Maine – Time Rewind

On This Day April 25

Musical Milestones

1956 – Rock and Roll King Elvis Presley signs a seven-year movie contract with Paramount Pictures.

1960 – Elvis Presley gets stuck on top of the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks with “Stuck On You.” It’s his first hit single following his two-year stint in the U.S. Army.

1970 – The Jackson 5 give The Beatles’ “Let It Be” the boot and claim the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for two weeks with “ABC.”

1981 – Daryl Hall and John Oates begin their third and final week as chart-toppers with “Kiss On My List.”

1987 – U2 begin a nine-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart with “The Joshua Tree,” which packs chart-topping tracks including “With or Without You,” “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and “Where the Streets Have No Name.” It goes on to capture Grammys for Album of the Year and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

1990 – The Fender Stratocaster that rock guitar legend Jimi Hendrix played at the Woodstock festival is auctioned off for a record $330,000. His two-hour set at the 1969 rock festival included a rendition of the “Star Spangled Banner.”

1992 – “Jump,” by hip hop duo Kris Kross, grabs the top spot on the singles chart and remains there for eight weeks.

1998 – Next has the No. 1 single with “Too Close.” The track remains on top of the pop chart for five weeks.

2007 – Leukemia claims the life of 69-year-old Bobby “Boris” Pickett, best known for his hit novelty song “Monster Mash,” which still gets radio airplay every Halloween.

History Highlights

1901 – The first license plate is affixed to an automobile, as New York becomes the first state to require tags.

1945 – A milestone in the approaching end of World War II in Europe is achieved when U.S. and Russian troops meet in Torgau along the River Elbe, cutting Nazi Germany in two.

1980 – President Jimmy Carter informs the nation that eight U.S. servicemen were killed in the collision of two military aircraft to be used to rescue 52 Americans held hostage in Iran. Those hostages are finally freed the following January, on the day Ronald Reagan is inaugurated president.

1983 – Soviet leader Yuri Andropov personally invites American fifth-grader Samantha Smith of Maine to visit his country after reading her letter in which she expressed fears about nuclear war. She makes the trip that summer and becomes an honorary ambassador for peace at a time when U.S.-Soviet relations were strained during the Cold War. Sadly, Smith dies in a plane crash two years later.

1990 – The crew of Space Shuttle Discovery places the Hubble Space Telescope, a long-term space-based observatory, into a low orbit around Earth. Hubble — named after astronomer Edwin Hubble — continues to provide astronomers with an unparalleled view of the solar system, the galaxy and the universe.

1995 – Oscar-winning entertainer Ginger Rogers, best known for her films with dance partner Fred Astaire, dies at the age of 83.

Celebrity Birthdays

1874 – Nobel Prize-winning radio inventor Guglielmo Marconi (d. 1937)

1908 – Pioneering broadcast journalist and longtime CBS correspondent Edward R. Murrow (d. 1965)

1917 – Legendary Grammy-winning jazz vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, affectionately known as “The First Lady of Song” (d. 1996)

1932 – Basketball Hall of Famer and former Harlem Globetrotter Meadowlark Lemon, born Meadow Lemon III (d. 2015)

1940 – Oscar, Tony and Emmy-winning actor Al Pacino (“The Godfather” movie series, “Serpico,” “Dog Day Afternoon,” ” …And Justice for All,” “Scarface,” “Scent of a Woman,” “Carlito’s Way,” “The Devil’s Advocate,” “The Insider,” “Oceans Thrteen,” “Danny Collins,” “The Irishman,” “Hunters”)

1946 – Actress Talia Shire, best known for her roles as Connie Corleone in “The Godfather” films and Adrian Balboa in the “Rocky” series

1964 – Emmy-winning actor-producer-comedian Hank Azaria (“The Simpsons,” “The Birdcage,” “Mystery Men,” “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian,” “The Smurfs,” “Brockmire”)

1969 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actress Renée Zellweger (“Jerry McGuire,” “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” “Me Myself and Irene,” “Chicago,” “Cold Mountain,” “Cinderella Man”)

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ABC

Jackson 5

The Joshua Tree

U2

A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety

Jimmy Carter

Shall We Dance

Starring Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire and Edward Everett Horton, and directed by Mark Sandrich

Edward R. Murrow and the Birth of Broadcast Journalism

Bob Edwards

Dog Day Afternoon

Starring Al Pacino, John Cazale, James Broderick and Charles Durning, and directed by Sidney Lumet

On This Day March 15

Musical Milestones

1964 – “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” The Beatles’ first No. 1 single in the U.S., begins its seventh and final week on top of the Billboard Hot 100 only to be replaced by The Beatles’ second No. 1 hit: “She Loves You.”

1969 – “Dizzy,” by Tommy Roe, starts a four-week run as the No. 1 single.

1975 – The Doobie Brothers rule the Billboard Hot 100 chart for a week with “Black Water.”

1980 – Queen wraps up a four-week run on top of the pop chart with “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” the band’s first No. 1 U.S. hit.

1986 – “Sara,” by Starship, tops the singles chart for a week. The track is one of two No. 1 hits from the band’s “Knee Deep in the Hoopla” album. The other is “We Built This City.”

1997 – The Spice Girls’ debut single, “Wannabe,” marks its fourth and final week on top of the Billboard Hot 100. It becomes the best-selling single ever by a female group.

1999 – Bruce Springsteen is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by U2 frontman Bono.

2003 – 50 Cent scores his first No. 1 single with “In da Club.” The track holds the top spot for nine weeks.

History Highlights

44 A.D. – Roman dictator Julius Caesar is assassinated by a group of his own senators. March 15 of 44 B.C. is known as the “Ides of March” in the Roman calendar.

1820 – As part of the Missouri Compromise between the U.S. North and South, Maine is admitted as the 23rd state in the Union.

1965 – Just days after a deadly police assault on civil rights marchers in Selma, Alabama, President Lyndon B. Johnson addresses a historic joint session of Congress to urge passage of legislation guaranteeing equal voting rights for all Americans. Congress passes the Voting Rights Act that summer, and Johnson signs the measure into law on August 6, 1965.

1970 – Bobby Orr of the Boston Bruins becomes the first defenseman in NHL history to score 100 points in a season, after scoring four goals in one game against the Detroit Red Wings.

1975 – “Funny Lady,” starring Barbra Streisand, James Caan and Omar Sharif, opens in movie theaters. It is the sequel to the 1968 musical film, “Funny Girl,” the story of Ziegfeld Follies star Fanny Brice.

1977 – The sitcom “Three’s Company” debuts on ABC, starring John Ritter, Joyce DeWitt and Suzanne Somers. It runs until 1984.

1988 – “The Wonder Years” premieres on ABC and runs for six seasons. Set against the backdrop of the tumultuous late 1960s, the series follows a suburban American family, focusing on the growing pains of youngest son Kevin, played by Fred Savage.

Celebrity Birthdays

1933 – U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second woman to be appointed to the position

1935 – Emmy and Tony-winning actor Judd Hirsch (“Taxi,” “Ordinary People,” “Independence Day,” “A Beautiful Mind,” “Numb3rs, “Forever,” “Superior Donuts”)

1941 – Singer-songwriter Mike Love of The Beach Boys

1959 – Male supermodel Fabio, born Fabio Lanzoni

1963 – Poison lead singer and reality TV star Bret Michaels

1975 – Actress and director/producer Eva Longoria (“The Young and the Restless,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Harsh Times,” “The Sentinel,” “Over Her Dead Body,” “Overboard”)

1975 – Grammy-winning rapper and The Black Eyed Peas founder/frontman Will.i.am, born William Adams

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1

The Beatles

The Very Best of The Doobie Brothers

The Doobie Brothers

Caesar: Life of a Colossus

Adrian Goldsworthy

Bending Toward Justice: The Voting Rights Act and the Transformation of American Democracy

Gary May

Independence Day

Starring Bill Pullman, Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum, and directed by Roland Emmerich

Elephunk

The Black Eyed Peas

On This Day March 3

Musical Milestones

1951 – “If,” by Perry Como, claims a six-week hold on the top spot on the singles chart.

1973 – Roberta Flack rules the Billboard Hot 100 with “Killing Me Softly with His Song,” which remains a chart-topper for four weeks. The track goes on to garner Flack Grammys in 1974 for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance as well as a Song of the Year Grammy for its writers, Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox.

1973 – At the 15th Annual Grammy Awards, Roberta Flack wins Song of the Year and Record of the Year honors for “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” as well as Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo for her duet with Donny Hathaway, “Where Is The Love.” Harry Nilsson wins the Best Pop Vocal Performance Grammy for “Without You.”

1984 – “Jump,” by Van Halen, begins its second week on top of the Billboard Hot 100. The track, off the band’s “1984” album, remains at No. 1 for five weeks.

1990 – Janet Jackson begins three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart with “Escapade,” off her “Rhythm Nation 1814” album.

2001 – “Stutter,” by Joe featuring Mystikal, holds the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100.

History Highlights

1820 – Congress passes the Missouri Compromise, temporarily resolving the first serious political clash between slavery and antislavery interests by admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state.

1887 – Anne Mansfield Sullivan begins teaching six-year-old Helen Keller, who lost her sight and hearing at 19 months of age. Under Sullivan’s tutelage, including her pioneering “touch teaching” techniques, the previously uncontrollable Keller thrived, eventually graduating from college and becoming an international lecturer and activist.

1923 – The first edition of Time magazine is published. The 32-page issue features former U.S. House Speaker Joseph G. Cannon on the cover.

1931 – With the stroke of President Herbert Hoover’s pen, the United States officially adopts the “Star-Spangled Banner” as its national anthem.

1950 – Marilyn Monroe makes her first screen appearance when the musical comedy “Love Happy,” starring the Marx Brothers, opens in movie theaters.

1952 – The U.S. Supreme Court upholds a New York state law (Feinberg Law) that prohibits communists from teaching in public schools. Coming at the height of the Red Scare in the U.S., the high court’s decision was further proof that many Americans feared possible subversive communist activity within their borders.

1991 – In what’s believed to be the first viral video, amateur video footage captures the beating of African American motorist Rodney King by four Los Angeles police officers, igniting outrage over alleged police brutality and social inequalities in LA’s black community. The cops are later tried and acquitted, which triggers riots.

Celebrity Birthdays

1847 – Scientist-inventor Alexander Graham Bell, best known for developing the telephone (d. 1922)

1911 – Actress Jean Harlow, often referred to as the “Original Blonde Bombshell” (d. 1937)

1920 – Actor James Doohan, best known as starship engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott from the “Star Trek” TV and movie series (d. 2005)

1945 – Oscar-winning director George Miller, best known for the “Mad Max” movie franchise and the animated film “Happy Feet”

1947 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Jennifer Warnes (“Right Time of the Night,” “Up Where We Belong,” “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life”)

1958 – Golden Globe-winning actress Miranda Richardson (“Blackadder,” “The Crying Game,” “The Apostle,” “Sleepy Hollow,” “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” “Made in Dagenham”)

1962 – Heisman Trophy-winning retired NFL running back Herschel Walker

1966 – Rapper Tone Loc, born Anthony Smith (“Wild Thing,” “Funky Cold Medina”)

1982 – Actress Jessica Biel (“7th Heaven,” “Ulee’s Gold,” “Summer Catch,” “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” “Blade: Trinity”)

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The Best of Both Worlds

Van Halen

Rhythm Nation 1814

Janet Jackson

Star-Spangled Banner: The Unlikely Story of America's National Anthem

Marc Ferris

The Riot Within: My Journey from Rebellion to Redemption

Rodney King & Lawrence J. Spagnola

Jean Harlow: Tarnished Angel

David Bret

Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 1

Starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, James Doohan, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, DeForest Kelley, Walter Koenig and others

On this Day August 25

Musical Milestones

1962 – Seventeen-year-old Eva Narcissus Boyd, a.k.a. “Little Eva,” scores her first and only No. 1 hit with “The Loco-Motion.”

1970 – Elton John plays his first American gig at the Troubadour in Los Angeles.

1973 – One-hit-wonder Stories has the most popular song on the radio with “Brother Louie.”

1975 – Bruce Springsteen releases his breakthrough album, “Born To Run,” which contains fan favorites including the title track, “Thunder Road” and “Jungleland.”

1979 – The Knack kick off six weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “My Sharona.” The track becomes Capitol Records’ fastest gold status debut single since “I Want to Hold Your Hand” by The Beatles in 1964.

1984 – Ray Parker, Jr. begins his third and final week on top of the pop chart with “Ghostbusters,” the theme from the movie of the same name.

1990 – “Vision of Love,” by Mariah Carey, enters its fourth and final week on top of the pop chart.

2001 – Alicia Keys rules the Billboard Hot 100 with “Fallin’,” off her debut album, “Songs in A Minor”

History Highlights

1916 – The National Park Service is founded to manage and preserve national parks and monuments for future generations.

1939 – MGM Studios’ “The Wizard of Oz” premieres, starring Judy Garland as Dorothy. It and “Gone With The Wind,” which was released later that year, are the first major motion pictures to use Technicolor at a time when films were shot in black and white.

1944 – Allied troops liberate Paris after more than four years of Nazi occupation. German resistance proves to be light and the commander of the German garrison, General Dietrich von Choltitz, defies Adolf Hitler’s order to blow up Paris landmarks and burn the city to the ground before its liberation. Choltitz signs a formal surrender that afternoon, and the next day, Free French General Charles de Gaulle leads a liberation march down the Champs d’Elysees.

1984 – Author Truman Capote (“Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “In Cold Blood”) dies in Los Angeles at the age of 59.

1985 – Samantha Smith of Maine, the 11-year-old “ambassador” to the Soviet Union, dies in a plane crash. Smith was best known for writing to Soviet leader Yuri Andropov in 1982 and visiting as Andropov’s guest in 1983.

2009 – Edward “Ted” Kennedy, the youngest brother of President John F. Kennedy and a U.S. senator from Massachusetts from 1962 to 2009, dies of brain cancer at age 77 at his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.

Celebrity Birthdays

1917 – Actor-director Mel Ferrer (“War and Peace,” “Green Mansions,” “Wait Until Dark”) (d. 2008)

1918 – Grammy and Tony-winning composer-conductor Leonard Bernstein (“West Side Story,” “Peter Pan,” “Candide,” “Wonderful Town,” “On the Town,” “On The Waterfront”) (d. 1990)

1921 – Producer, actor, singer and sportscaster Monty Hall, best known as host of the TV game show “Let’s Make a Deal” (d. 2017)

1930 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actor Sir Sean Connery, best known for playing British secret agent James Bond/007 in seven Bond movies

1931 – Emmy-winning TV host, actor and singer Regis Philbin (“Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee,” “Live! with Regis and Kelly,” ” Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”)

1933 – Actor Tom Skerritt (“M*A*S*H,” “Up In Smoke,” “Alien,” “Top Gun,” “A River Runs Through It,” “Contact,” “Picket Fences”)

1941 – Rock singer-bassist and KISS founder Gene Simmons, born Chaim Weitz

1954 – Singer-songwriter Elvis Costello (“Alison,” “Everyday I Write the Book,” “Veronica”)

1958 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning director Tim Burton (“Beetlejuice,” “Batman,” “Edward Scissorhands,” “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “Ed Wood,” “Big Fish,” “Alice in Wonderland”)

1961 – Country music singer-songwriter and actor Billy Ray Cyrus, best known for his 1992 smash “Achy Breaky Heart”

1968 – Emmy-winning TV chef Rachael Ray

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Born To Run

Bruce Springsteen

Mariah Carey

The Wizard of Oz

Starring Judy GarlandRay BolgerFrank Morgan, and directed by Victor Fleming

In Cold Blood

Truman Capote

The Leonard Bernstein Letters

Leonard Bernstein

Beetlejuice

Starring Michael Keaton, Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin, and directed by Tim Burton