History Blog

May 23

Happy Birthday RIP Douglas Fairbanks(Ullman 1883–1939) Benjamin “Scatman” Crothers(1910–1986) Rose Mary Clooney(1928–2002) Elizabeth “Betty” Garrett (1919–2011) Charles Kimbrough(1936–2023); Dame Joan Collins–91 Lea DeLaria–66 Andrew “Drew” Carey–66 Jewel Kilcher–50 Kelly Monaco–48 ; 1934 – notorious bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were shot to death in a police ambush as they were driving a stolen Ford Deluxe along a road in Bienville Parish, Louisiana ; 1995 – The first version of the Java programming language is released (precompiled computer code for majority of electronics devices including Android and Apple phones and many others like smart TVs and tablets)

May 22

Happy Birthday RIP Laurence Olivier(1907–1989) Harvey Milk(1930–1978) Bernard Shaw(1940–2022) ; Frank Converse–86 Barbara Parkins–82 Bernard “Bernie” Taupin–74 Steven Morrissey–65 Brooke Smith–57 Naomi Campbell–54 ; 1973 – U.S. President Richard Nixon confesses his role in Watergate cover-up ; 1980 – Namco releases the highly influential arcade game Pac-Man

May 21

Happy Birthday RIP Raymond Burr(1917–1993) Jeffrey Dahmer(1960 – 1994) Mary “Peggy” Cass(1924–1999) Alice Drummond(1928–2016) Richard Hatch(1945–2017) ; Jonathan Hyde–76 Gerard “Leo” Sayer–76 Alan Franken–73 Lawrence Tureaud(“Mr. T”)–72 Edward “Judge” Reinhold Jr–67 Kevin Quinn–27 ; 1881 – Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross ; 1934 – Oskaloosa, Iowa, becomes the first municipality in the United States to fingerprint all of its citizens ; 1981 – Transamerica Corp agrees to sell United Artists to MGM for $380 million after the box office failure of 1980 film “Heaven’s Gate” considered one of the worst films ever made. In contrast the 1978 film ”Deer Hunter” by the same director was one of the highest acclaimed pictures and Meryl Streep was first academy nomination for best actress.

May 20

Happy Birthday RIP George Gobel(1919–1991) James “Jimmy” Stewart(1908–1997) John “Joe” Cocker(1944–2014) ; Cherilyn “Cher” Sarkisian–78 Jane Wiedlin–66 Matt McCoy–66 Bronson Pinchot–65 Anthony Goldwyn–64 Owen Teale–63 Melinda “Mindy” Cohn–58 Timothy Olyphant–56 Jack Gleeson–32 ; 1873 – Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a U.S. patent for pants called blue jeans with copper rivets.

May 19

Happy Birthday RIP Malcolm Little(“X” 1925–1965) André Roussimoff(“the Giant” 1946–1993) Jeffrey Hyman(“Joey Ramone” 1951–2001) Peter Mayhew(“Chewbacca” 1944–2019) Joseph “Dusty” Hill(1949–2021); Peter Townshend–79 Beverly Grace Jones–76 Andrew “Drew” Fuller–44 ; 1911 – Parks Canada, the world’s first national park service, is established as the Dominion Parks Branch under the Department of the Interior ; 1962 – A birthday salute to U.S. President John F. Kennedy takes place at Madison Square Garden, New York City. The highlight is Marilyn Monroe’s rendition of “Happy Birthday”.

May 18

Happy Birthday RIP Francesco “Frank” Capra(1897–1991) Pierino “Perry” Como(1912–2001) Pernell Roberts Jr(1928–2010) Andrew “Andreas” Katsulas(1946–2006) “Bill Macy”(Wolf Garber 1922–2019) Robert Morse(1931–2022) ; Reginald “Reggie” Jackson–78 George Strait–72 Chow Yun-Fat(周潤發)–69 Marta “Martika” Marrero–55 Elizabeth “Tina” Fey–54 Allen Leech–43 ; 1860 – Abraham Lincoln wins the Republican Party presidential nomination over William H. Seward, who later becomes the United States Secretary of State

May 17

Happy Birthday RIP Dennis Hopper(1936–2010) William “Bill” Paxton(1955–2017) Robert “Bob” Saget 1956–2022) ; “Sugar ” Ray Leonard–68 Eithne Ní Bhraonáin(“Enya”)–63 Craig Ferguson–62 Frank “Hill” Harper–58 Tabatha Coffey–55 Derek Hough–39 ; 1954 – the Supreme Court issued its landmark Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka ruling, which declared that racially segregated public schools were inherently unequal ; 1977 – Nolan Bushnell opened the first ShowBiz Pizza Place (later renamed Chuck E Cheese) in San Jose CA ; 1990 – The general assembly of World Health Organization eliminates homosexuality from the list of psychiatric diseases.

May 16

Happy Birthday RIP Wladziu Liberace(1919–1987) Henry Fonda(1905–1982) ; Danny Trejo–80 Pierce Brosnan–71 Mary Debra Winger–69 Kevin McDonald–63 Janet Jackson–58 Tracey Fisher(“Gold”)–55 David Boreanaz–55 Victoria “Tori” Spelling–51 Thomas Brodie Sangster–34 ; 1866 – The U.S. Congress eliminates the half dime coin and replaces it with the five cent piece called the nickel

May 15

Happy Birthday RIP James Mason(1909–1984) Joseph Cotten(1905–1994) Trinidad “Trini” Lopéz(1937–2020) Madeleine Albright(Marie Korbelová 1937–2022) ; Calogero “Chazz” Palminteri–72 Michael Oldfield–71 David Guez Charvet–52 Russell Hornsby–50 David Krumholtz–46 ; 1862 – President Lincoln signs a bill into law creating US Bureau of Agriculture (later renamed to USDA) ; 1905 – Las Vegas is founded when 110 acres in what later would become downtown, are auctioned off ; 1928 – Walt Disney character Mickey Mouse premieres in his first cartoon, “Plane Crazy” ; 1940 – McDonald’s opens its first restaurant in San Bernadino, California.

May 14

Happy Birthday RIP “Billie Dove”(Bertha Bohny 1903–1997) “Bobby Darin”(Walden Cassotto 1936–1973) ; George Lucas–80 Robert Zemeckis–72 David Byrne–72 “Tim Roth”(Timothy Smith)–63 Catherine “Cate” Blanchett–55 Sofia Coppola–53 Gabriel Mann–52 Mark Zuckerberg–40 ; 1935 – The Griffith Observatory opens as one of the first planetarium science centers in the US. ; 1973 – Skylab, the United States’ first space station, is launched