On This Day April 30 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1908 – Actress Eve Arden (“Our Miss Brooks,” “Grease,” “Grease 2”) (d. 1990) 1923 – Actor Al Lewis, born Albert Meister, best known for his portrayal of Grandpa in the 1960s sitcom “The Munsters” and Officer Leo Schnauser in another 60s sitcom, “Car 54, Where Are You?” (d. 2006) 1926 – Oscar and Emmy-winning actress Cloris Leachman (“The Last Picture Show,” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Young Frankenstein”) 1943 – Pop music singer and 1960s teen idol Bobby Vee, born Robert Thomas Velline (“Take Good Care of My Baby,” “The Night Has a Thousand Eyes”) 1944 – Actress Jill Clayburgh (“An Unmarried Woman,” “Starting Over”) (d. 2010) 1961 – Basketball Hall of Famer and 12-time NBA All-Star Isiah Thomas (a.k.a. “Zeke”), who played point guard for the Detroit Pistons 1975 – Actor Johnny Galecki (“Roseanne,” “The Big Bang Theory”) 1982 – Actress Kirsten Dunst (“Interview With the Vampire,”,”Devil’s Arithmetic”,”The Bonfire of the Vanities,” “Spider-Man” trilogy, “Marie Antoinette,” “The Virgin Suicides,” “Melancholia,” “Fargo”) 1992 – Rapper-producer Travis Scott, born Jacques Berman Webster II History Highlights 1789 – George Washington, the great military leader of the American Revolution, is inaugurated as the first president of the United States during a ceremony at Federal Hall in New York City — then the nation’s capital. 1939 – Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) becomes the first U.S. president to appear on television when he officially opens the New York World’s Fair. He does so on the 150th anniversary of George Washington’s presidential inauguration. 1945 – With Soviet forces closing in on him, German dictator Adolf Hitler and his companion, Eva Braun, commit suicide in his underground bunker in Berlin. 1975 – Saigon falls, as the president of South Vietnam announces his country’s unconditional surrender to the Viet Cong. Communist troops move into Saigon and a thousand Americans are hastily evacuated. 1993 – Four years after its development by British scientist Tim Berners-Lee, the Word Wide Web truly goes global when its owners, Cern, make the software free for anyone to use. 1993 – A knife-wielding man lunges from the stands during a tennis match in Hamburg, Germany and stabs then-world No. 1-ranked Monica Seles in the back. Spectators subdue the assailant, a fan of German tennis great Steffi Graf, who apparently hoped that by injuring Seles, Graf would be able to regain her No. 1 ranking. Seles recovers, but takes a two-year hiatus from the game. 1997 – Ellen DeGeneres’ TV character, Ellen Morgan, comes out as lesbian on the ABC sitcom “Ellen.” The introduction of the first-ever gay lead character on television becomes a breakthrough moment for the LGBTQ community. Forty-four million viewers tune in to “The Puppy Episode,” which captures an Emmy and Peabody Award. Musical Milestones 1957 – Elvis Presley records “Jailhouse Rock,” which is first released as a single and later featured in the movie of the same name. It goes on to top the pop chart for seven weeks. 1966 – “Good Lovin’,” by The Young Rascals, tops the Billboard Hot 100. 1977 – Glen Campbell lands on top of the Billboard singles chart with “Southern Nights,” his second No. 1 hit. 1983 – Acclaimed blues artist Muddy Waters — best known for “I Just Want To Make Love To You,” “I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man” and “Got My Mojo Working” — dies of a heart attack at the age of 68. 1983 – Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” album delivers yet another chart-topper. “Beat It” rises to the top of the Billboard singles chart, just one week after “Billie Jean” ends its seven-week run at No. 1. 1988 – “Where Do Broken Hearts Go,” by Whitney Houston, begins its second and final week as a chart-topper. 1994 – R. Kelly begins his fourth and final week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Bump ‘N Grind.” 2005 – “Candy Shop,” by 50 Cent featuring Olivia, enters its ninth and final week as a chart-topper. 2015 – Legendary R&B singer Ben E. King, who performed with The Drifters before launching a solo career, dies at the age of 76. In 1960, the Drifters had a No. 1 single with “Save The Last Dance For Me,” and King had the Top 10 hit “Stand By Me” in 1961 and again in 1986 when it was used in the movie of the same name. READ MORE
On this Day June 24 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1895 – World heavyweight boxer Jack Dempsey, known as the “Manassa Mauler”(d. 1983) 1919 – Actor Al Molinaro, remembered for his TV sitcom roles as Al Delvecchio in “Happy Days” and Murray Greshler in “The Odd Couple” (d. 2015) 1935 – Director-actor Robert Downey, Sr. (“Putney Swope,” “Tower Heist”) 1942 – Actress Michele Lee (“How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” “Knots Landing,” “Wicked”) 1944 – Grammy-winning rock guitarist and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jeff Beck, a former member of the band The Yardbirds (d. 2023) 1947 – Actor Peter Weller (“RoboCop,” “RoboCop 2,” “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension,” “Naked Lunch,” “Mighty Aphrodite,” “Longmire”) 1947 – Rock and Roll Hall of Fame drummer and Fleetwood Mac co-founder Mick Fleetwood 1967 – Actress and former “ER” star Sherry Stringfield History Highlights 1901 – The first major exhibition of Pablo Picasso’s artwork opens in Paris. 1947 – Pilot Kenneth Arnold reports seeing strange objects near Mount Rainier, Washington. He describes them as “saucers skipping across the water,” and so the term “flying saucers” is born. 1948 – The Soviet Union begins a blockade of Berlin. Allied forces respond with what would be known as the Berlin Airlift, flying in more than two million tons of supplies over the next year. 1953 – Jacqueline Bouvier and Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy publicly announce their engagement. They marry three months later in Newport, Rhode Island. Kennedy wins election as 35th U.S. president in 1960, and as first lady, Jackie, as she was known, makes restoration of the White House her first major project. 1975 – Wind shear from thunderstorms is blamed for the crash of an Eastern Airlines 727 on final approach to New York’s JFK Airport that leaves 113 dead. The accident leads to the installation of low-level wind shear detectors at airports. 1993 – Yale University computer science professor David Gelernter is seriously injured while opening his mail when a padded envelope explodes in his hands. The bombing, along with 14 others since 1978 that killed three people and injured 23 others, was eventually linked to “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski. 1997 – U.S. Air Force officials release a 231-page report dismissing long-standing claims of an alien spacecraft crash in Roswell, New Mexico, almost exactly 50 years earlier. Musical Milestones 1967 – “Groovin’,” by The Young Rascals, enjoys its fourth and final week as a No. 1 single. 1967 – British rock band Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade Of Pale” lands on the Billboard Hot 100 and climbs as high as No. 5. Meanwhile, in the U.K., it is a No. 1 hit for six weeks. The track becomes one of the anthems of 1967’s so-called “Summer of Love.” 1972 – Sammy Davis, Jr. begins a third and final week on top of the singles chart with his interpretation of “The Candy Man,” from the movie “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.” 1989 – Richard Marx scores his second No. 1 single with “Satisfied.” 1995 – Bryan Adams’ “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?” is No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The track is from the Johnny Depp-Marlon Brando movie “Don Juan DeMarco.” 2000 – Enrique Iglesias kicks off three weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Be With You.” 2006 – “Hips Don’t Lie,” by Shakira featuring Wyclef Jean, begins its second and final week on top of the pop chart. READ MORE
On this Day June 17 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1904 – Tony-winning actor Ralph Bellamy (“His Girl Friday,” “The Winds of War,” “Trading Places”) (d. 1991) 1943 – Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich 1943 – Grammy, Emmy and Tony-winning singer-songwriter-arranger Barry Manilow (“I Write the Songs,” “Mandy,” “Copacabana”) 1951 – Actor-comedian Joe Piscopo, best remembered for his Frank Sinatra impersonations on “Saturday Night Live” in the 1980s 1960 – Actor Thomas Haden Church (“Wings,” “Sideways,” “Spider-Man 3”) 1963 – Actor Greg Kinnear (“As Good As It Gets,” “You’ve Got Mail,” “Stuck on You,” “Little Miss Sunshine,” “Green Zone”) 1980 – American tennis star Venus Williams 1987 – Grammy-winning rapper and producer Kendrick Lamar, born Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, who has the distinction of being the first artist ever to win a Pulitzer Prize for Music for a genre other than classical or jazz History Highlights 1885 – The disassembled Statue of Liberty, a gift of friendship from the people of France to the American people, arrives to great fanfare in New York Harbor aboard the French Navy ship, Isère. It will take a year to reassemble all its parts. 1928 – Aviator Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, as she completes a flight from Newfoundland to Wales in about 21 hours. 1972 – Five men are arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office-apartment-hotel complex in Washington, D.C. The busts eventually lead to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal. 1991 – The South African Parliament repeals the Population Registration Act, removing what served as the foundation of apartheid. The law, first enacted in 1950, required the racial classification of all South Africans at birth. 1994 – The NBA playoffs are interrupted as TV networks break in with live coverage of perhaps the most famous car chase ever to take place on Los Angeles freeways. It’s football legend O.J. Simpson, inside a white Ford Bronco, being pursued as a double-murder suspect by a convoy of police cars. Musical Milestones 1965 – The New York Academy of Music hosts the first-ever American performances of two British bands that would become staples of the classic rock scene: The Moody Blues and The Kinks. 1967 – “Groovin’,” by The Young Rascals, makes a return trip to the top of the Billboard singles chart. It spent two weeks there in mid-May and begins another two-week stay this time around. 1972 – Sammy Davis, Jr. holds at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “The Candy Man,” from the movie “Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory.” It is the only chart-topper of Davis’ long career as a celebrated entertainer and Rat Pack member. 1972 – The Rolling Stones’ “Exile On Main Street” starts a four-week run on top of the Billboard album chart. The double-album features “Rocks Off’,” “Rip This Joint,” “Happy” and “Tumbling Dice.” 1978 – Andy Gibb is the hottest act on the singles chart with “Shadow Dancing,” which holds the top spot for seven weeks. 1986 – Kate Smith, one of the most successful American singers of the 1920s-40s and best known for her rendition of “God Bless America,” dies at the age of 79. 1995 – Bryan Adams’ “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?” is in the middle of a five-week run at No. 1 on the singles chart. The song is from the soundtrack to the movie “Don Juan DeMarco,” starring Johnny Depp. 2006 – “Hips Don’t Lie, by Shakira featuring Wyclef Jean, begins two weeks on top of the pop chart. READ MORE
On this Day May 20 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1908 – Oscar-winning actor Jimmy Stewart (“Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” “It’s A Wonderful Life,” “The Philadelphia Story,” “Vertigo”) (d. 1997) 1944 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Joe Cocker (“With a Little Help From My Friends,” “You Are So Beautiful,” “Up Where We Belong”) (d. 2014) 1946 – Grammy, Oscar and Golden Globe-winning singer-actress Cher, born Cherilyn Sarkisian LaPiere and nicknamed the “Goddess of Pop” 1965 – Emmy-winning TV host, “Iron Chef America” and “Top Chef” judge and author Ted Allen (“Queer Eye,” “Chopped”) 1966 – Actress Mindy Cohn, best remembered for playing Natalie in the sitcom “The Facts of Life” 1971 – NASCAR champion Tony Stewart, nicknamed “Smoke” 1972 – Rapper-producer Busta Rhymes, born Trevor George Smith, Jr. (“Woo Hah!! Got You All in Check,” “Dangerous”) History Highlights 1873 – Blue jeans enter the fashion world as San Francisco businessman Levi Strauss and Reno, Nevada tailor Jacob Davis receive a patent to produce work pants reinforced with metal rivets. 1927 – Charles Lindbergh begins the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight, departing from Long Island, New York aboard the Spirit of Saint Louis and touching down in Paris late the next day. 1932 – Amelia Earhart takes off from Newfoundland to begin the world’s first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot, landing in Ireland the next day. 1956 – The arms race heats up as the United States proves it can deliver a hydrogen bomb from the air by dropping one from a B-52 bomber on the small Pacific Ocean island group known as the Bikini Atoll. At approximately 15 megatons, this bomb was more powerful than those previously tested. 1989 – Chinese authorities declare martial law and send troops into Beijing in an unsuccessful bid to stop pro-democracy demonstrators. 1996 – In a victory for the gay and lesbian civil rights movement, the U.S. Supreme Court (Romer v. Evans) votes 6 to 3 to strike down an amendment to Colorado’s state constitution that would have prevented any city, town, or county in the state from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to protect the rights of gays and lesbians. Musical Milestones 1967 – “Groovin’,” by The Young Rascals, begins four non-consecutive weeks as the most popular single in the U.S. The track is on the album of the same name. 1970 – The Beatles film “Let It Be,” originally entitled “Get Back,” premieres in the U.K., one week after premiering in New York. 1978 – “With a Little Luck,” by Wings featuring Paul McCartney, is No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart and holds there for two weeks. The track is from the band’s “London Town” album. 1989 – Paula Abdul tops the Billboard Hot 100 with “Forever Your Girl,” the second of four No. 1 hits off her album of the same title. 1995 – For the sixth week in a row, Montell Jordan holds the top spot on the pop chart with “This Is How We Do It.” 1998 – Some 400 celebrities pay their final respects to entertainer Frank Sinatra during funeral services at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills, California. 2000 – “Maria Maria,” by Santana featuring The Product G&B, is midway through a 10-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100. The track is off the “Supernatural” album, which sweeps the 2000 Grammy Awards with eight trophies, tying Michael Jackson for most Grammys in a single ceremony. 2006 – Rihanna rules the pop chart with “SOS,” which holds the top spot for three weeks. The dance track samples Soft Cell’s 1981 recording of “Tainted Love.” READ MORE