On This Day March 23 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1905 – Oscar-winning actress Joan Crawford, born Lucille Fay LeSueur (“Grand Hotel,” “Mildred Pierce,” “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?”) (d. 1977) 1944 – Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and The Cars frontman Ric Ocasek, born Richard Theodore Otcasek (“Just What I Needed,” “My Best Friend’s Girl,” “Good Times Roll,” “Let’s Go,” “Shake It Up,” “You Might Think”) (d. 2019) 1953 – Grammy-winning R&B singer-songwriter Chaka Khan (“Tell Me Something Good,” “I’m Every Woman,” “I Feel For You”) 1976 – Actress Michelle Monaghan (“Unfaithful,” “Mission: Impossible III,” “Gone Baby Gone,” “Made of Honor,” “The Heartbreak Kid,” “Eagle Eye,” “Pixels,” “True Detective”) 1976 – Golden Globe-winning actress Keri Russell (“Felicity,” “The Upside of Anger,” “Waitress,” “August Rush,” “Extraordinary Measures,” “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” “The Americans”) 1978 – Celebrity gossip columnist and blogger Perez Hilton, founder of the popular celebrity news blog, Perezhilton.com History Highlights 1839 – The word “OK” is introduced to the world when the initials are published in The Boston Morning Post. Meant as an abbreviation for “oll korrect,” a popular slang misspelling of “all correct” at the time, OK steadily makes its way into the everyday speech of Americans. 1933 – The German Reichstag (Parliament) passes the Enabling Act of 1933, which marks the start of Adolf Hitler’s transformation from chancellor to dictator by enabling him to implement laws without Reichstag consent. 1983 – Barney Clark dies 112 days after becoming the world’s first recipient of a permanent artificial heart. 1983 – In a televised speech to Americans, President Ronald Reagan calls for development of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) to protect the U.S. from a nuclear missile attack. The program is also referred to as “Star Wars.” 1998 – The tide rises for “Titanic” at the 70th annual Academy Awards. The James Cameron blockbuster, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, ties with 1959’s “Ben Hur” for most wins by sweeping 11 categories, including the coveted Best Picture Oscar. 2011 – Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor (“National Velvet,” “A Place in the Sun,” “Giant,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”) dies of congestive heart failure at the age of 79. Taylor starred in more than 50 movies and won two Academy Awards during her colorful acting career. Musical Milestones 1963 – Ruby & the Romantics’ first recording, “Our Day Will Come,” makes it to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a week. The song, composed by Bob Hilliard and Mort Garson, becomes a million-seller. 1974 – “Dark Lady” becomes Cher’s third solo No. 1 hit and her last until “Believe” a quarter-century later. The track holds the top spot for a week. 1985 – “Piano Man” Billy Joel weds his then-“Uptown Girl,” supermodel Christie Brinkley, aboard a yacht in New York Harbor. The marriage lasts nine years. 1985 – REO Speedwagon begins its third and final week on top of the pop chart with “Can’t Fight This Feeling.” 1991 – One-hit wonder Timmy T enjoys a week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “One More Try.” 1996 – Céline Dion sets sail on a six-week cruise at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with her Grammy-winning smash, “Because You Loved Me.” 2002 – “Ain’t It Funny,” by Jennifer Lopez featuring Ja Rule, is in the midst of a six-week ride on top of the Billboard singles chart. READ MORE
On This Day March 21 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1685 – Classical composer Johann Sebastian Bach (d. 1750) 1944 – Actor Timothy Dalton, who played James Bond in two films 1949 – Singer-songwriter Eddie Money, born Edward Mahoney (“Baby Hold On,” “Two Tickets to Paradise”, “Take Me Home Tonight”) (d. 2019) 1958 – Actor Gary Oldman (“Sid and Nancy,” “JFK,” “Bram Stoker’s Dracula,” “The Fifth Element,” “Air Force One,” played Sirius Black in the “Harry Potter” series, “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight” trilogy, “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” “The Book of Eli,” “Darkest Hour”) 1962 – Emmy-winning comedian-TV host-actress Rosie O’Donnell (“The Rosie O’Donnell Show,” “The View,” “A League of Their Own,” “Sleepless in Seattle,” “Now and Then”) 1962 – Tony-winning actor Matthew Broderick (“War Games,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” “Biloxi Blues,” “Glory,” “The Freshman,” “Inspector Gadget,” “The Producers,” “Tower Heist,” “Rules Don’t Apply”) History Highlights 1947 – With fears about communism swirling across the U.S., President Harry Truman signs Executive Order 9835. It creates a Loyalty Program to investigate federal employees to determine if they demonstrated “complete and unswerving loyalty” to the United States. 1965 – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. leads some 3,200 civil rights activists on a five-day march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Federalized Alabama National Guardsmen and FBI agents supervise the procession, which Alabama state police had previously blocked at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. 1980 – President Jimmy Carter announces a U.S. boycott of the Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. 1980 – In the Season 3 finale of CBS’ hit prime time drama “Dallas,” an unseen assailant shoots bad-boy J.R. Ewing (played by Larry Hagman), who falls to the floor of his office before the scene fades to black. The episode, entitled “A House Divided,” becomes one of the most talked about season finales of all time, sparking the “Who Shot J.R.” craze. Some 160 million fans wait eight months to learn the identity of the shooter in Season 4. 1994 – Eleven-year-old Anna Paquin is stunned when actor Gene Hackman announces that she has won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in “The Piano.” Paquin becomes the second youngest Oscar winner of all time. 1999 – Aviators Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones complete the first non-stop around-the-world flight in a hot air balloon, making aviation history. Musical Milestones 1953 – “(How Much is) That Doggie in the Window” launches Patti Page on an eight-week ride at No. 1 on the singles chart. 1964 – The Beatles rule the Billboard Hot 100 with “She Loves You” — the second of three consecutive hits that keep the Fab Four on top of the singles chart through early May of that year. 1970 – Simon & Garfunkel remain suspended at No. 1 on the singles chart with “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” The track holds there for a total of six weeks. 1981 – REO Speedwagon clinches the top spot on the singles chart with “Keep On Loving You,” the group’s first Top 40 hit and No. 1. 1992 – Vanessa Williams kicks off five weeks on top of the Billboard pop chart with “Save the Best for Last.” 1994 – Bruce Springsteen performs “Streets of Philadelphia” during the 66th Academy Awards, and a short time later, is handed a Best Original Song Oscar for it. It’s from the movie “Philadelphia,” for which Tom Hanks won Best Actor. The track goes on to capture four Grammys. 1998 – Will Smith maintains his hold on the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for a second week with “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It.” READ MORE
On This Day March 9 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1934 – Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who became the world’s first man in space in 1961 (d. 1968) 1936 – Country music singer-songwriter and nightclub owner Mickey Gilley (“Urban Cowboy,” “Room Full of Roses”) 1940 – Golden Globe-winning actor Raul Julia (“Kiss of the Spider Woman,” “The Addams Family,” “Presumed Innocent,” “The Burning Season,” “Street Fighter”) (d. 1994) 1943 – American chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer (d. 2008) 1960 – Actress Linda Fiorentino (“Vision Quest,” “The Last Seduction”) 1964 – Oscar-winning actress Juliette Binoche (“The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” “The English Patient,” “Chocolat,” “Caché,” “Breaking and Entering,” “Flight of the Red Balloon”) 1979 – Golden Globe-winning actor Oscar Isaac (“Inside Llewyn Davis,” “A Most Violent Year,” “Show Me a Hero,” “Ex Machina,” “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”, “X-Men: Apocalypse”, “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”) History Highlights 1959 – The Barbie doll makes her glamorous debut at the American Toy Fair in New York, retailing for $3. Barbie was the creation of Ruth Handler — American businesswoman, inventor and co-founder of Mattel — who wanted “a doll through which [a little girl could] project herself into her dream of her future.” 1964 – The Ford Motor Company produces the first Mustang. Starting price: $2,368. An estimated 22,000 orders are placed that day – a full month before a single “pony car” even hits the showroom. More than 400,000 units sell in the first year, four times Ford‘s own estimates. 1985 – The Adopt-a-Highway program launches when the first sign is posted along State Highway 69 in Tyler, Texas. The program, in which local businesses support trash cleanup along a designated section of highway, quickly spreads across the U.S. and on to Canada, Japan and New Zealand. 1996 – Legendary cigar-chomping comedian George Burns dies at his Beverly Hills home just weeks after celebrating his 100th birthday. 2005 – “CBS Evening News” anchor and managing editor Dan Rather delivers his last newscast, 24 years after succeeding his predecessor, Walter Cronkite. Musical Milestones 1959 – “Venus,” by Frankie Avalon, tops the Billboard pop chart and stays there for five weeks. 1963 – The Four Seasons, featuring Frankie Valli, hold the top spot on the singles chart with “Walk Like a Man.” 1974 – One-hit wonder and Canadian native Terry Jacks basks in the glow of the No. 1 spot on the singles chart with “Seasons in the Sun.” He holds the top spot for three weeks. The original song was written in French in 1961 under the title of “Le Moribond” (“The Dying Man”) by Belgian poet-composer Jacques Brel. 1985 – REO Speedwagon begins three weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Can’t Fight This Feeling,” off the “Wheels Are Turnin'” album. 1991 – Mariah Carey kicks off two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart with “Someday,” her third consecutive chart-topper. 1997 – Rapper-songwriter and actor Notorious B.I.G., born Christopher Wallace and also known as Biggie Smalls, is shot to death while stopped at a red light in Los Angeles. He is just 24. 2002 – “Ain’t It Funny,” by Jennifer Lopez featuring Ja Rule, begins six weeks as a Billboard No. 1 single. READ MORE