On This Day: April 3

On This Day April 3

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1924 – Oscar-winning actor Marlon Brando (“A Streetcar Named Desire,” “On The Waterfront,” “The Godfather” trilogy, “Apocalypse Now”) (d. 2004)

1924 – Golden Globe and Grammy-winning actress and singer Doris Day (“Sentimental Journey,” “Pillow Talk,” “The Doris Day Show”) (d. 2019)

1934 –  Primatologist and anthropologist Jane Goodall, best known for her extensive studies of chimpanzees in their African habitat

1958 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor and frequent “SNL” host Alec Baldwin (“Beetlejuice,” “The Hunt for Red October,” “Glengarry Glen Ross,” “The Cooler,” “The Departed,” “It’s Complicated,” “30 Rock”)

1961 – Golden Globe-winning actor, comedian, singer and “SNL” alum Eddie Murphy (“48 Hours,” “Trading Places,” “Beverly Hills Cop,” “Coming to America,” “The Nutty Professor,” “Shrek,” “Dreamgirls”)

1986 – TV and film actress Amanda Bynes (“The Amanda Show,” “What a Girl Wants,” “Hairspray”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1860 – The Pony Express launches, with horse and rider relay teams simultaneously leaving St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California as part of a new effort to speed up U.S. mail delivery. 

1948 – President Harry S. Truman signs the Economic Recovery Act of 1948 — later known as the Marshall Plan — which would foster the recovery of war-torn Europe. 

1968 – Stanley Kubrick’s science fiction classic, “2001: A Space Odyssey” — regularly voted as one of the greatest movies ever made, but whose philosophical meaning most fans cannot explain — opens in theaters around the U.S.

1968 – Another sci-fi classic opens at U.S. theaters. It’s “Planet of the Apes,” starring Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter and Maurice Evans. It’s the story about an astronaut crew that crash-lands on a planet in the distant future where intelligent talking apes rule and humans are oppressed and enslaved.

1974 – More than 140 tornadoes rip through 11 states within 16 hours. The “Super Tornado Outbreak” kills 330 people and injures more than 6,000 others.

1978 – At the 50th annual Academy Awards, Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall” wins the Oscar for Best Picture, beating out George Lucas’ “Star Wars.”

1986 – IBM unveils its first laptop computer. The 5140 “Convertible” retails for $1,995 and weighs 13 pounds.

1996 –  FBI agents arrest accused Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski at his rural Montana cabin. Kaczynski was linked to 16 mail bombs that killed three people and injured 23 others during an 18-year period.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1956 – Elvis Presley is a guest on “The Milton Berle Show,” live from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Hancock in San Diego, California. He performs “Heartbreak Hotel,” “Shake Rattle And Roll” and “Blue Suede Shoes.” It is estimated that one out of every four Americans watched the program.

1961 – The Marcels start a three-week run on top of the singles chart with their doo-wop rendition of the Rodgers and Hart song, “Blue Moon.”

1971 – The Temptations score their second No. 1 single with “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me),” which holds the top spot for two weeks.

1971 – Six months after her death, Janis Joplin holds the top spot on the Billboard album chart with “Pearl,” which features her smash, “Me and Bobby McGee.” The album remains at No. 1 for nine weeks.

1976 – “Disco Lady,” by the so-called ‘Philosopher of Soul,’ Johnnie Taylor, is No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart and remains there for four weeks.

1982 – Joan Jett & the Blackhearts are in the middle of a seven-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100 with “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll.”

1990 – Grammy-winning jazz singer and pianist Sarah Vaughan, considered one of the greatest vocalists of the 20th century, dies of lung cancer at the age of 66.

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On This Day: October 30

On This Day October 30

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1735 – One of America’s Founding Fathers, second U.S. President John Adams (d. 1826)

1939 – Rock singer-songwriter Grace Slick, who performed with Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship/Starship

1945 – Actor Henry Winkler, best remembered for playing “The Fonz” in the popular ABC sitcom “Happy Days”

1951 – Actor Harry Hamlin (“Clash of the Titans,” “L.A. Law,” “Mad Men”)

1957 – Actor Kevin Pollak (“Avalon,” “A Few Good Men,” “Grumpy Old Men,” “The Usual Suspects”)

1970 – Actress Nia Long (“The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” “Third Watch,” “Boiler Room,” the “Big Momma’s House” movies, “Are We There Yet?”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1938 – In what could be called an early case of fake news, actor Orson Welles terrifies radio listeners across the United States with his “War of the Worlds” broadcast — a dramatization of H.G. Wells’ tale about a Martian invasion.

1968 – “The Lion in Winter,” starring Peter O’Toole and Katharine Hepburn, opens at the box office. The movie goes on to capture three Oscars, including a Best Actress win for Hepburn.

1974 – An historic boxing match-up called the “Rumble in the Jungle” sees Muhammad Ali knock out George Foreman in the eighth round in Zaire (now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo), in central Africa.

1975 – The New York Daily News runs its infamous front-page headline ‘Ford to City: Drop Dead’ in reference to President Gerald Ford’s speech the day before denying federal assistance to help New York City avert bankruptcy.

1991 – A so-called “perfect storm” churns across the North Atlantic, producing powerful and deadly waves along the coasts of New England and Canada. The Gloucester, Massachusetts-based fishing boat Andrea Gail and its six-member crew are lost in the nor’easter, which inspires the best-selling book, “The Perfect Storm,” by Sebastian Junger, and a blockbuster movie starring George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1965 – “Yesterday,” by The Beatles, marks its fourth and final week on top of the Billboard Hot 100.

1971 – Rod Stewart concludes a five-week run atop the Billboard Hot 100 with “Maggie May.”

1976 – Chicago has the No. 1 single with “If You Leave Me Now,” which goes on to capture the band’s first Grammy.

1982 – The Australian band Men At Work climbs to the top of the U.S. singles chart with “Who Can It Be Now?” One week earlier, the group performed that song and their other hit, “Down Under,” on “Saturday Night Live,” and the following February, won a Best New Artist Grammy.

1993 – Mariah Carey’s “Dreamlover” marks the end of an eight-week run on top of the Billboard singles chart. It is her seventh No. 1 hit.

2004 – Usher and Alicia Keys rule the pop chart with “My Boo,” which holds the No. 1 spot for six weeks.

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On this Day: August 17

On this Day August 17

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1786 – Tennessee woodsman Davy Crockett, known as the “King of the Wild Frontier,” who was elected to Congress and died while fighting at the Alamo (d. 1836)

1920 – Actress-singer Maureen O’Hara, born Maureen FitzSimons (“Sinbad the Sailor,” “The Black Swan,” “Miracle on 34th Street,” “Our Man in Havana, “The Parent Trap”) (d. 2015)

1943 – Oscar-winning actor Robert De Niro (“The Godfather: Part II,” “Taxi Driver,” “The Deer Hunter,” “Raging Bull,” “The King of Comedy,” “Goodfellas,” “Backdraft,” “Cape Fear,” “A Bronx Tale,” “Casino,” “Meet The Parents,” “Shark Tale,” “Silver Linings Playbook,” “The Intern”)

1958 – Singer-songwriter Belinda Carlisle, former lead singer of the Go-Go’s (“Mad About You,” “I Get Weak,””Circle in the Sand,” “Leave a Light On,” “Heaven Is a Place on Earth”)

1960 – Oscar-winning actor-director Sean Penn (“Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” “Dead Man Walking,” “The Thin Red Line,” “Sweet and Lowdown,” “I Am Sam,” “Mystic River,” “21 Grams,” “Into The Wild,”  “Milk,” “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”)

1969 – Actor and former New Kids on the Block band member Donnie Wahlberg (“Ransom,” the “Saw” movie series, “The Sixth Sense,” “Dreamcatcher,” “Righteous Kill,” “Blue Bloods”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1962 – East German border guards open fire on two 18-year-old men scrambling for freedom by scaling the Berlin Wall to enter West Berlin. One escapes with cuts and bruises, but the second — Peter Fechter — is killed, setting off clashes between angry West German witnesses and communist police officers.

1969 – Camille, the third deadliest hurricane of all time, batters the Mississippi Delta as it comes ashore near Bay Saint Louis. The storm kills 259 people and causes more than a billion dollars in damage.

1978 – Double Eagle II becomes first balloon to cross the Atlantic when it lands near Paris 137 hours after leaving Presque Isle, Maine. 

1979 – Actress Vivian Vance, who played Ethel Mertz in TV’s “I Love Lucy,” loses her battle with breast cancer at the age of 70.

1998 – President Bill Clinton becomes the first sitting U.S. president to testify before the Office of Independent Council as the subject of a grand jury investigation.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1959 – Legendary jazz trumpeter Miles Davis releases “Kind of Blue,” the best-selling jazz record of all time and a production that is regarded by critics of all musical genres as a masterpiece.

1968 – The Doors begin four weeks on top of the Billboard album chart with “Waiting For The Sun.” The band’s only No. 1 album spawns their second chart-topping single, “Hello, I Love You.”

1969 – British rockers The Who take the stage in the pre-dawn hours of the third day of the Woodstock music festival and perform a 25-song set, including all the tracks from their rock opera “Tommy.” 

1974 – “The Night Chicago Died,” by Paper Lace, is the No. 1 single. That band, from Nottingham, England, recorded the original version of “Billy. Don’t Be a Hero,” which only became a chart-topping smash when it was covered by Bo Donaldson and The Heywoods.

1985 – “Shout,” by Tears for Fears, begins its third and final week as a Billboard No. 1. The track is from the British duo’s chart-topping “Songs From the Big Chair” album.

1991 – Bryan Adams rules the singles chart with “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You,” from the movie “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,” starring Kevin Costner.

1996 – The Spanish dance song “Macarena,” by Los del Rio, is in the midst of 14 weeks as a No. 1 single.

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On this Day: August 15

On this Day August 15

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1769 – French military general/emperor Napolean Bonaparte (d. 1821)

1912 – TV chef and cookbook author Julia Child (d. 2004)

1925 – Actor Mike Connors, most remembered for his role as a detective in the CBS series “Mannix” (d. 2017)

1925 – Grammy-winning jazz pianist-composer Oscar Peterson (d. 2007)

1944 – Journalist, author and former NBC News correspondent Linda Ellerbee 

1946 – Grammy-winning songwriter-composer Jimmy Webb, who penned some of the highest-charting singles of the 20th century, including “Up, Up and Away,” “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “Wichita Lineman,” “Galveston,” “The Worst That Could Happen,” “All I Know,” “MacArthur Park”

1968 – Actress Debra Messing, best known as Grace Adler in the sitcom “Will & Grace”

1972 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actor-director-producer Ben Affleck (“Dazed and Confused,” “Chasing Amy,” “Good Will Hunting,”  “Armageddon,” “Pearl Harbor,” “Gone Baby Gone,” “The Town,” “Argo,” “Gone Girl,” “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”)

1989 – Singer-actor Joe Jonas, who originally performed with the Jonas Brothers before forming the band DNCE (“See No More,” “Just in Love,” “Cake by the Ocean”)

1990 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence (“The Bill Engvall Show,” “Winter’s Bone,” “X-Men: First Class,” “The Hunger Games,” “Silver Linings Playbook,” “American Hustle,” “Joy”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1911 – Procter & Gamble Company introduces Crisco vegetable shortening and changes cooking forever. 

1914 – The Panama Canal opens, providing a vital shipping link between the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean. The first vessel to travel the American-built waterway is the U.S. cargo ship SS Ancon, which completes the crossing in a record nine hours.

1935 – Beloved actor and humorist Will Rogers dies in a plane crash in Alaska while flying with his friend, aviation pioneer Wiley Post. 

1979 – “Apocalypse Now,” the acclaimed Vietnam War film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen and Robert Duvall, opens.

1983 – Hurricane Alicia forms south of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico. Three days later, the storm batters the Texas Gulf Coast, causing 21 deaths, thousands of injuries and billions of dollars in damage. Galveston and Houston were among the hardest hit areas.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1960 – Elvis Presley is king of the pop chart with “It’s Now or Never.” The song remains at No. 1 for five weeks. 

1965 – More than 56,000 Beatles fans pack New York’s Shea Stadium for a concert introduced by TV host Ed Sullivan. The event serves as the kickoff of the Fab Four’s second U.S. tour.

1969 – Half a million hippies, flower children and 60s counter-culture zealots converge on a farm in Bethel, New York for what is billed as “three days of peace and music.” Decades later, the Woodstock Music & Art Fair is still considered the definitive concert event.

1970 – The Carpenters’ breakthrough hit, “(They Long to Be) Close to You,” marks its fourth and final week on top of the Billboard Hot 100. The track garners the sibling duo the first of three career Grammys.

1981 – Diana Ross and Lionel Richie kick off nine weeks on top of the pop chart with “Endless Love,” the theme from the movie of the same name. The track receives a Best Original Song Oscar nomination for Richie.

1992 – “End of the Road,” by Boyz II Men, is a Billboard No. 1, and holds the top spot for a then-record-breaking 13 weeks. The song goes on to capture two Grammys at the 1993 Grammy Awards.

1998 – Brandy and Monica have a lock on the No. 1 slot on the pop chart with “The Boy Is Mine.”

2015 – Omi wraps up four consecutive weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Cheerleader.” The track returns to No. 1 two weeks later and remains there for an additional two weeks.

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