Star Spangled Banner – Time Rewind

On This Day April 25

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On This Day March 3

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Celebrity Birthdays

1847 – Scientist-inventor Alexander Graham Bell, best known for developing the telephone (d. 1922)

1911 – Actress Jean Harlow, often referred to as the “Original Blonde Bombshell” (d. 1937)

1920 – Actor James Doohan, best known as starship engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott from the “Star Trek” TV and movie series (d. 2005)

1945 – Oscar-winning director George Miller, best known for the “Mad Max” movie franchise and the animated film “Happy Feet”

1947 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Jennifer Warnes (“Right Time of the Night,” “Up Where We Belong,” “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life”)

1958 – Golden Globe-winning actress Miranda Richardson (“Blackadder,” “The Crying Game,” “The Apostle,” “Sleepy Hollow,” “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” “Made in Dagenham”)

1962 – Heisman Trophy-winning retired NFL running back Herschel Walker

1966 – Rapper Tone Loc, born Anthony Smith (“Wild Thing,” “Funky Cold Medina”)

1982 – Actress Jessica Biel (“7th Heaven,” “Ulee’s Gold,” “Summer Catch,” “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” “Blade: Trinity”)

History Highlights

1820 – Congress passes the Missouri Compromise, temporarily resolving the first serious political clash between slavery and antislavery interests by admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state.

1887 – Anne Mansfield Sullivan begins teaching six-year-old Helen Keller, who lost her sight and hearing at 19 months of age. Under Sullivan’s tutelage, including her pioneering “touch teaching” techniques, the previously uncontrollable Keller thrived, eventually graduating from college and becoming an international lecturer and activist.

1923 – The first edition of Time magazine is published. The 32-page issue features former U.S. House Speaker Joseph G. Cannon on the cover.

1931 – With the stroke of President Herbert Hoover’s pen, the United States officially adopts the “Star-Spangled Banner” as its national anthem.

1950 – Marilyn Monroe makes her first screen appearance when the musical comedy “Love Happy,” starring the Marx Brothers, opens in movie theaters.

1952 – The U.S. Supreme Court upholds a New York state law (Feinberg Law) that prohibits communists from teaching in public schools. Coming at the height of the Red Scare in the U.S., the high court’s decision was further proof that many Americans feared possible subversive communist activity within their borders.

1991 – In what’s believed to be the first viral video, amateur video footage captures the beating of African American motorist Rodney King by four Los Angeles police officers, igniting outrage over alleged police brutality and social inequalities in LA’s black community. The cops are later tried and acquitted, which triggers riots.

Musical Milestones

1951 – “If,” by Perry Como, claims a six-week hold on the top spot on the singles chart.

1973 – Roberta Flack rules the Billboard Hot 100 with “Killing Me Softly with His Song,” which remains a chart-topper for four weeks. The track goes on to garner Flack Grammys in 1974 for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance as well as a Song of the Year Grammy for its writers, Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox.

1973 – At the 15th Annual Grammy Awards, Roberta Flack wins Song of the Year and Record of the Year honors for “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” as well as Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo for her duet with Donny Hathaway, “Where Is The Love.” Harry Nilsson wins the Best Pop Vocal Performance Grammy for “Without You.”

1984 – “Jump,” by Van Halen, begins its second week on top of the Billboard Hot 100. The track, off the band’s “1984” album, remains at No. 1 for five weeks.

1990 – Janet Jackson begins three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart with “Escapade,” off her “Rhythm Nation 1814” album.

2001 – “Stutter,” by Joe featuring Mystikal, holds the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100.

On This Day January 27

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Celebrity Birthdays

1756 – Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (d. 1791)

1832 – Writer Lewis Carroll (“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” “Through the Looking-Glass”) (d. 1898)

1921 – Actress Donna Reed (“It’s a Wonderful Life,” “From Here to Eternity,” “The Donna Reed Show”) (d. 1986)

1940 – Emmy-winning actor James Cromwell (“Babe,” “Star Trek: First Contact,” “L.A. Confidential,” “The Green Mile,” “Six Feet Under,” “American Horror Story: Asylum”)

1944 – Pink Floyd founding member-drummer and auto racer Nick Mason

1948 – Dancer-actor Mikhail Baryshnikov (“The Turning Point,” “White Nights,” “Sex and the City”)

1956 – Actress Mimi Rogers (“Someone to Watch Over Me,” “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery”)

1959 – TV host and political commentator Keith Olbermann

1964 – Actress Bridget Fonda (“Single White Female,” “Point of No Return,” “Jackie Brown”)

1979 – Actress Rosamund Pike (“Die Another Day,” “Pride and Prejudice,” “Jack Reacher,” “Gone Girl,” “Entebbe”)

History Highlights

1888 – The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C. for “the increase and diffusion of geographical knowledge.”

1910 – Thomas Crapper, widely considered the prime developer of the flush toilet mechanism still in use today, dies at the age of 73.

1945 – Soviet troops reach the Auschwitz concentration camp complex and liberate some 7,000 remaining prisoners who survived the Holocaust, but were ill and dying. An estimated 1.1 million Auschwitz prisoners were killed between 1940 and 1945.

1965 – Ford introduces the Shelby GT 350, a version of the Mustang sports car developed by auto racer/car designer Carroll Shelby. The vehicle features a 306-horsepower V-8 engine and remains in production through 1971.

1967 – A launch pad fire during a preflight test at Cape Kennedy, Florida, kills Apollo 1 astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee. An investigation determines that a faulty electrical wire inside the command module was the probable cause.

1973 – In Paris, the U.S., South Vietnam, Viet Cong, and North Vietnam formally sign “An Agreement Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam.”

1996 – Tennis great Monica Seles wins her first Grand Slam title since her 1993 stabbing by a mentally unstable fan during a tournament in Hamburg, Germany that led her to take a two-year hiatus from the sport.

Musical Milestones

1956 – RCA Records releases Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel,” which sells 300,000 copies in its first week to become Presley’s first Gold record. That spring, it spends seven weeks on top of the pop chart.

1962 – With the American dance craze going strong, the hottest song on the radio is “Peppermint Twist” by Joey Dee & The Starliters. The track holds at No. 1 for three weeks.

1973 – Stevie Wonder sneaks into the top spot on the singles chart with “Superstition,” from his “Talking Book” album that also contains the hit “You Are The Sunshine of My Life.”

1984 – King of Pop, Michael Jackson, suffers second and third degree burns on his scalp during the filming of a Pepsi commercial in Los Angeles.

1991 – Grammy-winning pop legend Whitney Houston performs “The Star Spangled Banner” at Super Bowl XXV in Tampa, Florida to such excellent response that a single (that eventually reaches No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100) and video are rush-released. Houston’s appearance comes amid heightened patriotism across the U.S. during the Persian Gulf War.

1996 – “One Sweet Day” by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men is in the midst of an unprecedented 16 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100.

2001 – Destiny’s Child enjoys the final week of an 11-week reign over the Billboard Hot 100 with “Independent Women, Part I.”