This Week In History: June 15 – June 21

Headlines & Tidbits from the 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s & 80s

American Experience:

1935 – US Congress accepts FDR’s “New Deal”

1947 – Pan Am Airways chartered as 1st worldwide passenger airline

1950 – 1st kidney transplant (Chicago)

1954 – Televised Senate Army McCarthy hearings ends

1966 – Sheila Scott completes 1st round-the-world solo flight by a woman

1982 – Supreme Court rules all children, regardless of citizenship, are entitled to a public education

1983 – Space Shuttle Challenger 2 mission launched; Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space.

Movies & TV:

1937 – Marx Brothers’ “A Day At The Races” opens in LA

1948 – The Ed Sullivan Show, originally named “Toast of the Town” premieres on CBS-TV

1960 – “Psycho,” opens in NY

1961 – Dave Garroway is fired as Today Show host

1974 – Homer Simpson & Marge Bouvier wed

1975 – “Jaws” by Steven Spielberg opens

1980 – “Blues Brothers,” with Dan Akroyd and John Belushi premieres in Chicago

Music & Radio:

1948 – 33 1/3 RPM LP record introduced (DR Peter Goldmark-Columbia Records)

1956 – John Lennon (15) & Paul McCartney (13) meet for 1st time as Lennon’s rock group Quarrymen perform at a church dinner

1961 – CBS radio cancels Gunsmoke

1961 – Pat Boone had his final number 1 hit this week with “Moody River.

1965 – Bob Dylan records “Like a Rolling Stone”

1965 – Kinks arrive in NYC beginning their 1st US tour

1967 – The Monterey International Pop Music Festival took place from June 16 to June 18, 1967. Over 200,000 people attended, and it is often regarded as the precursor to Woodstock. The festival became legendary for the first major American appearances by Jimi Hendrix and The Who. It was also the first major public performance for Janis Joplin, who appeared as a member of Big Brother and The Holding Company, and Otis Redding, backed by Booker T. & The MG’s. The Monterey Pop Festival embodied the themes of the counter-culture of San Francisco and is generally regarded as one of the beginnings of the “Summer of Love” in 1967

1971 – Carole King struck gold when her Tapestry album hit number 1 in the U.S. for the first of 15 consecutive weeks.

1978 – Andy Gibb hit number 1 on the singles chart in the U.S with “Shadow Dancing.” At the time, he was the only artist to hit the top spot with his first three singles.

Hollywood Headlines:

1947 – Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, gangster, shot dead in Beverly Hills California

1959 – George Reeves, actor (Superman, Gone with the Wind), shoots self at 45

The Arts:

1963 – “Sound of Music” closes at Lunt Fontanne Theater NYC after 1443 performances

1946 – “Annie Get Your Gun” opens at Imperial Theater NYC for 1147 performances

1973 – “American Graffiti” opens in NYC

1973 – “Rocky Horror Picture Show,” stage production opened in London. This was the very first time the musical had been performed.

1977 – “Beatlemania” opens on Broadway

1978 – Andrew Lloyd Webber & Rice’s musical “Evita,” premiers in London

1978 – “Best Little Whorehouse…” opens at 46th St NYC for 1577 performances

1978 – Garfield, created by Jim Davis, 1st appears as a comic strip

Sports:

1939 – NY Yankees announce Lou Gehrig’s retirement due to his diagnosis of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, later to be named Lou Gehrig’s Disease

1946 – 1st TV sports spectacular-Joe Louis KOs Billy Conn

1950 – Joe DiMaggio gets his 2,000th hit

1960 – Ted Williams hit his 500th HR

1973 – Pete Rose & Willie Davis both get career hit # 2,000

1978 – 1st 6 teams of Women’s Pro Basketball League (WBL) granted-Iowa, NJ, Milwaukee, Chicago, Minnesota & Dayton

Technology & Inventions:

1941 – Cheerios Cereal invents an O-shaped cereal

1946 – AT&T begins offering mobile telephone service. With a single antenna serving a region, no more than 12 to 20 simultaneous calls could be made in an entire metropolitan area.

1970 – Edwin Land patents Polaroid camera

1987 – Ben & Jerry Ice Cream & Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia announce new Ice Cream flavor, Cherry Garcia

1988 – Microsoft releases MS DOS 4.0

Automobile News:

1948 – The Tucker Torpedo automobile was introduced. The idea was a safety car with innovative features and modern styling. The specifications for the design called for an air-cooled, flat 6-rear engine, disc brakes, fuel injection, the location of all instruments on the steering wheel, and a padded dashboard. The car even had a Cyclops-like centered headlamp that turned with the front wheels. After 50 cars were built, Preston Tucker’s company folded, and the Tucker Torpedo was never built again. This rare 1948 Tucker 48 was sold at the RM Arizona-Biltmore auction for $495,000.