Martha’s Vineyard – Time Rewind

On this Day July 18

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On this Day July 16

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Celebrity Birthdays

1887 – Major League Baseball player “Shoeless” Joe Jackson (d. 1951)

1907 – Popcorn pioneer Orville Redenbacher (d. 1995)

1907 – Actress Barbara Stanwyck (“Double Indemnity,” “Sorry, Wrong Number”) (d. 1990)

1911 – Actress-dancer-singer Ginger Rogers, who often collaborated with entertainer Fred Astaire (d. 1995)

1952 – Composer and drummer for The Police, Stewart Copeland

1963 – Actress Phoebe Cates (“Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” “Gremlins”)

1967 – Comedian-actor and “SNL” alum Will Ferrell (“Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy,” “Talladega Nights,” “Blades of Glory,” “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues”)

1971 – Actor-singer Corey Feldman (“Stand By Me,” “The Goonies,” “Lost Boys,” “Gremlins,” “The ‘Burbs”)

History Highlights

1790 – President George Washington signs into law the Residence Act, which grants him the authority to select a new site for a capital of the United States on the east bank of the Potomac River.

1935 – The first parking meter in the U.S. — Park-O-Meter No. 1 — is installed at the intersection of First Street and Robinson Avenue in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The device was the creation of Carl Magee (pictured), founder of the Oklahoma News newspaper, who was determined to alleviate parking congestion. Magee saw the meter, and the threat of being ticketed, as a way to prevent drivers from leaving their cars parked endlessly on the street.

1945 – The nuclear age begins as the so-called “Trinity Test” is conducted. Part of the Manhattan Project, the world’s first successful test of an atomic bomb takes place during the early morning hours in the desert at Alamogordo, New Mexico.

1951 – J. D. Salinger’s novel, “The Catcher in the Rye,” is published and becomes one of the best known works in American literature. To date, more than 65 million copies have been sold.

1969 – Apollo 11 roars from its launch pad at Cape Kennedy, Florida on the first manned mission to the moon. Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin set out to fulfill a national objective declared by President John F. Kennedy in May of 1961: perform a crewed lunar landing and return safely to Earth.

1999 – A single-engine plane piloted by publisher and presidential son John F. Kennedy, Jr. crashes into the Atlantic Ocean near Martha’s Vineyard, killing Kennedy, 38, his wife Carolyn, 33, and her sister, Lauren Bessette, 34. Five days later, underwater divers discover all three bodies still strapped into their seats.

Musical Milestones

1966 – “Hanky Panky,” by Tommy James & the Shondells, begins two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, the same duo that penned the hits “Be My Baby” and “Leader of the Pack.”

1966 – Guitarist Eric Clapton, bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker form Cream, generally regarded as rock music’s first “supergroup.” The band breaks up about two years later, but not before cranking out classic recordings like “Sunshine of Your Love,” “Badge,” “Strange Brew” and “White Room.”

1972 – After 16 years as their lead singer, Motown legend Smokey Robinson leaves The Miracles (originally named the Five Chimes) for a solo career.

1977 – The hottest single belongs to then-teen heartthrob Shaun Cassidy: “Da Doo Ron Ron.”

1981 – One of America’s great musical storytellers, Grammy-winning folk-rock singer Harry Chapin (“Cat’s in the Cradle,” “Taxi”), dies in a Long Island, New York car crash.

1983 – The Police enter their second week on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Every Breath You Take,” which remains a chart-topper for eight weeks.

1994 – All-4-One is in the middle of an 11-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “I Swear.”

2005 – Mariah Carey rules the singles chart with “We Belong Together,” which holds at No. 1 for 14 nonconsecutive weeks. The track is from her tenth studio album, “The Emancipation of Mimi.”

On this Day June 30

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Celebrity Birthdays

1917 – Grammy-winning jazz and pop music singer, dancer and actress Lena Horne (d. 2010)

1956 – Actor-comedian David Alan Grier (“In Living Color”)

1959 – Actor Vincent D’Onofrio (“Full Metal Jacket,” “Men In Black,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “The Judge,” “Run All Night,” “Jurassic World”)

1966 – Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson

1982 – Actress Lizzy Caplan (“Mean Girls,” “True Blood,” “Cloverfield”)

1985 – U.S. Olympic gold medal swimmer Michael Phelps

History Highlights

1859 – Frenchman Jean Francois Gravelet, a.k.a. The Great Blondin, or Charles Blondin, becomes the first daredevil to walk across Niagara Falls on a tightrope. Thousands of spectators line the American and Canadian sides of the falls to observe the feat, which he performs along an 1,100-foot-long tightrope suspended 160 feet above the raging waters of Niagara Gorge.

1934 – In what comes to be known as the Night of the Long Knives, Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler orders a bloody purge of his own political party, assassinating hundreds of Nazis whom he believed had the potential to become political enemies in the future.

1936 – Margaret Mitchell’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Gone with the Wind,” one of the best-selling novels of all time and the basis for the blockbuster 1939 movie, is published.

1971 – “Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory,” a movie musical-fantasy starring Gene Wilder, opens in theaters. It’s an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s 1964 novel, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”

1971 – Three Soviet cosmonauts who made up the crew of the world’s first space station are killed when their spacecraft, Soyuz 11, depressurizes during reentry to Earth’s atmosphere.

1974 – The July 4th scene from the movie “Jaws” is filmed on Martha’s Vineyard, with 400 screaming, panic-stricken extras in bathing suits running from the water multiple times until director Steven Spielberg gets the right take.

1989 – Writer-director Spike Lee’s celebrated third feature film, “Do the Right Thing” — about racial tensions boiling over in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood on the hottest day of the year — opens in U.S. theaters. The movie receives Oscar nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor for Danny Aiello.

1993 – The legal thriller “The Firm,” directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Tom Cruise, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Gene Hackman, opens in theaters. It’s based on the 1991 novel of the same name by John Grisham.

1995 – Director Ron Howard’s high-intensity drama “Apollo 13,” about NASA’s desperate efforts to bring the crew of Apollo 13 safely home after an explosion that denies them a moon landing, opens in U.S. theaters. Starring Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Ed Harris and Gary Sinise, the movie receives nine Oscar nominations and wins for Best Film Editing and Best Sound.

Musical Milestones

1962 – Ray Charles enjoys his fifth and final week dominating the pop chart with “I Can’t Stop Loving You.”

1973 – George Harrison has the hottest single on the radio for a week with “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth),” from his “Living in the Material World” album.” The track is the ex-Beatles’ second solo No. 1.

1975 – Less than a week after her divorce from Sonny Bono is finalized, Cher ties the knot with rock musician Gregg Allman only to divorce him 10 days later.

1984 – “The Reflex,” by Duran Duran, begins its second and final week as a No. 1 single.

1990 – New Kids On the Block step to the top of the singles chart for three weeks with “Step By Step.” The song is an international smash, selling over 10 million copies worldwide, and becomes one of the biggest selling singles of 1990.

2001 – “Lady Marmalade,” by Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Mýa and Pink, enters its fifth and final week as a chart-topper. The cover is from the “Moulin Rouge!” soundtrack.

2007 – Rihanna and Jay-Z rule the Billboard Hot 100 with “Umbrella.”