On This Day March 31 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1927 – Labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez, who co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (d. 1993) 1934 – Oscar-winning actress and singer Shirley Jones (“The Music Man,” “The Partridge Family”) 1935 – Grammy-winning trumpeter and the “A” in A&M Records, Herb Alpert 1943 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actor and frequent “Saturday Night Live” host Christopher Walken (“Annie Hall,” “The Deer Hunter,” “Sarah, Plain and Tall,” “Pulp Fiction,” “Catch Me If You Can”) 1948 – Environmental activist and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore 1971 – Actor Ewan McGregor (“Trainspotting,” “Star Wars” prequel trilogy, “Moulin Rouge!” “Big Fish,” “Robots,” “The Island,” “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “T2 Trainspotting”,”Christopher Robin”,”Birds of Prey”) History Highlights 1492 – Spain’s King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella issue the Alhambra Decree, also known as the The Edict of Expulsion, mandating that all Jews be expelled from the country by the end of that July. 1889 – The iconic Eiffel Tower, built for the Paris International Exhibition, is formally dedicated. Engineer Gustave Eiffel, who designed the massive structure, presides at the ceremony with French Prime Minister Pierre Tirard, other dignitaries and 200 construction workers. 1959 – The Dalai Lama flees Chinese suppression in Tibet, and after an epic 15-day journey on foot over the Himalayan mountains, is granted political asylum in India. 1968 – During a national address to provide an update on the status of the Vietnam War, President Lyndon B. Johnson stuns Americans by announcing that he will not seek a second term in office. 1981 – Robert De Niro wins the Best Actor Oscar for his role in “Raging Bull,” in which he portrays former World Middleweight Champion Jake LaMotta. De Niro gained more than 60 pounds to portray LaMotta’s retirement years. Directed by Martin Scorsese, the movie also features performances by Joe Pesci and Cathy Moriarty. 1995 – Tejano superstar Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, known as the “Mexican Madonna,” is shot and killed by Yolanda Saldívar, the president of her fan club. Selena was the first female Tejano artist to win a Grammy, in the Best Mexican-American album category, for her 1993 album “Selena Live!” At the time of her murder, at age 23, Selena was on the brink of international fame, recording her first English language album. 1999 – The sci-fi thriller “The Matrix,” starring Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne, opens in movie theaters and goes on to become a cult classic followed, in 2003, by sequels “The Matrix Reloaded” and “The Matrix Revolutions.” Musical Milestones 1943 – Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!” premieres on Broadway. In 1955, the musical is produced as a motion picture starring Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones (in her film debut). 1958 – Chess Records releases “Johnny B. Goode,” by Chuck Berry. The song climbs as high as No. 8 on the pop chart and goes on to become a rock and roll classic. 1962 – Connie Francis claims the top spot on the pop chart for a week with “Don’t Break the Heart That Loves You” 1967 – Jimi Hendrix suffers minor burns to his hands when he sets his guitar on fire during a performance at Finsbury Park in London. Nevertheless, he goes on to torch guitars several times during his short career. 1973 – Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly with His Song” returns to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for a fifth week after The O’Jays interrupted her for a week with their hit, “Love Train.” 1979 – “Tragedy,” by the Bee Gees, dominates the singles chart for a second and final week. 1984 – Kenny Loggins kicks off a three-week run atop the Billboard Hot 100 with “Footloose,” from the movie of the same name. 1987 – Prince releases his ninth studio album, “Sign o’ the Times,” which spawns three Top 10 hit singles: “If I Was Your Girlfriend,” “U Got the Look,” (with Sheena Easton) and the title track. 2007 – “Glamorous,” by Fergie featuring Ludacris, enters its second and final week as the No. 1 single. READ MORE
On This Day November 21 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1904 – Nobel Prize–winning novelist and short-story writer Isaac Bashevis Singer (d. 1991) 1937 – Emmy, Golden Globe and Grammy-winning actress and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital ambassador Marlo Thomas (“That Girl,” “Free to Be…You and Me”) 1944 – Actor-director Harold Ramis (“Ghostbusters,” “Stripes,” “Caddyshack,” “Groundhog Day”) (d. 2014) 1945 – Oscar-winning actress Goldie Hawn (“Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In,” “Cactus Flower,” “The Sugarland Express,” “Private Benjamin,” “Swing Shift”) 1965 – Icelandic singer-songwriter Björk, born Björk Guðmundsdóttir (“Birthday,” “Human Behaviour,” “Big Time Sensuality”) 1985 – Singer-songwriter and actress Carly Rae Jepsen, best known for her 2012 hit “Call Me Maybe” History Highlights 1783 – French chemistry teacher Jean-François Pilatre de Rozier and military officer François Laurent, the marquis d’ Arlandes, make the first untethered hot-air balloon flight, traveling 5.5 miles over Paris in about 25 minutes. 1877 – Inventor Thomas Edison announces that he has developed a hand-cranked, tinfoil covered cylinder capable of reproducing recorded sound — a “talking machine” that comes to be known as the phonograph. It marks the first time in history that a person’s voice could be recorded and saved. 1964 – New York’s Verrazano Narrows Bridge — then the world’s longest suspension bridge — opens to traffic. The span connects Brooklyn and Staten Island high above the entrance to New York Harbor. 1980 – The second worst hotel fire in modern U.S. history breaks out at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, claiming 85 lives and injuring more than 700 people. 1980 – Millions of viewers tune in to the prime-time CBS drama “Dallas” to find out who shot J.R., ending eight months of suspense in a storyline that establishes the television cliffhanger. The show becomes the highest-rated TV episode until the “M*A*S*H” finale beats it in 1983. Musical Milestones 1968 – The Supremes and The Temptations release a collaboration: “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me.” It peaks at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 behind Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through the Grapevine.” 1970 – The Partridge Family parks its tour bus on top of the pop chart for three weeks with “I Think I Love You,” which was featured in the first episode of “The Partridge Family” TV series, starring Shirley Jones and David Cassidy. 1975 – Queen releases “A Night at the Opera,” the band’s breakthrough album, which contains the hits “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “You’re My Best Friend.” 1981 – Olivia Newton-John begins a 10-week lock on the No. 1 spot on the singles chart with “Physical.” 1987 – Billy Idol’s cover of the Tommy James and the Shondell’s hit “Mony Mony” spends a week on top of the Billboard Hot 100. 1998 – “Doo Wop (That Thing),” by Lauryn Hill, begins its second and final week as a No. 1 single. 2003 – George Harrison’s first guitar, a 1956 Rosetti-276 Egmond 105 steel string guitar, sells at a London auction for $800,000. 2017 – Teen idol David Cassidy dies of liver failure at the age of 67. Cassidy was best known as Keith Partridge, the son of Shirley Partridge (played by his real-life stepmother, Shirley Jones), in the popular 1970s musical-sitcom, “The Partridge Family.” READ MORE