On This Day: February 24

On This Day February 24

Click each item below to learn more!

Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1874 – Honus Wagner (a.k.a. “The Flying Dutchman”), one of the original five Baseball Hall of Fame inductees, who primarily played for his hometown team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, for 21 seasons. (d. 1955)

1921 – Actor Abe Vigoda, best known as mobster Sal Tessio in “The Godfather” and as NYPD detective Phil Fish in the sitcom “Barney Miller” (d. 2016)

1945 – Actor Barry Bostwick (“The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” “Spin City,” “Scandal”)

1947 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor Edward James Olmos (“Blade Runner,” “Stand and Deliver,” “Battlestar Gallactica”) 

1950 – Blues-rock singer-songwriter George Thorogood (“Bad to the Bone,” “I Drink Alone”)

1955 – Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs (d. 2011)

1965 – Actress Kristin Davis (“Melrose Place,” “Sex and the City”)

1966 – Actor Billy Zane (“Dead Calm,” “The Phantom,” “Titanic,” “Tombstone”)

1977 – Five-division world champion boxer Floyd Mayweather, Jr. 

History Highlights
History Highlights

1836 – Under attack by soldiers of the Mexican Army, Colonel William Travis issues an urgent call for reinforcements on behalf of his Texan troops defending the Alamo in Bejar, Texas (San Antonio today).

1868 – Andrew Johnson becomes the first U.S. president to be impeached by the House of Representatives, which charges him with violating the Tenure of Office Act and bringing into “disgrace, ridicule, hatred, contempt, and reproach the Congress of the United States.” Johnson, who assumed office after the Lincoln assassination, is acquitted three months later in the Senate.

1903 – U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt signs a deal with the new government of Cuba to lease 45 square miles at the mouth of Guantanamo Bay for 2,000 gold coins a year.

1909 – The Hudson Motor Car Company is founded. In the mid-1950s, it becomes American Motors, best known for production of the Gremlin and Pacer.

1968 – The Tet Offensive ends as U.S. and South Vietnamese troops recapture the ancient capital of Hue from communist forces.

1981 – Socialite Jean Harris is convicted of murdering ex-lover Dr. Herman Tarnower, author of the bestselling “The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet,” concluding a sensational trial that ignited a national debate about whether Harris was a woman scorned or a victim of abuse.

1988 – The U.S. Supreme Court sides with Larry Flynt’s Hustler magazine by overturning a lower court decision to award the Reverend Jerry Falwell $200,000 for defamation.

1991 – After the six-week-long bombing campaign against Iraq and its armed forces known as Operation Desert Storm, U.S.-led coalition forces launch a massive ground offensive against Kuwait and Iraq.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1958 – The Silhouettes are on top of the Billboard pop chart with “Get a Job.” Thanks to the band’s performances on “American Bandstand” and “The Dick Clark Show,” the single goes on to sell over a million copies.

1968 – French orchestra leader Paul Mauriat is in the middle of a five-week run atop the Billboard singles chart with his instrumental, “Love is Blue.” It is the only song by a French artist to ever top Hot 100.

1973 – Roberta Flack begins a five-week reign over the singles chart with “Killing Me Softly with His Song.” The song garners Flack the 1973 Grammy Award for Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female, with co-writers Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel earning the Song of the Year Grammy.

1975 – Led Zeppelin’s sixth studio album, “Physical Graffiti,” is released in the U.S. and immediately sees one million copies ship — a whopping order for Atlantic Records. The double album, which features the iconic photo of a New York City tenement on the cover, contains some of the band’s most memorable tracks, including “Kashmir,” “Ten Years Gone” and “In My Time of Dying.”

1982 – Winners at the 24th Annual Grammy Awards include John Lennon and Yoko Ono for Album of the Year (“Double Fantasy”), songwriters Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon for Song of the Year (“Bette Davis Eyes” performed by Kim Carnes), Sheena Easton for Best New Artist and Quincy Jones for Producer of the Year.

1990 – Singer-songwriter and pianist Johnnie Ray dies of liver failure at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. Ray is credited with 20 Top 40 singles between 1952 and 1960, including “Just Walking in the Rain.”

1990 – Paula Abdul and The Wild Pair enjoy their third and final week as Billboard chart-toppers with “Opposites Attract.”

1996 – “One Sweet Day” by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men is the No. 1 single.

2001 – “Stutter,” by Joe featuring Mystikal, kicks off four weeks on top of the pop chart.

2007 – Nelly Furtado lands on top of the Billboard Hot 100 for a week with “Say It Right.”

READ MORE
On This Day: December 2

On This Day December 2

Click each item below to learn more!

Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1925 – Five-time Tony Award-winning actress Julie Harris (“The Member of the Wedding,” “I Am a Camera,” “The Lark,” “East of Eden,” “The Haunting”) (d. 2013)

1944 – Actress Cathy Lee Crosby (“The Laughing Policeman,” “Wonder Woman”)

1946 – Fashion designer Gianni Versace (d. 1997)

1968 – Actress Lucy Liu (“Ally McBeal,” “Charlie’s Angels,” “Kill Bill,” “Chicago,” “Southland,” the “Kung Fu Panda” series, “Elementary”)

1973 – Retired international tennis champion Monica Seles

1978 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado (“Turn Off the Light,” “I’m Like a Bird”)

1981 – Grammy-winning pop superstar Britney Spears

History Highlights
History Highlights

1823 – President James Monroe delivers a speech establishing American neutrality in future European conflicts—a policy that comes to be known as the Monroe Doctrine.

1954 – The U.S. Senate votes to condemn Senator Joseph McCarthy for “conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute.” The move was prompted by McCarthy’s controversial investigation of suspected communists in the federal government, military and civilian society.

1970 – The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is established to protect the public health and environment.

1982 – Sixty-one-year-old Barney Clark becomes the first human recipient of a permanent artificial heart. Near death at the time of the operation, Clark survives 112 days after the surgery.

1997 – Nominated for a staggering nine Academy Awards, “Good Will Hunting” premieres in Los Angeles and goes on to earn childhood friends Ben Affleck and Matt Damon a Best Original Screenplay Oscar — propelling them to Hollywood fame. The movie, directed by Gus Van Sant, also garners Robin Williams the only Oscar of his career — for Best Supporting Actor.

2001 – Enron Corporation files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, exposing one of the largest corporate scandals in U.S. history. Before its collapse, the Houston-based energy trading giant employed some 20,000 people who now had to pack their belongings and look for new jobs. Investors lost billions.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1967 – The Monkees rule the Billboard singles chart with “Daydream Believer,” the band’s third and final No. 1 hit. The track holds the top spot for four weeks.

1972 – “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” by The Temptations, is the No. 1 single. The song is the legendary Motown band’s last No. 1 hit and goes on to capture three Grammys.

1978 – The Neil Diamond-Barbra Streisand duet, “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers,” is on top of the Billboard Hot 100.

1983 – Michael Jackson’s groundbreaking “Thriller” video, featuring narration by Vincent Price and directed by John Landis, premieres. In 2009, it is inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress — the first music video to ever receive this honor — for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant.

1989 – Milli Vanilli are chart toppers for a second straight week with “Blame It on the Rain.”

1995 – “One Sweet Day,” by Mariah Carey and Boys II Men, begins an incredible 16-week ride atop the Billboard singles chart.

2000 – “Independent Women Part I,” by Destiny’s Child, is in the midst of an 11-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100. The track is from the 2000 movie adaptation of “Charlie’s Angels.”

READ MORE
On this Day: July 15

On this Day July 15

Click each item below to learn more!

Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1606 – Dutch artist Rembrandt (d. 1669)

1935 – Pro football player-turned-actor Alex Karras (d. 2012)

1944- Actor Jan-Michael Vincent, best remembered from the 1980s TV series “Airwolf”  

1946 – Grammy and Emmy-winning singer-songwriter Linda Ronstadt (“You’re No Good,” “Blue Bayou”)

1950 – Author-media mogul Arianna Huffington, publisher of The Huffington Post

1951 – Pro wrestler and former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura

1952 – Emmy-winning actor Terry O’Quinn, best known for portraying John Locke in TV’s “Lost” 

1960 – Supermodel and actress Kim Alexis

1961 – Oscar-winning actor-producer-director Forest Whitaker (“Platoon,” “Good Morning, Vietnam,” “Bird,” “The Crying Game,” “Panic Room,” “Phone Booth,” “The Last King of Scotland,” “Lee Daniels’ The Butler”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1903 – The newly formed Ford Motor Company receives its first automobile order. The customer is Chicago dentist Ernst Pfenning, who buys an $850 two-cylinder Model A with a tonneau, or backseat. The vehicle is delivered a week later.

1968 – Agnes Nixon’s daytime soap opera “One Life to Live” premieres on ABC and goes on to launch many successful acting careers. 

1971 – During a live television and radio broadcast, President Richard Nixon stuns Americans by announcing that he will visit the People’s Republic of China the following year. 

1979 – President Jimmy Carter delivers his famous “Crisis of Confidence” speech, later referred to as the “malaise speech,” in which he challenged Americans to overcome consumersism and materialism to solve the energy crisis and other challenges.

1988 – A new action-thriller movie franchise is born as “Die Hard” opens in U.S. theaters, starring Bruce Willis as detective John McClane, who single-handedly battles a terrorist group led by Alan Rickman that is holding hostages inside a Los Angeles skyscraper.

1997 – World-renowned Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace is shot to death outside his Miami mansion by serial killer Andrew Cunanan, who was already wanted in connection with four other murders across the U.S.

2006 – Podcasting company Odeo launches the social media platform Twitter as twttr, touting it as “a new mobile service that helps groups of friends bounce random thoughts around with SMS.” Twitter’s popularity explodes, with the service boasting more than 300 million users by 2016.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1967 – The Association is in the midst of a four-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Windy.”

1972 – Elton John’s “Honky Château,” the album that introduces “Rocket Man” and “Honky Cat,” begins five weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart. Sir Elton’s fifth studio album is named after the 18th century French estate where it was recorded — Château d’Hérouville.

1978 – “Some Girls,” by The Rolling Stones, lands on top of the Billboard album chart, delivering three Top 40 hits: “Miss You,” “Beast of Burden” and “Shattered.”

1986 – Columbia Records drops country music legend Johnny Cash, ending a 26-year relationship. Cash is later signed by Mercury Records, and in 1994, releases his first album with producer Rick Rubin’s American Recordings label, beginning a major comeback.

1989 – Simply Red has its second No. 1 single — this time with the cover of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes’ 1973 smash “If You Don’t Know Me By Now.”

1995 – “Waterfalls,” by TLC, flows into its second week as a chart-topper. The track remains at No. 1 for a total of seven weeks.

2000 – “Everything You Want,” by Vertical Horizon, tops the Billboard Hot 100 and remains there for a week.

2006 – “Promiscuous,” by Nelly Furtado featuring Timbaland, is in the midst of a six-week run atop the pop chart.

READ MORE