This Week In History: June 8 – June 14

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

American Experience:

1931 – Al Capone is indicted on 5,000 counts of prohibition & perjury

1947 – WW II sugar rationing finally ended in US (began May 28, 1942)

1962 – 3 convicts used spoons to dig their way out of Alcatraz

1963 – JFK signs law for equal pay for equal work for men & women

1968 – James Earl Ray, alleged assassin of Martin Luther King Jr, captured

1978 – Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) strikes down 148 year policy of excluding black men from priesthood

1985 – Coca Cola announces they’d bring back their 99-year-old formula

1986 – Dow Jones-index hits record 45.71 points

Movies & TV:

1948 – “Milton Berle Show” premieres on NBC TV

1953 – “Amos ‘n Andy,” last aired on CBS

1958 – “Make Me Laugh,” TV Game Show; last airs on ABC-TV

1961 – “Winston Churchill,” last airs on ABC-TV

1965 – Sonny & Cher make their 1st TV appearance, “American Bandstand”

1969 – “Smothers Brothers comedy Hour,” last airs on CBS-TV

1978 – “Grease” starring John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John opens

1981 – “Raiders Of The Lost Ark” starring Harrison Ford premieres

1981 – Tom Snyder interviews Charles Manson on “Tomorrow”

1982 – Movie “ET the Extra-Terrestrial” released (highest grossing film)

1983 – “Trading Places,” “Ghostbusters,” & “Gremlins,” premiere

Music & Radio:

1958 – “Purple People Eater” by Sheb Wooley hits #1

1966 – Janis Joplin’s 1st live concert (Avalon Ballroom in SF with Big Brother)

1966 – Mamas & Papas win gold record for “Monday, Monday”

1966 – “Paint It, Black” by The Rolling Stones peaks at #1

1969 – “The Ballad Of John & Yoko” by The Beatles hit #1 in UK

1970 – Beatles’ “Let It Be,” album goes #1 & stays #1 for 4 weeks

1974 – Supergroup Blind Faith’s (Clapton, Windwood, Baker) 1st concert

1977 – “I’m Your Boogie Man” by KC & Sunshine Band peaks at #1

1980 – Billy Joel’s “Glass Houses” hits #1

1984 – Cyndi Lauper’s 1st #1 “Time After Times”

Hollywood Headlines:

1977 – George & Patti Harrison divorce

1980 – Comedian Richard Pryor suffers burns from free basing cocaine

1984 – Donald Duck’s 50th birthday celebrated at Disneyland

The Arts:

1959 – Postmaster General bans D H Lawrence’s book, Lady Chatterley’s Lover

Sports:

1939 – Baseball Hall of Fame opens in Cooperstown NY

1944 – Joe Nuxhall, 15, of Cincinnati Reds is the youngest player in Major League Baseball due to the World War II shortage of players and the fact that the major leagues were still segregated

1946 – Joe Louis KOs Billy Conn in 8 for heavyweight boxing title

1969 – Mickey Mantle Day, 60,096 saw #7 retired

1984 – 38th NBA Championship: Boston Celtics beat LA Lakers, 4 games to 3

1985 – 39th NBA Championship: LA Lakers beat Boston Celtics, 4 games to 2

Technology & Inventions:

1932 – 1st demonstration of artificial lightning at the General Electric Laboratories in Pittsfield, Massachusetts