April 03
This Day in American History
1783 - Birthday of Washington Irving at New York, NY. American author, attorney and one-time US Minister to Spain. Creator of “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, he was also the author of many historical and biographical works, including “A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus” and “The Life of Washington”. Died at Tarrytown, NY, Nov 28, 1859.
1822 – Edward Everett Hale, American author, historian and Unitarian minister, was born in Boston where he died in 1909. He published a wide variety of works in fiction, history and biography. He used his writings and the two magazines he founded to advance a number of social reforms, including religious tolerance, the abolition of slavery and wider education.
1823 - Birthday of William March Tweed at New York, NY. New York City political boss, who's "Tweed Ring" is said to have stolen $30 million to $200 million from the city, quite a huge sum of money in its day. He died in his cell at New York's Ludlow Street Jail, Apr 12, 1878. Cartoonist Thomas Nast deserves much credit for “Boss” Tweed's arrests and convictions
1829 - James Carrington of Wallingford, CT, patented the coffee mill.
1837 - John Burroughs, American naturalist and author, was born at Roxbury, NY. "Time does not become sacred to us until we have lived it," he wrote in 1877. Died en route from California to New York, Mar 29, 1921.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/apr03.html
1848 - The Massachusetts legislature passed legislation enabling Boston to levy a tax for a public library. This created the funding model for all public libraries in the US. The Boston Public Library opened its doors in 1854.
1848 - First American public school opened in San Francisco. Thomas Douglas, a Yale graduate, became the first teacher with a salary of $1000. Trustees of the new district, however, soon abandoned it when they ran off to the gold fields.
1854 - First U.S. Mint in San Francisco opened on Commercial St.
1858 - Dr. Matthew Ricketts, first African-American state senator in the Nebraska Legislature, was born in Ricketts, KY. He was also the first African American to graduate from the University of Nebraska College of Medicine in Omaha. He died in 1917.
http://faculty.washington.edu/qtaylor/aa_Vignettes/ricketts_matthew.htm
1860 - The Pony Express began when the first rider left St. Joseph, Missouri. The following day another rider headed east from Sacramento, CA. For $5 an ounce letters were delivered within 10 days. There were 190 way stations between 10 and 15 miles apart, and each rider had a 'run' of between 75 and 100 miles. The Pony Express lasted less than two years, ceasing operation in October 1861, when the overland telegraph was completed. An ad in California newspaper read: "Wanted. Young, skinny, wiry fellows. Not over 18. Must be expert riders. Willing to risk death daily. Orphans.”
1865 - Union forces occupied Petersburg, VA, one day after the Confederate evacuation. Lee's forces moved south but were blocked by Union Troops. After the withdrawal of Robert E. Lee's troops, the Confederate capital of Richmond and nearby Petersburg surrendered to Union forces. Richmond had survived four years of continuous threats from the North, but was destroyed by ravaging fires set by the Confederates not wanting the Union to capture any goods, and looters took what they could steal before the fire swept Richmond. On April 4, the city was toured by President Abraham Lincoln. On April 9, at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Grant. April 14th, ten days after touring the devastated City of Richmond, President Lincoln was assassinated. On May 10th, Confederate President Jefferson Davis was captured at Irwinville, GA. The Civil War was virtually ended, but would not be officially over until April 2, 1866.
1868 - Eyewitness account of a Hawaiian surfing on highest wave ever - a 50' tidal wave. Witnessed by Dr. Gerrit P. Judd.
http://hml.org/mmhc/mdindex/gpjudd1.html
http://www.zoominfo.com/Search/PersonDetail.aspx?PersonID=61525934
http://hotspotshawaii.com/nalostuff/May96/DrJudd.html
http://www.kualoa.com/history.htm
http://www.surfart.com/surf_culture/water10.htm
1882 – The outlaw Jesse James was killed by Bob Ford in St. Joseph, MO. James did not know that Bob Ford had conducted secret negotiations with Missouri Governor Thomas Crittenden. Crittenden had made capture of the James brothers his top priority, declaring in his inaugural address that no political motives could be allowed to keep them from justice. Barred by law from offering a sufficiently large reward, he had turned to the railroad and express corporations to put up a $5,000 bounty for each of them. After eating breakfast, the Fords and James prepared to depart for another robbery. They went in and out of the house to ready the horses. As it was an unusually hot day, James removed his coat, and then removed his firearms, lest he look suspicious. Noticing a dusty picture on the wall, he stood on a chair to clean it. Bob Ford shot James in the back of the head.
1888 - Known as the "Mother of the Blues," Gertrude "Ma" Rainey was born at Columbus, GA. She made her stage debut at the Columbus Opera House in 1900 in a talent show called "The Bunch of Blackberries." After touring together as "Rainey and Rainey, the Assassinators of the Blues," she and her husband eventually separated and she toured on her own. She made her first recording in 1923 and her last on Dec 28, 1928, after being told that the rural southern blues she sang had gone out of style. She died Dec 22, 1939, at Columbus, GA.
http://www.blueflamecafe.com/index.html
http://www.eyeneer.com/America/Genre/Blues/Profiles/ma.rainey.html
1893 - Guitarist William “Ragtime Millionaire” Moore, also known as “One Way,” born Tappahannock, VA
http://www.earlyblues.com/essay_one_way.htm
1898 – Henry Luce was born in China. An American magazine magnate who founded “Time” magazine, he was called "the most influential private citizen in the America of his day." He also launched “Life”, “Fortune”, and “Sports Illustrated”. In 1941, he declared the 20th century would be the "American Century". Luce died in 1967.
1904 - Birthday of Sally Rand, born Helen Gould Beck at Hickory County, MO. She is still talked about to this day. American actress, ecdysiast and inventor of the fan dance, which gained tremendous fame at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. Died at Glendora, CA, Aug 31, 1979.
1906 - Barney Bigard was born Albany Leon Bigard in New Orleans. A jazz clarinetist who also played tenor sax, he was known for his 15 year tenure with Duke Ellington. He also played clarinet with the Louis Armstrong band.
http://www.earlyblues.com/essay_one_way.htm http://atj.8k.com/noartist/atjbigard.html
(I saw him play many times with Louis Armstrong and Cozy Cole's band, plus he played many Dixieland Clubs in Hollywood. I remember speaking with him between sets when I was a teenager in the late 1950's and early 1960's when I was a clarinet player myself. He was a very friendly person
and enjoyed visiting with him between sets.)
1907 – Iron Eyes Cody was born Espera Oscar de Corti in Kaplan, LA. He portrayed Native Americans in films. In 1996, his 100 percent Italian ancestry was confirmed by his half-sister. He died in LA in 1999.
1916 - Birthday of Boogie-Woogie piano player Kenny Kersey, Harrow, Ontario.
http://forums.allaboutjazz.com/printthread.php?t=1711
1916 - San Francisco's favorite newspaper columnist Herb Caen was born in Sacramento, California. His daily column of local goings-on and insider gossip, social and political happenings, painful puns and offbeat anecdotes—"a continuous love letter to San Francisco" - appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle for almost sixty years. On April 9, 1996, Herb Caen won a special Pulitzer Prize for his continuing contribution as a voice and conscience of the city. When he died February 1, 1997 in San Francisco, his funeral was one of the best-attended events in recent city history. He will never be replaced,
although former S.F. Mayor Willie Brown is doing an excellent job in every Sunday edition. I knew him well, but I bet every citizen in San Francisco he had met became his friend, too.
1922 – Joseph Stalin became the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
1924 - Birthday of actress/singer Doris Day, born Doris Van Kappelhoff in Cincinnati, OH. She lives in Carmel Valley, and has a hotel that accepts
dogs: Cypress Inn.
http://www.dorisday.com/
1924 – Marlon Brando was born in Omaha. He is hailed for bringing a gripping realism to film acting, and is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influential actors of all time. A cultural icon, Brando is most famous for his Oscar-winning performances as Terry Malloy in “On The Waterfront” (1954) and as Vito Corleone in “The Godfather” (1972), as well as influential performances in “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1951), “The Wild One” (1953), “Last Tango in Paris” (1972) and “Apocalypse Now” (1979). Brando was also an activist, supporting many causes, notably the Civil Rights movement and Native American causes. He died in 2004.
1926 – Astronaut Gus Grissom was born in Mitchell, IN. He was one of the original seven Mercury astronauts, the second to fly in space, and the first astronaut to fly in space twice. On Jan 27, 1967, Grissom was killed along with fellow astronauts Ed White and Roger Chaffee during a pre-launch test for the Apollo I mission at Cape Kennedy. He was the first of the Mercury Seven to die. He was also a recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross and, posthumously, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.
1927 - Harmonica player Little Junior Parker born West Memphis, AR
http://www.blueflamecafe.com/index.html
1930 - The fledgling film industry patted itself on its collective back this night at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. They were celebrating the 2nd Annual Academy Awards presentation for movies made during the 1928-1929 year. (Movies made during the 1929-1930 year were honored seven months later on November 5.) There were no 'officially' announced nominees; but there was a host for the evening's activities: Writer, director, producer William C. de Mille. No one ran away with all the awards either. The Best Director was Frank Lloyd for "The Divine Lady"; Warner Baxter was voted Best Actor for his role in "In Old Arizona", while Mary Pickford took home the Best Actress award for her part in "Coquette". Hanns Kräly penned the script for "The Patriot", winning the Best Writing award and the Best Picture of the year was "The Broadway Melody" produced by Harry Rapf.
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0147930.html
1930 - The man who became known as World War II's "baby vet," Calvin Graham was born at Canton, TX, and enlisted in the Navy at the age of 12. As a gunner on the USS South Dakota, he was struck by shrapnel during the battle of Guadalcanal in 1942 but still helped pull fellow crew members to safety. The Navy gave Graham a dishonorable discharge, revoked his disability benefits and stripped him of his decorations, including a Purple Heart and Bronze Star, after discovering his age. Eventually, through congressional efforts, he was granted an honorable discharge and won back all but the Purple Heart. His benefits were restored in 1988. Graham died Nov 6, 1992, at Fort Worth, TX. [Sounds familiar…my father, Air Force S/Sgt Vincent A. Mango, left his Harlem home at age 15 and enlisted, serving nearly two years before they realized he was underage. They discharged him immediately, only to re-enlist when he turned 17 immediately after Pearl Harbor. He flew tail gunner in B-25s in Europe, including the diversionary bombing of Calais to draw German attention away from Normandy. He flew 66 missions…and he never received credit for the underage service. Ralph Mango.]
1933 - First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt informed newspaper reporters that beer would be served at the White House. This followed the March 22 legislation legalizing ‘3.2' beer.
1934 – Jane Goodall was born in London. An English primatologist, ethologist, anthropologist, and UN Messenger of Peace, she is considered to be the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees. Goodall is best known for her 55-year study of social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees in Tanzania.
1936 - Birthday of the fabulous blues organist Jimmy McGriff, Philadelphia, PA.
http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/mcgriff_jimmy/bio.jhtml
http://theatreorgans.com/grounds/groove/mcgriff.html
http://www.dougpayne.com/jmd6679.htm
1936 – Bruno Richard Hauptman was executed for the kidnapping and death of Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., the baby son of pilot Charles Lindbergh. He was electrocuted in New Jersey State Prison.
1939 - "Mr. District Attorney" was heard for the first time on NBC radio. The serial about the ‘champion of the people' was originally a 15-minute nightly program. In June of 1939, the program went to a half-hour weekly format. "Mr. District Attorney" aired until 1952.
1941 - Jan Berry was born William Jan Berry in LA. He and Dean Torrance were the early rock ‘n’ roll team, Jan & Dean, and cranked out hit after hit: “The Little Old Lady from Pasadena”, “Dead Man's Curve”, “Heart and Soul”, “Linda”, “Baby Talk”, “Surf City”. On April 12, 1966, Berry received severe head injuries in an automobile accident on Whittier Drive, just a short distance from Dead Man’s Curve in Beverly Hills, two years after the song had become a hit. A story line was that he was upset about his breakup with his girlfriend. Berry was in a coma for nearly two months; he awoke on the morning of June 16, 1966. Berry died in 2004. http://www.jananddean.com
http://www.march19.com/janberry/jan-berry.htm
(I went to University High School with him, played pick-up bass a few times, I believe for Bruce Johnson.)
1941 - Birthday of lead singer for The Spinners, Philippe Wynne, Cincinnati, Ohio.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Wynne
http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/Philippe%20Wynne.html
1942 – Japanese forces began their brutal assault at Bataan against the US and Filipino troops. This represented the most intense phase of Japan’s invasion of the Philippines during the war. In January 1942, Japanese forces invaded Luzon and several islands in the Philippine Archipelago after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The commander-in-chief of all Filipino and American forces in the islands, General Douglas MacArthur, consolidated all of his Luzon-based units on the Bataan Peninsula to fight against the Japanese invaders. By this time, the Japanese controlled nearly all of Southeast Asia. Bataan and Corregidor were the only remaining Allied strongholds in the region. Despite a lack of supplies, Filipino-American forces managed to fight the Japanese for three-months, engaging them initially in a fighting retreat southward. As the combined Filipino and American forces made a last stand, the delay cost the Japanese valuable time and prohibited immediate victory across the Pacific. The surrender at Bataan was the largest in American and Filipino military histories and was the largest United States surrender since the Civil War at Harper’s Ferry. Soon afterwards, Filipino and American POWs were forced into the Bataan Death March. On the night of 12 March, General MacArthur, his family, and several USAFFE staff officers left Corregidor for Mindanao. MacArthur was eventually flown to Australia where he broadcast to the Filipino people his famous "I Shall Return" promise. 1942 - "People Are Funny" was first heard on NBC radio. Art Baker was the show's first host. Art Linkletter took over the popular program on radio in 1943 and later moved it to television.
1942 - Birthday of singer (Carson) Wayne Newton, born Roanoke, VA
http://www.nndb.com/people/397/000024325/
http://www.doney.net/aroundaz/celebrity/newton_wayne.htm
http://www.waynenewton.com/
1942 – Singer Billy Joe Royal was born in Valdosta, GA.
1944 - Birthday of singer Tony Orlando, New York, NY. Lead singer of Dawn, later known as Tony Orlando and Dawn: “Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree”, “Sweet Gypsy Rose”, “He Don't Love You”, “Who's In The Strawberry Patch With Sally”, “Cupid”, “Steppin' Out (Gonna Boogie Tonight)” and “Mornin' Beautiful”. http://www.tonyorlandoonline.com/tonybio.htm
http://www.tonyorlando.com/
1944 - The US Supreme Court, in an 8-1 ruling, declared that African-Americans could not be barred from voting in the Texas Democratic primaries. The high court repudiated the contention that political parties are private associations and held that discrimination against blacks violated the 15th Amendment.
1945 - WETZEL, WALTER C., Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, 13th Infantry, 8th Infantry Division. Place and date: Birken, Germany, 3 April 1945. Entered service at: Roseville, Mich. Birth: Huntington, W. Va. G.O. No.: 21, 26 February 1946. Citation: Pfc. Wetzel, an acting squad leader with the Antitank Company of the 13th Infantry, was guarding his platoon's command post in a house at Birken, Germany, during the early morning hours of 3 April 1945, when he detected strong enemy forces moving in to attack. He ran into the house, alerted the occupants and immediately began defending the post against heavy automatic weapons fire coming from the hostile troops. Under cover of darkness the Germans forced their way close to the building where they hurled grenades, 2 of which landed in the room where Pfc. Wetzel and the others had taken up firing positions. Shouting a warning to his fellow soldiers, Pfc. Wetzel threw himself on the grenades and, as they exploded, absorbed their entire blast, suffering wounds from which he died. The supreme gallantry of Pfc. Wetzel saved his comrades from death or serious injury and made it possible for them to continue the defense of the command post and break the power of a dangerous local counterthrust by the enemy. His unhesitating sacrifice of his life was in keeping with the U.S. Army's highest traditions of bravery and heroism.
1946 – Japanese Lt. Gen. Masaharu Homma was executed in the Philippines for leading the Bataan Death march.
1948 - Suggested by Secretary of State George C. Marshall in a speech at Harvard, June 5, 1947, the legislation for the European Recovery Program, popularly known as the Marshall Plan. It was signed by President Truman today into law. After distributing more than $12 billion, the program ended in 1952.
1949 - Lyle Martin Alzado, football player born at New York, NY. Alzado grew up on Long Island and graduated from Yankton College in South Dakota with a bachelor's degree in special education. He played football, earning Little All-America honors, and was drafted in 1971 by the Denver Broncos. Alzado gained fame as part of Denver's “Orange Crush” defense and for his fierce demeanor. He was traded to the Cleveland Browns in 1979 and in 1982 to the Los Angeles Raiders. After retiring at the end of the 1985 season, Alzado acted in movies. He was diagnosed with brain cancer in 1991, which he attributed to a lifetime of steroid usage. He spent the last months of his life campaigning against steroids and human growth hormone. Died at Lake Oswego, OR, May 14, 1992.
1952 - Harry Belafonte recorded his first songs for RCA Victor at Manhattan Center in New York City.
1953 - For the first time, Radnor, Pennsylvania's "TV Guide" was published. In its first year, the publication reached a circulation of 1,500,000 readers.
1955 - Fred Astaire made his television debut on "The Toast of the Town", hosted by Ed Sullivan. Already an established dancer in films, Astaire quickly became a television sensation too.
1955 – The American ACLU announced that it will defend Allen Ginsburg’s book “Howl” against obscenity charges.
1956 - Elvis Presley makes the first of two appearances on "The Milton Berle Show," Presley sings "Heartbreak Hotel," "Money, Honey" and "Blue Suede Shoes" and earns $5,000. It's estimated one out of every four Americans sees his performance.
1957 - Top Hits
“Little Darlin'” - The Diamonds
“All Shook Up” - Elvis Presley
“Gone” - Ferlin Husky
“There You Go” - Johnny Cash
1960 - The Everly Brothers, later named by the Beatles and Rolling Stone Keith Richards as prime influences, make their British concert debut, kicking off their first U.K. tour. Paul Simon and Art Garfunkle also stated they started out singing to follow their idols, the Everly Brothers (who they brought along in the concert re-union across the country.)
1960 - Elvis Presley enters a Nashville studio where he records "It's Now or Never" and "Are You Lonesome Tonight?"
1961 - Birthday of comedian Eddie Murphy, Brooklyn, NY.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000552/
http://www.sonymusic.com/artists/EddieMurphy/bio.html
http://www.div.ca/eddie/
1962 - “The Birmingham Resistance.” In retaliation against a black boycott of downtown stores, the Birmingham, AL, City Commission voted not to pay the city's $45,000 share of a $100,000 county program which supplied surplus food to the needy. More than 90 percent of the recipients of aid were black. When the NAACP protested the Commission's decision, Birmingham Mayor Arthur J. Hanes dismissed their complaint as a "typical reaction from New York Socialist radicals."
1962 - Race jockey Eddie Arcaro retired with 15,327 victories for total winnings of $12,265,455. Arcaro had the distinction to be the first jockey to win 3,000 races and the first to ride five Kentucky Derby winners including: Lawrin, Whirl-a-Way, Hoop Jr., Citation and Hill Gail.
1963 - Martin Luther King, Jr., launches voter registration drive in Birmingham, Alabama, Police Chief "Bull" Connor responds with fire hoses & attack dogs. Sit-ins and demonstrations were begun by Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and volunteers. The progressive city government and Connor will get an injunction to prevent demonstrations on April 11, and King and many others will be jailed on the 12th for violating the injunction.
1965 - One of the great all-time party classics, Sam the Sham (Domingo "Sam" Samudio) and the Pharaoh's "Wooly Bully" is released.
1965 - Top Hits
“Stop! In the Name of Love” - The Supremes
“I'm Telling You Now” - Freddie & The Dreamers
“Shotgun” - Jr. Walker & The All Stars
“King of the Road” - Roger Miller
1965 - Students at UC Berkeley circulated a flyer which claimed seismologist Dr. Charles Richter suggested the next big earthquake would be centered in the East Bay. It was a tongue-in-cheek ad for the Johnny Otis Show at Zellerbach Hall which, the flyer said, met all State earthquake requirements.
1965 - Bob Dylan appeared on the pop music charts for the first time. "Subterranean Homesick Blues" entered the Top 40 at number 39. The song stayed on the charts for eight weeks. Dylan would chart a total of 12 singles on the pop charts between 1965 and 1979. He appeared in the films "Don't Look Back", "Eat the Document" and "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid". He made the film "Renaldo and Clara" in 1978. Dylan co-starred in the film "Hearts of Fire" in 1987. He became a member of the Traveling Wilburys and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. Dylan won the Grammy's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1991.
1968 - “2001: A Space Odyssey” premiered. Directed by Stanley Kubrick, this influential film has elicited many different interpretations. Sci-fi novelist Arthur C. Clarke based the screenplay on his 1966 book which was prescient in several ways. Written before men had landed on the moon, Clarke describes an expedition launched to Jupiter to track a mysterious signal emanating from the moon. Clarke gave the world's population as six billion (achieved in 1999) and described a space station (the US was at that time building one with Russia). During a flight, a character reads the news on his electronic news pad. The film starred Keir Dullea, William Sylvester, Gary Lockwood, Daniel Richter and HAL 9000, the creepy computer that had human emotions. The theme music was Richard Strauss's “Also Sprach Zarathrustra”.
1969 - 7,000 Illinois National Guardsmen mobilized to quell a wave of shooting, stoning and looting that broke out in black neighborhoods of Chicago in response to alleged police brutality.
1968 – Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop”
1971 -The Temptations hit the top of the Billboard Pop chart for the third and final time with "Just My Imagination". They would place 11 more songs in the US Top 40 over the next 20 years.
1973 - Capitol Records issued two Beatles' greatest hits packages - "The Beatles: 1962-1966" and "The Beatles: 1967-1970."
1973 - Top Hits
“Killing Me Softly with His Song” - Roberta Flack
“Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)” - Deodato
“Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)” - Gladys Knight & The Pips
“Keep Me in Mind” - Lynn Anderson
1973 – Motorola’s Martin Cooper made the first call using a handheld mobile phone to Joel Engel of Bell Labs. It took ten years for the DynaTAC 8000X to become the first such phone to be commercially released.
1974 - Patty Hearst announces in a taped message to a Berkeley radio station that she has joined her kidnappers, the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA): "I would never choose to live the rest of my life surrounded by pigs like the Hearsts".
1974 - A "Super-Outbreak" of tornadoes ravaged the Midwest and the eastern U.S. Severe weather erupted early in the afternoon and continued through the next day. Severe thunderstorms spawned 148 tornadoes from Alabama to Michigan, most of which occurred between 1 PM (CST) on the 3rd and 1 AM on the 4th. The tornadoes killed 315 persons, injured 5300 others, and caused 600 million dollars damage. Alabama, Kentucky and Ohio were especially hard hit in the tornado outbreak. One tornado destroyed half of the town of Xenia, OH killing 34 persons. Another tornado, near the town of Stamping Ground, KY, produced a path of destruction a record five miles in width. A tornado raced through Guin, AL at a speed of 75 mph. Two powerful tornadoes roared across northern Alabama during the early evening hours, killing fifty persons and injuring 500 others. Some rescue vehicles responding to the first tornado were struck by the second.
1975 – Bobby Fischer refused to play chess against Russian Anatoly Karpov, giving Karpov the title of World Champion by default.
1976 - Johnnie Taylor's "Disco Lady" climbed to number one on the Billboard Pop chart. It would become the first disc to be given the newly introduced Platinum Award by The Recording Industry Association of America.
1978 – 50th Anniversary of the Academy Awards at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, with Bob Hope as the host of the festivities. Although "Star Wars" was nominated in 10 categories including Best Picture. "Annie Hall" (Charles H. Joffe, Producer) won the top award, as well as Oscars for Best Director (Woody Allen); Best Actress (Diane Keaton); and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen (Woody Allen, Marshall Brickman. The Best Actor statuette went to Richard Dreyfuss for his performance in "The Goodbye Girl"; Jason Robards was acclaimed as the Best Actor in a Supporting Role ("Julia"); his supporting co-star, Vanessa Redgrave, also took home the golden boy; as did Joseph Brooks for Best Music/Song: "You Light Up My Life" from the movie with the same title. "Star Wars" was honored with six Academy Awards plus the Special Achievement honor to Benjamin Burtt, Jr. for Sound Effects (for the creation of the alien, creature and robot voices) which he shared with Frank Warner ("Close Encounters of the Third Kind" - Sound Effects Editing). The other Academy Awards for "Star Wars" were: Best Music/Original Score (John Williams); Best Effects/Visual Effects (John Stears, John Dykstra, Richard Edlund, Grant McCune, Robert Blalack); Best Film Editing (Paul Hirsch, Marcia Lucas, Richard Chew); Best Sound (Don MacDougall, Ray West, Bob Minkler, Derek Ball); Best Costume Design (John Mollo); Best Art Direction-Set Decoration (John Barry, Norman Reynolds, Leslie Dilley, Roger Christian).
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0149393.html
1979 - Jane Byrne became the first female mayor in Chicago's history.
1979 - Van Halen's "Van Halen II" goes gold just five days before the band takes off on a triumphant ten-month tour. The long trip is the opposite of the way Van Halen records. For their second LP, they took a mere six days in the studio, one-third the time required for their first album.
1981 – “Atlantic City”, starring Burt Lancaster and Susan Sarandon, and directed by Louis Malle, opened in theaters through the country. The film won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards for Best Actor, Best Picture, and Best Screenplay, and was nominated for five Oscars, although it was edged out.
1981 - Top Hits
“Rapture” - Blondie
“Woman” - John Lennon
“The Best of Times” - Styx
“Texas Women” - Hank Williams, Jr.
1981 – The Osborne I, the first successful portable computer, was unveiled in San Francisco. Did some leasing, until we saw financial
states with high inventory. He made the mistake of announcing a
major improvement, before ready to ship, as well as just having
shipped to dealers the older version to become obsolete.
1982 - John Chancellor stepped down as anchor of the "The NBC Nightly News". Roger Mudd and Tom Brokaw assumed roles as co-anchors.
1982 - Gilbert Perreault of the Buffalo Sabres scored the 1,000th point of his NHL career, an assist in the Bruins' 7-4 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs. Ratelle finished his career with 1,267 points and entered the Hockey hall of Fame in 1985.
1985 - The famed Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood closed on this day, after 57 years. All of the furnishings were kept, including famous Booth #5 -- where Clark Gable proposed to Carole Lombard.
1987 - The New Jersey Nets honored former Net Julius “Dr. J” Erving by retiring his number, 32. The ceremony occurred during a game against the Philadelphia 76ers, the team with whom Irving was finishing his 16-year career.
1988 - The Traveling Wilburys record "Handle With Care" in Malibu, Florida. The Quintet is comprised of Nelson (George Harrison), Lucky (Bob Dylan), Otis (Jeff Lynn), Charlie (Tom Petty) and Lefty (Roy Orbison).
1989 - Thunderstorms produced severe weather from the Southern Plains to the southern and central Appalachians. The thunderstorms spawned twenty tornadoes, including one which caused eight million dollars damage at Fort Branch IN.
1989 - Top Hits
“Eternal Flame” - Bangles
“Girl You Know It's True” - Milli Vanilli
“The Look” - Roxette
“Baby's Gotten Good at Goodbye” - George Strait
1990 - Rain and snow prevailed in the northeastern U.S., with snow reported in New York State. Boston was soaked with 2.91 inches of rain during the day and night, and up to half a foot of snow blanketed the hills of Steuben County, NY that Tuesday night.
1991 - The UN Security Council approved a Gulf cease-fire resolution stripping Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, impounding part of its oil revenues to pay reparations and paving the way for the withdrawal of United States occupation troops.
1993 - Ray Charles became the first performer to have hits on Billboard's charts in six different decades when his version of Leon Russell's "A Song for You" entered the R&B singles chart. Charles had his first R'n'B charter in April, 1949 with "Confession Blues" as a member of the Maxine Trio.
1994 - After 37 years with CBS, newsman Charles Kuralt retired. The 59-year-old anchor made his final appearance on the CBS weekend news show, “Sunday Morning”, in order to pursue travel and book-writing plans. He said he wanted to visit some of his favorite small towns in the country that he had done news stories on over the years. Kuralt, with his unique, deeply melodic voice and eloquent delivery, was best known for his homey “On the Road” broadcasts which focused on the small towns of America. He was replaced by Charles Osgood. Upon his retirement, he stated that the John Steinbeck book “Travels with Charlie” was the inspiration of the series. Surprisingly after his death, it was revealed that he was married to two separate women with separate families and neither knew about the other family. He had been living this secret life for over 25 years.
1995 - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor became the first woman to preside over the US high court when she sat in for Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and second-in-seniority Justice John Paul Stevens when both were out of town.
1996 - In one of the biggest Rock n' Roll turnarounds, Rapper Hammer (formerly known as M.C. Hammer) files for bankruptcy.
1996 - A plane carrying United States Commerce Secretary Ron Brown crashed in Croatia, killing all 29 passengers and six crew members aboard.
1996 – The Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, was captured at his cabin in Montana.
2000 – Microsoft was ruled to have violated anti-trust laws by keeping "an oppressive thumb" on its competitors.
2008 - With her 18th chart-topping hit, "Touch My Body", 38 year old Mariah Carey passed Elvis Presley for the most number one songs on the Billboard singles chart, placing her second only to The Beatles.
2008 – ATA Airlines, once of the ten largest U.S. passenger airlines and largest charter airline, filed for bankruptcy for the second time in five years and ceases all operations.
2008 – Texas law enforcement cordoned off the FLDS’ YFZ Ranch. Eventually 533 women and children will be removed and taken into state custody.
2009 - Jiverly Antares Wong opened fire at an American Civic Assn immigration center in Binghamton, NY, killing thirteen and wounding four before committing suicide
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NCAA Basketball Champions
1988 - Michigan
1995 - UCLA
Stanley Cup Champions
1930 - Montreal Canadiens
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