On This Day: October 25

On This Day October 25

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1881 – Painter Pablo Picasso, considered one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century (d. 1973)

1912 – Country Music Hall of Famer and comedian Minnie Pearl, known for her trademark straw hat with $1.98 price tag attached (d. 1996)

1928 – Actress Marion Ross, best known as TV mom Marion Cunningham (“Mrs. C”) on the popular sitcom “Happy Days”

1941 – 1970s pop sensation Helen Reddy, best known for her hit single “I Am Woman,” that became an anthem for the feminist movement (d. 2020)

1944 – Yes lead vocalist Jon Anderson

1970 – Actor Adam Goldberg (“Dazed and Confused,” “Saving Private Ryan,” “Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco,” “Zodiac”)

1984 – Pop superstar Katy Perry, born Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (“I Kissed a Girl,” “California Gurls,” “Teenage Dream,” “Firework,” “Part of Me,” “Wide Awake,” “Roar”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1962 – Tensions escalate between the United States and Soviet Union over the Cuban Missile Crisis. During a U.N. Security Council meeting, U.S. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson demands that his Soviet counterpart confirm whether his country is installing missiles in Cuba, saying, “I am prepared to wait for my answer until hell freezes over.”

1971 –  Sixteen years after Disneyland opens in Anaheim, California, the official dedication of Walt Disney World takes place in Orlando, Florida. Walt Disney’s brother, Roy O. Disney, and Mickey Mouse preside, followed by a grand opening parade through the Magic Kingdom. The celebration is taped for a special that airs on NBC four days later.

1982 – The sitcom “Newhart” premieres on CBS, starring Bob Newhart as an author and Vermont innkeeper.

1983 – The U.S. and its Caribbean allies invade Grenada just days after the island nation’s leader is killed in a coup.

1994 – In a case that garnered international attention, Susan Smith notifies South Carolina authorities that she was carjacked by a man who sped off with her two young boys still buckled in the back seat of her car. Nine days later, she confesses that she made up the story after driving her own car into a lake to drown the kids because she was having an affair with a man who did not want children. Smith is convicted of two counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison.

2002 – Golden Globe and Grammy-winning actor and singer Richard Harris, whose career spanned six decades and included starring roles in movies like “Camelot” and the “Harry Potter” series, dies of cancer at age 72. Harris had a 1968 hit single, “MacArthur Park,” which Donna Summer later covered.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1964 – The Rolling Stones make their first appearance on CBS’ “The Ed Sullivan Show.” Excited fans damage part of the TV studio in Manhattan, prompting Sullivan’s infamous quote: “I promise you they’ll never be back on our show again.” Nevertheless, the Stones go on to make five additional appearances on the popular variety show over the next five years.

1969 – The Temptations begin their second and final week as rulers of the Billboard Hot 100 with “I Can’t Get Next to You.” The track also reaches No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B survey.

1980 – Barbra Streisand’s “Woman in Love” tops the singles chart and remains there for three weeks. Also at No. 1 is the album it’s on: “Guilty.”

1986 – “True Colors,” by Cyndi Lauper, kicks off two weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100. The track receives a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

2003 – “Baby Boy,” by Beyoncé featuring Sean Paul, is in the middle of a nine-week ride atop the Billboard singles chart.

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On this Day: June 24

On this Day June 24

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1895 – World heavyweight boxer Jack Dempsey, known as the “Manassa Mauler”(d. 1983)

1919 – Actor Al Molinaro, remembered for his TV sitcom roles as Al Delvecchio in “Happy Days” and Murray Greshler in “The Odd Couple” (d. 2015)

1935 – Director-actor Robert Downey, Sr. (“Putney Swope,” “Tower Heist”)

1942 – Actress Michele Lee (“How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” “Knots Landing,” “Wicked”)

1944 – Grammy-winning rock guitarist and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jeff Beck, a former member of the band The Yardbirds

1947 – Actor Peter Weller (“RoboCop,” “RoboCop 2,” “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension,” “Naked Lunch,” “Mighty Aphrodite,” “Longmire”)

1947 – Rock and Roll Hall of Fame drummer and Fleetwood Mac co-founder Mick Fleetwood

1967 – Actress and former “ER” star Sherry Stringfield

History Highlights
History Highlights

1901 – The first major exhibition of Pablo Picasso’s artwork opens in Paris.

1947 – Pilot Kenneth Arnold reports seeing strange objects near Mount Rainier, Washington. He describes them as “saucers skipping across the water,” and so the term “flying saucers” is born.

1948 – The Soviet Union begins a blockade of Berlin. Allied forces respond with what would be known as the Berlin Airlift, flying in more than two million tons of supplies over the next year.

1953 – Jacqueline Bouvier and Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy publicly announce their engagement. They marry three months later in Newport, Rhode Island. Kennedy wins election as 35th U.S. president in 1960, and as first lady, Jackie, as she was known, makes restoration of the White House her first major project. 

1975 – Wind shear from thunderstorms is blamed for the crash of an Eastern Airlines 727 on final approach to New York’s JFK Airport that leaves 113 dead. The accident leads to the installation of low-level wind shear detectors at airports.

1993 – Yale University computer science professor David Gelernter is seriously injured while opening his mail when a padded envelope explodes in his hands. The bombing, along with 14 others since 1978 that killed three people and injured 23 others, was eventually linked to “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski.

1997 – U.S. Air Force officials release a 231-page report dismissing long-standing claims of an alien spacecraft crash in Roswell, New Mexico, almost exactly 50 years earlier.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1967 – “Groovin’,” by The Young Rascals, enjoys its fourth and final week as a No. 1 single.

1967 – British rock band Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade Of Pale” lands on the Billboard Hot 100 and climbs as high as No. 5. Meanwhile, in the U.K., it is a No. 1 hit for six weeks. The track becomes one of the anthems of 1967’s so-called “Summer of Love.”

1972 – Sammy Davis, Jr. begins a third and final week on top of the singles chart with his interpretation of “The Candy Man,” from the movie “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.”

1989 – Richard Marx scores his second No. 1 single with “Satisfied.”

1995 – Bryan Adams’ “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?” is No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The track is from the Johnny Depp-Marlon Brando movie “Don Juan DeMarco.”

2000 – Enrique Iglesias kicks off three weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Be With You.”

2006 – “Hips Don’t Lie,” by Shakira featuring Wyclef Jean, begins its second and final week on top of the pop chart.

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