On This Day: April 1

On This Day April 1

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1929 – Actress Jane Powell (“A Date With Judy,” “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”) (d. 2021)

1932 – Actress-singer Debbie Reynolds (“Singin’ in the Rain,” “The Unsinkable Molly Brown,” “Tammy and the Bachelor”)  (d. 2016)

1939 – Golden Globe-winning actress Ali MacGraw (“Love Story,” “The Getaway,” “Convoy,” ” The Winds of War”)

1953 – Director Barry Sonnenfeld (“The Addams Family,” “Addams Family Values,” “Get Shorty,” the “Men in Black” trilogy) 

1961 – Scottish singer Susan Boyle, who won international acclaim after performing “I Dreamed a Dream” from “Les Miserables” during a 2009 audition for “Britain’s Got Talent” 

1973 – Emmy-winning MSNBC host, commentator and author Rachel Maddow 

History Highlights
History Highlights

1582 – This date marks the first known celebration of April Fool’s Day, also known in some circles as All Fools’ Day. In 1700, English pranksters begin to popularize the annual tradition of April Fools’ Day by playing practical jokes on one other.

1918 – Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) is founded through a merger of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). It takes its place beside the British navy and army as a separate military branch with its own ministry.

1946 – An undersea earthquake off the coast of Alaska triggers a massive tsunami that kills 159 people in Hawaii.

1963 – Two daytime dramas with a medical theme are launched by competing networks. ABC’s longest-running soap, “General Hospital,” premieres as the brainchild of the husband and wife writing team of Frank and Doris Hursley. And NBC broadcasts the first episode of “The Doctors,” which enjoys a nearly 30-year run until the network pulls the plug in 1982.

1970 – President Richard Nixon signs legislation banning cigarette commercials on radio and TV. The ban takes effect in January 1971. However, Big Tobacco soon realizes that the move would free funds to advertise in other media.

1972 – The first strike in Major League Baseball (MLB) history is triggered by the expiration of the league’s three-year pension agreement. The strike lasts 12 days and causes the cancellation of 86 games, throwing the season into flux.

1976 – Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne form Apple Computer, That July, they begin to sell the Apple I personal computer kits that were hand-built by Wozniak. Apple is incorporated in January 1977, but without Wayne, who sells his share of the company back to Jobs and Wozniak for $800.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1966 – The Troggs record “Wild Thing” at Regent Sound Studio in London. The track, recorded in one complete take (Take 2), climbs to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 that July and holds there for two weeks.

1972 – The band America gallops to the top of Billboard’s Hot 100 chart with “A Horse with No Name,” the single that gave us such unique lyrics as “the heat was hot” and “there ain’t no one for to give you no pain.”

1978 – The Bee Gees hold at No. 1 on the singles chart with “Night Fever.”

1984 – One day before his 45th birthday, Marvin Gaye — considered one of Motown’s renaissance men — is fatally shot by his father after a violent argument. Gaye’s biggest hits include “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You),” “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology),” “What’s Going On,” “Let’s Get It On” and “Sexual Healing.”

1989 – “Eternal Flame,” by The Bangles, is the No. 1 single. The track, off the girl group’s “Everything” album, also goes on to reach No. 1 on pop charts in eight other countries, including Australia and the U.K.

1995 – With the release of “Me Against the World,” Tupac Shakur becomes the first male solo artist to have a No. 1 album on the Billboard chart while in prison. The album goes on to become a hip-hop classic.

2000 – “Say My Name,’ by Destiny’s Child featuring  Beyoncé, begins its third and final week as a No. 1 single. 

2006 – Sean Paul grabs the top spot on the singles chart for a week with “Temperature.”

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On this Day: July 2

On this Day July 2

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1908 – Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall (d. 1993)

1922 – Fashion designer Pierre Cardin 

1925 – Civil rights leader Medgar Evers (d. 1963)

1937 – Champion race car driver Richard Petty, nicknamed “The King” for winning the Daytona 500 and the NASCAR national championship each seven times 

1946 – Tony-winning actor Ron Silver  (“Reversal of Fortune,” “Ali,” “The West Wing,” “Speed-the-Plow”) (d. 2009)

1947 – Comedian-actor-writer Larry David (“Seinfeld,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm”)

1956 – Supermodel-actress Jerry Hall, who was once married to The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger

1985 – Actress-singer Ashley Tisdale (“The Suite Life of Zack & Cody,” “Hellcats,” ”High School Musical”)

1986 – Actress Lindsay Lohan (“The Parent Trap,” “Freaky Friday,” “Mean Girls,” “Herbie: Fully Loaded,” “Just My Luck,” “A Prairie Home Companion,” “Bobby,” “Chapter 27”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1776 – Convening in Philadelphia, the Second Continental Congress formally adopts Richard Henry Lee’s resolution for independence from Great Britain. The vote is unanimous, with only New York abstaining.

1881 – President James A. Garfield is shot while walking through a Washington, D.C. railroad station. Vice President Chester Arthur steps in as acting president while Garfield recuperates, but 80 days later, Garfield dies of blood poisoning and Arthur is inaugurated as 21st president. The assassin, 40-year-old Charles Guiteau, had stalked the president for weeks.

1937 – Aviator Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, disappear over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to fly around the world. They were believed to be headed for Howland Island — about halfway between Hawaii and Australia —  after taking off from Lae, New Guinea.

1964 – President Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law. The historic measure prohibits discrimination on the basis of race in public places as well as in employment, union membership and voter registration. 

1979 – The Susan B. Anthony dollar coin is introduced, but fails to catch on because many consumers are unable to distinguish it from a quarter.

1994 – While attempting to land, US Air Flight 1016 crashes near Charlotte-Douglas Airport in North Carolina, killing 37 people and seriously injuring 16 others. Investigators determine that wind shear resulting from a thunderstorm caused the plane to plummet to the ground and strike a home.

1997 – “Men in Black,” starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, opens in U.S. theaters. The sci-fi-comedy action movie grosses more than $250 million domestically and helps establish Smith as one of Hollywood’s most bankable leading men.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1956 – Elvis Presley and his new band, The Jordanaires, record “Hound Dog” at RCA Studios in New York. It requires 31 takes to get the version Elvis likes, and the song becomes a No. 1 smash. The track was originally recorded four years earlier by Big Mama Thornton, whose version enjoyed seven weeks on top of the R&B chart.

1966 – Ol’ Blue Eyes — Frank Sinatra — sits on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Strangers in the Night.”

1977 – Bill Conti soars to the top of the Billboard pop chart with “Gonna Fly Now,” the theme from the movie “Rocky,” starring Sylvester Stallone.

1988 – “Dirty Diana,” by Michael Jackson, reaches No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart, where it holds for a week. The track is among five chart-topping hits from Jackson’s “Bad” album.

1994 – All-4-One is in the middle of an 11-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100 with “I Swear.”

2005 – “Inside Your Heaven” sends “American Idol” winner Carrie Underwood to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for a week.

2011 – Adele enters her seventh and final week at No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart with “Rolling in the Deep.” The track, off her second album, “21,” goes on to capture Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Short Form Music Video. Many music critics ranked it as the best song of 2011.

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