On this date in . . .
1846: American Presbyterian
clergyman John Sammis was born. He wrote the hymn "Trust and Obey."
1933:
Major-League Baseball played its first All-Star
Game
at Comiskey Park in
Chicago. The American League won 4-2. Babe
Ruth hit a home run.
1937: Benny Goodman’s orchestra, featuring
Gene Krupa, Ziggy Elman, and Harry James, recorded Louie Prima’s big band classic,
"Sing, Sing, Sing,"
1954: WHBQ Radio in Memphis played the first Elvis
Presley recording, "That’s Alright, Mama." He had recorded it at Sun
Records the day before.
1955: Elvis had his first hit record when
"Baby Let’s Play House" reached #10 on Billboard’s country
chart. The flip side was "I’m Left, You’re Right, She’s Gone."
1957:
Althea Gibson became the first black tennis player to win a
Wimbledon singles title, defeating Darlene Hard 6-3, 6-2.
1963: The favorite song of
every serviceman away from home entered the country charts. Bobby Bare's "Detroit
City" instantly struck a chord with a chorus that pleaded, "I want to go
home!"
1964: The Beatles first film "A Hard
Days Night" had its royal premier at the London Pavilion.
1985: Tommy "Muscrat"
Greene of Annapolis, Maryland, set a world record by eating 288 oysters in 1 minute 33
seconds.
1989: A study released in Washington, D.C., showed
that one-third of American adults had dangerously high cholesterol levels.
1991: The TV comedy "Salute Your
Shorts" debuted on Nickelodean.
1993: With Fremont, California, police in hot
pursuit, a drunk driver ran 15 red lights and side-swiped several cars before crashing
head-on into the city jail.
1994: The movie "Forrest Gump" opened in
theaters throughout the U.S.
1998: "King of the
Cowboys" Roy Rogers died in Apple Valley, California, at age 86.
2002: Serena
Williams beat older sister Venus to win her first Wimbledon title and second straight
Grand Slam tournament.
2004:
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry chose
Senator John
Edwards of North Carolina to be his running mate.
Birthdays:
Q: Did
Sylvester Stallone write the script for the film Rocky in: (a) three days; (b)
three weeks; or (c) three months?
A: Three days.
Q: In 1999 was the price
of an AK-47 assault rifle on Uganda’s black market: (a) one chicken; (b) two
chickens; or (c) three chickens?
A: One chicken (Harper’s Index).
Q: Was the first
commercially produced chewing gum called: (a) Licorice Lulu; (b) State of Maine Pure
Spruce Gum; or (c) Sugar Cream?
A: State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum, produced in 1848 in
John Curtis’ kitchen in Bangor, Maine. In 1850 he moved to Portland and made 10
spruce gums including Sugar Cream and Licorice Lulu.
59 years ago today:
