| On February 6, the Franco-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce is signed in Paris. Since 1776, the French government has been secretly providing Congress with military supplies and financial aid. |
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| The state of New Jersey granted America's first railroad charter to Col. John Stevens of Hoboken, to run between New Brunswick and Trenton, NJ. Because of funding difficulties, it was not built. John Stevens was an engineer and one of the earliest proponents of steam power in transportation. After studying law and serving as treasurer of New Jersey, he became interested in steam navigation in the late 1780s. He began to seek patents for his improved boiler and engine designs, having already urged Congress to establish a U.S. patent law, which was enacted in 1790. |
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| The minstrel included four men -- one on banjo, one on fiddle, one on tambourine, and one on bones. The show mixed music with comedic skits, humorous speeches, and even playlets that parodied life on the plantation and popular works such as Shakespeare's Hamlet. Emmett and the Virginia Minstrels had enjoyed unparalleled ess, even making a hit on Broadway. |
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| As a symbol of an ever-changing nation, Uncle Sam had gone through many incarnations. The Civil War saw a major transition in the development of Uncle Sam as his image was associated with that of Abraham Lincoln. It was during this period that Sam aged and acquired a beard. |
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| On February 6, 1891, after Bob Dalton had joined his brothers in California, a Southern Pacific passenger train was held up. The Daltons were accused of the robbery, based on little evidence. Bob escaped and Bill was acquitted, but Grat was arrested, convicted, and put on a train headed for a 20-year prison sentence. Somehow Grat escaped from his handcuffs, jumped from the train and eventually found his brothers. |
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| Many people want to know if a real person was the original "Sun-Maid girl." The answer is "Yes," and her name was Lorraine Collett Petersen. The name Sun-Maid was created by advertising executive E.A. Berg, who in 1915 believed that this brand name best reflected the true nature of sun-dried raisins-simply "made" in the California sun from freshly picked grapes. |
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| The outbreak of war in 1914 led to a political truce in the suffrage movement but the participation of British women in the war effort - in factories and the armed services as well as in the home - was a major factor in the Government's decision to give women over the age of thirty the right to vote in 1918. This right was extended to women over 21 in 1928. |
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| "The Kid" was Charlie Chaplin's first full-length movie. It, more than anything else to that date, made Chaplin a living legend. It took over a year to produce, and was an incredible success for Chaplin, both financially and artistically. |
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| A Sled dog race was included as a demonstration event at the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. 12 contestants from two countries competed. The event, run under the rules of the New England Sled Dog Club, ran twice over a 25.1 mile (40.5km) long course. |
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| It set the date for the Presidential Inauguration as Jan. 20, instead of the old date of March 4. It also sets Jan. 3 as the official opening date of Congress, eliminating 'lame-duck' sessions of Congress. |
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| In February 1943, Sinatra was hired by the popular radio series "Your Hit Parade," on which he performed through the end of 1944. Adding to his radio duties, he appeared from June through October on "Broadway Bandbox" and in the fall again took up the "Songs by Sinatra" show, which ran through December. In January, it was expanded to a half-hour as "The Frank Sinatra Show," which ran for a year and a half. |
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| "It's A Wonderful Life," originally made for Liberty Films, is one of the most popular and heartwarming films ever made by director Frank Capra. It was actually a box-office flop at the time of its release, and only became the Christmas movie classic in the 1970s due to repeated television showings at Christmas-time when its copyright protection slipped. |
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| Fisher had a variety television series, Coke Time with Eddie Fisher (NBC), appeared on Perry Como's show, The Chesterfield Supper Club, the George Gobel Show, and had another series, The Eddie Fisher Show (NBC). He had seventeen songs in the Top 10 on the music charts between 1950 and 1956 and thirty-five in the Top 40, which included the 1955 song I Love You. "O Mein Papa" is a German language song, written by Paul Burkhard in 1939 It was adapted into English by John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons, under the name "Oh! My Pa-Pa." A recording by Eddie Fisher became a #1 hit on the US charts in 1954. |
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| In 1957, the cryotron, a superconductive computer switch was announced. Developed by Dudley Allen Buck at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the cryotron was the first practical use of superconductivity - the ability of some metals to conduct current with no resistance at extremely low temperatures (below -420 degrees Fahrenheit). Its operation was based on the effects of magnetic fields on superconductivity at liquid helium temperatures. The cryotron was hailed as a revolutionary component for miniaturizing the room-sized computers of the 1950s. |
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| In 1959, the United States successfully test-fired for the first time a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile from Cape Canaveral. Eighteen Titan I launch complexes (for 54 missiles, each carrying a 4.5 megaton warhead) were built in California, Colorado, Idaho, South Dakota, and Washington state at an average cost of $44.4 million apiece (in constant 1996 dollars). The first silo launching of an ICBM, a USAF Titan at Vandenberg Air Force Base occurred on 3 May 1961. Titan I missiles were only on alert from 1962 to 1965. |
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| The first integrated circuits were manufactured independently by two scientists: Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments filed a patent for a "Solid Circuit" made of germanium on February 6, 1959. Robert Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductor was awarded a patent for a more complex "unitary circuit" made of Silicon on April 25, 1961. |
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| Preston was brought to the attention of Mercury Records by disc jockey and singer, the Big Bopper (Jape Richardson). Among the tracks Richardson wrote and produced for him was the novelty "Running Bear", a sad tale of Red Indian love gone wrong. The record took four months to chart Stateside but it then went on to became a chart-topper in the US and UK during 1959/60. |
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| Phil Spector produced this using his famous "Wall of Sound" recording technique. Spector got a songwriting credit for this because he helped write the bridge. The line "You've lost that lovin' feelin'" was used as a placeholder until the writers could come up with something better. Spector thought it was great and insisted they use it. According to BMI music publishing, this was played on the radio more times than any other song of the 20th century. |
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| Dwight D. Eisenhower was the first President and/or former President to score a hole-in-one during a golf game. He accomplished this on February 6, 1968 in Palm Springs, California, on the 104 yard, par-3, 13th hole at Seven Lakes Country Club. |
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| In 1971, Apollo 14 astronaut Alan Shepard took a few shots at some golf balls while on the moon. Near the end of the second moonwalk, and just before entering the lunar module for the last time, Shepard (an avid golfer) attached a 6-iron golf club to the end of a sample collecting tool. Despite thick gloves and a stiff suit that forced him to swing the club with one hand only, he hit two golf balls. The first landed in a nearby crater. The second was hit squarely, and in the one-sixth gravity of the moon, Shepard said it traveled "miles and miles and miles." The golf club is on display at the U.S. Golf Association headquarters in Far Hills, N.J. |
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| When this was recorded, there was no Dawn. A group called Hot Buttered Soul sang backup with Telma Hopkins sitting in for one of their regular singers. She ended up joining Orlando, and along with Joyce Vincent, they started recording as "Tony Orlando And Dawn." |
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| "Centerfold" song is about a guy who had a crush on a sweet, innocent girl in his homeroom in high school. Years later, he's looking through a girly magazine and sees his homeroom crush as the centerfold. |
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| When MTV and radio latched on to a cover of "I Think We're Alone Now," it pushed the album to the number-one spot on the Billboard album charts (and in less than year, was certified quadruple platinum). A follow-up single, "Could've Been," proved to be just as successful, as it peaked at the top spot of the Billboard singles chart. |
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1778 France recognizes US, signs treaty of aid
in Paris
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1815 NJ issues first US railroad charter (John
Stevens)
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1843 The first minstrel show in America
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1869 Harper's Weekly publishes first picture of
Uncle Sam with chin whiskers
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1891 First great train robbery by Dalton Gang
(Southern Pacific #17)
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1911 First old-age home opened in Prescott AZ
1917 Sun-Maid raisins were trademark registered
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1918 British women vote for the first time
More ...
1921 "The Kid", starring Charlie Chaplin
& Jackie Coogan, released
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1924 The first worship service from St. Martin-in-the-Fields
Church in London is heard over radio was aired by the British Broadcasting
Corporation
1926 NFL rules college students ineligible until
college classes graduates
1932 First Olympics dog sled race, Lake Placid
New York (demonstration sport)
More ...
1933 The 20th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
was adopted
More ...
1943 Singer Frank Sinatra debuts on radio's "Your
Hit Parade"
More ...
1947 Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life"
was copyrighted
More ...
1948 First radio-controlled airplane flown
1954 "Oh! My Papa" by Eddie Fisher topped
the charts
More ...
1957 Superconductive computer switch announced
More ...
1958 Ted Williams signs with Red Sox for $135,000,
making him highest paid
1959 United States successfully test-fires a
Titan ICBM
More ...
1959 Texas Instruments requests patent of IC (Integrated
Circuit)
More ...
1960 "Running Bear" by Johnny Preston
topped the charts
More ...
1965 Righteous Brothers "You've Lost That
Lovin' Feelin'" hits #1
More ...
1968 Former President Dwight Eisenhower shot a
hole-in-one
More ...
1971 First time a golf ball is hit on the Moon
(by Alan Shepard)
More ...
1971 "Knock Three Times" by Dawn topped
the charts
More ...
1974 "CBS Mystery Theater" premieres
on the CBS Radio Network
1982 "Centerfold" by the J. Geils Band
topped the charts
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1987 No-smoking rules take effect in federal buildings
1988 "Could've Been" by Tiffany topped
the charts
More ...
1998 President Bill Clinton signed a bill changing
the name of Washington National Airport to Ronald Reagan Washington National
Airport.