On This Day: March 4

On This Day March 4

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1678 – Italian Baroque composer, virtuoso violinist, teacher and cleric Antonio Vivaldi (d. 1741)

1938 – Actress Paula Prentiss (“The Black Marble,” “The Stepford Wives,” “The Parallax View”) 

1941 – Movie director Adrian Lyne (“Fatal Attraction,” “9½ Weeks,” “Flashdance,” “Indecent Proposal,” “Jacob’s Ladder,” “Unfaithful”)

1954 – Actress Catherine O’Hara (“SCTV,” “Beetlejuice,” the “Home Alone” movies, “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “Waiting for Guffman,” “Best in Show”) 

1958 – Emmy-winning actress Patricia Heaton, best known for playing Debra Barone in the sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond”

1961 – Actor Steven Weber (“The Kennedys of Massachusetts,” “Wings,” “The Shining,” “Once and Again,” “NCIS: New Orleans”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1925 – The second inauguration of U.S. President Calvin Coolidge is the first to be nationally broadcast. More than 20 radio stations carry the event to an estimated 23 million listeners, including many children whose school auditoriums were specially equipped with speakers. 

1933 – During the height of the Great Depression, an estimated 150,000 spectators gather on the east grounds of the U.S. Capitol as Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated as the 32nd U.S. president. FDR tells Americans, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

1933 – Newly inaugurated President Franklin D. Roosevelt appoints Frances Perkins Secretary of Labor, making her the first female member of the U.S. cabinet.

1960 – Actress Lucille Ball divorces her husband and collaborator, Desi Arnaz, after 20 tumultuous years of marriage. The breakup of the couple, stars of the hit sitcom “I Love Lucy” and owners of Desilu Studios, becomes one of the highest-profile divorces in American history at that time.

1974 – People magazine makes its debut on American newsstands, featuring actress Mia Farrow on the cover.

1989 – Time, Inc. and Warner Communications announce plans to merge into the world’s largest media and entertainment conglomerate. 

1994 – Comedic actor John Candy (“Splash,” “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” “Uncle Buck,” “Home Alone”) dies of a heart attack at 43 while filming a movie in Mexico.

2005 – Billionaire mogul Martha Stewart is released from a federal prison in West Virginia after serving five months and paying a $30,000 fine for lying and obstructing justice in a 2001 stock sale. Stewart serves five months of home confinement at her Bedford, New York estate and then faces two years probation.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1963 – The Beach Boys release “Surfin’ U.S.A.,” which climbs as high as No. 3 on the Billboard pop chart. The The song features Brian Wilson’s lyrics set to the music of Chuck Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen.”

1966 – During an interview with the British newspaper London Evening Standard, John Lennon says of The Beatles: “We’re more popular than Jesus now.” The remark sets off an international furor when reprinted a few months later in an American teen magazine, with some radio stations refusing to play Beatles records and others burning them.

1967 – “Beggin’,” the 33rd hit single for Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, lands on the Billboard pop chart, eventually climbing to No. 16.

1967 – “Ruby Tuesday,” by The Rolling Stones, begins a week as the No. 1 single. Brian Jones plays recorder on the track while the double bass is played jointly by bassist Bill Wyman pressing the strings against the fingerboard and Keith Richards bowing the strings.

1978 – Andy Gibb sails to the top of the singles chart with “(Love Is) Thicker Than Water.” The song remains at No. 1 for two weeks.

1989 – Debbie Gibson starts a three-week run at No. 1 on the singles chart with “Lost in Your Eyes.”

1995 – Madonna is in the midst of a seven-week ride at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Take a Bow,” off her “Bedtime Stories” album.

2000 – Nashville-based country music band Lonestar claims the top spot on the pop chart with “Amazed.” The single holds at No. 1 for two weeks.

2006 – “Check on It,” by Beyoncé featuring Slim Thug, begins its fifth and final week as a No. 1 single. 

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On This Day: October 31

On This Day October 31

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1451 – Italian explorer and navigator Christopher Columbus, who discovered the “New World” of the Americas on an expedition sponsored by King Ferdinand of Spain in 1492. (d. 1506)

1860 – Juliette Gordon Low (a.k.a. “Daisy”), who founded the Girl Scouts of the USA in 1912 (d. 1927)

1912 – Actress-singer Dale Evans (married to Roy Rogers) (d. 2001)

1931 – TV journalist and longtime “CBS Evening News” anchor Dan Rather

1936 – Actor-director Michael Landon, best known for his roles in “Bonanza” and “Little House on the Prairie.” (d. 1991)

1939 – Actor Ron Rifkin (“L.A. Confidential,” “The Negotiator,” “Boiler Room,” “Keeping the Faith,” “The Majestic,” “Dragonfly,” “Alias,” “Brothers & Sisters”)

1942 – Actor-director David Ogden Stiers (played Maj. Charles Emerson Winchester III on TV’s “M*A*S*H”) (d. 2018)

1950 – Emmy-winning comedic actor John Candy (“Splash,” “Uncle Buck,” “Home Alone,” “Cool Runnings”) (d. 1994)

1951 – U2 drummer Larry Mullen, Jr.

1961 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning director-producer-writer Peter Jackson, best known for “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” trilogies

1963 – Comedian-actor Rob Schneider (“Saturday Night Live,” “Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo,” “The Hot Chick,” “The Benchwarmers,” “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan,” “Grown Ups”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1926 – Celebrated magician, escape artist and actor Harry Houdini, born Erich Weisz, dies of peritonitis from a ruptured appendix at the age of 52. Despite his extraordinary skills as an illusionist, Houdini could not escape mortality.

1951 – Once known as All Hallows Eve, Halloween settles into American popular culture as trick-or-treating becomes an annual custom. As of 2019, Americans are spending an estimated $8 billion a year on Halloween decorations, costumes, makeup and candy, making it the nation’s second-largest commercial holiday.

1963 – An explosion rocks the Indiana State Fair Coliseum in Indianapolis during a skating exhibition, leaving 74 people dead and nearly 400 injured. Investigators blame a propane leak.

1968 – President Lyndon Johnson announces that he has ordered the complete cessation of “all air, naval, and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam” as a result of progress in the Paris peace talks.

1984 – Two of her own bodyguards assassinate Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, sparking riots across the capital city of New Delhi.

1993 – Actor River Phoenix (“Explorers,” “Stand By Me,” “Running on Empty”) is just 23 when he dies of a drug overdose outside a Hollywood nightclub. In addition to his acting career, Phoenix was a pioneer of the vegan movement and an ardent environmentalist.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1964 – Barbra Streisand’s “People” is the No. 1 album and later clinches Grammy Awards for Best Vocal Performance and Best Album Cover. The title track, from the 1964 Broadway musical “Funny Girl,” ranks among Streisand’s biggest hits of all time.

1964 – The Supremes reign over the singles chart with “Baby Love,” which holds the top spot for four weeks. It’s the second of five Supremes songs in a row to reach No. 1.

1970 – The Jackson 5 are midway through a five-week conquest of the pop chart with “I’ll Be There.”

1981 – “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do),” by Christopher Cross, marks its third and final week as a No. 1 single.

1987 – King of Pop, Michael Jackson, does good with “Bad,” which marks its second week on top of the Billboard Hot 100.

1989 – MTV’s first “Unplugged” show is recorded in New York, featuring the British band Squeeze. The program, which becomes a 90s phenom, spotlights popular artists performing acoustic (“unplugged”) versions of their songs. This debut episode airs on November 26, 1989.

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