Archives
May 28
Events
1892 - Comedienne Marie Dressler made her New York City singing debut in the comic opera, "The Robber of the Rhine".1922 - Otto Krueger conducted the Detroit News Orchestra, the first known radio orchestra, which was heard on WWJ Radio in Detroit, MI. The "Detroit News" owned the radio station at the time.
1928 - Walter P. Chrysler worked out a deal that made automotive history and took him from rags to riches. He merged his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge Brothers, Inc. The Dodge Motor Car Company had been purchased several years earlier, from the widows of the two founders, by Clarence Dillon's banking firm for $148 million. The merger of Chrysler and Dodge, the largest automobile industry merger in history at the time, placed the newly consolidated firm third in production and sales, just behind General Motors and Ford Motor Company.
1929 - Warner Brothers debuted the first all-color talking picture. The film debuted at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York City. Ethel Waters, Joe E. Brown and Arthur Lake starred in "On With the Show".
1931 - WOR radio in New York City premiered "The Witch’s Tale". The program was broadcast on the Mutual Broadcasting System (of which WOR was the flagship station) where it aired until 1938.
1934 - The Dionne quintuplets were born near Callender, Ontario to Oliva and Elzire Dionne. They were the first quints (that’s five babies, for those who may have forgotten) to survive infancy. This increase in Canada’s population became known as Marie, Cecile, Yvonne, Emilie and Annette.
1941 - Frank Sinatra joined Tommy Dorsey’s orchestra in recording "This Love of Mine" for Victor Records.
1953 - The first 3-D (three-dimensional) cartoon premiered at the Paramount Theatre in Hollywood, California. The production, a Walt Disney creation/RKO picture, was titled, "Melody".
1957 - National League club owners voted to allow the Brooklyn Dodgers to move to sunny Southern California and said that the New York Giants baseball team could move with the Horace Stoneham family to Northern California. The teams went on to establish themselves in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
1957 - The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) was established. This is the organization that brings us the Grammy Awards for all forms of musical entertainment each year.
1959 - Able and Baker were two monkeys who survived a trip into space from a launch at Cape Canaveral, FL.
1966 - Percy Sledge hit number one with his first -- and what turned out to be his biggest -- hit. "When a Man Loves a Woman" would stay at the top of the pop music charts for two weeks. It was the singer’s only hit to make the top ten and was a million seller.
1975 - The Doobie Brothers went gold with the album, "Stampede". The group, formed in San Jose, CA, recorded 16 charted hits. Two made it to number one, becoming million-selling, gold record winners: "Black Water" [March, 1975] and "What a Fool Believes" [April, 1979].
1982 - The legendary train, "Orient Express", made popular through Agatha Christie’s thrilling mystery novel, "Murder on the Orient Express", was reborn. The 26-hour train trip resumed across the European continent after a long respite.
1985 - Gay Mullins, a retiree from Seattle, WA, founded Old Cola Drinkers of America. This was an effort to bring back the original Coca-Cola, instead of the New Coke that the Atlanta-based company had foisted on the American cola-drinking market. By July of 1985, with arms firmly twisted behind their backs, Coca-Cola Company executives relented and returned the old formula to colaholics and with a new name: Classic Coke.
1985 - "Vanity Fair" magazine, with a picture of President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy smooching on the cover, went on sale.
Birthdays - May 28
1779 - Thomas Moore (poet, lyricist: Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms, The Last Rose of Summer, Oft in the Stilly Night; died Feb 25, 1852)1888 - Jim Thorpe (Olympic gold medalist: decathlon, pentathlon, [Stockholm: 1912]; baseball: NY Giants, Boston Braves; football: All-American; president of what became the NFL; died Mar 28, 1953)
1900 - Clarence ‘Taffy’ Abel (U.S. Hockey Hall of Famer: 1st American to carry the flag in opening Winter Olympics ceremonies; one of 1st U.S. born NHL players: NY Rangers; Chicago Black Hawks; died Aug 1, 1964)
1908 - Ian Fleming (author: creator of Bond ... James Bond; died Aug 12, 1964)
1925 - Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone opera singer)
1926 - Marvin Panch (auto racer: Daytona 500 winner [1961])
1931 - Carroll Baker (actress: The Carpetbaggers, Giant, Baby Doll, Harlow, Kindergarten Cop)
1936 - Betty Shabazz (civil rights leader; wife of Malcom X; died June 23, 1997)
1938 - Jerry West (Basketball Hall of Famer: Olympic gold medalist [1960]; LA Lakers all-star guard: individual record for season free throws [840] and NBA playoff career free-throws [1,213]; Lakers coach & general manager)
1944 - Rudolph Giuliani (Rudolph William Louis Giuliani III) (politician: Mayor of New York City)
1944 - Gladys (Maria) Knight (singer: w/The Pips: Midnight Train to Georgia, If I Were Your Woman, I Heard It Through the Grapevine, Neither One of Us, Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me, Every Beat of My Heart)
1945 - John Fogerty (songwriter; singer: group: Creedence Clearwater: Proud Mary, Have You Ever Seen the Rain, Bad Moon Rising, Lookin’ Out My Back Door; group: The Blue Ridge Rangers: Jambalaya, Hearts of Stone, The Old Man Down the Road, Centerfield)
1945 - Gary Stewart (country singer: She’s Acting Single [I’m Drinkin’ Doubles], Drinkin’ Thing, Out of Hand)
1946 - Ted Snell (hockey: NHL: Pittsburgh Penguins, Kansas City Scouts, Detroit Red Wings)
1947 - Sondra Locke (actress: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Bronco Billy, Every Which Way But Loose, The Gauntlet, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Willard, Sudden Impact; director: Ratboy, Impulse)
1947 - Kevin O’Shea (hockey: NHL: Buffalo Sabres, St. Louis Blues)
1948 - Bruce Taylor (College Football Hall of Famer: Boston Univ.)
1949 - Shelley Hamlin (golf: Stanford University Hall of Famer; champion: Japan Classic [1975], Phar-Mor at Inverrary [1992], Shoprite LPGA Classic [record: -9, 204: 1993]; William and Mousie Powell Award [1992]; LPGA President [1980, 1981])
1950 - Errol Thompson (hockey: NHL: Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguins)
1952 - Terry Schmidt (football: Chicago Bears)
1955 - Mark Howe (hockey: Olympic silver medalist [1972]; World Hockey Assoc. Rookie of the Year [1973]: Houston Aeros: played with brother Marty and Hockey Hall of Famer Dad, Gordie Howe; NHL: New England/Hartford Whalers, Philadelphia Flyers, Detroit Red Wings)
1962 - Roland Gift (singer: group: Fine Young Cannibals: Johnny Come Home)
1968 - Kylie Minogue (actress: Bio-Dome, Street Fighter, Moulin Rouge [2001])
Chart Toppers - May 28
1948
Nature Boy - Nat King Cole
Now is the Hour - Bing Crosby
Baby Face - The Art Mooney Orchestra
Texarkana Baby - Eddy Arnold
1956
Heartbreak Hotel/I Was the One - Elvis Presley
The Wayward Wind - Gogi Grant
The Happy Whistler - Don Robertson
Blue Suede Shoes - Carl Perkins
1964
My Guy - Mary Wells
Love Me Do - The Beatles
Chapel of Love - The Dixie Cups
My Heart Skips a Beat - Buck Owens
1972
Oh Girl - Chi-Lites
I’ll Take You There - The Staple Singers
Look What You Done for Me - Al Green
(Lost Her Love) On Our Last Date - Conway Twitty
1980
Call Me - Blondie
Funkytown - Lipps, Inc.
Don’t Fall in Love with a Dreamer - Kenny Rogers with Kim Carnes
Starting Over Again - Dolly Parton
1988
One More Try - George Michael
Shattered Dreams - Johnny Hates Jazz
Naughty Girls (Need Love Too) - Samantha Fox
Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses - Kathy Mattea
