On This Day: November 14

On This Day November 14

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1840 – French artist Claude Monet (d. 1926)

1900 – Oscar- and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Aaron Copland (“Fanfare for the Common Man,” “El Salón México,” “Appalachian Spring”) (d. 1990)

1921 – Actor Brian Keith (“The Parent Trap,” “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming,” “Family Affair,” “The Wind and the Lion”) (d. 1997)

1948 – King Charles III, formerly known as the Prince of Wales

1951 – Singer-songwriter Stephen Bishop (“On and On”, “It Might Be You”)

1954 – New age music composer-pianist Yanni, born Yiannis Chryssomalis

1954 – Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the first African American woman to hold that position

1964 – Rapper Reverend Run, born Joseph Simmons, of the legendary 80s rap group Run-D.M.C.

History Highlights
History Highlights

1851 – Harper & Brothers publishes Herman Melville’s novel “Moby-Dick; or, The Whale,” a treasured piece of American literature about the voyage of the whaling ship Pequod, whose commander, Captain Ahab, goes on an obsessive quest for a white whale.

1941 – The Alfred Hitchcock romantic thriller “Suspicion” opens in U.S. theaters, starring Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine. The film is nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, but loses to “How Green Was My Valley.” However, Fontaine wins a Best Actress Oscar — the only Oscar performance ever in a Hitchcock movie.

1969 – Apollo 12 clears the launch pad at Cape Kennedy in Florida on its way to America’s second manned moon landing.

1970 – A chartered jet carrying most of the Marshall University Thundering Herd football team crashes while preparing to land in Huntington, West Virginia, killing 37 players, the coach, doctors, the university athletic director, flight crew and 25 team boosters. The tragedy remains the worst sports-related air disaster in U.S. history. It inspired the 2006 movie, “We Are Marshall,” starring Matthew McConaughey.

1972 – Wall Street hits record territory when the Dow Jones Industrial Average tops the 1,000 mark for the first time.

1982 – Lech Walesa, leader of communist Poland’s outlawed Solidarity movement, is released after 11 months of internment near the Soviet border.

2006 – State officials close the last two of Texas’ beloved Pig Stands, the only remaining pieces of the nation’s first drive-in restaurant empire. The owners had filed for bankruptcy and owed the state more than $200,000 in back-taxes.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1952 – The U.K.’s first Official Singles Chart debuts, published in the New Musical Express (NME). The No. 1 single is “Here In My Heart,” by American singer Al Martino.

1960 – Ray Charles has the No. 1 single with “Georgia on My Mind.” In 1979, the state of Georgia adopts it as the official state song.

1970 – “I’ll Be There,” by The Jackson 5, begins its fifth and final week on top of the pop chart.

1981 – An Aussie invasion of sorts takes place as Australian acts make up four of the day’s Top-10 singles in the U.S., led by Olivia Newton-John with “Physical” (No. 3). Other acts are Little River Band, Air Supply and Rick Springfield.

1987 – The soundtrack from the movie “Dirty Dancing” shimmies its way to No. 1 on the Billboard album chart, where it remains for 18 weeks. It goes on to sell 32 million copies worldwide and remains one of the best-selling albums of all time.

1998 – Lauryn Hill’s “Doo Wop (That Thing)” debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and holds there for two weeks. Her only chart-topper, the track goes on to clinch Grammys for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song.

2009 – Jason Derulo owns the top spot on the singles chart with “Whatcha Say,” which holds at No. 1 for a week.

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On this Day: May 1

On this Day May 1

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1907 – Singer Kate Smith, known as “The First Lady of Radio,” and most famous for her rendition of Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America” (d. 1986)

1916 – Actor Glenn Ford (“3:10 to Yuma,” “the Courtship of Eddie’s Father”) (d. 2006)

1939 – Folk-pop singer-songwriter and activist Judy Collins (“Both Sides, Now,” “Someday Soon,” “Chelsea Morning,” “Send in the Clowns”)

1945 – Grammy-winning pop vocalist Rita Coolidge, best known for her 1977 hits “(Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher and Higher” and “We’re All Alone”

1946 – Director John Woo (“Broken Arrow,” “Face/Off,” “Mission: Impossible 2,” “Windtalkers,” “Paycheck,”)

1954 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Ray Parker, Jr. (“Ghostbusters” theme, “Jack and Jill,” “You Can’t Change That”)

1967 – Grammy-winning country music singer-songwriter and actor Tim McGraw (“Don’t Take the Girl,” “Live Like You Were Dying,” “Just to See You Smile”)

1969 – Golden Globe-winning director Wes Anderson (“Rushmore,” “The Royal Tennenbaums,” “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” “Moonrise Kingdom,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “Isle of Dogs”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1931 – President Herbert Hoover dedicates New York City’s iconic 102-story Empire State Building by symbolically pressing a button in Washington, D.C. that illuminates what is then the world’s tallest building. The art deco skyscraper, standing 1,250 feet tall, was built in just over a year at a cost of $41 million.

1941 – “Citizen Kane” opens in New York, and through the decades, is hailed as one of the greatest movies ever made. Written and directed by 26-year-old filmmaker Orson Welles (also the star), it chronicles the life of a newspaper magnate considered to be real-life publishing baron William Randolph Hearst. 

1958 – President Dwight Eisenhower proclaims Law Day to honor the role of law in the establishment of the United States of America. In 1961, Congress follows suit by passing a joint resolution establishing May 1 as Law Day.

1960 – An American U-2 spy plane is shot down over the Soviet Union, prompting cancellation of a planned summit between U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower and Soviet President Nikita Khrushchev.

1963 – Jim Whittaker of Washington State becomes the first American to reach the summit of Mt. Everest, the world’s tallest mountain.

1971 – The National Railroad Passenger Corporation (AMTRAK) introduces passenger rail service in the U.S. with 184 trains a day. The first train, the Clocker, rolls out of New York’s Penn Station bound for Philadelphia just after midnight. AMTRAK was created through the Rail Passenger Act of 1970 to salvage the nation’s struggling passenger rail services.

1997 – After 18 years of Conservative rule, British voters give the Labour Party, a landslide victory in British parliamentary elections. In the poorest Conservative Party showing since 1832, Prime Minister John Major is rejected in favor of Tony Blair, who at age 43 becomes the youngest British prime minister in more than a century.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1965 – Herman’s Hermits begin a three-week run on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter.”

1967 – Thirty-two-year-old Elvis Presley marries 21-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas. They divorce six years later.

1976 – The Bellamy Brothers have a No. 1 single with “Let Your Love Flow.”

1982 – “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll,” by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, ends its seven-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100. In 2016, the song is inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

1999 – TLC enjoys its fourth and final week on top of the pop chart with “No Scrubs.”

2004 – Usher is midway through a 12-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Yeah!” — a collaboration with Lil Jon and Ludacris. The track goes on to capture a Best Rap/Sung Collaboration Grammy.

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