On this date in . . .

1885: Mark Twain's ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' was published.

1953: The first three-dimensional movie, Bwana Devil, opened at Loew’s State Theater in New York City, kicking off a short-lived fad in which 3-D fans had to wear special eyeglasses to the movies. Bwana Devil starred Robert Stack and Barbara Britton.

1953: Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz signed an $8-million contract with CBS to continue the "I Love Lucy" TV show through 195, the richest contract in television at the time..

1959: Ray Charles recorded "What'd I Say" in New York. Ray had made up the song a few months earlier when the band came up 10 minutes short for a contract show. Ray simply started playing, motioning the Raelettes and the band to follow his lead. The 10-minute song brought the house down and became a regular part of the show.

1960: The Everly Brothers recorded "When Will I Be Loved?"

1972: John and Yoko concluded a week of co-hosting The Mike Douglas Show.

1988: At a Crewkerne auction in England, a British bookseller paid $10,035 for a lock of naval hero Lord Nelson’s hair, history’s most expensive hair.

1992: The U.S. issued a patent (#D324,117) to Celess Antoine of Forestville, Maryland, for the Dog Umbrella, a transparent, ventilated body cover that fastened to a dog’s back to keep him dry in rainy weather.

1993: After a train hit a baby elephant near Dhaka, Bangladesh, the mother elephant blocked the tracks so the next train had to stop, then she beat her head against the engine for 15 minutes. The train was so damaged, 200 passengers were stranded for five hours.

1997: Kimberly and Joel Frisby of Okarche, Oklahoma, became proud parents of a son. A big son. Hunter Joel Samuel Frisby weighed 13 pounds, 9 ounces. Mom said her doctor told her, "Congratulations, you’ve just given birth to a toddler."

1997: Trinity Broadcasting, a U.S. Christian TV network, cancelled Pat Boone’s weekly gospel music show after he appeared in black leather and fake tattoos on the American Music Awards show.

2001: Auto racer Dale Earnhardt Sr. died at age 49 from injuries suffered in a crash at the Daytona 500.

2003: A Romanian teenager who won the $1.2 million lottery jackpot could not collect his winnings for two weeks because he couldn't afford the $32 train fare to Bucharest. The unemployed 17-year-old, from Baia village in Suceava county, had to wait for his benefit money to arrive. Neighbors refused to loan him or his father the money.

2006: American Shani Davis won the men's 1,000-meter speed-skating in Turin, becoming the first black athlete to win an individual gold medal in Winter Olympic history.