On This Day: January 31

On This Day January 31

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1919 – Baseball legend Jackie Robinson, who broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball  (d. 1972)

1921 – Tony-winning singer-actress Carol Channing (“Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” “Hello, Dolly!”) (d. 2019)

1929 – Actress Jean Simmons (“Guys and Dolls,” “Hamlet,” “Spartacus”) (d. 2010)

1937 – Composer Philip Glass, whose style is considered “minimalist music”

1947 – Baseball Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan (a.k.a. The Ryan Express), who pitched for the New York Mets, California Angels, Houston Astros and Texas Rangers during a 27-year career

1959 – Actress Kelly Lynch (“Cocktail,” “Drugstore Cowboy,” “The Jacket”)

1959 – Actor Anthony LaPaglia (“So I Married an Axe Murderer,” “Without a Trace”)

1970 – Actress Minnie Driver (“Sleepers,” “Grosse Pointe Blank,” “Good Will Hunting,” “Beautiful,” “About a Boy”)

1973 – Actress Portia de Rossi (“Sirens,” “Ally McBeal,” “Arrested Development,” “Nip/Tuck”)

1981 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and actor Justin Timberlake, who was a member of the boy band NSYNC before embarking on a solo career (“Cry Me a River,” “Rock Your Body,” “SexyBack,” “My Love,” “What Goes Around… Comes Around”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1865 – The U.S. House of Representatives passes the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery in America. The measure is ratified by the states that December.

1949 – The first daytime soap opera premieres on NBC. It’s called “These Are My Children” and it runs just 15 minutes in length, airing weekdays at 5 p.m.

1950 – President Harry S. Truman announces plans to develop the hydrogen bomb. Two-and-a-half years later, the U.S. tests its first H-bomb at Eniwetok Atoll in the South Pacific. It generates a blast a thousand times stronger than the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan in World War II.

1958 – The first American satellite, Explorer I, launches into space.

1968 – As part of the Tet Offensive, a squad of Viet Cong guerillas attacks the U.S. Embassy in Saigon.

1971 – Apollo 14, piloted by astronauts Alan Shepard Jr., Edgar Mitchell and Stuart Roosa, successfully launches from Cape Canaveral, Florida on a manned mission to the moon.

1988 – “The Wonder Years” premieres on prime time TV. The coming-of-age tale set in the 1960s and 70s, stars Fred Savage. The last episode airs in the fall of 1993.

1990 – Los Angeles prosecutors announce that they will retry teacher Raymond Buckey, who was accused of molesting children at the McMartin Preschool in Manhattan Beach, California. The McMartin trials had already taken six years and cost more than $13.5 million without a single guilty verdict.

1990 – The first McDonald’s restaurant opens in Moscow.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1958 – Danny & The Juniors claim the top spot on the pop chart with “At The Hop.”

1970 – “I Want You Back” becomes the first No. 1 single for The Jackson 5 and makes Michael Jackson, at age 11, the youngest musician with a chart-topping hit. The song was originally written for Gladys Knight & The Pips.

1976 – The Ohio Players ride to No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart with “Love Rollercoaster.”

1981 – Blondie, featuring Debbie Harry, sails to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “The Tide Is High,” the band’s third chart-topper.

1987 – “At This Moment,” by Billy Vera & The Beaters, begins its second and final week at the top of the Billboard Hot 100.

1998 – Janet Jackson rules the pop chart with “Together Again,” a song that pays tribute to friends she lost to AIDS. It becomes her eighth No. 1 single. 

2004 – OutKast maintains a hold on the No. 1 spot on the Billboard singles chart with “Hey Ya!”

2009 – “Just Dance,” by Lady Gaga featuring Colby O’Donis, wraps up three weeks at No. 1.

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On this Day: July 9

On this Day July 9

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1938 – Tony and Golden Globe-winning actor Brian Dennehy (“Silverado,” “Cocoon,” “F/X,” “Presumed Innocent,” “Death of a Salesman”) (d. 2020)

1942 – Actor Richard Roundtree, best known for his portrayal of private detective John Shaft in the 1971 movie “Shaft” and its two sequels 

1947 – NFL Hall of Famer and actor O.J. Simpson, who was acquitted in 1995 in a high-profile trial on charges that he murdered his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman

1951 – Oscar-winning actor Chris Cooper (“Lone Star,” “American Beauty,” “The Bourne Identity,” “Syriana,” “Adaptation”)

1952 – Former “Entertainment Tonight” host-turned-musician John Tesh

1955 – Actor Jimmy Smits (“LA Law,” “NYPD Blue”)

1956 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actor-producer Tom Hanks (“Big,” “Philadelphia,” “Forrest Gump,” “Apollo 13,” “Cast Away,” “Toy Story” animated film series)

1957 – Actress Kelly McGillis (“Witness,” “Top Gun”) 

1964 – Rock musician-actress Courtney Love, born Courtney Michelle Harrison, widow of grunge legend Kurt Cobain 

1976 – Actor-director Fred Savage, best known for his role as Kevin Arnold in the ABC series “The Wonder Years”

History Highlights
History Highlights

1777 – New York elects its first governor, Brigadier General George Clinton, who becomes not only the longest serving New York governor, but longest serving governor in the U.S. In 1805, he is elected vice president, serving under Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, until his death in 1812.

1877 – The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club begins its first lawn tennis tournament at Wimbledon, then a suburb of London. Twenty-one amateurs show up to compete in the Gentlemen’s Singles tournament — the only event at that time.

1941 – British cryptologists break the secret Enigma code used by the German army to direct ground-to-air operations on Europe’s Eastern front.

1948 – Leroy “Satchel” Paige is 42 years old when he pitches two innings for the Cleveland Indians in his debut with the newly–and barely–integrated American League. The game comes 21 years after the great pitcher’s first Negro League appearance.

1968 – Sports history is made in Houston as the first All-Star game played indoors and on artificial turf gets underway in the Astrodome. The National League wins and Willie Mays is declared MVP. 

1971 – President Richard Nixon’s National Security Adviser, Henry Kissinger, makes a secret trip to the People’s Republic of China to negotiate a detente between the U.S. and China.

1974 – Former U.S. Chief Justice Earl Warren, who headed the commission that investigated the JFK assassination, dies in Washington, D.C. at the age of 83.

1999 – The teen sex comedy “American Pie,” starring Jason Biggs and Alyson Hannigan, opens and becomes a box office sensation, spawning an empire of sequels and direct-to-DVD spin-offs.

2000 – Venus Williams wins at Wimbledon for the first time, becoming the first female African American Wimbledon champion since Althea Gibson won back-to-back titles in 1957 and 1958. 

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1955 – “Rock Around the Clock,” by Bill Haley & His Comets, becomes the first rock ‘n’ roll record to reach No. 1 on the U.S. pop chart, known then as Billboard’s Best Sellers in Stores chart.  The single spends eight weeks on top.

1958 – Johnny Cash signs with Columbia Records, where he remains for the next 30 years, releasing more than 60 albums.

1962 – Bob Dylan records the legendary protest song, “Blowin’ in the Wind,” for his second album, “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.” Hundreds of artists have recorded the song over the years, with Peter, Paul & Mary achieving the most commercially successful version. In 1994, the track is inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

1977 – Songwriter-turned-singer Alan O’Day has the hottest single with “Undercover Angel.” 

1983 – The Police have a No. 1 hit for eight weeks with “Every Breath You Take,” the first single released from “Synchronicity” — the band’s most successful and last studio album. 

1988 – Cheap Trick’s “The Flame” burns bright for two weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100.

1994 – “I Swear,” by All-4-One, is in the midst of 11 weeks as a Billboard chart-topper. Earlier that same year, the original recording of that song was a No. 1 country hit for John Michael Montgomery.

2005 – Mariah Carey returns to the top of the pop chart with “We Belong Together,” which spent four weeks at No. 1 until Carrie Underwood bumped it for a week with “Inside Your Heaven.” Carey’s hit reigns for 10 more weeks.

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