On This Day: December 21

On This Day December 21

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1935 – Former TV talk show host Phil Donahue (“The Phil Donohue Show,” later simply called “Donohue”)

1937 – Oscar-winning actress and 1980s fitness guru Jane Fonda (“Barefoot in the Park,” “Klute,” “Coming Home,” “The Newsroom”)

1948 – Actor-producer Samuel L. Jackson (“Jurassic Park,” “Pulp Fiction,” “Jackie Brown,” “The Incredibles,” “Snakes on a Plane,” “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” “Django Unchained,” and several of the Marvel Studios “Avengers” movies)

1954 – Retired U.S. tennis star Chris Evert

1957 – Emmy-winning actor, writer and comedian Ray Romano, best known for the CBS sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond”

1966 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor and singer-songwriter Kiefer Sutherland (“Stand by Me,” “The Lost Boys,” “Young Guns,” “Flatliners,” A Few Good Men,” “The Three Musketeers,” “24,” “Designated Survivor”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1913 – The first crossword puzzle is compiled by journalist Arthur Wynne and published in the New York World newspaper. It was originally called “Word-Cross” and ran as a feature in the paper’s “Fun” section.

1937 – The Lincoln Tunnel officially opens, allowing motorists to drive between New Jersey and Manhattan beneath the Hudson River.

1968 – NASA successfully launches Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell, Jr., and William Anders aboard.

1980 – Socialite Martha “Sunny” von Bulow is found comatose on the bathroom floor of her Newport, Rhode Island mansion — the result of what appeared to be an insulin overdose. Her husband stands trial for attempted murder in what becomes one of the most sensational high society court dramas of all time.

1988 – Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York explodes in midair over Lockerbie, Scotland. All 243 passengers and 16 crew members aboard the 747 are killed along with 11 Lockerbie residents on the ground. A bomb hidden inside an audio cassette player detonates in the cargo hold when the plane reaches an altitude of 31,000 feet.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1968 – “I Heard it Through the Grapevine,” by Marvin Gaye, is No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a second week and remains a chart-topper all through January 1969.

1969 – The Supremes make their final TV appearance together with Diana Ross on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” singing a medley of their hits.

1970 – Elvis Presley arrives unannounced at The White House for a meeting with President Richard Nixon to offer his services in the administration’s war on drugs.

1974 – “Cat’s in the Cradle” becomes Harry Chapin’s first and only No. 1 single. The track receives a Grammy nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

1985 – Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” album passes Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” to become the second longest-lasting LP on the Billboard Top 10, holding there for 79 weeks. Only “The Sound of Music,” with Julie Andrews, lasted longer at 109 weeks.

2002 – Eminem rules the Billboard Hot 100 with “Lose Yourself,” whcih remains a chart-topper for 12 weeks.

2012 – “Gangnam Style,” by Korean rapper Psy, becomes the first YouTube video to garner one billion views.

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On This Day: September 15

On This Day September 15

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1254 – Venetian merchant and explorer Marco Polo (d. 1324)

1890 – Mystery author and playwright Agatha Christie (d. 1976)

1907 – Actress Fay Wray, most remembered for playing the lead in the original “King Kong” movie (d. 2004)

1922 –  Jackie Cooper, the first child actor to be nominated for an Oscar (“Our Gang,” “Little rascals,” “The Champ’) (d. 2011)

1946 – Oscar-winning screenwriter-director Oliver Stone (“Platoon,” “Scarface,” “Born on the Fourth of July,” “JFK,” “Natural Born Killers”)

1946 – Oscar-winning actor Tommy Lee Jones (“Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “Men in Black,” “The Fugitive,” “No Country for Old Men,” “Lincoln,” “Jason Bourne”)

1977 – Actor Tom Hardy (“Black Hawk Down,” “Star Trek: Nemesis,” “Inception,” “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “Dunkirk,” “Venom”)

1984 – Prince Harry of Wales 

History Highlights
History Highlights

1916 – The tank makes its debut as a battlefield weapon, attacking German troops as part of a British assault near Bois d’Elville, or Delville Wood, on the Western Front, during the Battle of the Somme in World War I.

1942 – Three Japanese torpedoes slam into the American aircraft carrier USS Wasp off Guadalcanal in the South Pacific during World War II. The attack claims the lives of nearly 200 of the ship’s 2,000 crewmen. The wreckage of the Wasp was discovered at the bottom of the Coral Sea in January 2019.

1954 – The iconic scene of Marilyn Monroe laughing as her skirt is blown up by the blast of air from a Manhattan subway vent is shot during the filming of “The Seven Year Itch,” directed by Billy Wilder.

1959 – Nikita Khrushchev becomes the first Soviet leader to visit the United States. During the next two weeks, Khrushchev’s visit dominates the headlines and provides some dramatic and humorous moments in the history of the Cold War.

1963 – Four young black girls are killed in a bombing at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, that investigators determine to be a racially motivated terrorist attack. The bombing, which shocks the nation, is Birmingham’s third in 11 days following a federal order to integrate the Alabama schools.

1978 – Muhammad Ali defeats Leon Spinks to win the world heavyweight boxing title for the third time in his career, becoming the first fighter ever to do so. 

1981 – The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approves Sandra Day O’Connor as the first female Supreme Court justice. 

1982 – Gannett publishes the first edition of a new national daily newspaper called USA Today.

2008 – The venerable Wall Street brokerage firm Lehman Brothers seeks Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, becoming the largest victim of the subprime mortgage crisis that would devastate financial markets and contribute to the biggest economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1956 – Elvis Presley is king of the pop chart with “Don’t Be Cruel,” which becomes his biggest-selling single and, in 2002, is inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The B-side of the disc contains “Hound Dog,” which climbs to No. 2 a few weeks later.

1962 – “Sherry,” by The Four Seasons, is the No. 1 single and remains on top of the pop chart for five weeks. 

1965 – Ford Motor Company is the first automaker to introduce factory-installed 8-track tape players in a car — the 1966 Mustang and Thunderbird — a year before 8-track equipment is available for home use.

1973 – Originally a Top-10 country hit for Tanya Tucker, Helen Reddy takes “Delta Dawn” to No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart.

1983 – Huey Lewis and the News release “Sports,” which goes on to top the Billboard album chart the following summer and spawns four Top-10 hits, including “The Heart of Rock & Roll” and “I Want a New Drug.”

1984 – Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got to Do with It” begins its third and final week as a No. 1 single. The track goes on to capture Song of the Year and Record of the Year Grammys.

1990 – “Release Me,” by Wilson Phillips, claims the top spot on the singles chart and holds there for two weeks.

2001 – “I’m Real,” by Jennifer Lopez featuring Ja Rule, is No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

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On this Day: May 30

On this Day May 30

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1908 Actor Mel Blanc, who was the voice of Bugs Bunny, Wile E. Coyote, Barney Rubble and many other beloved cartoon characters (d. 1989)

1909 – Jazz-swing bandleader Benny Goodman (d. 1986)

1943 – Pro Football Hall of Famer Gale Sayers, also known as “The Kansas Comet”

1951 – Actor Stephen Tobolowsky, best remembered for his role as Ned Ryerson in the movie “Groundhog Day”

1953 – Actor Colm Meaney, best known for playing Miles O’Brien in the TV series “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”

1964 – Country music singer Wynonna Judd (“She Is His Only Need,” “I Saw the Light,” “No One Else on Earth,” “Only Love,” “To Be Loved by You”)

1971 – Tony Award-winning actress-singer Idina Menzel (“Rent,” “Wicked,” If/Then”)

1974 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter-producer CeeLo Green, born Thomas Callaway (“Forget You,” “Crazy”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1431 –  Joan of Arc, the peasant girl who became the savior of France, is burned at the stake for heresy.

1783 – The Pennsylvania Evening Post becomes the first daily newspaper published in the United States.

1911 – The Indianapolis 500 is run for the first time and the winner is Ray Harroun, travelling at an average speed of 74.6 miles per hour in his single-seater Marmon Wasp.

1922 – Supreme Court Chief Justice and former President William Howard Taft dedicates the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The Memorial was designed to heal national divisions caused by the Civil War. Yet for many, Lincoln’s promise of freedom remained incomplete. Over the next half century, the looming figure of Abraham Lincoln witnessed a number of events and demonstrations that reinforced the memorial’s importance as a symbolic space for civil rights movements.

1927 – The Kentucky River peaks during a massive flood caused by torrential rains. The disaster kills 89 people and leaves thousands homeless.

1971 – The unmanned spacecraft Mariner 9 launches on a mission to gather scientific information from Mars. It circles the Red Planet twice each day for almost a year, photographing the surface and analyzing the atmosphere with infrared and ultraviolet instruments.

1990 – With the Soviet economy on the brink of collapse, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in Washington, D.C., for three days of talks with President George H. W. Bush. The summit centers on the issue of Germany and its place in a changing Europe.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1960 – Brenda Lee is just 15 years old when her first No. 1 single, “I’m Sorry,” debuts on the Billboard Hot 100. It spends three weeks on top of the chart that July.

1963 – Seventeen-year-old Lesley Gore of New Jersey appears on “American Bandstand” and belts out a tune that goes on to become a No. 1 hit for her: “It’s My Party.”

1964 – “Love Me Do” by The Beatles reaches the top of the singles chart, becoming the Fab Four’s fourth No. 1 in five months.

1970 – Ray Stevens dominates the singles chart with “Everything Is Beautiful.”

1987 – U2’s “With or Without You,” off their album “The Joshua Tree,” concludes three weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100.

1992 – Hip hop duo Kris Kross dominate the Bilboard Hot 100 with “Jump.” The track, off the “Totally Krossed Out” album, holds at No. 1 for eight weeks, becoming the pair’s most successful song and the fastest-selling single in the U.S. in 15 years. 

2009 – The Black Eyed Peas enter their seventh week on top of the pop chart with “Boom Boom Pow.” The track holds at No. 1 for 12 weeks and goes on to capture a Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video.

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