History Blog

September 24

Happy Birthday RIP Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald(1896–1940) Audra Lindley(1918–1997) Phillip Hartmann(1948–1998) James Henson(1936–1990) ; Kevin Sorbo–66 Antonia “Nia” Vardalos–62 Justin Bruening–45 Andrew Leeds–43 Grey Damon–37 Spencer Treat Clark–37 ; 1968 – 60 Minutes debuts on CBS ; 1979 – Compu-Serve launches the first consumer internet service which features the first public electronic mail service(“email”). Later the start of public access to Internet overall (web and ftp) where ISPs (internet service providers) that provided connectivity via TCP/IP to general public stared circa 1989. Before that the internet was known as Arpanet and mainly used by college and military institutions ( dot mil and dot edu domains are still used) . For example army.mil or Harvard.edu or Whitehouse.gov

September 23

Happy Birthday RIP Raymond Charles Robinson(1930–2004) “Mickey Rooney”(Joseph Yule Jr 1920–2014) ; Julio Iglesias de la Cueva–81 Mary Kay Place–77 Bruce Springsteen–75 “Rosalind” Chao( 赵家玲)–67 Jason Alexander(Greenspan)–65 Kenneth “Chi” McBride–63 Alexander Proyas–61 Anthony Mackie–46 ; 1846 – Astronomers Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier, John Couch Adams and Johann Gottfried Galle collaborate on the discovery of the planet Neptune ; 2002 – The first public version of the web browser Mozilla Firefox (“Phoenix 0.1”) is released which was based on Gecko and HTML4 and successor to Netscape Navigator. The first Internet browser was Mosaic, released in 1993 developed by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 1994 Netscape Navigator was released followed by Internet Explorer in 1995 also based on the same core code as mosaic.

September 22

Happy Birthday RIP Erich von Stroheim(1885–1957) Martha Scott(1912–2003) John Houseman(Jacques Haussmann 1902–1988) Thomas “Tommy” Lasorda 1927–2021) ; Antonia Basilotta(“Toni Basil”)–81 David Coverdale–73 Shari Belafonte–70 Deborah “Debby” Boone–68 Joan Jett(Larkin)–66 Bonnie Hunt–63 Laura Vandervoort–40 ; 1888 – The first issue of National Geographic Magazine is published.

September 21

Happy Birthday RIP Charles Martin “Chuck” Jones(1912–2002) “Henry Gibson”(James Bateman 1935–2009) Larry Hagman(1931–2012) ; William “Bill” Kuretich(“Kurtis”)–84 “Fannie Flagg”(Patricia Neal)–80 Stephen King–77 William “Bill” Murray–74 Ethan Coen–67 Robert Morrow–62 “Faith Hill”(Audrey Perry)–57 Ricki Lake–56 Billy Porter–55 Lucas “Luke” Wilson–53 Nicole Richie(Escovedo)–43 Maggie Grace Denig–41 ; 1957 – “Perry Mason,” starring Raymond Burr, premiered on CBS.

September 20

Happy Birthday RIP Upton Sinclair(1878–1968) Jonathan Hardy(1940–2012) Anne Meara(1929–2015) ; “Sophia Loren”(Sofia Scicolone)–90 Karen Sharpe–90 Carole “Candy” Spelling–79 George “R.R.” Raymond Martin–76 Gary Cole–68 Kristen Johnston–57 Michelle Visage(Shupack)–56 Bradford “Brad” Beyer Jr–51 Jon Bernthal–48 ; 1893 – Charles Duryea and his brother Frank road-test the first American-made gasoline-powered automobile in Springfield, Massachusetts ; 1973  – Singer Jim Croce, songwriter and musician Maury Muehleisen and four others die when their light aircraft crashes shortly after takeoff from Natchitoches Regional Airport in Louisiana ; 2011 – The United States military ends its “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, allowing gay men and women to serve openly for the first time

September 19

Happy Birthday RIP Frances Farmer(1913–1970) “Mama Cass Elliot”(Ellen Cohen 1941–1974) “Adam West”(William Anderson 1928–2017) David McCallum(1933–2023) ; Rosemary Harris–97 Paul Williams Jr–84 Randolph Mantooth–79 Jeremy Irons–76 “Twiggy” Lawson(Leslie Hornby)–75 Joan Blunden(“Lunden”)–74 Lita Ford–66 Cheryl O’Teari–62 Kimberly Richards–60 James “Jimmy” Fallon Jr.–50 Alison Sweeney–48 Kevin Zegers–40 Danielle Panabaker–37 ; In 1881, the 20th president of the United States, James A. Garfield, died of wounds inflicted by an assassin ; 1970 – The Mary Tyler Moore Show debuted on CBS ; 2022 – The state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom is held at Westminster Abbey, London.

September 18

Happy Birthday RIP Greta Garbo(Gustafsson 1905–1990) John Lebzelter(“Jack Warden” 1920–2006) James Gandolfini(1961–2013) June Foray(Forer 1917–2017) Frederick Willard(1933–2020) Michael Gubitosi(“Robert Blake” 1933–2023) ; Francis Avallone(“Frankie Avalon”)–84 Beth Grant–75 Holly Robinson Peete–60 Aisha Tyler–54 Jada Pinkett Smith–53 Lance Armstrong(Gunderson)–53 James Marsden–51 Daniel “Jason” Sudeikis–49 ; 1851 – The first edition of The New York Times was published as “The New-York Daily Times” ; 1947 – The United States Air Force becomes an independent branch of the USA armed forces.

September 17

Happy Birthday RIP Dolores Costello(1903–1979) Hiram “Hank” Williams(1923–1953) Roderick “Roddy” McDowall(1928–1998) Anne Bancroft(Anna Italiano 1931–2005) Paul Benedict(1938–2008) “Lupe Ontiveros”(Guadalupe Moreno 1942–2012) Johnathan Ritter(1948–2003) ; John “Fee” Waybill–74 Cassandra Peterson(“Elvira”)–73 Rita Rudner–71 Wendy Worthington–70 Bryan Singer–59 Kyle Chandler–59 Jeffrey Matthew Settle–55 Nathan “Nate” Berkus–53 Griffith Feuerstein(“Griff Furst”)–43 ; 1972 – The comedy series “M.A.S.H.” standing for “Mobile Army Surgical Hospital” premiered on CBS

September 16

Happy Birthday RIP Peter Falk(1927–2011) “Lauren Bacall”(Betty Perske 1924–2014) Riley “B.B.” King(1925–2015) ; Edward Begley Jr.–75 Philip “Mickey” Rourke Jr–72 David Copperfield(Kotkin)–68 Jennifer Tilly(Chan)–66 Richard Marx–61 Molly Shannon–60 Marco Muñiz(“Marc Anthony”)–56 Amy Poehler–53 Ian Harding–38 Nicholas Jonas–32 ; 1959 – The first successful photocopier, the Xerox 914, is introduced in a demonstration on live television from New York City ; 1972 – “The Bob Newhart Show” premiered on CBS

September 15

Happy Birthday RIP Agatha Christie(Miller 1890–1976) Vina Fay Wray(1907–2004) Julius “Nipsey” Russell(1918–2005) John “Jackie” Cooper Jr(1922–2011) Roy Brocksmith(1945–2001) Wendie Jo Sperber(1958–2005) Norman Crosby(1927–2020) ; Tommy Lee Jones–78 Daniel Marino Jr–63 Joshua Charles–53 Edward Thomas Hardy–47 Tammie Brown(Keith Schubert)–44 Prince “Harry” Henry Charles Albert David Mountbatten Duke of Sussex–40 Heidi Montag–38 ; 1963 – four black girls were killed when a bomb went off during Sunday services at 16th Street Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama, in the deadliest act of the civil rights era