On this date in . . .

1880: U.S. patent #254,828 was issued for the tuxedo life jacket, an inflatable formal jacket for dining out at sea.

1960: 16-year-old Brian Hyland=s "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini" entered the Billboard Hot 100 music chart. Composer Paul Vance wrote the song after watching his 2-year-old daughter Paula at the beach in her new bikini.

1964: The Beatles released the single "A Hard Day=s Night" in England. Flipside: "Things We Said Today."

1967: Bobbie Gentry recorded "Ode to Billie Joe" (Capitol #5950). It was #1 for four weeks in August and September.

1989: The British pop group The Monkees received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1991: Millie Bush, America's First Dog, became a millionaire as royalties from her book about a dog's life in the White House reached $1.1-million. Millie gave the money to First Lady Barbara Bush's family literacy foundation. Millie died in May, 1997.

1993: A 37-year-old San Antonio man ran over himself when he tried to jump from his moving car while fleeing from police. The suspect survived to face charges of stealing 13 bags of potting soil from a builder's supply store.

1996: A former employee of Orlando's Gatorland theme park was sentenced to six months in jail for selling two of the park's 2,400 alligators to an Indiana tourist for $75.00 each. The 3-foot gators were discovered in the tourists motel room after he called the state game commission for suggestions on how to transport them to Indiana.

1996: Tipper the cat, choking on his flea collar in Tampa, was rescued after he called 9-1-1. Fortunately, Tipper's owner had programmed the speed-dial button on the phone to dial 9-1-1, so the cat only had to push one button.

1998: The Diocese of Dallas agreed to pay $23.4 million to nine former altar boys who said they had been molested by a priest.

2002: Peter Paul Rubens' painting "The Massacre of the Innocents" sold at auction for $76.2 million.

2003: A 32-year-old Israeli woman was recovering well from surgery after she tried to retrieve a cockroach that had jumped into her mouth with a fork. She swallowed the fork.

2004: In his weekly radio address, President Bush said legalizing gay marriage would redefine the most fundamental institution of civilization, and that a constitutional amendment was needed to protect traditional marriage.