On This Day November 22 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1899 – Singer-songwriter Hoagy Carmichael, known for such standards as “Stardust,” “Georgia on My Mind,” “Rockin’ Chair” and “Lazy River” (d. 1981) 1921 – Stand-up comedian-actor Rodney Dangerfield, born Jacob Cohen (“Easy Money,” “Caddyshack,” “Back to School”) (d. 2004) 1932 – Actor Robert Vaughn, from the 1960s TV spy series “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” (d. 2016) 1943 – Tennis legend and LGBTQ advocate Billie Jean King, who famously defeated Bobby Riggs in the 1973 “Battle of the Sexes” matchup 1958 – Actress and author Jamie Lee Curtis (“Halloween,” “A Fish Called Wanda,” “True Lies,” “Freaky Friday,” “Scream Queens”) 1961 – Actress Mariel Hemingway (“Lipstick,” “Manhattan,” “Personal Best,” “Star 80”) 1967 – Oscar-nominated actor Mark Ruffalo (“You Can Count on Me,” “Collateral,” “13 Going on 30,” Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” “Just Like Heaven,” “Zodiac,” “The Avengers,” “Now You See Me,” “Spotlight”) 1984 – Tony-winning actress Scarlett Johansson (“Lost in Translation,” “The Nanny Diaries,” “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” “The Avengers,” “Hitchcock”) History Highlights 1963 – Americans are horrified as President John F. Kennedy is gunned down by a sniper while his motorcade passes through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. 1975 – Ten years after its theatrical release, “Dr. Zhivago” premieres on television, as NBC pays $4 million for the broadcast rights. 1984 – Fred Rogers of the PBS children’s show “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” donates his famous cardigan sweater to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. 1986 – Twenty-year-old Mike Tyson knocks out 33-year-old Trevor Berbick in just five minutes and 35 seconds to become the youngest heavyweight boxing champion in history. 1988 – With members of the U.S. Congress and national media looking on, Northrup officials roll out the first B-2 (stealth) bomber at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California. The aircraft remains the most advanced bomber in U.S. military service. 1990 – Margaret Thatcher, the first woman prime minister in British history, announces her resignation after 11 years in office. Musical Milestones 1957 – Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel take the stage as ‘Tom and Jerry’ on “American Bandstand” with host Dick Clark. They perform “Hey Schoolgirl,” a song that reaches No. 54 on the Billboard pop chart and sells 100,000 copies. 1968 – The Beatles release their now-classic double LP “The Beatles” (also known as “The White Album”) in the U.K. Among the featured tracks: “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” “Dear Prudence,” “Helter Skelter,” “Blackbird,” “Back In The USSR” and George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” 1969 – The Fifth Dimension enjoy their third and final week as Billboard chart-toppers with “Wedding Bell Blues.” 1975 – KC and the Sunshine Band’s “That’s The Way (I Like It)” is No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart. 1986 – “Human,” by The Human League, begins a week as a Billboard chart-topper. 1997 – INXS frontman Michael Hutchence is found dead in a Sydney, Australia hotel room after reportedly hanging himself. He was 37. 2003 – The Beyoncé-Sean Paul duet, “Baby Boy,” remains firmly planted atop the Billboard Hot 100. READ MORE
On this Day July 17 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1899 – Oscar-winning actor James Cagney (“Yankee Doodle Dandy,” “Angels With Dirty Faces,” “Love Me or Leave Me”) (d. 1986) 1912 – Radio and TV host Art Linkletter (“House Party,” “People Are Funny”) (d. 2010) 1917 – Comedian-actress-author Phyllis Diller (d. 2012) 1935 – Actress-singer Diahann Carroll (“Julia,” “Claudine,” “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” “Dynasty”) (d. 2019) 1935 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor Donald Sutherland (“M*A*S*H,” “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” “Ordinary People,” “Backdraft,” “Space Cowboys,” “The Hunger Games” movie series) 1950 – Singer-songwriter Phoebe Snow, best known for her 1975 chart-topping hit “Poetry Man” (d. 2011) 1951 – Actress-singer-dancer Lucie Arnaz (“Here’s Lucy,” “The Jazz Singer,” “Down to You”) 1952 – Actor David Hasselhoff (“Knight Rider,” “Baywatch,” “Click,” “Dodgeball,” “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie,” “Hop”) 1976 – Country music singer Luke Bryan (“All My Friends Say,” “Rain Is a Good Thing,” “Someone Else Calling You Baby,” “I Don’t Want This Night to End”) History Highlights 1955 – Disneyland, America’s first theme park, opens in Anaheim, California. The Walt Disney Company built the $17 million complex on 160 acres of former orange groves and it quickly became a cash cow. Each year, Disneyland hosts over 14 million visitors who spend close to $3 billion. 1975 – Two Cold War adversaries meet in space for the docking of the U.S. spacecraft Apollo 18 and the Soviet’s Soyuz 19. It is the final Apollo mission. 1980 – Ronald Reagan, an actor who went on to become governor of California, accepts the Republican nomination for the U.S. presidency at the party’s national convention in Detroit. 1981 – A walkway at the Hyatt Regency in Kansas City, Missouri collapses during a dance party, killing 114 people and injuring more than 200. 1996 – Minutes after takeoff from New York’s JFK International Airport, a TWA 747 jetliner bound for Paris explodes over the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 230 people aboard. A lengthy and extensive investigation concludes that the flight was brought down by a fuel tank explosion, but others dispute the findings citing eyewitness accounts of missile-like objects that allegedly flew toward the plane. Musical Milestones 1959 – Billie Holiday, widely regarded as the greatest jazz vocalist of all time, dies at the age of 44 of heart and liver disease following years of alcohol and drug abuse. 1961 – “Tossin’ and Turnin’,” by Bobby Lewis, is No. 1 on both the Billboard singles and R&B charts. It remains atop the singles chart for seven weeks and the R&B chart for 10. 1967 – Iconic jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer John Coltrane dies of liver cancer at age 40. 1968 – The Beatles’ psychedelic cinematic adventure, “Yellow Submarine,” premieres in London, introducing fans to Blue Meanies and a host of new hits. The animated movie musical opens in the U.S. four months later. 1971 – Carole King enters her fifth and final week on top of the Billboard pop chart with “It’s Too Late,” off her Grammy-winning “Tapestry” album. 1982 – “Don’t You Want Me,” by The Human League, begins its third and final week as a No. 1 single. 1999 – Destiny’s Child is No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Bills, Bills, Bills.” READ MORE
On this Day July 10 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1920 – NBC and ABC television newscaster-commentator David Brinkley (d. 2003) 1926 – Actor Fred Gwynne, best remembered for his roles as Herman Munster in the 1960s sitcom, “The Munsters,” and as Judge Chamberlain Haller in his last film, 1992’s “My Cousin Vinny” (d. 1993) 1939 – R&B-gospel singer Mavis Staples of The Staple Singers 1943 – Tennis great Arthur Ashe (d. 1993) 1945 – Actor Ron Glass, best known for playing Detective Ron Harris in the ABC sitcom “Barney Miller” (d. 2016) 1947 – Folk musician Arlo Guthrie (“Alice’s Restaurant Massacree,” “City of New Orleans”) 1972 – Actress-comedian and TV host Sofía Vergara, best known for her role as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett in the ABC sitcom “Modern Family” 1976 – Actor Adrian Grenier (“The Adventures of Sebastian Cole,” “Entourage,” “The Devil Wears Prada,” “Drive Me Crazy”) 1980 – Singer-actress and reality TV star Jessica Simpson (“I Wanna Love You Forever,” “Irresistible”) History Highlights 1850 – Vice President Millard Fillmore is sworn in as the 13th U.S. president. President Zachary Taylor had died the day before of a severe intestinal ailment. Fillmore becomes only the second man to inherit the presidency due to death. 1925 – The so-called “Monkey Trial” begins with John Thomas Scopes, a young high school science teacher, accused of teaching evolution in violation of a Tennessee state law. 1962 – Swedish engineer Nils Bohlin receives a U.S. patent for the three-point, lap-and-shoulder seatbelt he invented while head of safety at Volvo. Considered one of the most significant safety innovations of all time, the seatbelt is credited with saving millions of lives and preventing at least as many injuries in car crashes around the world. Bohlin received a gold medal from the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Science in 1995 and, in 1999, was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame. 1962 – NASA launches Telstar, the world’s first communications satellite, from Cape Canaveral. Two days later, the man-made orb relays the first transatlantic television signal from Maine to France. 1978 – The ABC News nightly “World News Tonight” broadcast premieres, featuring co-anchors Frank Reynolds in Washington, D.C., Max Robinson in Chicago and Peter Jennings in London. 1985 – French secret service agents plant two bombs on the hull of the Rainbow Warrior, the flagship of international conservation group Greenpeace, and sink the vessel in Auckland Harbor New Zealand. One crew member is killed in the blast, which was aimed at stopping the Rainbow Warrior from a protest mission to a French nuclear test site in the South Pacific. 1992 – The Alaska court of appeals overturns the conviction of Joseph Hazelwood, former captain of the oil tanker Exxon Valdez, citing a federal statute that gave him immunity from prosecution for the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Musical Milestones 1950 – NBC Television introduces “Your Hit Parade,” a program that originally launched on radio in 1935, featuring vocalists covering the top hits of the week. 1961 – “Tossin’ and Turnin’,” by Bobby Lewis, begins seven weeks at No. 1 on the singles chart. 1965 – The Rolling Stones score their first U.S. No. 1 single with “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” which holds the top spot for four weeks. In 1998, it is inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Rolling Stone magazine has ranked the track No. 2 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. 1976 – “Afternoon Delight,” by the Starland Vocal Band, kicks off a two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. 1982 – “Don’t You Want Me,” from The Human League’s “Dare” album, is in the midst of three weeks as a Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper. It remains the British band’s best known and most commercially successful recording. 1993 – The trio SWV conquers the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks with “Weak.” 1999 – Jennifer Lopez begins her fifth and final week on top of the singles chart with “If You Had My Love.” 2004 – First time is the charm for Fantasia, whose first single, “I Believe,” debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. She rose to fame as winner of the third season of “American Idol” in 2004. READ MORE
On this Day July 3 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1878 – Composer and playwright George M. Cohan (“Over There,” “Give My Regards to Broadway,” “I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy”) (d. 1942) 1883 – Author Franz Kafka (“Amerika,” “The Trial,” “The Castle”) (d. 1924) 1937 – Playwright Tom Stoppard (“Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” “Every Good Boy Deserves Favour”) 1947 – Pulitzer Prize-winning author and columnist Dave Barry 1956 – Emmy-winning TV talk show host Montel Williams 1962 – Golden Globe-winning actor-producer Tom Cruise (“Risky Business,” “Top Gun,” “The Color of Money,” “Cocktail,” “Rain Man,” “Days of Thunder,” “A Few Good Men,” “The Firm,” “Jerry Maguire,” the “Mission: Impossible” movie franchise, “Edge of Tomorrow”) 1980 – Actress Olivia Munn (“Beyond the Break,” “Magic Mike,” “The Newsroom,” “Mortdecai,” “X-Men: Apocalypse”) History Highlights 1775 – George Washington rides out in front of the American troops gathered at Cambridge Common in Massachusetts and draws his sword, formally taking command of the 16,000-member Continental Army. 1863 – On the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg, Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s last attempt at breaking the Union line ends in failure, bringing the most decisive battle of the American Civil War to an end. 1958 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Rivers and Harbors Flood Control Bill, which allocates funds to improve flood-control and water-storage systems across the United States. 1985 – The sci-fi adventure/comedy “Back to the Future,” starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd and directed by Robert Zemeckis, opens in U.S. theaters. It becomes a cult classic, spawning two sequels, an animated series, a theme park ride, several video games, a series of comic books and a stage musical. 1986 – President Ronald Reagan, with First Lady Nancy Reagan by his side, presides over the relighting of the renovated Statue of Liberty. It re-opens to the public two days later during Liberty Weekend, celebrating the monument’s centennial. 1988 – While sailing through the Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy cruiser Vincennes shoots down an Iranian passenger jet that it mistakes for a hostile fighter plane. All 290 people on board are killed. The U.S. government admits to the error a month later, and in 1996, agrees to pay $62 million in damages to the families of the Iranians that perished in the attack. Musical Milestones 1969 – The Newport Jazz Festival features huge musical acts not typically associated with jazz: Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, Blood Sweat & Tears and more. 1969 – Shortly after leaving The Rolling Stones, band founder and guitarist Brian Jones is found dead in his swimming pool at the age of 27. 1970 – An audience of more than 300,000 gathers for the second annual Atlanta Pop Festival, featuring the Allman Brothers, Jimi Hendrix, Jethro Tull, Johnny Winter, Mountain, Procol Harum and Rare Earth. 1971 – The No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 is Carole King’s “It’s Too Late,” off her legendary, Grammy-winning “Tapestry” album. 1971 – The body of 27-year-old Doors frontman Jim Morrison is discovered by his girlfriend in the bathtub of their rented apartment in Paris, France. The cause of death was officially labeled heart failure, thus averting an autopsy under French law. 1974 – The “Tony Orlando & Dawn” variety show premieres on CBS. 1982 – The Human League capture the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Don’t You Want Me,” from their “Dare” album. The track holds at No. 1 for three weeks. 1999 – Jennifer Lopez is in the middle of a five-week domination of the pop chart with “If You Had My Love.” 2004 – “Burn,” by Usher, begins the last of a seven-week run at No. 1 on the singles chart. READ MORE