On This Day: October 6

On This Day October 6

Musical Milestones

1962 – “Sherry,” by The Four Seasons, is in the midst of a five-week ride atop the Billboard Hot 100. The song was originally titled “Jackie Baby” in honor of then-First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, but was later changed.

1973 – Cher begins a two-week hold on the top spot on the singles chart with “Half-Breed.” The single becomes her second No. 1 as a solo act.

1979 – Robert John’s “Sad Eyes” is the No. 1 single and holds the top spot for a week.

1984 – “Let’s Go Crazy,” by Prince and the Revolution, is in its second and final week as a chart-topping single.

1990 – “Close to You,” by Maxi Priest, tops the Billboard Hot 100.

2001 – Alicia Keys is in the midst of a three-week reign over the pop chart with her Grammy-winning single “Fallin’.” The track is off her debut album “Songs in A Minor.”

2011 – Starship’s “We Built This City” is named the worst song of the 1980s in a Rolling Stone magazine readers’ survey. “The Final Countdown,” by the Swedish band Europe comes in second and “Lady in Red,” by Chris de Burgh, is third. Also among the Top Five are Wham!’s “Wake Me Up (Before You Go Go)” and “The Safety Dance” by Men Without Hats.

History Highlights

1866 – John and Simeon Reno (a.k.a. The Reno Brothers) stage the first train robbery in U.S. history, making off with $12,000 from an Ohio & Mississippi Railroad train in Seymour, Indiana. The pair perfected the art of stopping trains at gunpoint along sparsely populated stretches of track.

1926 – Yankee slugger Babe Ruth hits a record three home runs against the St. Louis Cardinals in the fourth game of the World Series. Although the Yankees win the game 10-5, they lose the championship in the Game Seven.

1961 – With the Cold War raging, President John F. Kennedy urges Americans to build bomb shelters to protect against atomic fallout in the event of a nuclear war with the Soviet Union.

1973 – Hoping to win back territory lost to Israel during the third Arab-Israeli war, Egyptian and Syrian forces attack Israel on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. And so begins the Yom Kippur War, which rages for 18 days until the United Nations intervenes.

1974 – Five years after launching on the BBC in Great Britain, “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” premieres on American television.

1981 – The world is horrified as Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat is assassinated during the nation’s annual victory parade in Cairo.

1989 – Oscar-winning screen legend Bette Davis, known for such movie classics as “All About Eve,” “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?” and “Hush…Hush Sweet Charlotte,” dies of cancer at the age of 81.

Celebrity Birthdays

1846 – Electrical and engineering pioneer George Westinghouse (d. 1914)

1908 – Actress Carole Lombard, born Jane Alice Peters (“Twentieth Century,” “My Man Godfrey”, “Nothing Sacred”) (d.1942)

1942 – Actress and former “Bond Girl” Britt Ekland

1963 – Actress Elisabeth Shue (“The Karate Kid,” “Adventures in Babysitting,” “Cocktail,” “Back to the Future Part II,” “Back to the Future Part III,” “Leaving Las Vegas,” “The Saint,” “Hollow Man”)

1971 – Actress Emily Mortimer (“Lovely and Amazing,” “Match Point,” “Lars and the Real Girl,”  “Chaos Theory,” “Harry Brown,” “Shutter Island,” “Hugo,” “The Newsroom,” “Mary Poppins Returns”)

1973 – Actor Ioan Gruffudd (“Titanic,” “Hornblower,” “Fantastic Four,” “Black Hawk Down,” “San Andreas,” “Forever”)

1974 – Actor Jeremy Sisto (“Clueless,” “Six Feet Under,” “Waitress,” “Law & Order,” “Suburgatory”)

Own a Piece of This Day

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The Very Best of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons

Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons

Songs in A Minor (Expanded Edition)

Alicia Keys

Monty Python's Flying Circus

Starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin

Bette Davis: More Than a Woman

James Spada

Leaving Las Vegas

Starring Nicolas Cage, Elisabeth Shue and Julian Sands, and directed by Mike Figgis

Six Feet Under

Starring Peter Krause, Frances Conroy, Michael C. Hall, Lauren Ambrose, Rachel Griffiths and Jeremy Sisto

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On this Day: July 14

On this Day July 14

Musical Milestones

1962 – “Roses Are Red (My Love),” by Bobby Vinton, is the No. 1 single. 

1973 – Phil Everly smashes his guitar during a concert in California, storms off the stage and announces the breakup of The Everly Brothers. The duo will go nearly 10 years before performing together again.

1973 – Billy Preston enjoys his second and final week on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Will It Go Round in Circles.”

1979 – Donna Summer scores her third No. 1 single with “Bad Girls” while the album of the same name begins a five-week run at No. 1. 

1984 – “When Doves Cry,” by Prince, is in the midst of five weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100. The track is from his “Purple Rain” album.

1990 – New Kids On The Block begin their third and final week on top of the singles chart with “Step By Step.” 

2001 – Usher enters his second week on top of the singles chart with “U Remind Me.” The track holds the top spot for four weeks.

History Highlights

1789 – French revolutionaries and mutinous troops storm and dismantle the Bastille, a royal fortress and prison that had come to symbolize the tyranny of the Bourbon monarchs. This dramatic action signals the beginning of the French Revolution. Today, it is observed as France’s national holiday of Bastille Day.

1881 – William H. Bonney, better known as the outlaw Billy the Kid, is shot and killed at the age of 21 by Sheriff Pat Garrett in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. The gunfighter, also known as Henry McCarty, had led authorities on a three-month manhunt after escaping from prison where he was awaiting execution on murder charges.

1955 – Already well-established for its Beetle, Volkswagen introduces the iconic, rear-engine Karmann-Ghia coupe in Europe. One year later, VW brings the vehicle to the U.S. auto market, and in 1958, rolls out a convertible model. The Karmann-Ghia remains in production through 1974.

1965 – Mariner 4 takes the first close-up photos of Mars. Its blurry views of craters and bare ground lead some scientists to believe that Mars has an environment that is similar to the moon. 

1966 – One of the nation’s most notorious killers, Richard Speck, brutally murders eight student nurses at the home they share on Chicago’s South Side. Authorities conduct a manhunt and capture Speck two days later. He spends the rest of his life in prison until his death from a heart attack in 1991 at age 49.

1968 – Atlanta Braves slugger Henry “Hank” Aaron becomes the  seventh major league player to achieve 500 career home runs when he knocks the ball out of the park during a 4-2 win over the San Francisco Giants.

1969 – The U.S. Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve officially remove the $500, $1,000, $5,000 and $10,000 bills from circulation. 

2016 – A terrorist drives a truck at high speed down a crowded sidewalk in Nice, France during Bastille Day celebrations, killing 86 people, including 10 children. More than 300 other people are injured.

Celebrity Birthdays

1904 – Nobel Prize-winning novelist and short story writer Isaac Bashevis Singer (“The Family Moskat,” “Gimpel, The Fool”) (d. 1991)

1912 – American folk music icon Woody Guthrie (d. 1967)

1913 – Gerald Ford, 38th U.S. president (d. 2006)

1918 – Legendary film director Ingmar Bergman (d. 2007)

1926 – Actor Harry Dean Stanton (“Cool Hand Luke,” “Paris, Texas,” “Repo Man,” “Wild at Heart,” “The Green Mile,” “Big Love”) (d. 2017)

1930 – Emmy-winning actress-singer Polly Bergen (“The Helen Morgan Story,” “Cape Fear,” “The Caretakers”) (d. 2014)

1932 – Former New York Giants defensive lineman-turned-actor-turned-Christian minister Roosevelt “Rosey” Grier

1960 – Golden Globe and Emmy-winning actress Jane Lynch (“Best In Show,” “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “Glee”) 

1966 – Actor Matthew Fox (“Lost,” “We Are Marshall,” “Vantage Point,” “Speed Racer”)

1988 – Irish mixed martial arts fighter and professional boxer Conor McGregor

Own a Piece of This Day

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Bobby Vinton's Greatest Hits

Bobby Vinton

Bad Girls

Donna Summer

Billy the Kid: Beyond the Grave

W.C. Jameson

The Crime of the Century: Richard Speck and the Murders That Shocked a Nation

Dennis L. Breo

Best in Show

Starring Jennifer CoolidgeChristopher GuestJohn Michael Higgins and Jane Lynch, and directed by Christopher Guest

We Are Marshall

Starring Matthew McconaugheyMatthew FoxAnthony Mackie, and directed by McG

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