On This Day: April 25

On This Day April 25

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1874 – Nobel Prize-winning radio inventor Guglielmo Marconi (d. 1937)

1908 – Pioneering broadcast journalist and longtime CBS correspondent Edward R. Murrow (d. 1965)

1917 – Legendary Grammy-winning jazz vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, affectionately known as “The First Lady of Song” (d. 1996)

1932 – Basketball Hall of Famer and former Harlem Globetrotter Meadowlark Lemon, born Meadow Lemon III (d. 2015)

1940 – Oscar, Tony and Emmy-winning actor Al Pacino (“The Godfather” movie series, “Serpico,” “Dog Day Afternoon,” ” …And Justice for All,” “Scarface,” “Scent of a Woman,” “Carlito’s Way,” “The Devil’s Advocate,” “The Insider,” “Oceans Thrteen,” “Danny Collins,” “The Irishman,” “Hunters”)

1946 – Actress Talia Shire, best known for her roles as Connie Corleone in “The Godfather” films and Adrian Balboa in the “Rocky” series

1964 – Emmy-winning actor-producer-comedian Hank Azaria (“The Simpsons,” “The Birdcage,” “Mystery Men,” “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian,” “The Smurfs,” “Brockmire”)

1969 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actress Renée Zellweger (“Jerry McGuire,” “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” “Me Myself and Irene,” “Chicago,” “Cold Mountain,” “Cinderella Man”) 

History Highlights
History Highlights

1901 –  New York becomes the first state to require license plates on cars. Owners had to display their initials on the back of the vehicle and the letters had to be at least three inches tall. Since the state did not produce license plates, owners were forced to make their own, and they did so using metal, leather or wood — or they painted their initials directly onto the vehicle. In 1903, Massachusetts became the first state to produce license plates.

1945 – A milestone in the approaching end of World War II in Europe is achieved when U.S. and Russian troops meet in Torgau along the River Elbe, cutting Nazi Germany in two. 

1980 – President Jimmy Carter informs the nation that eight U.S. servicemen were killed in the collision of two military aircraft to be used to rescue 52 Americans held hostage in Iran. Those hostages are finally freed the following January, on the day Ronald Reagan is inaugurated president.

1983 – Soviet leader Yuri Andropov personally invites American fifth-grader Samantha Smith of Maine to visit his country after reading her letter in which she expressed fears about nuclear war. She makes the trip that summer and becomes an honorary ambassador for peace at a time when U.S.-Soviet relations were strained during the Cold War. Sadly, Smith dies in a plane crash two years later.

1990 – The crew of Space Shuttle Discovery places the Hubble Space Telescope, a long-term space-based observatory, into a low orbit around Earth. Hubble — named after astronomer Edwin Hubble — continues to provide astronomers with an unparalleled view of the solar system, the galaxy and the universe. 

1995 – Oscar-winning entertainer Ginger Rogers, best known for her films with dance partner Fred Astaire, dies at the age of 83.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1956 – Rock and Roll King Elvis Presley signs a seven-year movie contract with Paramount Pictures.

1960 – Elvis Presley gets stuck on top of the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks with “Stuck On You.” It’s his first hit single following his two-year stint in the U.S. Army.

1970 – The Jackson 5 give The Beatles’ “Let It Be” the boot and claim the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for two weeks with “ABC.”

1981 – Daryl Hall and John Oates begin their third and final week as chart-toppers with “Kiss On My List.”

1987 – U2 begin a nine-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart with “The Joshua Tree,” which packs chart-topping tracks including “With or Without You,” “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and “Where the Streets Have No Name.” It goes on to capture Grammys for Album of the Year and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

1990 – The Fender Stratocaster that rock guitar legend Jimi Hendrix played at the Woodstock festival is auctioned off for a record $330,000. His two-hour set at the 1969 rock festival included a rendition of the “Star Spangled Banner.”

1992 – “Jump,” by hip hop duo Kris Kross, grabs the top spot on the singles chart and remains there for eight weeks.

1998 – Next has the No. 1 single with “Too Close.” The track remains on top of the pop chart for five weeks.

2007 – Leukemia claims the life of 69-year-old Bobby “Boris” Pickett, best known for his hit novelty song “Monster Mash,” which still gets radio airplay every Halloween.

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On this Day: July 16

On this Day July 16

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1887 – Major League Baseball player “Shoeless” Joe Jackson (d. 1951)

1907 – Popcorn pioneer Orville Redenbacher (d. 1995)

1907 – Actress Barbara Stanwyck (“Double Indemnity,” “Sorry, Wrong Number”) (d. 1990)

1911 – Actress-dancer-singer Ginger Rogers, who often collaborated with entertainer Fred Astaire (d. 1995)

1952 – Composer and drummer for The Police, Stewart Copeland

1963 – Actress Phoebe Cates (“Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” “Gremlins”) 

1967 – Comedian-actor and “SNL” alum Will Ferrell (“Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy,” “Talladega Nights,” “Blades of Glory,” “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues”)  

1971 – Actor-singer Corey Feldman (“Stand By Me,” “The Goonies,” “Lost Boys,” “Gremlins,” “The ‘Burbs”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1790 – President George Washington signs into law the Residence Act, which grants him the authority to select a new site for a capital of the United States on the east bank of the Potomac River.

1935 – The first parking meter in the U.S. — Park-O-Meter No. 1 — is installed at the intersection of First Street and Robinson Avenue in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The device was the creation of Carl Magee (pictured), founder of the Oklahoma News newspaper, who was determined to alleviate parking congestion. Magee saw the meter, and the threat of being ticketed, as a way to prevent drivers from leaving their cars parked endlessly on the street.

1945 – The nuclear age begins as the so-called “Trinity Test” is conducted. Part of the Manhattan Project, the world’s first successful test of an atomic bomb takes place during the early morning hours in the desert at Alamogordo, New Mexico. 

1951 – J. D. Salinger’s novel, “The Catcher in the Rye,” is published and becomes one of the best known works in American literature. To date, more than 65 million copies have been sold.

1969 – Apollo 11 roars from its launch pad at Cape Kennedy, Florida on the first manned mission to the moon. Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin set out to fulfill a national objective declared by President John F. Kennedy in May of 1961: perform a crewed lunar landing and return safely to Earth.

1999 – A single-engine plane piloted by publisher and presidential son John F. Kennedy, Jr. crashes into the Atlantic Ocean near Martha’s Vineyard, killing Kennedy, 38, his wife Carolyn, 33, and her sister, Lauren Bessette, 34. Five days later, underwater divers discover all three bodies still strapped into their seats.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1966 – “Hanky Panky,” by Tommy James & the Shondells, begins two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, the same duo that penned the hits “Be My Baby” and “Leader of the Pack.” 

1966 – Guitarist Eric Clapton, bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker form Cream, generally regarded as rock music’s first “supergroup.”  The band breaks up about two years later, but not before cranking out classic recordings like “Sunshine of Your Love,” “Badge,” “Strange Brew” and “White Room.”

1972 – After 16 years as their lead singer, Motown legend Smokey Robinson leaves The Miracles (originally named the Five Chimes) for a solo career. 

1977 – The hottest single belongs to then-teen heartthrob Shaun Cassidy: “Da Doo Ron Ron.” 

1981 – One of America’s great musical storytellers, Grammy-winning folk-rock singer Harry Chapin (“Cat’s in the Cradle,” “Taxi”), dies in a Long Island, New York car crash. 

1983 – The Police enter their second week on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Every Breath You Take,” which remains a chart-topper for eight weeks.

1994 – All-4-One is in the middle of an 11-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “I Swear.”

2005 – Mariah Carey rules the singles chart with “We Belong Together,” which holds at No. 1 for 14 nonconsecutive weeks. The track is from her tenth studio album, “The Emancipation of Mimi.”

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