Henry Ford – Time Rewind

On This Day January 13

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On This Day January 12

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Celebrity Birthdays

1876 – Author Jack London (“The Call of the Wild,” “White Fang”) (d. 1916)

1944 – Retired World Heavyweight Boxing champion Joe Frazier (d. 2011)

1951 – Conservative talk show host and Radio Hall of Famer Rush Limbaugh (d. 2021)

1951 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress Kirstie Alley (“Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan,” “Cheers,” “Shoot to Kill,” “Look Who’s Talking”) (d. 2022)

1954 – Radio shock jock and former “America’s Got Talent” judge Howard Stern

History Highlights

1904 – Driving his “999” Arrow Racer, automotive pioneer Henry Ford sets a land speed record of 91.37 miles per hours on the frozen surface of Michigan’s Lake St. Clair.

1926 – The two-man comedy series “Sam ‘n’ Henry” debuts on Chicago radio station WGN. Two years later, after changing its name to “Amos ‘n’ Andy,” the show becomes one of the most popular radio programs in American history.

1932 – Hattie Wyatt Caraway, an Arkansas Democrat, becomes the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate.

1966 – The “Batman” television series debuts on ABC, starring Adam West and Burt Ward. Episodes feature acclaimed guest stars playing the various villains that battle Batman for supremacy over Gotham City.

1969 – In the most celebrated performance of his prolific career, quarterback Joe Namath leads the New York Jets to a stunning 16-7 victory over the heavily favored Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III in Miami.

1971 – The groundbreaking sitcom “All in the Family” premieres on CBS, about a working-class Queens, New York family grappling with various social issues. It stars Carroll O’Connor as Archie Bunker, Jean Stapleton as his wife, Edith, Sally Struthers as their daughter, Gloria, and Rob Reiner as their son-in-law, Michael (“Meathead”). The show was the brainchild of acclaimed writer-producer Norman Lear.

1981 – A three-hour television movie serves as ABC’s pilot for the prime-time soap opera “Dynasty,” starring John Forsythe as oil tycoon Blake Carrington, Linda Evans as his wife, Crystal, and Joan Collins as Alexis, Carrington’s scheming ex-wife and business rival.

2010 – A magnitude 7.0 earthquake devastates the Caribbean island nation of Haiti. The quake — the strongest to strike the region in more than 200 years — leaves about 250,000 people dead and some 895,000 Haitians homeless.

Musical Milestones

1963 – “Go Away Little Girl,” by Steve Lawrence, begins two weeks on top of the singles chart.

1974 – Jim Croce starts a five-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart with “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim.”

1974 – The Steve Miller Band has the No. 1 single in the U.S. with “The Joker,” off the album of the same name.

1980 – “Escape (The Piña Colada Song),” by Rupert Holmes, is the most popular single in the U.S.

1985 – “Like a Virgin,” by Madonna, is in the middle of six-weeks on top of the Billboard singles chart.

1991 – Madonna rules the Billboard Hot 100 with “Justify My Love.”

2002 – “How You Remind Me,” by Nickelback, begins its fourth and final week as a No. 1 single.

2003 – Maurice Gibb of the celebrated musical trio, the Bee Gees, dies of a heart attack at the age of 53 after undergoing emergency abdominal surgery at a Miami hospital.

2013 – The 1974 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow used by Queen frontman Freddie Mercury until his 1991 death sells at auction for £74,000 to a Russian businessman.

On This Day October 7

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Celebrity Birthdays

1931 – Anti-apartheid hero, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu (d. 2021)

1951 – Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer-songwriter John Mellencamp (“Ain’t Even Done With the Night,” “Hurts So Good,” “Jack & Diane,” “Crumblin’ Down,” “Pink Houses,” “Small Town,” “Cherry Bomb”)

1955 -Internationally acclaimed, Grammy-winning cellist Yo-Yo Ma

1959 – TV producer, executive and celebrity judge Simon Cowell (“American Idol, “The X Factor,” “America’s Got Talent”)

1967 – Grammy-winning soul-R&B singer and actress Toni Braxton, best known for her 1996 hit “Un-Break My Heart” and for playing Belle in the Broadway production of “Beauty and the Beast”

History Highlights

1913 – The moving assembly line is introduced at Ford Motor Company’s Highland Park factory outside Detroit. Henry Ford’s invention allowed workers to build a Model T from scratch in 84 steps, cutting production time from 12.5 hours to six hours, and a year later to just 93 minutes.

1968 – The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) adopts its film rating system. Movies are rated G for general audiences, M (which later becomes PG), R or X (for adults only).

1982 – “Cats” opens, becoming the longest-running production in Broadway history. The musical is based the T.S. Eliot’s 1939 collection of poems, “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats,” and features music by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

1985 – Four Palestinian terrorists hijack the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro in the Mediterranean Sea. They kill a disabled American tourist, 69-year-old Leon Klinghoffer, and order his body thrown overboard with his wheelchair.

2001 – President George W. Bush announces that a U.S.-led coalition has begun attacks on Taliban-controlled Afghanistan with an intense bombing campaign by American and British forces. The campaign, in retaliation for terror attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. three weeks earlier (9/11), is known as Operation Enduring Freedom.

2003 – “Terminator” actor Arnold Schwarzenegger is elected governor of California, replacing Gray Davis — the first U.S. governor to be recalled by the public since 1921. Affectionately called “The Governator,” he is reelected in 2006.

Musical Milestones

1967 – The Mamas & the Papas’ British tour is cancelled when Mama Cass Elliot is arrested and charged with stealing items from a hotel.

1967 – The Box Tops are mid-way through a four-week ride at No. 1 on the pop chart with “The Letter.”

1977 – Queen releases the single “We Will Rock You,” with “We Are the Champions” on the B-side, and many radio stations eventually play the tracks back to back. The songs continue getting airplay today on classic rock stations and serve as a motivational anthem at sporting events around the world.

1978 – Exile tops the Billboard Hot 100 with “Kiss You All Over.”

1989 – “Miss You Much,” by Janet Jackson, begins a four-week run as a chart-topping single.

1995 – Alanis Morissette rules the Billboard album chart with “Jagged Little Pill,” becoming the first Canadian female artist to reach No. 1 in the U.S. The album sells more than 30 million copies and goes on to capture four Grammy Awards.

2000 – “Music,” by Madonna, enters its fourth and final week as a No. 1 single.

2006 – Justin Timberlake is mid-way through a seven-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100 with “SexyBack.”

On this Day July 30

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Celebrity Birthdays

1863 – Industrialist and Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford

1890 – Baseball Hall of Famer Casey Stengel

1941 – Singer-songwriter Paul Anka

1947 – Actor and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

1961 – Emmy and Tony-winning actor Laurence Fishburne (“Boyz n the Hood,” “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” “The Matrix” trilogy, “Mission: Impossible III”)

1963 – Actress-comedian Lisa Kudrow, best known for her role as Phoebe in the popular sitcom “Friends”

1964 – Actress Vivica Fox (“Days of Our Lives,” “Independence Day,” “Batman & Robin,” “Alias”)

1969 – Actor Simon Baker (“L.A. Confidential,” “Land of the Dead,” “The Devil Wears Prada,” “The Mentalist”)

1970 – Director Christopher Nolan (“Memento,” “Inception,” “Batman Begins,” “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Interstellar”)

1974 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actress Hilary Swank (“Million Dollar Baby,” “Boys Don’t Cry,” “Amelia”)

History Highlights

1935 – Literature’s first paperback is introduced by Penguin Books in London. It’s “Ariel” by André Maurois, who traces the life of the poet Shelley.

1945 – A Japanese submarine torpedoes the U.S. Navy cruiser U.S.S. Indianapolis in Pacific waters after it delivers the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. The ship sinks in just 12 minutes. Of the approximately 1,200 crewmen, 300 go down with the ship. The rest face exposure, dehydration, saltwater poisoning and shark attacks while floating with few lifeboats and almost no food or water.

1956 – Two years after pushing to have the phrase “under God” inserted into the United States’ pledge of allegiance, President Dwight Eisenhower signs a law declaring “In God We Trust” the nation’s official motto.

1965 – President Lyndon Johnson signs the Medicare bill into law, granting seniors access to affordable healthcare. The bill-signing ceremony takes place at the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, where former President Harry S. Truman is enrolled as Medicare’s first beneficiary and receives the first Medicare card.

2003 – The last of over 21 million Volkswagen Beetles, known as the “Volkswagen Type 1,” rolls off an assembly line in Puebla, Mexico, ending nearly 70 years of production. The baby blue car is sent to a museum in Wolfsburg, Germany, where VW is headquartered.

Musical Milestones

1966 – The Beatles own the No. 1 position on the Billboard album chart with “Yesterday…And Today.” The album, released in the U.S. and Canada only, holds the top spot for five weeks. It contains such fan favorites as “Drive My Car,” “Yesterday,” “We Can Work It Out,” “Nowhere Man” and “Day Tripper.”

1966 – The Troggs claim the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Wild Thing.” The track was originally recorded by the American rock band, The Wild Ones, in 1965, but never charted. The Troggs’ version holds at No. 1 for two weeks and reaches No. 2 on the pop chart in their native U.K.

1977 – Andy Gibb kicks off three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart with “I Just Want to Be Your Everything.”

1988 – “Roll With It” by Steve Winwood begins four weeks as a No. 1 single.

1994 – All-4-One wraps up an 11-week domination of the singles chart with “I Swear.”

2003 – Record producer Sam Phillips, who founded the legendary Sun Record Company and Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, dies of respiratory failure. He discovered Elvis Presley and worked with other musical greats, including Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, B.B. King and Jerry Lee Lewis.

2005 – Mariah Carey owns the top spot on the singles chart with “We Belong Together,” which holds at No. 1 for 14 non-consecutive weeks.

On this Day July 22

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Celebrity Birthdays

1940 – Emmy-winning “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek (d. 2020)

1946 – Actor-director Danny Glover (“Lethal Weapon” series, “The Color Purple,” “Angels in the Outfield,” “2012,” “Death at a Funeral”)

1947 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, guitarist, drummer and Eagles co-founder Don Henley (“Dirty Laundry”, “The Boys of Summer”, “All She Wants to Do Is Dance”, “The Heart of the Matter”, “The Last Worthless Evening”, “Sunset Grill”, “New York Minute” and “The End of the Innocence”)

1949 – Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe-winning composer Alan Menken, known for his many Disney movie soundtracks

1955 – Actor Willem Dafoe (“Platoon,” “To Live and Die in L.A.” “Shadow of the Vampire,” “The Last Temptation of Christ,” the “Spider-Man” trilogy)

1964 – Actor-comedian John Leguizamo (“Hanging With the Homeboys,” “Ice Age,” “ER”)

1964 – Actor-comedian and “SNL” alum David Spade (“Tommy Boy,” “Black Sheep,” “Just Shoot Me,” “Joe Dirt,” “Grown Ups”)

1992 – Actress and pop superstar Selena Gomez (“Wizards of Waverly Place,” “Ramona and Beezus,” “Monte Carlo”)

History Highlights

1916 – A massive parade in San Francisco marking Preparedness Day, in anticipation of the United States entering World War I, is interrupted when a suitcase bomb explodes, killing 10 bystanders and wounding 40 others.

1933 – Some 50,000 cheering New Yorkers greet aviator Wiley Post at Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field as he completes the first solo flight around the world. Post logged 15,596 miles in seven days, 18 hours and 49 minutes — the fastest circumnavigation of the globe.

1934 – FBI agents gun down Public Enemy No. 1 — notorious bank robber and murderer John Dillinger, outside Chicago’s Biograph movie theater. Dillinger and his mob gang terrorized the Midwest, killing 10 men, wounding seven others, robbing banks and police arsenals, and staging three jail breaks — killing a sheriff during one and wounding two guards in another.

1937 – The U.S. Senate rejects President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s efforts to add more justices to the Supreme Court — his so-called “court-packing” plan.

1942 – Agricultural chemist George Washington Carver arrives in Dearborn, Michigan at the invitation of Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford to begin collaborating on crop experiments.

1987 – Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev indicates that he will accept a worldwide ban on intermediate-range nuclear missiles.

1991 – Milwaukee police arrest serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer after discovering dismembered victims and other evidence in his apartment. Dahmer is tried and convicted for the murders of 17 males between 1978 and 1991. While serving time in prison, he is attacked and killed by a fellow inmate in 1994.

2003 – U.S. Army Private Jessica Lynch, a prisoner-of-war who was rescued from an Iraqi hospital, receives a hero’s welcome when the 20-year-old returns to her hometown of Palestine, West Virginia. Following her return, new details of her capture and rescue emerge suggesting the original accounts were exaggerated to create positive feelings about the war.

Musical Milestones

1967 – “Windy,” by The Association, blows through the top of the singles chart for a fourth and final week.

1972 – “Lean on Me,” by Bill Withers, begins its third and final week on top of the Billboard Hot 100. The song is Withers’ only No. 1 on both the pop and soul charts.

1977 – During a performance, Tony Orlando announces he is retiring, which shocks the rest of his act — Dawn — since he had never mentioned his plans to them.

1977 – Elvis Costello releases his debut album, “My Aim is True,” which helps usher in the new wave genre and packs fan favorites including “Alison” and “(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes.” Subsequent pressings of the album for U.S. distribution contain the popular track, “Watching the Detectives.” In 2007, the album is inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

1978 – Andy Gibb is in the midst of a seven-week reign over the pop chart with “Shadow Dancing.”

1989 – Martika begins two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart with “Toy Soldiers.”

1995 – “Waterfalls,” by TLC, is in the middle of seven weeks as the No. 1 single.

2000 – Eminem has the No. 1 album with “The Marshall Mathers LP, which goes on to capture three Grammy Awards.

2006 – Three years after his death, country music legend Johnny Cash claims the top spot on the Billboard album chart with “American V: A Hundred Highways.”

On this Day June 16

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Celebrity Birthdays

1907 – Oscar and Tony-winning actor Jack Albertson (“The Subject Was Roses,” “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” “The Poseidon Adventure”) (d. 1981)

1937 – Award-winning author Joyce Carol Oates

1943 – Actress Joan Van Ark (“Dallas,” “Knots Landing”)

1955 – Emmy-winning actress Laurie Metcalf, best known for her role as Jackie on TV’s “Roseanne”

1970 – World Golf Hall of Famer Phil Mickelson

1971 – Iconic hip-hop artist, actor and poet Tupac Shakur (d. 1996)

1972 – Actor John Cho (the “Harold & Kumar” movies, “American Pie,” the 2009 “Star Trek” movie)

History Highlights

1884 – The first roller coaster in America opens along the boardwalk at Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York, and is called a “switchback railway.” It was the brainchild of inventor-businessman LaMarcus Adna Thompson, traveled approximately six miles per hour and cost a nickel to ride.

1903 – Entrepreneur Henry Ford incorporates the Ford Motor Company. With a dozen investors and a thousand shares, the company spends almost all of its $28,000 cash investment by the time it sells the first Ford Model A on July 23, 1903. By that October, Ford Motor Company had made a profit of $37,000.

1963 – Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman to venture into space, traveling aboard the Soviet spacecraft Vostok 6. She orbits Earth 48 times over three days and is hailed as a national hero upon her return, receiving the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star Medal. While Tereshkova has since traveled the world to promote science, she never flew in space again.

1977 – Leonid Brezhnev, first secretary of the Soviet Communist Party since 1964, is elected president of the Supreme Soviet, becoming both head of party and head of state.

Musical Milestones

1967 – The Monterey Pop Festival opens in California, featuring the first major appearances by The Who, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin.

1973 – “My Love,” by Paul McCartney & Wings, is mid-way through a four-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100.

1979 – “Queen of Disco,” Donna Summer, claims the No. 1 spot on the pop chart with “Hot Stuff.”

1980 – “The Blues Brothers,” starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, premieres in Chicago, where most of the movie takes place and was filmed. Directed by John Landis, the cult classic is based on characters from NBC’s “Saturday Night Live (SNL).”

1984 – Cyndi Lauper begins her second and final week on top of the singles chart with “Time After Time.”

1990 – Swedish pop duo Roxette is No. 1 on the singles chart with “It Must Have Been Love.”

2001 – Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Mýa and Pink hold the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with their cover of “Lady Marmalade.”

On this Day May 26

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Celebrity Birthdays

1886 – Singer-actor Al Jolson, born Asa Yoelson in Russia and dubbed “The World’s Greatest Entertainer” (d. 1950)

1907 – Oscar-winning actor John Wayne, born Marion Robert Morrison and nicknamed “The Duke,” who starred in many Westerns, including “The Searchers” and “True Grit” (d. 1979)

1920 – Vocalist Peggy Lee (“”Mañana,” “Lover,” “Fever”) (d. 2002)

1926 – Legendary jazz trumpeter Miles Davis (d. 1991)

1948 – Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer-songwriter and Fleetwood Mac member Stevie Nicks, best recognized for her vocals in the hits “Dreams,” “Rhiannon” and “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around”

1951 – First American woman astronaut in space, Sally Ride (d. 2012)

1962 – Comedian-actor Bobcat Goldthwait

1962 – Emmy-winning actress Genie Francis, most remembered for her role as Laura on the ABC soap “General Hospital”

1964 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Lenny Kravitz (“Let Love Rule,” “Mama Said,” “American Woman”)

1966 – Actress Helena Bonham Carter (“A Room With a View,” “Howard’s End,” “Fight Club,” “Big Fish,” The King’s Speech,” “Les Misérables”)

1975 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter-rapper-producer Lauryn Hill, formerly of The Fugees (“Doo Wop (That Thing),” “Ex-Factor,” “Everything Is Everything”)

History Highlights

1897 – The first copies of the classic vampire novel “Dracula,” by Irish writer Bram Stoker, appear in London bookshops.

1927 – It’s the end of the road for Ford’s iconic Model T automobile. The 15 millionth and last Model T Ford rolls off a Detroit assembly line with Ford founder Henry Ford in the front passenger seat and his son, Edsel, behind the wheel. The touring car, with hand-stamped VIN 15000000, marked the symbolic end of the groundbreaking automobile’s 19-year production run.

1953 – The first 3-D sci-fi movie premieres in Los Angeles: “It Came from Outer Space,” based on a Ray Bradbury story.

1959 – Harvey Haddix of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitches 12 perfect innings against the Milwaukee Braves before losing, 1-0, in the 13th. It’s the first time a pitcher throws more than nine perfect innings in major league history.

1969 – Apollo 10 returns to Earth after a successful eight-day test of all the components needed for the forthcoming first manned moon landing. During descent from its lunar orbit, the spacecraft sets a record for the fastest speed attained by a manned vehicle.

1972 – Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev and U.S. President Richard Nixon, meeting in Moscow, sign the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) agreements.

1977 – The so-called “human fly,” George Willig, scales the South Tower of New York City’s World Trade Center by attaching himself to a window washing track and walking straight to the top and into the custody of waiting police officers. It takes Willig three and a half hours to make the climb and costs him $1.10 in fines — one penny per floor.

Musical Milestones

1962 – Clarinetist Acker Bilk becomes the first British artist to top the Billboard pop chart when his instrumental, “Stranger on the Shore,” reaches No. 1.

1969 – John Lennon and Yoko Ono begin an eight-day “bed-in” for peace at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, during which they record “Give Peace a Chance” in a room filled with reporters, photographers and supporters. The couple held a similar bed-in two months earlier in Amsterdam.

1973 – The hard rock instrumental “Frankenstein,” by The Edgar Winter Group, reaches the top of the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the band’s only No. 1 hit. One week later, it is bumped by Paul McCartney’s “My Love.”

1979 – Peaches & Herb begin their fourth and final week on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Reunited.”

1984 – “Let’s Hear It For the Boy,” by Deniece Williams, from the soundtrack to the Kevin Bacon movie “Footloose,” is on top of the singles chart.

1990 – Madonna’s “Vogue,” off the “I’m Breathless” album, is in the middle of a three-week domination of the Billboard pop chart.

2001 – “All For You,” by Janet Jackson, begins its seventh and final week as a chart-topper.

2007 – “Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin’),” by T-Pain featuring Yung Joc, is the No. 1 single.