for you in the hope that one day all the barriers will be torn down.”

1997 – “I’ll Be Missing You,” by Puff Daddy and Faith Evans featuring 112, is midway through an 11-week domination of the pop chart.

2003 – No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a second straight week: “Crazy in Love,” by Beyoncé featuring Jay-Z. 

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