| The USS Constitution met and defeated HMS Guerriere, the first in a grand succession of victories in the War of 1812. It was during this ferocious battle that the seamen, astonished at the way the British cannonballs were bouncing off the Constitution's hull, cried out -"Her sides are made of iron!" Thus, her nickname,"Old Ironsides." |
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| The New York Herald printed news of the discovery in August 1848 and the rush for gold accelerated into a stampede. Gold seekers traveled overland across the mountains to California (30,000 assembled at launch points along the plains in the spring of 1849) or took the round-about sea routes: either to Panama or around Cape Horn and then up the Pacific coast to San Francisco. |
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| In 1856, inventor Gail Borden had finally received a patent for condensing milk that was to make his fortune. Milk is approximately 87% water. Borden determined that boiling off the water from milk in airtight vacuum pans would produce a concentrated product that would not spoil. Gail Borden had spent years of experimentation, which left him penniless and in debt in effort to come up with a process for preserving milk. It wasn't until he met Jeremiah Milbank on a train ride, that Borden was able to secure the financial backing that enabled him to construct a plant to produce his condensed milk. In 1857, Borden founded the New York Condensed Milk Company. | |
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| The first beauty contest outside the USA took place in the Belgian bathing and health resort of Spa. There were 21 finalists, selected from photographs of 350 entrants. The contest procedure was proper and discreet. The contestants were screened off, accommodated in publicly inaccessible quarters and driven in closed cars to the auditorium. A large jury judged and interviewed the candidates in front of the paying guests. The winner was the 18-year-old Creole Marthe Soucaret from Guadeloupe. Her beauty was rewarded by 5000 francs from the organizers and her photo on the cover of "L'Illustration", a renowned French publication. |
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| Amateur astronomer William Huggins did not invent spectroscopy. That was done by German physicists Kirchhoff and Bunsen in 1859, when Huggins was working in London as a dealer in silks and linen. They announced that bright lines, which appear in the spectrum formed by light as it passes through a prism, reveal the chemistry of the light source. If you look at the spectrum of sunlight, they said, those lines might reveal the sun's composition. |
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| A 2 1/2 mile rectangular track was built and the first race, a five-mile dash, was held on Aug. 19, 1909. It was a disaster. The track surface broke up, causing the deaths of two drivers, two mechanics and two spectators. After several unsuccessful automobile and motorcycle races, Carl Fisher decided a single extravaganza was needed. The Indianapolis 500 was born, with great success, on May 30, 1911. Ray Harroun bested the other 39 drivers in the field, winning the race with an average speed of 74.59 miles-per-hour in six hours and 42 minutes. |
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| Yip Yip Yaphank was the name of musical revue composed and produced by Irving Berlin during World War I in 1917 while he was a recruit in the United States Army at Camp Upton in Yaphank, New York. The success of that musical led him to volunteer to do a similar revue during WWII, titled "This is the Army." He even reprised Yaphank's most popular song, "Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning" (which Berlin himself performed in both productions). Staged on Broadway, "Army" was such a smash, the military ended up bringing it to London and other corners of Europe, near, but not quite at, the front. |
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| The Taggart Baking Company of Indianapolis was planning to launch its 1.5 pound loaf of bread.
But first, the new product needed a name and identity. Vice President Elmer Cline was charged with merchandising
development of the new bread loaf. Inspiration struck while Elmer was visiting the International Balloon Race at the Indianapolis Speedway. He was awestruck by a sky filled with hundreds of colorful balloons. To Elmer, the image signified a sense of "wonder," and Wonder® Bread was born. Since that time, the colorful red, blue and yellow balloons have been the cornerstone of Wonder Bread's logo and package. |
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| Starting up in 1929 as a 15 minute broadcast, the radio show lasted (in reruns) into 1960, clocking in over 35 years on the ether. It was radio's first national success and the magnitude of that achievement is best described by George Burns: "Gracie and I knew that vaudeville was finished when theaters began advertising that their shows would be halted for 15 minutes so that the audience could listen to Amos 'n' Andy. And when the Amos 'n' Andy program came on, the vaudeville would stop, they would bring a radio onstage, and the audience would sit there watching the radio." |
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| In 1938, the Civil Aeronautics Act transferred the federal civil aviation responsibilities from the Commerce Department to a new independent agency, the Civil Aeronautics Authority. The legislation also expanded the government's role by giving them the authority and the power to regulate airline fares and to determine the routes that air carriers would serve. |
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| ABC's "Animal Clinic" featured live animals. On "Acrobat Ranch," Tumbling Tim and Flying Flo flew across the small screen to entertain their new viewers. Soon the other networks included children's shows in their regular broadcasts. There is probably someone you know who can still sing the theme song from Robert E. ("Buffalo Bob") Smith's "Howdy Doody Time," or tell you about the puppets on "Kukla, Fran, and Ollie." CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) aired the first animated cartoons in 1955 on "The Mighty Mouse Playhouse." |
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| The Weavers group was formed in 1947 by Ronnie Gilbert , Lee Hays , Fred Hellerman and Pete Seeger. A fifth member, Eric Darling , sometimes sat in with the group when Seeger was unavailable. After a period of finding themselves unable to find much, if any paid work, they finally achieved a performance slot at the jazz club the Village Vanguard . This led to their discovery by arranger Gordon Jenkins and their signing with Decca Records. The group had a big hit in 1949 with Leadbelly's Goodnight Irene, backed with the Jewish traditional folk song Tzena, Tzena. |
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| In his most interesting promotional stunt, Bill Veeck signs a 3'7" midget, Eddie Gaedel, who goes to bat wearing the number 1/8 in the first inning of the nightcap with the Tigers. Lefty Bob Cain laughingly walks him on four pitches. Jim Delsing then pinch runs, but the Tigers win, 6-2. Two days later the ML bars Eddie Gaedel from appearing in any more games. |
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| Debbie's contract with MGM still had several years left to run, and when the studio found itself short of material for her, it maintained her popularity and kept her in the public eye by loaning her out to other studios. Debbie appeared opposite husband Eddie Fisher in his screen debut, "Bundle of Joy" (1956) for RKO, and after giving birth to a daughter, Carrie, on October 21, 1956, was loaned to Universal to appear in "Tammy and the Bachelor" (1957). Both films proved enormous commercial successes, and Debbie even found herself with a hit single when "Tammy," the wistful love song from Tammy and the Bachelor, spent five weeks at number one on the Billboard Chart. |
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| On August 19, 1957, the New York Giants board of directors voted 8-1 to move the team to San Francisco. On September 29, 1957, the Giants played their final game at the Polo Grounds and defeated the Pirates 9-1. In less than two months, on October 8, 1957, the Brooklyn Dodgers would follow suit. |
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| Doctor David Simons was dressed in a partial pressure suit over which he wore
a blue flight suit and multiple layers of underclothing for it would be minus 70 during his mission.
The huge polyethylene balloon, now only partially filled, already was straining at the tethers as if eager to begin
its trip to the stratosphere, the uppermost limits of Earth's tenuous atmosphere. At altitude, the balloon would be
200 feet across, with a volume in excess of 3 million cubic feet. Simon's flight was to study that new challenge to manned space flight known as galactic cosmic rays, tiny bullets of matter striking the planet from all directions of space with a nasty habit of occasionally striking some of the components of our cells, causing damage. A fascinating sidelight to Dr. Simons' career is the world altitude record for manned balloon flight he set in 1957 as a young Air Force Flight Surgeon. In point of fact, he beat Sputnik into space. He was featured on the cover of Life magazine that year and subsequently wrote a book, Man High, about his adventure. |
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| Gary Powers was convicted of espionage and sentenced to 3 years imprisonment and 7 years of hard labor. He only served 1 year 9 months and 9 days before being traded for the Soviet spy Colonel Rudolph Ivanovich Abel. |
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| At a dinner during the summit between US president John F. Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna in June 1961, Khrushchev sat next to the president's wife Jaqueline Kennedy. He bragged about the flight of Soviet space dogs and told Mrs Kennedy about the puppies of the space dog Strelka. Out of lack of dinner topics and more as joke, she said to Khrushchev "couldn't you send me one?". She did not think more about it until two months later when Soviet ambassador Menshikov, during a visit to the White House, delivered one of the puppies to an astounded Mrs Kennedy. |
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| Ritchie Adams had co-written a song with Malou Rene and called it Tossin' And Turnin'. In late 1960 Lewis recorded the song, but none of them knew what a monster hit it would prove to be. The timing was right for Bobby Lewis in the early 60's, when dance tunes were very popular (just ask Chubby Checker), and this was a rousing song that you could dance to. Lewis's Tossin' And Turnin' rose to number one on the charts in the Spring of 1961, and it resided there for a full seven weeks. Later in the year he followed with One Track Mind, which would prove to be his only other top ten record. |
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| On August 19, 1964, the Beatles performed at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, California, in the first concert of their USA/Canada tour, which lasted a month. |
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| In a magnificent performance, Reds P Jim Maloney's records his 2nd 10-inning no-hit effort of 1965. It is another 0-0 duel through nine innings, until Reds SS Leo Cardenas homers off the LF foul pole in the 10th at Wrigley Field. Maloney sets a no-hit record by allowing 10 walks, and fans 12 in Cincinnati's 1-0 win. Larry Jackson is the losing pitcher. |
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| The Beatles played this for the first time on the "Our World" project, the first worldwide TV special. Broadcast in 24 countries, the show was 6 hours long and featured music from 6 continents. The Beatles represented England. The Beatles wrote this in 2 weeks as a message to the world. It was written and released faster than any other Beatles song. |
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| John Denver was the host for the first show. Wolfman Jack was the show's announcer. Spanning from 1972 to 1981, The Midnight Special defied boundaries of late night television by presenting break through live performances from artists of all genres. It was a live concert event every week! |
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| The wit and craft of Gilbert's music coupled with his unusual image (at the peak of the hippie movement) produce subsequent hits including "We Will" and "No Matter How I Try". In 1971, "Himself," his debut LP is issued. The debut LP proves that his hit-making potential was undeniable and his ability to pen a memorable melody recalled the urbane charm of Paul McCartney. A year later, he finally broke through to the American market with the ballad "Alone Again (Naturally)," which topped the U.S. pop charts and sold over a million copies. |
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| The Commodores was a highly successful soul/funk band in the 1970s. They met as freshmen at Tuskegee Institute, and signed to Motown having first caught the public eye supporting The Jackson Five on tour. Lionel Richie was inspired by a comment his father made to his mother while giving a speech at their 37th wedding anniversary. |
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| Vladimir Lyahov & Valery Rumin were recovered by this capsule from space in August 19, 1979. These multi-place (for three cosmonauts) space ships were designed in 1962 for the first Lunar piloted mission. Later, they were used for Earth orbital and space station supply missions. | |
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| Richard Marx shot to the top of the charts upon the release of his eponymous debut in 1987. His first hit was the California rocker "Don't Mean Nothing," but his real strength lay with ballads like "Hold On To The Nights," which became the number one single. Marx's second album "Repeat Offender" was released in 1989. It generated a string of two consecutive number one hits in the US -- "Satisfied" and "Right Here Waiting." |
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1812 The USS Constitution defeated the British frigate Guerriere during
the War of 1812
More ...
1848 First report of the California gold strike
was published in the "New York Herald"
More ...
1856 Gail Borden of Brooklyn, NY patented his
process for condensed milk
More ...
1888 First beauty contest (Spa, Belgium), 18 yr
old West Indian wins
More ...
1891 William Huggins describes astronomical application
of spectrum
More ...
1903 Phillies suffer record 9th straight posponed
game
1909 First race at the Indianapolis 500 Speedway
More ...
1917 Sunday benefit baseball game at the Polo
Grounds results in John McGraw & Christy Mathewson's arrest for violating
Blue laws
1918 Sgt. Irving Berlin’s musical about army
life in World War I opened in NYC
More ...
1919 HOSTESS was trademark registered by William
B. Ward
More ...
1929 The comedy "Amos 'n' Andy" made
its network radio debut on NBC
More ...
1940 The new Civil Aeronautics Administration
awarded honorary license #1 to Orville Wright
More ...
1950 ABC begins Saturday morning kid shows (Animal
Clinic & Acrobat Ranch)
More ...
1950 "Goodnight Irene" by the Weavers
with Gordon Jenkins topped the charts
More ...
1951 Bill Veeck (St. Louis Browns) sends Eddie
Gaedel, a 3'7" midget, to pinch-hit
More ...
1957 "Tammy" by Debbie Reynolds topped
the charts
More ...
1957 NY Giants vote to move their franchise to
SF in 1958
More ...
1957 David Simons reaches 101,500 feet in Man High 2 balloon
More ...
1960 Francis Gary Powers convicted of spying by
USSR (U-2 incident)
More ...
1960 Sputnik 5 carries 2 dogs, 3 mice into orbit
(later recovered alive)
More ...
1961 "Tossin' & Turnin'" by Bobby
Lewis topped the charts
More ...
1962 Homer Blancos plays the finest round in golf,
shooting a 55
1964 The Beatles began their first North American
concert tour. They would visit 26 cities
More ...
1965 Cincinatti Red Jim Maloney 2nd no-hitter
of year
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1967 Beatles' "All You Need is Love,"
single goes #1
More ...
1972 NBC-TV presented "The Midnight Special"
for the first time
More ...
1972 "Alone Again (Naturally)" by Gilbert
O'Sullivan topped the charts
More ...
1978 "Three Times a Lady" by the Commodores
topped the charts
More ...
1979 The crew of Soyuz 32 returns to Earth aboard
Soyuz 34
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1989 "Right Here Waiting" by Richard
Marx topped the charts
More ...