On This Day April 10 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1921 – Professional baseball and basketball player-turned-actor Chuck Connors (“The Rifleman”) (d. 1992) 1929 – Actor Max von Sydow (“The Seventh Seal,” “The Exorcist,” “Three Days of the Condor,” “Pelle The Conqueror,” “Minority Report,” “Game of Thrones”) (d. 2020) 1932 – Golden Globe Award-winning actor Omar Sharif (“Lawrence of Arabia,” “Doctor Zhivago,” “Funny Girl”) (d. 2015) 1936 – Pro Football Hall of Famer, retired NFL coach and sportscaster John Madden 1952 – Actor, producer and martial artist Steven Seagal (“Above the Law,” “Under Siege,” “Executive Decision,” “The Patriot”) 1959 – Grammy-winning R&B singer-songwriter and music producer Babyface, born Kenneth Edmonds 1984 – Singer-songwriter and actress Mandy Moore (“Candy,” “A Walk to Remember,” “Tangled,” “This Is Us”) 1988 – Actor Haley Joel Osment (“Forrest Gump,” “The Sixth Sense,” “Pay It Forward,” “A.I. Artificial Intelligence,” “Entourage”) History Highlights 1790 – President George Washington signs a bill establishing the U.S. Patent system as a means of protecting the rights of inventors for their creations. 1849 – New York mason Walter Hunt is granted U.S. Patent #6,281 for his safety pin invention, which he fashioned from a single piece of wire. 1866 – A major step toward protecting the welfare of animals is taken on this day when philanthropist and diplomat Henry Bergh establishes the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). 1912 – The luxury liner Titanic sets sail from Southampton, England on its fateful voyage to New York. 1953 – The first color 3-D movie opens in New York. It’s “House of Wax,” starring Vincent Price and directed by André De Toth. In addition to sparking the 3-D movie craze of the 1950s, this motion picture also launches Price’s long and successful career as a star of the horror genre. 1963 – All 129 crewmen die when the nuclear submarine USS Thresher sinks some 300 miles off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, while conducting drills. 1971 – The U.S. table tennis team begins a week-long visit to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) at the invitation of China’s communist government. The well-publicized trip is part of the PRC’s efforts to build closer diplomatic relations with the United States. Musical Milestones 1954 – “Wanted,” by Perry Como, begins an eight-week run on top of the pop chart. 1965 – Freddie and the Dreamers, known for their unique dance gyrations while performing, hold the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with “I’m Telling You Now.” 1970 – Paul McCartney issues a press statement — more of a self-interview — announcing the breakup of The Beatles. McCartney wrote, “I have no future plans to record or appear with The Beatles again, or to write any music with John (Lennon).” 1971 – Motown sensation The Temptations have the No. 1 single with “Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me).” 1976 – The biggest-selling live album in rock history hits the top of the U.S. album chart and remains there for 10 weeks. It’s “Frampton Comes Alive!” by British singer-songwriter Peter Frampton. An estimated 11 million copies have been sold worldwide. 1993 – One-hit-wonder Snow is in the middle of seven weeks atop the pop chart with “Informer.” 1999 – The female trio TLC kicks off four weeks as chart-toppers with “No Scrubs.” READ MORE
On This Day February 9 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1942 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Carole King, credited with writing 118 singles that have appeared on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart 1943 – Actor Joe Pesci (“Raging Bull,” “Goodfellas,” the “Home Alone” series, “JFK,” “My Cousin Vinny,” “Lethal Weapon 3,” “Lethal Weapon 4,” “A Bronx Tale,” “Casino,” “The Irishman”) 1944 – Pulitzer Prize-winning author-poet Alice Walker (“The Color Purple”) 1945 – Actress Mia Farrow (“Peyton Place,” “Rosemary’s Baby,” “The Great Gatsby,” “The Purple Rose of Cairo,” “Hannah and Her Sisters,” “Widows’ Peak”) 1949 – Tony-winning actress Judith Light (“One Life to Live,” “Who’s the Boss?”) 1981 – Actor Tom Hiddleston, best known for playing the villain Loki in Marvel’s “The Avengers” and “Thor” movies 1987 – Actor Michael B. Jordan ( “Black Panther”, “Creed”, ” Creed II”, “Fant4stic”, “Chronicle”, “Redtails,” “Just Mercy”) History Highlights 1825 – With no presidential candidate receiving a majority of electoral votes in the election of 1824, the U.S. House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams, who won fewer votes than Andrew Jackson in the popular election, as president of the United States. 1870 – The National Weather Service (NWS) is established under the U.S. Army Signal Corps. 1942 – The largest ocean liner in the world, the S.S. Normandie, burns and capsizes in New York Harbor during its conversion to a World War II troop transport ship. The Normandie had been the pride of the French ocean liner fleet. Built in 1935, she was the largest and fastest and most luxuriously appointed of the new ocean liners. 1965 – The U.S. sends its first combat troops to South Vietnam. 1971 – Apollo 14 returns safely to Earth following the third successful manned moon landing. 1971 – Pitcher Leroy “Satchel” Paige becomes the first Negro League veteran to be nominated to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He is inducted six months later. Paige was known for his fastball and showmanship during a career that spanned five decades. 1992 – Three months after stunning the world with word that he had contracted the HIV virus and was immediately retiring from the Los Angeles Lakers, basketball great Magic Johnson returns to play in the 42nd NBA All-Star game in Orlando, Florida. After scoring 25 points and dishing out nine assists, Magic receives a standing ovation and is named the game’s Most Valuable Player. Musical Milestones 1963 – “Hey Paula,” by the pop duo Paul & Paula, is the most popular single. 1964 – The Beatles make their American television debut as they perform live on CBS’ “The Ed Sullivan Show” with an estimated 73 million Americans watching. That represents the largest TV audience ever for that time. 1974 – “Love’s Theme,” by Barry White’s Love Unlimited Orchestra, tops the Billboard Hot 100. 1981 – Rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Bill Haley dies in his sleep at his Harlingen, Texas home at the age of 55. 1985 – Madonna begins three weeks on top of the Billboard album chart with “Like A Virgin,” which contains the hit singles “Like a Virgin,” “Material Girl” and “Into the Groove,” and proves that the singer-songwriter is not a one-hit wonder. 1991 – Considered a 90s dance club anthem, “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now),” by C+C Music Factory featuring Freedom Williams & Martha Wash, begins two weeks as a No. 1 single. 2002 – Usher owns the No. 1 position on the pop chart with “U Got It Bad,” which holds the top spot for five weeks. 2008 – “Low,” by Flo Rida featuring T-Pain, continues on its 10-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100. READ MORE
On this Day May 27 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1894 – Detective novelist Dashiell Hammett (“The Maltese Falcon,” “The Glass Key,” “The Thin Man”) (d. 1961) 1911 – Actor Vincent Price, who specialized in the horror genre and provided the monologue and evil laugh in Michael Jackson’s hit single/music video “Thriller” (d. 1993) 1922 – Actor Christopher Lee (“Horror of Dracula,” “The Man With the Golden Gun,” “The Lord of the Rings,”) (d. 2015) 1923 – Former U.S. Secretary of State and Nobel laureate Henry Kissinger 1935 – Grammy-winning jazz composer-pianist Ramsey Lewis 1936 – Oscar and Emmy-winning actor Louis Gossett, Jr. (“Roots,” “An Officer And a Gentleman,” “Enemy Mine”) 1955 – Actor Richard Schiff (“The Lost World: Jurassic Park,” “The West Wing,” “Deep Impact,” “I Am Sam,” “The Good Doctor”) 1970 – Actor Joseph Fiennes (“Shakespeare in Love,” “Elizabeth,” ” Enemy at the Gates,” “American Horror Story”) History Highlights 1930 – New York City’s iconic Chrysler Building opens to the public and stands as the world’s tallest building until surpassed by the Empire State Building in 1931. 1936 – The ocean liner RMS Queen Mary leaves Southampton on her maiden voyage to New York with more than 1,800 passengers aboard. The ship arrives safely five days later. 1937 – The majestic Golden Gate Bridge opens, creating a vital link between San Francisco and Marin County, California. San Franciscans throw a “fiesta” in honor of the new span. Schools, offices and stores either close or reduce staffing. By 6 that morning, 18,000 people are waiting to cross the span from both the sides. 1939 – A ship carrying more than 900 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution is turned away from Havana, Cuba. Only 28 immigrants are admitted into the country. After appeals to the U.S. and Canada for entry are rejected, the rest are forced to return to Europe, where they are divided among several countries, including Great Britain and France. 1941 – The revered German battleship Bismarck is cornered and sunk in the North Atlantic by ships and planes from the British Royal Navy, ending one of the most intensive naval manhunts in history. An estimated 2,100 crewmen are killed in the attack. 1962 – A mine fire that still burns to this day breaks out beneath the borough of Centralia, Pennsylvania. 1994 – Two decades after being expelled from the Soviet Union, Nobel laureate Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn returns to Russia in an emotional homecoming. Musical Milestones 1957 – The Crickets, featuring Buddy Holly, release their first record, “That’ll Be The Day,” on the Brunswick label — a subsidiary of Decca Records. The single soars to the top of the pop charts in both the U.S. and U.K. and propels the band into rock and roll stardom. 1963 – The second album is the charm for 22-year-old Bob Dylan, who releases “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan,” which proves to be his breakthrough work. Among its original compositions (and first track on the album) is the classic “Blowin’ in the Wind.” 1972 – The Chi-Lites reach No. 1 on the singles chart for their first and only time with “Oh Girl.” The track, off the band’s “A Lonely Man” album, stays on top for a week. 1978 – “With a Little Luck,” by Paul McCartney & Wings, enjoys its second and final week as the hottest single in the U.S. 1989 – Paula Abdul begins her second and final week on top of the Billboard singles survey with “Forever Your Girl.” 1995 – “This Is How We Do It,” by Montell Jordan, wraps up seven weeks as a Billboard chart-topper. 2000 – Santana, featuring The Product G&B, holds steady at No. 1 on the pop chart with “Maria Maria.” READ MORE