Archives
February 9
Events
1870 - The United States Weather Bureau was authorized by Congress. We think people always just sat around and talked about the weather, but it took an act of Congress to do something about it! The weather bureau is officially known as the National Weather Service (NWS) and is a department of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).1895 - The first college basketball game was played as Minnesota State School of Agriculture defeated the Porkers of Hamline College, 9-3. That was basketball at its finest, folks...
1932 - America entered the 2-man bobsled competition for the first time at the Olympic Winter Games held at Lake Placid, NY.
1942 - One of the all-time great moves in sports took place on this winter day. The Philadelphia National League baseball team decided to change its nickname from the Phillies to the Phils. The name, the Phillies, had been in use since the 1880s. We know the team as both the Phillies and the Phils.
1960 - A verbal agreement was reached between representatives of the American and National Football Leagues. Both agreed not to tamper with player contracts.
1963 - The very first Boeing 727 took off. It became the world’s most popular way to fly. 1,832 of the aircraft were built before production stopped in 1984.
1964 - Several days after their arrival in the U.S., the Beatles made the first of three record-breaking appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show". The audience viewing the Fab Four was estimated at 73,700,000 people in TV land. The Beatles sang "She Loves You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand". One could barely hear the songs above the screams of the girls in the audience.
1966 - Liza Minnelli brought her night club act to the Big Apple. She opened in grand style at the Persian Room of the Plaza Hotel in New York.
1969 - The Boeing 747 flew its inaugural flight this day. The milestone ushered in the age of the jumbo jet.
1969 - A young lady named Roslyn Kind made her quiet TV debut this night on "The Ed Sullivan Show". Ed said she’s “...America’s teenager who wasn’t protesting or playing a guitar.” She only appeared once. Her sister appeared many times. Roslyn Kind is the sister of Barbra Streisand.
1970 - Sly and The Family Stone received a gold record for the single, "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)". Sly (Sylvester) Stewart was a DJ in Oakland, CA.
1981 - Bill Haley died on this day in Harlingen, TX. He was 55. Haley, with his Comets, recorded what became known as the anthem of rock and roll: "Rock Around the Clock", from the movie, "Blackboard Jungle". The song turned into a multimillion dollar hit and one of many hits Haley and the Comets had, including: "Dim Dim the Lights", "Razzle Dazzle", "Crazy Man Crazy", "Rock the Joint", "See You Later Alligator" and "Shake Rattle & Roll". Bill Haley was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
1987 - Twenty years after the first woman was admitted to the New York Stock Exchange, the Exchange Luncheon Club decided to install a ladies rest room! Wow! What did those women do for twenty years? Walk across Wall Street? No, actually, the women had to walk down a flight of stairs.
1996 - "Broken Arrow" opened in the U.S. The thriller stars John Travolta and Christian Slater in a “a no-holds-barred race to recover a lost nuclear weapon -- a broken arrow.”
1997 - "The Simpsons" became the longest-running prime-time animated series. The record was previously held by "The Flintstones".
2001 - These movies debuted in the U.S.: "Hannibal", with Anthony Hopkins and Julianne Moore, continues the story begun in "The Silence of the Lambs"; and "Saving Silverman", starring Steve Zahn and Jack Black as buddies conspiring to save their best friend, Darren Silverman (played by Jason Biggs), from marrying the wrong woman.
2001 - A collision between the nuclear submarine "U.S.S. Greeneville" and the Japanese fishing vessel "Ehime Maru" sank the fishing boat in a matter of minutes. Nine of the 35 persons aboard the Japanese vessel were killed in the collision. The Pearl Harbor-based nuclear-powered, fast-attack submarine, was surfacing when it struck the Japanese ship.
Birthdays - February 9
1773 - William Henry Harrison (9th U.S. President [1841]; caught a cold on inaguration day and died 30 days later [died April 4, 1841]; served shortest term of any U.S. president)1866 - George Ade (journalist: Chicago Morning News/Record; playwright: The Sultan of Sulu, Peggy from Paris, The College Widow; humorist: Fables in Slang; died May 23, 1944)
1874 - Amy Lowell (Pulitzer Prize-winning poet: What’s O’Clock [1926]; Sword Blades and Poppy Seeds; died May 12, 1925)
1891 - Ronald (Charles) Colman (actor: Lost Horizon, Prisoner of Zenda, Around the World in 80 Days, Romola; died May 19, 1958)
1901 - (Waldo) Brian Donlevy (actor: Destry Rides Again, Wake Island, Arizona Bushwackers, Five Golden Dragons, Jesse James, Dangerous Assignment; died Apr 5, 1972)
1909 - Carmen Miranda (Maria do Carmo Miranda Da Cunha) (‘Brazilian Bombshell’: singer: Mama Eu Quero, The Lady with the Tutti Frutti Hat; dancer, actress: Copacabana, Springtime in the Rockies, Down Argentine Way; Chiquita Banana; died Aug 5, 1955)
1909 - (David) Dean Rusk (U.S. Secretary of State under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson; died Dec 20, 1994)
1914 - Gypsy Rose Lee (Rose Hovick) (actress, dancer, stripper: You Can’t Have Everything, The Trouble with Angels, The Stripper, My Lucky Star; subject of Broadway show & film: Gypsy; sister of actress, June Havoc; died Apr 26, 1970)
1914 - Ernest Tubb (Country Music Hall of Famer: Walking the Floor Over You; headlined 1st country music show at Carnegie Hall; died Sep 6, 1984)
1914 - Bill Veeck (Baseball Hall of Fame owner: Cleveland Indians, Cleveland Browns, Chicago White Sox; promoter: outrageous door prizes, ingenious promotional schemes [Bat Day, fireworks, exploding scoreboards, player names on backs of uniforms]; signed AL’s first black player [Larry Doby: 1947] and oldest rookie [42-year-old Satchel Paige: 1948]; died Jan 2, 1986)
1922 - Kathryn Grayson (Zelma Kathryn Hedrick) (actress: Kiss Me Kate, Show Boat, The Kissing Bandit, It Happened in Brooklyn, Anchors Aweigh)
1923 - Brendan Behan (Irish dramatist: The Quare Fellow [prison drama: 1956], The Hostage [1958], Borstal Boy [autobiography: Borstal Boy: 1958], Brendan Behan’s Island [1962], Hold Your Hour and Have Another [1964], The Scarperer [1964]; jailed for Irish Republican Army activities; died Mar 20, 1964)
1925 - Vic (Victor Woodrow) Wertz (baseball: Detroit Tigers [all-star: 1949, 1951, 1952], St. Louis Browns, Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians [World Series: 1954/all-star: 1957], Boston Red Sox, Minnesota Twins; died July 7, 1983)
1928 - Roger Mudd (newsman: CBS News, NBC News, PBS)
1931 - Robert Morris (sculptor: Observatory, Transcendence, The Fallen and the Saved, Kansas City’s Bull Wall at the American Royal Arena)
1933 - Jo Ann Prentice (golf: Nabisco/Colgate Dinah Shore Champion [1974])
1939 - Barry Mann (songwriter: with Cynthia Weil on dozens of 1960s & 1970s ‘Brill Building’ hits; singer: Who Put the Bomp [in the Bomp, Bomp, Bomp])
1939 - Janet Suzman (actress: Nicholas and Alexandra, A Dry White Season, Voyage of the Damned, The House on Garibaldi Street)
1940 - Brian Bennett (musician: drums: group: The Shadows: Don’t Cry for Me Argentina)
1942 - Carole King (Klein) (songwriter, singer: Loco-motion, It Might as Well Rain Until September, It’s Too Late, Jazzman)
1943 - Joe Pesci (Academy Award-winning actor: Goodfellas [1990]; Raging Bull, My Cousin Vinny, Hey, Let’s Twist!, Star Time Kids, Half Nelson)
1944 - Barbara Lewis (singer: Make Me Your Baby, Hello Stranger, Baby I’m Yours)
1944 - Alice Walker (author: The Color Purple, The Temple of My Familiar, Possessing the Secret of Joy, Meridian)
1945 - Bill Bergey (football: Philadelphia Eagles linebacker: Super Bowl XV)
1945 - Mia Farrow (Maria de Lourdes Villers) (actress: Peyton Place, Hannah and Her Sisters, Rosemary’s Baby; ex-Mrs. Frank Sinatra; ex-Mrs. Woody Allen)
1949 - Judith Light (actress: One Life to Live, Who’s the Boss, Phenom)
1955 - Charles Shaughnessy (actor: The Nanny)
1963 - (James) Travis Tritt (Grammy Award-winnning singer: vocal collaboration w/Marty Stuart [1993]; Anymore, Can I Trust You with My Heart, Help Me Hold On; appeared in: Rio Diablo, The Cowboy Way, Sgt. Bilko, Tales From The Crypt, half-time show at 1993’s Super Bowl)
Chart Toppers - February 9
1944
My Heart Tells Me - The Glen Gray Orchestra (vocal: Eugenie Baird)
Shoo, Shoo, Baby - The Andrews Sisters No Love, No Nothin’ - Ella Mae Morse
Pistol Packin’ Mama - Al Dexter
1952
Slowpoke - Pee Wee King
Cry - Johnnie Ray
Anytime - Eddie Fisher
Give Me More, More, More (Of Your Kisses) - Lefty Frizzell
1960
Teen Angel - Mark Dinning
Where or When - Dion & The Belmonts
Handy Man - Jimmy Jones
He’ll Have to Go - Jim Reeves
1968
Green Tambourine - The Lemon Pipers
Spooky - Classics IV
Love is Blue - Paul Mauriat
Skip a Rope - Henson Cargill
1976
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover - Paul Simon
Love to Love You Baby - Donna Summer
You Sexy Thing - Hot Chocolate
Sometimes - Bill Anderson & Mary Lou Turner
1984
Karma Chameleon - Culture Club
Joanna - Kool & The Gang
Running with the Night - Lionel Richie
Show Her - Ronnie Milsap
