On This Day January 5 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1928 – Former U.S. Vice President Walter “Fritz” Mondale, who served under President Jimmy Carter 1931 – Oscar, Golden Globe and Emmy-winning actor Robert Duvall (“To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Apocalypse Now,” “The Godfather,” “The Godfather Part II,” “Tender Mercies,” “Lonesome Dove,” “The Judge”) 1946 – Oscar-winning actress Diane Keaton (“The Godfather” series, “Annie Hall,” “The First Wives Club,” “Something’s Gotta Give”) 1969 – Shock rocker Marilyn Manson, born Brian Hugh Warner (“Sweet Dreams are Made of These,” “The Dope Show,” “The Beautiful People”) 1975 – Actor-director Bradley Cooper (“Wedding Crashers,” “Yes Man,” “He’s Just Not That Into You,” “The Hangover” trilogy, “Silver Linings Playbook,” “American Hustle,” “American Sniper,” “A Star is Born”) 1978 – Actress January Jones, best known for her role as Betty Draper in the “Mad Men” television series History Highlights 1914 – The Ford Motor Company introduces an eight-hour workday and minimum wage of $5 for a day’s labor. 1933 – Construction begins on California’s iconic Golden Gate Bridge, spanning San Francisco Bay. Crews complete the engineering marvel ahead of schedule and $1.3 million under budget when it opens four years later, on May 27, 1937. 1970 – The ABC soap “All My Children” premieres and runs for 41 seasons. 1972 – President Richard Nixon orders the development of a new space transportation system that relies on a reusable vehicle, and NASA’s space shuttle program is born. 1998 – Entertainer-turned-congressman Sonny Bono is killed in a California skiing accident at the age of 62. Musical Milestones 1959 – Coral Records releases Buddy Holly’s “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore.” It is Holly’s last single before his tragic death in a February 1959 plane crash that also killed popular singers Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper. 1963 – “Telstar,” by the British instrumental band The Tornados, marks its third and final week as a No. 1 single. 1973 – Bruce Springsteen releases his debut album, “Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.,” on Columbia Records. 1979 – Jazz musician and bandleader Charles Mingus dies at the age of 56. 1980 – KC and the Sunshine Band claims the top spot on the singles chart with “Please Don’t Go,” the band’s fifth and final Billboard No. 1. 1991 – Madonna scores the first No. 1 single of 1991 with “Justify My Love,” off her album, “The Immaculate Collection.” It remains a chart-topper for two weeks. 2002 – Nickelback enters its third week on top of the singles chart with “How You Remind Me.” READ MORE
On this Day May 27 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1894 – Detective novelist Dashiell Hammett (“The Maltese Falcon,” “The Glass Key,” “The Thin Man”) (d. 1961) 1911 – Actor Vincent Price, who specialized in the horror genre and provided the monologue and evil laugh in Michael Jackson’s hit single/music video “Thriller” (d. 1993) 1922 – Actor Christopher Lee (“Horror of Dracula,” “The Man With the Golden Gun,” “The Lord of the Rings,”) (d. 2015) 1923 – Former U.S. Secretary of State and Nobel laureate Henry Kissinger 1935 – Grammy-winning jazz composer-pianist Ramsey Lewis 1936 – Oscar and Emmy-winning actor Louis Gossett, Jr. (“Roots,” “An Officer And a Gentleman,” “Enemy Mine”) 1955 – Actor Richard Schiff (“The Lost World: Jurassic Park,” “The West Wing,” “Deep Impact,” “I Am Sam,” “The Good Doctor”) 1970 – Actor Joseph Fiennes (“Shakespeare in Love,” “Elizabeth,” ” Enemy at the Gates,” “American Horror Story”) History Highlights 1930 – New York City’s iconic Chrysler Building opens to the public and stands as the world’s tallest building until surpassed by the Empire State Building in 1931. 1936 – The ocean liner RMS Queen Mary leaves Southampton on her maiden voyage to New York with more than 1,800 passengers aboard. The ship arrives safely five days later. 1937 – The majestic Golden Gate Bridge opens, creating a vital link between San Francisco and Marin County, California. San Franciscans throw a “fiesta” in honor of the new span. Schools, offices and stores either close or reduce staffing. By 6 that morning, 18,000 people are waiting to cross the span from both the sides. 1939 – A ship carrying more than 900 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution is turned away from Havana, Cuba. Only 28 immigrants are admitted into the country. After appeals to the U.S. and Canada for entry are rejected, the rest are forced to return to Europe, where they are divided among several countries, including Great Britain and France. 1941 – The revered German battleship Bismarck is cornered and sunk in the North Atlantic by ships and planes from the British Royal Navy, ending one of the most intensive naval manhunts in history. An estimated 2,100 crewmen are killed in the attack. 1962 – A mine fire that still burns to this day breaks out beneath the borough of Centralia, Pennsylvania. 1994 – Two decades after being expelled from the Soviet Union, Nobel laureate Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn returns to Russia in an emotional homecoming. Musical Milestones 1957 – The Crickets, featuring Buddy Holly, release their first record, “That’ll Be The Day,” on the Brunswick label — a subsidiary of Decca Records. The single soars to the top of the pop charts in both the U.S. and U.K. and propels the band into rock and roll stardom. 1963 – The second album is the charm for 22-year-old Bob Dylan, who releases “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan,” which proves to be his breakthrough work. Among its original compositions (and first track on the album) is the classic “Blowin’ in the Wind.” 1972 – The Chi-Lites reach No. 1 on the singles chart for their first and only time with “Oh Girl.” The track, off the band’s “A Lonely Man” album, stays on top for a week. 1978 – “With a Little Luck,” by Paul McCartney & Wings, enjoys its second and final week as the hottest single in the U.S. 1989 – Paula Abdul begins her second and final week on top of the Billboard singles survey with “Forever Your Girl.” 1995 – “This Is How We Do It,” by Montell Jordan, wraps up seven weeks as a Billboard chart-topper. 2000 – Santana, featuring The Product G&B, holds steady at No. 1 on the pop chart with “Maria Maria.” READ MORE