Whitney Houston – Time Rewind

On This Day April 23

Musical Milestones

1961 – In what’s been called “the greatest night in show business history,” Judy Garland — beloved for her role as Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz” — performs at New York’s Carnegie Hall. Garland sings 27 numbers, frequently interrupted by extended standing ovations. The double album of the historic performance becomes a smash, charting for 94 weeks on the Billboard chart, including 13 weeks at No. 1. It also captures five Grammy Awards.

1966 – “(You’re My) Soul and Inspiration,” by The Righteous Brothers, marks its third and final week as the No. 1 single. It is the duo’s first major hit after leaving their longtime producer, Phil Spector.

1977 – Thelma Houston’s disco smash, “Don’t Leave Me This Way,” is No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song goes on to capture a Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.

1983 – The hottest single belongs to one-hit-wonder Dexys Midnight Runners: “Come On Eileen.”

1988 – “Where Do Broken Hearts Go?,” by Whitney Houston, begins a two-week hold on the No. 1 slot on Billboard Hot 100.

1994 – R. Kelly rules the singles chart with “Bump n’ Grind.”

2005 – “Candy Shop,” by 50 Cent featuring Olivia, begins its eighth week on top of the pop chart. It will remain there for one more week.

History Highlights

1896 – Entertainment is revolutionized as an audience at Koster and Bial’s Music Hall on 34th Street in New York City watches the first movie ever projected onto a screen.

1953 – Paramount Pictures releases “Shane,” starring Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur and Van Heflin, a film considered by many to be one of the greatest Westerns ever made.

1968 – Columbia University students, opposed to the Vietnam War and the school’s plans to construct a gymnasium in a Harlem neighborhood adjacent to the campus, seize administration buildings, take the dean hostage and shut the university down for a week.

1969 – Sirhan Sirhan is sentenced to the death penalty following his conviction for the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York. In 1972, Sirhan’s sentence is commuted to life in prison after California abolishes the death penalty.

1985 – Coca-Cola replaces its original formula Coke with a beverage called New Coke. However, consumers overwhelmingly reject the new soft drink. Three months later, the company backtracks and announces the return of the original formula, which is branded Coca-Cola Classic.

2004 – The romantic comedy “13 Going on 30,” starring Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo, opens in U.S. theaters. Garner plays the adult version of a 13-year-old girl whose dream of being “30, flirty, and thriving” comes true with the help of some magic dust.

Celebrity Birthdays

1564 – Poet-playwright William Shakespeare (d. 1616)

1928 – Oscar-winning child star Shirley Temple (d. 2014)

1936 – Rock and roll singer-songwriter Roy Orbison (“Oh, Pretty Woman,” “Crying,” “Dream Baby”) (d. 1988)

1939 – Actor Lee Majors, best remembered for his role as astronaut Steve Austin in the 1970s hit series “The Six Million Dollar Man”

1942 – Golden Globe-winning actress Sandra Dee, nicknamed “Queen of Teens” (“Gidget,” “A Summer Place”) (d. 2005)

1954 – Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Michael Moore (“Roger and Me,” “Bowling for Columbine,” “Fahrenheit 9/11″”Capitalism: A Love Story”)

1960 – Actress Valerie Bertinelli (“One Day at a Time,” “Touched by an Angel,” “Hot in Cleveland”)

1961 – Actor-comedian George Lopez, best known for his self-produced sitcom “George Lopez” that aired on ABC-TV for six seasons

1977 – Actor and former Obama administration aide Kal Penn, born Kalpen Suresh Modi (the “Harold and Kumar” films, “House,” “How I Met Your Mother,” “Designated Survivor”)

1990 – Actor Dev Patel (“Slumdog Millionaire,” “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” “The Newsroom,” “The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” “Chappie,” “The Man Who Knew Infinity,” “Lion,” “Hotel Mumbai”)

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Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland

Gerald Clarke

Whitney: The Greatest Hits

Whitney Houston

Shane

Starring Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur and Van Heflin, and directed by George Stevens

The Real Coke, The Real Story

Thomas Oliver

The Ultimate Collection

Roy Orbison

Slumdog Millionaire

Starring Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor and Freida Pinto, and directed by Danny Boyle

On This Day April 30

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.

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.

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

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Jailhouse Rock

Starring Elvis Presley, Judy Tyler and Mickey Shaughnessy, and directed by Richard Thorpe

The Very Best of Ben E. King

Ben E. King

Images of America: The 1939-1940 New York World's Fair/The World of Tomorrow

Bill Cotter

Hitler's Last Secretary: A Firsthand Account of Life with Hitler

Traudl Junge and Melissa Muller

Anatomy of a Murder

Starring James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara and Eve Arden, and directed by Otto Preminger

Interview With the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles

Starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Stephen Rea and Kirsten Dunst, and directed by Neil Jordan

On This Day February 27

Musical Milestones

1954 – Doris Day has the No. 1 single with “Secret Love” from the movie “Calamity Jane.”” The recording goes on to capture an Academy Award for Best Original Song.

1961 – “Pony Time” by Chubby Checker gallops away as the No. 1 single for three weeks.

1971 – Five months after her death, Janis Joplin begins nine weeks on top of the Billboard album chart with her second and final solo studio album, “Pearl,” which contains her smash “Me and Bobby McGee.”

1980 – The first and last Grammy ever awarded for Best Disco Recording goes to Gloria Gaynor for “I Will Survive,” unofficially marking the end of the disco era.

1988 – George Michael kicks off two weeks on top of the singles chart with “Father Figure,” off his debut studio album, “Faith.”

1993 – Whitney Houston wraps up a 14-week reign over the pop chart with “I Will Always Love You,” a song written and originally recorded by Dolly Parton in 1973.

1999 – “Angel of Mine,” by Monica, is in the midst of a four-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

History Highlights

1827 – Masked and costumed students dance through the streets of New Orleans, Louisiana, marking the first of the city’s traditional Mardi Gras celebrations. Early French settlers introduced the original Mardi Gras festivities to New Orleans until Spanish governors banned them in the 1700s. Once Louisiana became part of the U.S., laws prohibiting masks and public dancing were rescinded.

1922 – The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, providing for female suffrage, is declared constitutional by unanimous vote of all eight members of the U.S. Supreme Court.

1936 – Shirley Temple receives a new contract from 20th Century Fox that pays the seven-year-old star an unprecedented $50,000 per film. Over the course of the 1930s, the box office success of her more than 40 films helps Fox weather the Depression.

1951 – On the heels of FDR’s four successive presidential terms, Congress ratifies the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution in 1, limiting the tenure of presidential office to two terms.

1964 – The Italian government announces that it is accepting suggestions on how to save the renowned Leaning Tower of Pisa from collapsing.

1991 – During the Persian Gulf War, President George H. W. Bush announces that “Kuwait is liberated.”

Celebrity Birthdays

1902 – Pulitzer and Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck (“The Grapes of Wrath,” “East of Eden,” “Of Mice and Men”) (d. 1968)

1930 – Oscar-winning actress Joanne Woodward (“The Three Faces of Eve,” “Rachel Rachel,” “Summer Wishes,” “Winter Dreams,” “Mr. and Mrs. Bridge”)

1932 – Oscar-winning actress Elizabeth Taylor (“National Velvet,” “A Place in the Sun,” “Giant,” “Cat On a Hot Tin Roof,” “Butterfield 8,” “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”) (d. 2011)

1940 – Actor Howard Hesseman, best known for playing DJ Johnny Fever on the 1970s TV sitcom “WKRP in Cincinnati”

1980 – Presidential daughter and businesswoman Chelsea Clinton

1981 – Pop and classical singer-songwriter Josh Groban, who has performed at both the Olympics and the Super Bowl

1983 – Actress Kate Mara (“Brokeback Mountain,” “We Are Marshall,” “Shooter,” “The Open Road,” “Transcendence,” “Fant4stic” “House of Cards”)

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Pearl

Janis Joplin

Faith

George Michael

New Orleans Carnival Krewes: The History, Spirit & Secrets of Mardi Gras

Rosary O’Neill

A Brief History of the Leaning Tower of Pisa

Piero Pierotti

Of Mice and Men

John Steinbeck

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Starring Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman and Burl Ives, and directed by Richard Brooks

On This Day February 23

Musical Milestones

1963 – Paul & Paula wrap up their three-week ride on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Hey Paula.”

1974 – Barbra Streisand dominates the pop chart for a third week with the Oscar and Grammy-winning theme from the movie “The Way We Were.”

1978 – For the first time in Grammy Award history, two singles tie for Song of the Year: Barbra Streisand’s “Love Theme from A Star Is Born (Evergreen)” and Debby Boone’s “You Light Up My Life.” Other winners include Fleetwood Mac (Album of the Year for “Rumours”), Eagles (Record of the Year for “Hotel California”) and The Bee Gees (Best Pop Vocal Performance for “How Deep Is Your Love”).

1980 – “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” from Queen’s “The Game” album, becomes the British rock band’s first No. 1 single in the U.S. It holds the top spot for four weeks. Freddie Mercury claimed to have written the song in about 10 minutes while taking a bath.

1991 – Whitney Houston scores her ninth No. 1 single in five years with “All the Man That I Need.”

2000 – Carlos Santana cleans up at the 42nd Annual Grammys, winning eight awards, including Album of the Year for his chart-topping “Supernatural” album.

2002 – “Always on Time,” by Ja Rule featuring Ashanti, tops the Billboard Hot 100.

History Highlights

1836 – The Battle of the Alamo begins as Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna and his army arrive in San Antonio, Texas. Undaunted, William Travis, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and a few hundred others prepare to defend the mission together, holding out for 13 days. “Remember the Alamo!” becomes a rallying cry for the Texian Army.

1945 – During the bloody Battle of Iwo Jima, five U.S. Marines and a U.S. Navy corpsman reach the top of Mount Suribachi on the island and are photographed raising the American flag by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal. His iconic World War II image — a symbol of American military heroism — wins a Pulitzer Prize and becomes the inspiration for the national U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia.

1954 – Elementary school children in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania receive the first injections of the new polio vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas Salk.

1968 – Considered a basketball legend, Wilt Chamberlain becomes the first NBA player to score more than 25,000 points during his professional sports career.

1980 – American speed skater Eric Heiden wins the 10,000-meter race at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, setting a world record with his time and winning an unprecedented fifth Gold medal at the games.

1997 – Scientists in Scotland announce that they have cloned a sheep named Dolly — the first successful cloning of a mammal from an adult cell. This development sparks widespread speculation about the possibility of human cloning.

Celebrity Birthdays

1868 – American civil rights activist, sociologist, educator, historian and writer W.E.B. Du Bois (d.1963)

1940 – Actor Peter Fonda (“Easy Rider,” “Ulee’s Gold,” “The Passion of Ayn Rand,” “Wild Hogs,” “3:10 to Yuma”) (d. 2019)

1955 – 80s synth-pop singer-songwriter Howard Jones (“Things Can Only Get Better,” “Life in One Day,” “No One Is To Blame”)

1965 – Entrepreneuer and Dell Computer founder-CEO Michael Dell

1976 – Actress Kelly Macdonald (“Trainspotting,” “Gosford Park,” “The Girl in the Café,” “Boardwalk Empire”)

1983 – Golden Globe-winning actress Emily Blunt (“The Devil Wears Prada,” “Gideon’s Daughter,” “The Adjustment Bureau,” “The Five-Year Engagement,” “Edge of Tomorrow,” “Sicario,” “The Huntsman: Winter’s War,” “The Girl on the Train”, “A Quiet Place”, “Mary Poppins Returns”)

1994 – Actress Dakota Fanning (“I Am Sam,” “Man on Fire,” “War of the Worlds,” “Charlotte’s Web,” “Coraline,” “The Twilight Saga”)

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The Platinum Collection (Greatest Hits I, II & III)

Queen

Supernatural

Carlos Santana

Flags of Our Fathers

James Bradley with Ron Powers

Polio: An American Story

David M. Oshinsky

Easy Rider

Starring Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Karen Black, and directed by Dennis Hopper

Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow

Starring Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt and Bill Paxton, and directed by Doug Liman

On This Day February 20

Musical Milestones

1959 – Legendary rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix is 16 years old when he makes his stage debut during a performance at Temple De Hirsch Sinai synagogue in Seattle. He is fired before the second set begins.

1965 – “This Diamond Ring,” by Gary Lewis & the Playboys, begins a two-week ride atop the Billboard singles chart.

1970 – The single “Instant Karma! (We All Shine On),” by John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band, is released in the U.S. Lennon wrote, recorded and mixed the track all in one day, on January 27, 1970, with producer Phil Spector, at the Abbey Road Studios in London.

1982 – The J. Geils Band’s “Centerfold” is midway through a six-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100. It is the first single from the band’s “Freeze Frame” album. The music video becomes an early staple of MTV programming.

1988 – “Seasons Change,” by one-hit wonder Exposé, tops the Billboard Hot 100 for a week.

1991 – Actor Jack Nicholson presents Bob Dylan with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 34th Annual Grammys.

1993 – “I Will Always Love You,” by Whitney Houston, enters its 13th week as a No. 1 single. Written by Dolly Parton, the song is from the soundtrack to the movie, “The Bodyguard,” starring Houston and Kevin Costner.

1999 – Monica is in the middle of a four-week run at No. 1 on the pop chart with “Angel of Mine.”

2010 – Kesha dominates the pop chart with “Tik Tok,” which enters its eighth week at No. 1.

History Highlights

1792 – President George Washington signs the Postal Act, creating the U.S. Postal Service (USPS).

1895 – American journalist, orator and anti-slavery leader Frederick Douglass dies at the age of 78.

1962 – John Glenn launches into space from Cape Canaveral, Florida aboard NASA’s Mercury capsule, named Friendship 7, on the first orbital flight by an American astronaut. He completes three Earth orbits in just under five hours, ushering in a new era of spaceflight for the United States.

1965 – Ranger 8 crashes into the moon after a successful mission to photograph possible landing sites for the Apollo program.

1986 – The Soviet Union launches the first components of the Mir space station, which orbits Earth more than 86,000 times before falling harmlessly into the South Pacific near Fiji in March 2001.

1998 – American Tara Lipinski is 15 when she wins the Gold medal in women’s figure skating at the Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, becoming the youngest gold medalist in her sport.

2003 – One hundred people are killed, 230 others are injured when pyrotechnics during a Great White concert at The Station nightclub in Warwick, Rhode Island ignite flammable foam installed as soundproofing. The club burns to the ground in less than three minutes.

Celebrity Birthdays

1902 – Pioneering photographer and preservationist Ansel Adams (d. 1984)

1927 – Oscar-winning actor-director Sidney Poitier (“Lilies of the Field,” “In the Heat of the Night,” “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” “To Sir, With Love,” “Sneakers,” “The Jackal”)

1946 – Singer-songwriter and guitarist John Warren Geils, Jr., known professionally as J. Geils, frontman for the 80s rockers The J. Geils Band. (d. 2017)

1963 – Retired basketball star Charles Barkley, named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History

1966 – Fashion icon, supermodel and entrepreneur Cindy Crawford

1967 – Legendary grunge music pioneer Kurt Cobain, lead singer-songwriter-guitarist of the band Nirvana (d. 1994)

1988 – Grammy-winning R&B singer-songwriter Rihanna, born Robyn Rihanna Fenty (“Umbrella,” “We Found Love,” “The Monster”)

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Experience Hendrix: The Best of Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix

Power To The People - The Hits

John Lennon

The Postal Age: The Emergence of Modern Communications in Nineteenth-Century America

David M. M. Henkin

Friendship 7: The Epic Orbital Flight of John H. Glenn, Jr.

Colin Burgess

Ansel Adams: 400 Photographs

Ansel Adams

To Sir, With Love

Starring Sidney Poitier, Christian Roberts and Judy Geeson, and directed by James Clavell

On This Day February 15

Musical Milestones

1964 – “Meet The Beatles!” reaches No. 1 on the Billboard album chart, becoming The Beatles’ first chart-topping album in the U.S. It holds the top spot for eleven weeks and sells more than four million copies by the end of that year.

1965 – The Beatles record “Another Girl” and “Ticket to Ride” for the “Help!” album. Earlier that day, John Lennon earns a personal ticket to ride by passing his driving test.

1965 – Entertainer Nat King Cole (“Unforgettable,” “Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer,” “The Christmas Song,” “Mona Lisa”), who earned early acclaim as a jazz pianist and became the first African American performer to host a network TV variety show, dies of lung cancer at the age of 45.

1969 – Sly & the Family Stone rule the Billboard singles chart with “Everyday People,” which remains at No. 1 for four weeks.

1975 – “You’re No Good,” by Linda Ronstadt, is the No. 1 single.

1984 – Beloved actress-singer Ethel Merman, best known for her rendition of “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” from the musical “Annie Get Your Gun,” dies at the age of 75.

1986 – “How Will I Know,” by Whitney Houston, becomes the most popular single in the U.S. for two weeks.

1992 – One-hit-wonder Right Said Fred is in the middle of three weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 with “I’m Too Sexy.”

2003 – “All I Have,” by Jennifer Lopez featuring LL Cool J, is midway through a four-week run at No. 1 on the singles chart.

History Highlights

1879 – President Rutherford B. Hayes signs a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.

1898 – The battleship USS Maine explodes and sinks in Havana (Cuba) Harbor, killing more than 260 crewmen. The incident prompts the U.S. to declare war on Spain.

1903 – The first teddy bear, named for U.S. President Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt, goes on sale. Toy store owner and inventor Morris Michtom places two stuffed bears in his shop window after personally getting Roosevelt’s permission to name them after him.

1933 – Two weeks before his inauguration, President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt is fired upon by a would-be assassin after giving a speech in Miami. FDR is unharmed, but a bullet strikes Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak, who dies three weeks later.

1965 – A new red-and-white maple leaf design is adopted as the flag of Canada, replacing the old Canadian Red Ensign banner.

1978 – Leon Spinks takes the heavyweight boxing champion title away from defending champ Muhammad Ali in a split decision in Las Vegas.

1985 – “The Breakfast Club” opens in U.S. theaters. Directed by John Hughes and starring Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall and Ally Sheedy — members of the so-called “Brat Pack” — it becomes an ’80s movie classic. In 2016, the film is selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by The Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

1998 – Racing great Dale Earnhardt, Sr. wins his first Daytona 500, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) season opener and an event dubbed the “Super Bowl of stock car racing.”

Celebrity Birthdays

1564 – Scientist Galileo Galilei (generally referred to as Galileo), a major figure in the scientific revolution, who made pioneering discoveries that advanced the study of astronomy, physics and philosophy (d. 1642)

1820 – Suffragette reformer and women’s rights activist Susan B. Anthony (d. 1906)

1927 – Emmy-winning comedian Harvey Korman (“The Carol Burnett Show,” “Blazing Saddles”) (d. 2008)

1951 – Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Melissa Manchester (“Midnight Blue,” “Don’t Cry Out Loud, “Through the Eyes of Love”)

1951 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress Jane Seymour (“Somewhere in Time,” “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,” “Wedding Crashers”)

1954 – Cartoonist Matt Groening, best known for creating “The Simpsons”

1964 – Actor-comedian Chris Farley (“Saturday Night Live,” “Wayne’s World,” “Tommy Boy,” “Black Sheep,” “Beverly Hills Ninja”) (d. 1997)

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Help!

The Beatles

Love Songs

Nat King Cole

One Punch from the Promised Land: Leon Spinks, Michael Spinks, And The Myth Of The Heavyweight Title

John Florio and Ouisie Shapiro

The Breakfast Club

Starring Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall, and directed by John Hughes

The Carol Burnett Show: Carol's Crack Ups

Carol Burnett

The Simpsons: Season 1

Starring Albert Brooks and Maggie Roswell, and directed by Brad Bird and David Silverman

On This Day February 13

Musical Milestones

1914 – The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is established to protect the copyrighted musical compositions of its members.

1961 – “Calcutta,” by American bandleader and television host Lawrence Welk, begins two weeks as the No. 1 single. It becomes the most successful chart hit of Welk’s career.

1961 – Frank Sinatra launches Reprise Records in order to have more artistic freedom for his own recordings — a move that garners him the nickname “The Chairman of the Board.” Reprise later becomes the home of many influential acts, such as Neil Young, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman and The Beach Boys.

1967 – The Beatles release the double A-sided single “Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane” on Capitol Records in the U.S.

1971 – “One Bad Apple,” by The Osmonds, latches on to the No. 1 spot on the singles chart for five weeks.

1982 – The J. Geils Band is in the midst of a six-week stretch at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Centerfold.”

1993 – “I Will Always Love You,” by Whitney Houston, is in the midst of a 14-week ride atop the singles chart.

1999 – Monica begins a four-week hold at No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart with “Angel of Mine.”

History Highlights

1861 – Colonel Bernard Irwin becomes the first person awarded the new U.S. Medal of Honor for leading his troops in a battle against the Chiricahua Apaches during a rescue mission.

1945 – Allied firebombing raids begin against Dresden, reducing the eastern German city to rubble and flames, and causing around 25,000 deaths. The assault becomes the single most destructive bombing of World War II — including Hiroshima and Nagasaki — and has been considered controversial because Dresden was neither significant to German wartime production nor an industrial center.

1965 – Sixteen-year-old Peggy Fleming wins the ladies senior figure skating title at the U.S. Figure Skating championships in Lake Placid, New York. Fleming goes on to win Olympic gold.

1974 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature in 1970, is exiled from the Soviet Union.

2001 – “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” by director Ang Lee, earns 10 Oscar nominations, becoming the first Asian film and only the seventh foreign-language production to get a nod for Best Picture.

Celebrity Birthdays

1923 – Retired U.S. Air Force General Chuck Yaeger, the first pilot to break the sound barrier

1933 – Actress Kim Novak (“Vertigo,” “The Man With the Golden Arm,” “Bell, Book and Candle”)

1934 – Golden Globe-winning actor George Segal (“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” “A Touch of Class,” “Just Shoot Me,” “The Goldbergs”)

1942 – Singer-songwriter Peter Tork, best known as keyboardist and bass guitarist of The Monkees (d. 2019)

1944 – Talk show host and former Cincinnati Mayor Jerry Springer

1944 – Emmy and Tony Award-winning actress Stockard Channing (“Grease,” “Six Degrees of Separation,” “The West Wing”)

1950 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and former Genesis front man Peter Gabriel (“Solsbury Hill,” “Shock the Money,” “Sledgehammer,” “Don’t Give Up,” “Big Time,” “In Your Eyes,” “Red Rain”)

1979 – Actress Mena Suvari (“American Beauty,” “American Pie,” “Six Feet Under”)

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The Best of The Osmonds: The Millennium Collection

The Osmonds

Whitney The Greatest Hits

Whitney Houston

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Starring Michelle Yeoh, Chow Yun Fat and Zhang Ziyi, and directed by Ang Lee

Grease

Starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, and directed by Randal Kleiser

American Pie

Starring Jason Biggs, Jason Biggs and Chris Klein, and directed by Paul Weitz

On This Day February 11

Musical Milestones

1964 – The Beatles play their first U.S. concert at the Washington Coliseum. More than 350 police officers surround the stage to keep some 8,000 screaming fans under control. The set includes “I Saw Her Standing There,” “This Boy”, “All My Loving,” “I Wanna Be Your Man”,” Please Please Me”, “Till There Was You”, “She Loves You,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “Twist and Shout” and much more.

1967 – The Monkees begin their seventh and final week on top of the pop chart with “I’m a Believer.”

1978 – The Bee Gees stay on top of the Billboard Hot 100 for a second week with “Stayin’ Alive,” from the “Saturday Night Fever” movie soundtrack. The single remains at No. 1 for a total of four weeks.

1984 – Culture Club is midway through a three-week ride on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Karma Chameleon.”

1989 – Paula Abdul starts a three-week run at No. 1 on the singles chart with “Straight Up.”

2012 – Six-time Grammy-winning pop sensation Whitney Houston is found dead in a Beverly Hills hotel at the age of 48. Cause of death is determined to be drowning, with complications from cocaine use and heart disease.

History Highlights

1805 – Sacagawea, the Shoshone interpreter and guide to the Lewis and Clark expedition, gives birth to her first child, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau.

1932 – The Ford Motor Company introduces the flathead V8 engine, giving the world affordable, mass-produced V8 power. It becomes the darling of hot-rodders, road racers and stock car racers for more than two decades.

1945 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin wrap up the Yalta Conference following a week of intensive talks over the progress of World War II and the post-war world.

1963 – Chef Julia Child’s show, “The French Chef,” premieres on public television (NET, which later became PBS).

1968 – New York City’s 20,000-seat Madison Square Garden officially opens between 7th and 8th Avenues in Manhattan, becoming the fourth version of that arena. The showplace for sports and entertainment opens with a gala hosted by Bob Hope and Bing Crosby.

1970 – Japan’s first satellite (Ohsumi) is successfully launched into an orbit around Earth, making Japan the world’s fourth space power — after the Soviet Union in 1957, the United States in 1958, and France in 1965.

1990 – Anti-apartheid crusader Nelson Mandela, a political prisoner for more than 27 years, is released from Victor Verster Prison outside Cape Town, South Africa. Four years later, he is elected South Africa’s president.

Celebrity Birthdays

1847 – Inventor Thomas Edison (d. 1931)

1926 – Actor-comedian Leslie Nielsen (“Forbidden Planet,” “The Poseidon Adventure,” “Airplane,” “The Naked Gun”) (d. 2010)

1936 – Golden Globe-winning actor Burt Reynolds (“Deliverance,” “The Longest Yard,” “Smokey and the Bandit,” “Evening Shade,” “Boogie Nights”) (d. 2018)

1941 – Grammy-winning Brazilian musician Sérgio Mendes

1962 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow (“If It Makes You Happy,” “Everyday Is a Winding Road”)

1969 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress Jennifer Aniston, who has appeared in many movies, but is best known for playing Rachel in the NBC sitcom “Friends”

1971 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor Damian Lewis (“Band of Brothers,” “Life,” “Homeland,” “Billions”)

1979 – Grammy-winning singer-actress Brandy, born Brandy Rayana Norwood (“The Boy is Mine,” “Moesha”)

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Colour By Numbers

Culture Club

Whitney The Greatest Hits

Whitney Houston

The French Chef

Julia Child

Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela

Airplane!

Starring Leslie Nielsen, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Lloyd Bridges, and directed by Jim Abrahams

The Longest Yard

Starring Burt Reynolds, Eddie Albert and Ed Lauter, and directed by Robert Aldrich

On This Day February 6

Musical Milestones

1961 – The Shirelles wrap up two weeks atop the Billboard singles chart with “Will You Love Me Tomorrow.”

1965 – “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'” by The Righteous Brothers tops the Billboard Hot 100 and holds there for two weeks.

1971 – Dawn, featuring Tony Orlando, begin a third and final week as chart-toppers with “Knock Three Times.”

1982 – The J. Geils Band kicks off six weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Centerfold.”

1988 – Tiffany has the hottest single in the U.S. with “Could’ve Been.”

1993 – Whitney Houston reigns over the Billboard Hot 100 with “I Will Always Love You,” a song penned by Dolly Parton and used in the soundtrack to the movie “The Bodyguard.” The track holds the top spot for 14 weeks and becomes one of the best-selling singles of all time.

1998 – Austrian pop superstar Falco (a.k.a. Johann Hölzel), the talent behind the 1982 hit “Der Kommisar” and 1986 smash “Rock Me Amadeus,” is killed in a car accident while vacationing in the Dominican Republic. He is just two weeks shy of his 41st birthday.

2010 – Kesha has the No. 1 single with Tik Tok.

History Highlights

1917 – Three days after U.S. President Woodrow Wilson severs diplomatic relations with Germany and warns that war would follow if American interests at sea were again assaulted, a German submarine torpedoes and sinks the passenger steamer California off the Irish coast.

1933 – The 20th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, establishing the beginning and ending of the terms of elected federal offices, takes effect.

1937 – John Steinbeck’s novella, “Of Mice and Men,” the story of the bond between two migrant workers during the Great Depression, is published. Eight months later, the stage adaptation opens in New York and earns Steinbeck the New York Drama Critics’ Circle’s Best Play Award in 1938.

1952 – Princess Elizabeth becomes Queen of England when her father, King George VI, dies following a long illness. But it takes the 25-year-old Elizabeth more than a day to learn of her new royal status. She was on safari at the time, inside a Kenyan tree hut watching a herd of elephants gather at a watering hole.

1978 – One of the worst Nor’easters in New England history pounds the region for more than 30 hours, with wind gusts exceeding 100 mph and snowfall of four inches an hour. High tides cause damaging coastal flooding, while inland, thousands of cars are stranded in snow drifts. Remembered as “The Blizzard of ’78,” the monster storm leaves about 100 people dead and 4,500 others injured.

1993 – Tennis champion Arthur Ashe, the only African-American man to win Wimbledon and the U.S. and Australian Opens, dies of complications from AIDS, at age 49 in New York City.

Celebrity Birthdays

1895 – Baseball legend Babe Ruth, born George Herman Ruth (d. 1948)

1911 – Ronald Reagan, 40th U.S. president (d. 2004)

1917 – Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor (d. 2016)

1922 – Actor Patrick Macnee, best known as John Steed in “The Avengers” British TV spy series (d. 2015)

1931 – Actor-comedian Rip Torn, born Elmore Rual Torn, Jr. (“Cross Creek,” “The Larry Sanders Show,” “Men in Black,” “Men in Black II”) (d. 2019)

1940 – Peabody-winning broadcast journalist, author and former “NBC Nightly News” anchor Tom Brokaw

1942 – 1950s teen idol Fabian, born Fabiano Forte

1945 – World-renowned reggae singer-songwriter Bob Marley, born Nesta Robert Marley (d. 1981)

1950 – Grammy-winning jazz and pop vocalist Natalie Cole (d. 2015)

1962 – Singer-songwriter and Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose (“Welcome to the Jungle,” “Paradise City,” “Sweet Child o’ Mine”)

1966 – Singer Rick Astley, best known for his 80s hits “Never Gonna Give You Up” and “Together Forever”

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The Very Best Of The Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody

The Righteous Brothers

Tony Orlando & Dawn: The Definitive Collection

Tony Orlando & Dawn

Understanding Legislative Term Limits

Edward Sternisha, J.D.

Of Mice and Men

John Steinbeck

An American Life: The Autobiography

Ronald Reagan

The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth

Leigh Montville

On This Day January 27

Musical Milestones

1956 – RCA Records releases Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel,” which sells 300,000 copies in its first week to become Presley’s first Gold record. That spring, it spends seven weeks on top of the pop chart.

1962 – The hottest song on the radio is “Peppermint Twist” by Joey Dee & The Starliters.

1973 – Stevie Wonder sneaks into the top spot on the singles chart with “Superstition,” from his “Talking Book” album that also contains the hit “You Are The Sunshine of My Life.”

1984 – King of Pop, Michael Jackson, suffers second and third degree burns on his scalp during the filming of a Pepsi commercial in Los Angeles.

1991 – Grammy-winning pop legend Whitney Houston performs “The Star Spangled Banner” at Super Bowl XXV in Tampa, Florida to such excellent response that a single (that eventually reaches No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100) and video are rush-released. Houston’s appearance comes amid heightened patriotism across the U.S. during the Persian Gulf War.

1996 – “One Sweet Day” by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men is in the midst of an unprecedented 16 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100.

2001 – Destiny’s Child enjoys the final week of an 11-week reign over the Billboard Hot 100 with “Independent Women, Part I.”

History Highlights

1888 – The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C. for “the increase and diffusion of geographical knowledge.”

1910 – Thomas Crapper, widely considered the prime developer of the flush toilet mechanism still in use today, dies at the age of 73.

1945 – Soviet troops reach the Auschwitz concentration camp complex and liberate some 7,000 remaining prisoners who survived the Holocaust, but were ill and dying. An estimated 1.1 million Auschwitz prisoners were killed between 1940 and 1945.

1965 – Ford introduces the Shelby GT 350, a version of the Mustang sports car developed by auto racer/car designer Carroll Shelby. The vehicle features a 306-horsepower V-8 engine and remains in production through 1971.

1967 – A launch pad fire during a preflight test at Cape Kennedy, Florida, kills Apollo 1 astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee. An investigation determines that a faulty electrical wire inside the command module was the probable cause.

1973 – In Paris, the U.S., South Vietnam, Viet Cong, and North Vietnam formally sign “An Agreement Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam.”

1996 – Tennis great Monica Seles wins her first Grand Slam title since her 1993 stabbing by a mentally unstable fan during a tournament in Hamburg, Germany that led her to take a two-year hiatus from the sport.

Celebrity Birthdays

1756 – Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (d. 1791)

1832 – Writer Lewis Carroll (“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” “Through the Looking-Glass”) (d. 1898)

1921 – Actress Donna Reed (“It’s a Wonderful Life,” “From Here to Eternity,” “The Donna Reed Show”) (d. 1986)

1940 – Emmy-winning actor James Cromwell (“Babe,” “Star Trek: First Contact,” “L.A. Confidential,” “The Green Mile,” “Six Feet Under,” “American Horror Story: Asylum”)

1944 – Pink Floyd founding member-drummer and auto racer Nick Mason

1948 – Dancer-actor Mikhail Baryshnikov (“The Turning Point,” “White Nights,” “Sex and the City”)

1956 – Actress Mimi Rogers (“Someone to Watch Over Me,” “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery”)

1959 – TV host and political commentator Keith Olbermann

1964 – Actress Bridget Fonda (“Single White Female,” “Point of No Return,” “Jackie Brown”)

1979 – Actress Rosamund Pike (“Die Another Day,” “Pride and Prejudice,” “Jack Reacher,” “Gone Girl,” “Entebbe”)

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Peppermint Twist

Joey Dee & The Starliters

Talking Book

Stevie Wonder

Flushed With Pride: The Story of Thomas Crapper

Wallace Reyburn

Failure Is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond

Gene Kranz

The Donna Reed Show

Joanne Morreale

Star Trek VIII: First Contact

Starring Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner and James Cromwell, and directed by Jonathan Frakes