History Blog

Category Archives: History

February 8

Happy Birthday RIP Julia “Lana” Turner (1921–1995) Audrey Meadows Allen (Cotter 1922–1996) John “Jack” Lemmon III (1925–2001) James Byron Dean.(1931–1955) Gary Coleman (1968–2010) ; John Williams–93 Edward “Ted” Koppel–85 Nicholas “Nick” Nolte–84 Robert Klein–83 Brooke Adams–76 Mary Steenburgen–72 John Grisham Jr–70 Ethan Phillips–70 Vincent Neil Wharton–64 Mary McCormack–56 Seth Green–51 Liam McIntyre–43 James “Jim” Verraros–42 ; 1910 – The Boy Scouts of America is incorporated by William D. Boyce ; 1960 – The first eight brass star plaques are installed in the Hollywood Walk of Fame near Hollywood and Gower

February 7

Happy Birthday RIP Charles Dickens(1812–1870) Harry Sinclair Lewis(1885–1951) Clarence “Buster” Crabbe II(1908–1983) Edward “Eddie” Bracken(1915–2002) Miguel Ferrer(1955–2017) ; James Spader–65 Troyal Garth Brooks–63 Edward “Eddie” Izzard–63 Christopher Rock III–60 Robyn Lively–53 Christopher Ashton Kutcher–47 ; 1935 – The classic board game Monopoly is invented ; 1940 – The second full-length animated Walt Disney film, Pinocchio, premieres.

February 6

Happy Birthday RIP George “Babe” Ruth Jr (1895–1948) Robert “Bob” Marley (1945–1981) Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) Natalie Cole (1950–2015) Sári “Zsa Zsa” Gábor (1917–2016) Elmore “Rip” Torn Jr (1931–2019) ; “Mamie Van Doren”(Joan Olander)–94 Michael “Mike” Farrell–86 Thomas “Tom” Brokaw–85 Fabiano Forte(“Fabian”)–82 Kathy Najimy–68 William “Axl” Rose–63 Richard “Rick” Astley–59 Joshua Stewart–48 Alice Eve–43 ; 1952 – Elizabeth Alexandra Mary (Windsor) becomes queen regnant of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms upon the death of her father, George VI. Elizabeth II is second Queen with that name.

February 5

Happy Birthday RIP Richmond “John” Carradine(1906–1988) “Red Buttons”(Aaron Chwatt 1919–2006) Henry “Hank” Aaron (1934–2020) Thomas “Tom” Wilkinson(1948–2023) ; David Selby–84 Barbara Hershey(Herzstein)–77 Timothy “Tim” Meadows–64 Jennifer Jason Leigh(Morrow)–63 Laura Linney–61 Thomas Christopher Parnell–58 Robert “Bobby” Brown–56 Paul Vandervort–40 Darren Criss–38 ; 1919 – Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D.W. Griffith launch United Artists studio (UA) later bought by MGM

February 4

Happy Birthday RIP Charles Lindbergh (1902–1974) Rosa McCauley Parks (1913–2005) Bettye Goldstein(“Betty Friedan” 1921–2006) Conrad Bain (1923–2013) David Brenner (1936–2014) ; Conrad John Schuck–85 Vincent Furnier(“Alice Cooper”)–77 Masanori Takahashi(“Kitaro”)–72 Vincent Walsh–53 Oscar De La Hoya–52 Brandon “Bug” Hall–40 ; 2004 – Facebook, a mainstream online social networking site, is founded by Mark Zuckerberg

February 3

Happy Birthday RIP Norman Perceval Rockwell(1894–1978) Charles Victor Bruno(1938–1982) John Fiedler(1925–2005) Joey Bishop(Joseph Gottlieb 1918–2007) Dr. Henry Heimlich(1920–2016) ; Francis “Fran” Tarkenton–85 Blythe Danner–82 “Morgan Fairchild”(Patsy McClenny)–75 Joseph “Nathan” Lane–69 Maura Tierney–60 Isla Fisher–49 ; 1913 – The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect income tax

February 2

Happy Birthday RIP Howard Johnson(1897–1972) Elaine Stritch (1925–2014) Farrah Fawcett (1947–2009) Carol Ann Susi (1952–2014) Thomas Smothers III(1937–2023) ; Graham Nash–83 Brent Spiner–76 Christie Brinkley(Hudson)–71 Adam Ferrara–59 Shakira Ripoll–48 ; 1653 – New Amsterdam (later renamed The City of New York) is incorporated ; 1887 – In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the first Groundhog Day is observed

February 1

Happy Birthday RIP William Clark Gable(1901–1960) Boris Yeltsin(Борис Ельцин 1931–2007) “Rick James”(James Johnson Jr 1948–2004) Sherman Hemsley(1938–2012) Joseph “Joe” Sample(1939–2014) Stuart Whitman(1928–2020) Isaac Donald Everly(1937–2021) Lisa Marie Presley(1968–2023; Garrett Morris–88 Sheryl Ann Fenn–60 Brian Krause–56 Michael C. Hall–54 ; 1884 – The first volume (A to Ant) of the Oxford English Dictionary is published ; 2004 – Janet Jackson’s breast is exposed during the half-time show of Super Bowl XXXVIII, resulting in US broadcasters adopting a stronger adherence to Federal Communications Commission censorship guidelines

January 31

Happy Birthday RIP Tallulah Bankhead (1902–1968) Jackie Robinson (1919–1972) Jean Simmons (1929–2010) Suzanne Pleshette (1937–2008) Carol Channing (1922–2019) ; Philip Glass–88 Harry Wayne Casey(“KC”)–74 Anthony LaPaglia–66 Kelly Lynch–66 Amelia “Minnie” Driver–55 Patricia Velasquez–54 “Portia de Rossi”(Amanda Rogers)–52 Kerry Washington–48 Justin Timberlake–44 Joel Courtney–29 ; 1865 – The United States Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, abolishing slavery, submitting it to the states for ratification ; 1949 – The first TV daytime soap opera, “These Are My Children,” was broadcast by the NBC station in Chicago.

January 30

Happy Birthday RIP Franklin Roosevelt(1882–1945) Thomas “Dick” Martin(1922–2008) Dorothy Maloney(1924–2018) ; Eugene “Gene” Hackman–95 Vanessa Redgrave–88 Charles S. Dutton–74 Philip Collins–74 Jody Watley–66 Christian Bale–51 Wilmer Valderrama–45 ; 1982 – Richard Skrenta writes the first PC virus code, which is 400 lines long and disguised as an Apple boot program called “Elk Cloner”.