On This Day: April 20

On This Day April 20

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1909 – Legendary jazz vibraphonist Lionel Hampton (d. 2002)

1937 – Actor and LGBTQ rights advocate George Takei, best known as Lieutenant Sulu from the “Star Trek” TV and movie series

1941 – Actor Ryan O’Neal (“Love Story,” “What’s Up Doc,” “Paper Moon,” “The Main Event”)  

1949 – Oscar, Emmy, Tony and Golden Globe-winning actress Jessica Lange (“King Kong,” “Tootsie,” “Frances,” “Country,” “Grey Gardens,” “American Horror Story,” “Feud”)  

1951 – Grammy-winning R&B singer-songwriter Luther Vandross (“Never Too Much,” “Here and Now,” “Any Love,” “Power of Love/Love Power,” “Dance with My Father”) (d. 2005)

1964 – Actor Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in “The Lord of the Rings” movie trilogy and Caesar in “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” and “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”. He also had roles in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”,”Star Wars: The Last Jedi”, “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and “Black Panther”

1964 – Actor Crispin Glover, best known for playing George McFly in the “Back to the Future” movie franchise 

1972 – Model-turned-actress and reality TV star Carmen Electra (“Baywatch,” “Meet the Spartans,” “Epic Movie,” “Cheaper by the Dozen 2”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1912 – With 27,000 people in the stands, the Boston Red Sox play their first game at Fenway Park and defeat the New York Highlanders (later renamed the Yankees) by a score of 7-6 in 11 innings. 

1916 – The first National League game played at Chicago’s Wrigley Field (then Weeghman Park) sees the Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-6 in 11 innings. A bear cub is in attendance at the ballpark, which becomes known as Cubs Park in 1920 after the Wrigley family purchases the team from Weeghman. It is named Wrigley Field in 1926 in honor of William Wrigley Jr., the club’s owner.

1971 – The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the practice of busing to desegregate schools, ruling in the case of Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education. Two years later, the high court makes a second ruling restricting the use of busing, concluding that students could only be bused across district lines if there was evidence that multiple districts had implemented deliberately discriminatory policies.

1977 – The comedy “Annie Hall” opens, starring director Woody Allen and Diane Keaton. The film goes on to win Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Original Screenplay.

1980 – The Castro regime announces that all Cubans wishing to emigrate to the U.S. are free to board boats at the port of Mariel west of Havana, launching the Mariel Boatlift.

1999 – The school day at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado is shattered by deadly gunfire. Two seniors fatally shoot 12 students and a teacher before taking their own lives. Twenty-three others are injured in what ushers in a wave of U.S. school shootings over the next two decades.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1957 – Elvis Presley is on top of Billboard’s Best Sellers in Stores chart for a second week with “All Shook Up.” The track remains at No. 1 for eight weeks and becomes the biggest single of 1957, selling more than two million copies.

1963 – The Chiffons wrap up a four-week domination of the pop chart with “He’s So Fine.”

1968 – “Honey,” by Bobby Goldsboro, is in the middle of a five-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

1970 – The New York Times reports that Catholic and Protestant youth groups have adopted The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine as a religious symbol and formed so called “submarine churches.”  These churches featured the outline of a yellow submarine with a small cross on its periscope as their symbol. It is displayed alongside peace signs, flowers and other popular emblems of the period.

1974 – “TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia),” by MFSB featuring the Three Degrees, claims the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks. 

1991 – Wilson Phillips’ “You’re in Love” is No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. 

1996 – Céline Dion’s Grammy-winning “Because You Loved Me” continues a six-week ride atop the U.S. singles chart. The track is from the 1996 movie “Up Close and Personal,” starring Robert Redford and Michelle Pfeiffer.

2002 – Ashanti launches a 10-week run on top of the pop chart with “Foolish,” off her self-titled debut album.

2013 – Bruno Mars kicks off a week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “When I Was Your Man.”

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On this Day: May 27

On this Day May 27

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Celebrity Birthdays
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
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
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.”

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