On This Day: September 9

On This Day September 9

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1923 – Oscar and Emmy-winning actor Cliff Robertson (“Charly,” “PT-109,” “Spider-Man”) (d. 2011)

1941 – Soul singing sensation Otis Redding, best known for his 1968 smash “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay” (d. 1967)

1952 – Musician-producer Dave Stewart, who made up half of the Eurythmics

1960 – Golden Globe-winning actor Hugh Grant (“Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Notting Hill,” “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” “About a Boy,” “Love Actually,” “Cloud Atlas,” “Man From U.N.C.L.E.”)

1966 – Comedic actor and musician Adam Sandler (“Saturday Night Live,” “Billy Madison,” “Happy Gilmore,” “The Wedding Singer,” “Punch-Drunk Love,” “50 First Dates,” “Click,” “Grown Ups”)

1971 – Actor Henry Thomas (“E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” “Legends of the Fall,” “All the Pretty Horses,” “Gangs of New York”) 

1975 – Grammy-winning jazz/standards singer Michael Bublé

History Highlights
History Highlights

1893 – President Grover Cleveland’s wife Frances becomes the first first lady to give birth in the White House when the couple’s daughter, Esther, is born. She remains the only presidential child born in the White House.

1965 – President Lyndon Johnson signs a bill establishing the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) — a Cabinet-level agency — to oversee housing programs across the U.S. 

1971 – A riot erupts at Attica Prison in upstate New York as inmates lash out over living conditions. By the time the tear gas clears four days later, 10 hostages and 29 inmates are dead — most of them killed by state troopers retaking the maximum-security facility. Nearly 90 others are injured.

1974 – The sitcom “Rhoda,” starring Valerie Harper, debuts on CBS and runs for five seasons. It’s a spinoff of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”

1975 – The TV show that launches John Travolta’s acting career premieres on ABC. It’s “Welcome Back, Kotter,” starring Gabe Kaplan as a Brooklyn high school teacher with his classroom full of troublemaking “Sweathogs.”

1976 – Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong dies in Beijing at the age of 82.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1956 – Elvis Presley makes his first appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” singing “Don’t Be Cruel,” “Love Me Tender,” “Ready Teddy” and “Hound Dog.” The show garners the largest TV audience ever up to that time, 50 million viewers—one third of the U.S. population. 

1957 – “Diana,” by Paul Anka, tops the pop chart, becoming the Canadian singer-songwriter’s first No. 1 single.

1978 – A Taste Of Honey starts a three-week run at No. 1 on the singles chart with “Boogie Oogie Oogie.” The track also dominates the U.S. soul and disco charts.

1989 – The Massachusetts-based boy band New Kids On the Block rules two major U.S. music charts. Their “Hangin’ Tough” album is No. 1 on the Billboard 200 while the title track is No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

1995 – “Gangsta’s Paradise,” by Coolio featuring L.V., kicks off four weeks as a No. 1 single. The song is part of the soundtrack to the 1995 movie “Dangerous Minds,” starring Michelle Pfeiffer, who also appears in the music video. The track garners Coolio a Best Rap Solo Performance Grammy along with other music industry honors.

2000 – Janet Jackson begins her third and final week on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Doesn’t Really Matter.”

2006 – Justin Timberlake kicks off seven weeks on top of the pop chart with “SexyBack.” The track is his first No. 1 hit.

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On this Day: August 22

On this Day August 22

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1862 – Classical composer Claude Debussey (d. 1918)

1920 – Award-winning fantasy, science fiction, horror and mystery author Ray Bradbury, who wrote “The Martian Chronicles” and “Fahrenheit 451” (d. 2012)

1934 – U.S. Army General Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr., nicknamed “Stormin’ Norman,” who commanded the American-led forces that crushed Iraq in the 1991 Persian Gulf War (d. 2012)

1939 – Baseball Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski

1939 – Emmy-winning actress Valerie Harper, who played Rhoda Morgenstern on TV’s “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and its spinoff series, “Rhoda” (d. 2019)

1947 – Actress Cindy Williams, who played Shirley in the 70s sitcom “Laverne & Shirley” (d. 2023)

1963 – Singer-songwriter Tori Amos, who released her debut album “Little Earthquakes” in 1992 and whose first five albums went platinum in the U.S.

1967 – Emmy-winning actor Ty Burrell, best known for his role as Phil Dunphy on the ABC comedy series “Modern Family”

1973 – Actress-comedian Kristen Wiig (“Saturday Night Live,” “Knocked Up,” “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story,” “Bridesmaids,” “Girl Most Likely,” “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” “The Skeleton Twins,” “The Martian,” “Ghostbusters”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1851 – The yacht America, representing the young New York Yacht Club, wins the first America’s Cup. It would be well over 100 years before it was taken away from New York.

1902 – Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first U.S. president to ride in an automobile when he sets out from Connecticut on a driving tour of New England. 

1906 – Way before the turntable and CD player are invented, the Victor Talking Machine Company of Camden, New Jersey begins to manufacture the Victrola record player. The hand-cranked unit, with horn cabinet, sells for $200. 

1950 – The United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) accepts 23-year-old Althea Gibson into its annual championship at Forest Hills, New York, making her the first African-American player to participate in a U.S. national tennis competition.

1973 – President Richard Nixon appoints Henry Kissinger secretary of state. Kissinger helped ease relations with the Soviet Union and China, and negotiated an end to the Vietnam War, but remains a controversial figure for his role in American actions in Cambodia, Latin America and elsewhere. 

1989 – The Texas Rangers’ Nolan Ryan becomes the first pitcher in Major League history to register 5,000 career strikeouts. 

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1960 – Elvis Presley is in the middle of a five-week domination of the singles chart with “It’s Now or Never.”

1964 – “Where Did Our Love Go,” by The Supremes, starts a two-week hold on top of the Billboard Hot 100. It’s the girl group’s first No. 1 hit. 

1968 – Bickering among The Beatles while recording “The White Album” prompts Ringo Starr to quit the band. “Back In the USSR” is recorded with Paul McCartney on drums and John Lennon on bass. News of Ringo’s departure is kept secret and he rejoins the band about two weeks later.

1970 – Bread’s “Make It With You” begins one week on top of the Billboard singles survey. It becomes the group’s only No. 1 hit.

1987 – “Who’s That Girl,” the title track of the movie of the same name, boosts Madonna to the top of the Hot 100 chart.

1992 – “End of the Road,” by Boyz II Men,” is in the second of what then was a record-breaking 13 weeks as a No. 1 single. The track goes on to capture two Grammy Awards.

1998 – Brandy & Monica hold the top spot on the pop chart with “The Boy is Mine.”

2009 – The Black Eyed Peas lay claim to the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with “I Gotta Feeling.”

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