On This Day: December 26

Musical Milestones

1921 – Entertainer Steve Allen, the first host of NBC’s “The Tonight Show,” is born in New York. He enjoys more than five decades as a prolific comedian, composer, actor, author and TV host until his death on October 30, 2000, at the age of 78.

1964 – The Beatles score their sixth No. 1 single of the year as “I Feel Fine” kicks off three weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100. The song is the Fab Four’s 29th to make the charts in 1964.

1970 – “My Sweet Lord,” by George Harrison, tops the Billboard Hot 100. Harrison becomes the first ex-Beatle to reach No. 1 as a solo act.

1987 – The “Dirty Dancing” soundtrack is the middle of a nine-week reign as the No. 1 album. It becomes one of the best-selling albums of all time.

1999 – Soul, R&B and funk singer-songwriter Curtis Mayfield, best known for his acclaimed 1972 “Super Fly” soundtrack,” dies at the age of 57. Mayfield was a member of The Impressions before embarking on a solo career.

History Highlights

1898 – French scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discover the element of radium, which later garners them the Nobel Prize for physics.

1966 – Kwanzaa is observed for the first time. The seven-day holiday with strong African roots was designed by Dr. Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University at Long Beach, as a celebration of African American family, community and culture.

1972 – Harry S. Truman, the 33rd U.S. president, dies in Independence, Missouri at the age of 88.

1973 – “The Exorcist” opens in movie theaters across the U.S., terrifying audiences and establishing a new standard for the horror genre. Based on William Peter Blatty’s 1971 novel of the same name, the Oscar- and Golden Globe-winning movie is about a girl, played by Linda Blair, that is possessed by an evil spirit.

1974 – Cancer claims the life of beloved comedian Jack Benny at the age of 80.

1982 – TIME breaks from tradition when the magazine’s editors replace the annual “Man of the Year” cover story with “Machine of the Year” and profile the personal computer.

Celebrity Birthdays

1914 – Golden Globe-winning actor Richard Widmark (“Kiss of Death,” “No Way Out,” “Don’t Bother to Knock”) (d. 2008)

1927 – Comedian-actor Alan King (d. 2004)

1933 – Puppeteer Caroll Spinney, the talent behind the “Sesame Street” characters Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch (d. 2004)

1939 – Grammy-winning record producer-songwriter and convicted murderer Phil Spector

1947 – Major League Baseball Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk

1956 – Humorist-comedian-author David Sedaris (“SantaLand Diaries,” “Naked,” “Me Talk Pretty One Day,” “When You Are Engulfed in Flames”)

1971 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actor and musician Jared Leto (“Girl, Interrupted,” “American Psycho,” “Requiem for a Dream,” “Panic Room,” “Dallas Buyers Club,” “Suicide Squad”)

1979 – Rock singer-songwriter-guitarist Chris Daughtry, whose music career was launched by a fourth-place finish on “American Idol”

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All Things Must Pass

George Harrison

Super Fly

Curtis Mayfield

Kwanzaa: Black Power and the Making of the African-American Holiday Tradition

Keith A. Mayes

The Exorcist

Starring Linda Blair, Max von Sydow and Ellen Burstyn, and directed by William Friedkin

Tearing Down the Wall of Sound: The Rise and Fall of Phil Spector

Mick Brown

Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls

David Sedaris

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On this Day: June 3

Musical Milestones

1956 – Authorities in Santa Cruz, California impose a ban on rock and roll at public gatherings, calling the music “Detrimental to both the health and morals of our youth and community.” Media coverage of the ban sparks a backlash, and it isn’t long before the ban is suspended.

1967 – Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin begins a two-week run at No. 1 on the singles chart with her Grammy-winning R&B smash, “Respect.”

1972 – The Staple Singers take their single, “I’ll Take You There,” to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. 

1975 – Actor and bandleader Ozzie Nelson dies of cancer at the age of 68.

1978 – The nation’s hottest single is a duet by Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams: “Too Much, Too Little, Too Late.”

1989 – Soap opera star-vocalist Michael Damian’s cover of the David Essex classic, “Rock On,” climbs to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. 

1995 – Bryan Adams begins five weeks on top of the Billboard singles chart with “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?” The track is featured in the Johnny Depp movie, “Don Juan DeMarco.”

2006 – The No. 1 spot on the pop chart belongs to Chamillionaire featuring Krayzie Bone with “Ridin’.”

History Highlights

1800 – John Adams, the second president of the United States, becomes the first president to make his home in Washington, D.C. when he takes up residence at Union Tavern in the Georgetown section.

1937 – The Duke of Windsor – formerly King Edward VIII of Great Britain and Northern Ireland – marries Wallis Warfield, the American divorcee for whom he abdicated the British throne in December 1936.

1965 – NASA launches Gemini IV, the first multi-day manned space mission. Astronaut Ed White performs the first spacewalk by an American.

1979 – A blowout at the Ixtoc I oil well in the southern Gulf of Mexico leads to one of the largest oil spills in history. More than 176 million gallons spills before the well is finally capped nine months later. 

1989 – China’s government sends troops to force pro-democracy demonstrators out of Tiananmen Square following seven weeks of occupation.

2002 – Lew Wasserman, an agent and studio executive who was arguably the most influential Hollywood mogul for some 40 years after World War II, dies at the age of 89.

Celebrity Birthdays

1906 – Dancer-singer-actress Josephine Baker (d. 1975)

1925 – Actor Tony Curtis (“Houdini,” “Some Like It Hot,” “Spartacus”) (d. 2010)

1929 – Game show creator-host Chuck Barris (“The Dating Game,” “The Newlywed Game,” “The Gong Show”) (d. 2017)

1936 – Author-screenwriter Larry McMurtry, best known for his 1985 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “Lonesome Dove”

1942 – Singer-songwriter Curtis Mayfield, best known for his 1972 “Super Fly” movie soundtrack (d. 1999)

1950 – Singer and bass guitarist Suzi Quatro, best known for her 1978 hit “Stumblin’ In”

1950 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Deniece Williams (“Free,” “Let’s Hear It For The Boy”)

1967 – CNN host and reporter Anderson Cooper

1986 – Grand slam tennis champion and Olympic gold medalist Rafael “Rafa” Nadal

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The Essential Johnny Mathis

Johnny Mathis

I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You

Aretha Franklin

Princes at War: The Bitter Battle Inside Britain's Royal Family in the Darkest Days of WWII

Deborah Cadbury

The People's Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited

Louisa Lim

Lonesome Dove

Larry McMurtry

Some Like It Hot

Starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, and directed by Billy Wilder

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