The Box Tops – Time Rewind

On This Day October 14

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On This Day October 7

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Celebrity Birthdays

1931 – Anti-apartheid hero, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu (d. 2021)

1951 – Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer-songwriter John Mellencamp (“Ain’t Even Done With the Night,” “Hurts So Good,” “Jack & Diane,” “Crumblin’ Down,” “Pink Houses,” “Small Town,” “Cherry Bomb”)

1955 -Internationally acclaimed, Grammy-winning cellist Yo-Yo Ma

1959 – TV producer, executive and celebrity judge Simon Cowell (“American Idol, “The X Factor,” “America’s Got Talent”)

1967 – Grammy-winning soul-R&B singer and actress Toni Braxton, best known for her 1996 hit “Un-Break My Heart” and for playing Belle in the Broadway production of “Beauty and the Beast”

History Highlights

1913 – The moving assembly line is introduced at Ford Motor Company’s Highland Park factory outside Detroit. Henry Ford’s invention allowed workers to build a Model T from scratch in 84 steps, cutting production time from 12.5 hours to six hours, and a year later to just 93 minutes.

1968 – The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) adopts its film rating system. Movies are rated G for general audiences, M (which later becomes PG), R or X (for adults only).

1982 – “Cats” opens, becoming the longest-running production in Broadway history. The musical is based the T.S. Eliot’s 1939 collection of poems, “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats,” and features music by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

1985 – Four Palestinian terrorists hijack the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro in the Mediterranean Sea. They kill a disabled American tourist, 69-year-old Leon Klinghoffer, and order his body thrown overboard with his wheelchair.

2001 – President George W. Bush announces that a U.S.-led coalition has begun attacks on Taliban-controlled Afghanistan with an intense bombing campaign by American and British forces. The campaign, in retaliation for terror attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. three weeks earlier (9/11), is known as Operation Enduring Freedom.

2003 – “Terminator” actor Arnold Schwarzenegger is elected governor of California, replacing Gray Davis — the first U.S. governor to be recalled by the public since 1921. Affectionately called “The Governator,” he is reelected in 2006.

Musical Milestones

1967 – The Mamas & the Papas’ British tour is cancelled when Mama Cass Elliot is arrested and charged with stealing items from a hotel.

1967 – The Box Tops are mid-way through a four-week ride at No. 1 on the pop chart with “The Letter.”

1977 – Queen releases the single “We Will Rock You,” with “We Are the Champions” on the B-side, and many radio stations eventually play the tracks back to back. The songs continue getting airplay today on classic rock stations and serve as a motivational anthem at sporting events around the world.

1978 – Exile tops the Billboard Hot 100 with “Kiss You All Over.”

1989 – “Miss You Much,” by Janet Jackson, begins a four-week run as a chart-topping single.

1995 – Alanis Morissette rules the Billboard album chart with “Jagged Little Pill,” becoming the first Canadian female artist to reach No. 1 in the U.S. The album sells more than 30 million copies and goes on to capture four Grammy Awards.

2000 – “Music,” by Madonna, enters its fourth and final week as a No. 1 single.

2006 – Justin Timberlake is mid-way through a seven-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100 with “SexyBack.”

On This Day September 30

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Celebrity Birthdays

1917 – Legendary jazz drummer Buddy Rich, who played with bandleaders Tommy Dorsey and Artie Shaw before leading his own band (d. 1987)

1924 – “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and “In Cold Blood” author Truman Capote (d. 1984)

1928 – Nobel Peace Prize-winning author and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel (d. 2016)

1931 – Actress Angie Dickinson, who starred in the 1970s TV crime drama “Police Woman”

1935 – Grammy Hall of Fame pop vocalist Johnny Mathis (“Chances Are,” “Misty”, “It’s Not for Me to Say”)

1943 – Singer Marilyn McCoo, formerly of the band the 5th Dimension

1954 – Actor Barry Williams, born Barry William Blenkhorn, who played Greg on TV’s “The Brady Bunch”

1957 – Actress-comedian Fran Drescher, best known for her starring role in the 1990s sitcom “The Nanny”

1971 – Golden Globe-winning actress Jenna Elfman, best known for her role as Dharma in the sitcom “Dharma & Greg”

1975 – Oscar-winning actress Marion Cotillard (“La Vie en Rose,” “Big Fish,” “Public Enemies,” “Midnight in Paris,” “Contagion,” “Inception,” “The Dark Knight Rises”)

History Highlights

1927 – Babe Ruth hits his 60th home run of the season off Tom Zachary of the Washington Senators. Ruth’s record for the most homers in a single season stands for 34 years until Roger Maris hits 61 in 1961.

1954 – The U.S. Navy commissions the USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear submarine. During its early years of service, the vessel breaks numerous submarine travel records, and in August 1958, achieves the first voyage under the North Pole.

1955 – Hollywood legend James Dean is killed in a car accident at the age of 24. At the time, Dean is speeding in his beloved “Little Bastard” — a silver Porsche 550 Spyder — to a car race in Salinas, California, when a vehicle driven by a 23-year-old college student veers into his path.

1960 – Yabba Dabba Do! Hanna-Barbera introduces Americans to a “modern Stone Age family” in the animated series “The Flintstones,” which lasts six seasons on ABC.

1968 – The first Boeing 747, named “City of Everett,” is rolled out before thousands of employees and the international press at Boeing’s Everett, Washington factory. The jumbo jet is the world’s largest civilian aircraft at that time — capable of carrying up to 490 passengers and 33 attendants. It officially enters service on February 9, 1969.

1982 – The NBC sitcom “Cheers,” set in a Boston bar, debuts, starring Ted Danson and Shelley Long. It is nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series each of the 11 seasons it is on the air, capturing 28 Primetime Emmy Awards from a record 117 nominations.

Musical Milestones

1967 – The Box Tops are in the middle of a four-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart with “The Letter.” Rolling Stone magazine has ranked the track among its “500 Greatest Songs of All Time,” the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame added it to its “500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll” list, and in 2011, the single was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

1972 – Mac Davis is in the midst of a three-week ride on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Baby, Don’t Get Hooked on Me.” The track receives a nomination for a Best Pop Vocal Performance (Male) Grammy.

1977 – Mary Ford, who with her husband, guitar pioneer Les Paul, made up one of the most popular musical duos of the 1950s, dies from complications of diabetes at the age of 53.

1978 – Exile kicks off a four-week run at No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Kiss You All Over.”

1989 – Milli Vanilli begin their second and final week at No. 1 with “Girl I’m Gonna Miss You,” from the German dance-pop duo’s debut album, “Girl You Know It’s True.”

1995 – Mariah Carey becomes the first female artist in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 to have a single debut at No. 1, as “Fantasy” begins eight weeks as a chart-topper.

2006 – Justin Timberlake rules the Billboard album chart with his second solo album, “FutureSex/LoveSounds,” which becomes the biggest album ever for pre-orders on iTunes.

On This Day September 23

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Celebrity Birthdays

1920 – Golden Globe and Emmy-winning actor Mickey Rooney (d. 2014)

1930 – Grammy-winning soul music pioneer Ray Charles (d. 2004)

1943 – Grammy-winning pop singer Julio Iglesias (“Begin the Beguine,” “To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before”)

1947 – Emmy-winning actress Mary Kay Place (“Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman”)

1949 – Grammy-winning rock singer-songwriter Bruce “The Boss” Springsteen

1959 – Tony Award-winning actor-comedian Jason Alexander, best known as George Costanza in the hit comedy series “Seinfeld”

History Highlights

1846 – German astronomer Johann Galle discovers Neptune, the eighth planet from the sun.

1875 – Originally named Henry McCarty, Henry Antrim, and later William H. Bonney, Billy the Kid as he was most widely known, is 15 when he is arrested for the first time after stealing a basket of laundry. He eventually earns a reputation as an outlaw and fugitive, with a rap sheet that allegedly included 21 murders.

1952 – Vice presidential candidate Richard Nixon delivers his nationally televised “Checkers Speech.” Nixon defends himself against charges of using a private fund for political expenses, and declares he would never give back the dog, Checkers, which was a gift to his daughters.

1962 – The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City opens with the completion of the first building, the Philharmonic Hall, now Avery Fisher Hall, home of the New York Philharmonic.

1994 – “The Shawshank Redemption,” starring Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins, opens in theaters. Based on a 1982 short story by Stephen King titled “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption,” the film garners seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, but wins none.

Musical Milestones

1957 – The Crickets, featuring Buddy Holly, dominate the singles chart with “That’ll Be The Day.” The song is inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998, and in 2005, is placed in the National Recording Registry among recordings that are “culturally, historically, or aesthetically important, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States.”

1967 – “The Letter” sends The Box Tops to the top of the singles chart where they remain slotted for four weeks.

1972 – Mac Davis begins three weeks as a chart-topper with “Baby, Don’t Get Hooked on Me,” his only No. 1.

1978 – With the disco era in full swing, A Taste of Honey enters its third and final week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Boogie Oogie Oogie.”

1989 – Milli Vanilli’s “Girl I’m Gonna Miss You” becomes the duo’s second chart-topping single. The album it’s on, “Girl You Know It’s True,” also kicks off two week’s at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart.

2000 – Madonna is in the middle of a four-week run on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Music.” It is her 12th No. 1 single.