Archives
September 6
Events
1819 - Thomas Blanchard of Springfield, MA patented a machine called the lathe. Blanchard said it was invented for the manufacturing of gun stocks. His lathe did the work of 13 operators.1920 - The first prizefight broadcast on radio featured Jack Dempsey knocking out Billy Miske in the third round of a bout in Benton Harbor, MI. Radio station WWJ in Detroit was the station that fight fans were tuned to.
1930 - Gallant Fox won the Lawrence Realization at Belmont Park in New York and became the leading moneymaker in thoroughbred racing.
1937 - Benny Goodman and his orchestra recorded "Sugar Foot Stomp" on Victor Records. The tune was a Fletcher Henderson arrangement.
1943 - The youngest player to appear in an American League game was pitcher Carl Scheib of the Philadelphia Athletics. On this day, Scheib was 16 years, eight months and five days old.
1958 - Actor Steve McQueen starred on the CBS-TV series, "Wanted: Dead or Alive". McQueen played bounty hunter Josh Randall. Randall was a man of few words but sure knew how to use his .30-.40 sawed-off carbine on the bad guys.
1958 - Georgia Gibbs sang "The Hula-Hoop Song" on "The Ed Sullivan Show". It was the first national exposure for the Hula-Hoop craze. Many people recorded the song to capitalize on the fad, including Teresa Brewer and Betty Johnson. Like sometimes happens with fads, these songs didn’t become very popular. The Hula-Hoop craze lasted a bit longer...
1959 - The first Barbie Doll was sold by Mattel Toy Corporation. The original Barbie, along with her pals, Ken and Skipper, are now collectors items, although new versions are continually being produced.
1961 - Bob Dylan gave one of his first performances at the Gaslight Cafe in Greenwich Village. The Gaslight was originally a ‘basket house’, where performers were paid from the contents of a basket that had been passed around.
1969 - Singer, songwriter David Bowie debuted on U.K. charts with "Space Oddity". You remember, “Ground Control to Major Tom, Ground Control to Major Tom ... Check igition and may God’s love be with you, Three, Two, One, Liftoff...” "Space Oddity" peaked at #5 in the U.K. The song’s release was timed for the U.S. moon landing, but didn’t make the U.S. charts until its rerelease in 1973 (it reached #15).
1972 - Rick DeMont lost the gold medal he received in a 400-meter swimming event because a banned drug was found in his system during routine drug testing.
1973 - Avenging the loss of his gold medal one year earlier, swimmer Rick DeMont captured the 400-meter freestyle event with a world record time of 3:58.18.
1975 - Glen Campbell hit #1 on the "Billboard" pop music chart with "Rhinestone Cowboy". It had reached the top position on the country chart on August 23rd.
1976 - Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were reunited by Frank Sinatra -- after 20 years of going their separate ways. The former comedy team warmly met each other again during a surprise visit by Martin to Lewis’s annual "Labor Day Telethon" for Muscular Dystrophy.
1980 - Miss Oklahoma, Susan Powell, was crowned Miss America in Atlantic City, NJ. It was the first time in 25 years that Bert Parks had not served as master of ceremonies for the show. He had been dismissed because the pageant committee considered him to be too old. Former TV "Tarzan", Ron Ely, was chosen to host the festivities.
1982 - Willie Stargell of the Pittsburgh Pirates saw his uniform, number 8, retired by the Bucs. It was the fourth Pirate player’s uniform to be so honored. The other three belonged to Roberto Clemente (#21), Honus Wagner (#33) and Pie Traynor (#20).
1984 - Country-music star Ernest Tubb died this day, at the age of 70. Tubb was from Crisp, Texas and was known as the ‘Texas Troubadour’. He patterned his unique style after Jimmie Rodgers. Tubb recorded "I’m Walking the Floor Over You" and sold more than three million copies of the tune. "Blue Christmas", "I Love You Because", "Missing In Action" and "Thanks a Lot" were also classics made famous by Tubb. Other recording artists as diverse as The Andrews Sisters, Loretta Lynn and Red Foley recorded with Tubb. His 1979 album, "The Legend and the Legacy", was a top-ten hit. Tubb was a member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1943 and was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1965.
1984 - Ginger Rogers was in Buffalo, NY for a homecoming at Shea’s Theatre. The star of so many great motion pictures, Rogers had played the Shea 55 years earlier.
1986 - Bananarama hit the top spot on the pop music charts with "Venus". The tune had also been a number one hit for the Dutch group, The Shocking Blue (2/07/70).
1991 - The original name of Russia’s second largest city was restored on this day. The city of St. Petersburg was founded in 1703 by Peter the Great, hence the name, St. Petersburg. But it wasn’t always that simple. In 1914, at the beginning of World War I, Russian leaders felt that Petersburg was too German-sounding. So they changed the name of the city to Petrograd -- to make it more Russian-sounding. Then, in 1924, the country’s Soviet Communist leaders wanted to honor the founder of the Soviet Union, Vladimir I. Lenin. The city of Petrograd became Leningrad and was known as Leningrad until 1991 when the new Russian legislators -- no longer Soviet Communists -- wanted the city to reflect their change of government.
1996 - Three movies opened in U.S. theatres: "Bogus", starring Whoopi Goldberg, Gerard Depardieu and Haley Joel Osment; "Bulletproof", with Damon Wayans, Adam Sandler, James Farentino and James Caan; and "Sweet Nothing", starring Michael Imperioli, Mira Sorvino, Paul Calderon.
1997 - The Westminster Abbey funeral for Diana, Princess of Wales, was an extraordinary event, marked by numerous poignant moments: The people sobbing and throwing flowers at the funeral cortege winding through the streets of London. Her sons, walking behind her casket with their heads bowed. And Diana’s brother, who during his funeral oration took aim at the media, who he said made the princess “the most hunted person of the modern age.” Elton John sang a rewritten version of "Candle in the Wind" to “England’s rose”. The song was originally a tribute to film legend Marilyn Monroe, whose own tragic life, like Diana’s, ended at the age of just 36.
Birthdays - September 6
1757 - Marquis de Lafayette (French and American General: ‘The Hero of Two Worlds’; died May 20, 1834)1860 - Jane Addams (Nobel Peace Prize-winner [1931]: social worker for peace and women’s rights; founded Chicago’s Hull House; died May 21, 1935)
1885 - Otto Kruger (actor: The Young Philadelphians, Cover Girl, Corregidor, High Noon, Dracula’s Daughter, I am the Law; died Sep 6, 1974)
1888 - Joseph P. Kennedy (U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain; father of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, Senator Edward ‘Ted’ Kennedy and U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy; died Nov 18, 1969)
1902 - Morgan Beatty (reporter, journalist: Associated Press, radio: ABC, TV: Du Mont; died July 4, 1975)
1904 - ‘Slapsie’ Maxie Rosenbloom (boxer, actor: I Married a Monster from Outer Space, Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Cops, Here Comes Kelly, Cooking Up Trouble; died Mar 6, 1976)
1912 - Vince (Vincent Paul) DiMaggio (baseball: Boston Bees, Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates [all-star: 1943, 1944], Philadelphia Blue Jays, NY Giants, Philadelphia Phillies; older brother of Joe [and Dom] DiMaggio; died Oct 3, 1986)
1924 - Hal (Harold Bentley) Jeffcoat (baseball: pitcher: Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Redlegs, Cincinnati Reds, SL Cardinals; died Aug 30, 2007)
1929 - Dow Finsterwald (golf: PGA champion [1958])
1937 - Jo Anne Worley (comedienne: Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, Hollywood Squares)
1939 - Susumu Tonegawa (Nobel Prize-winning molecular biologist [1987]: discovered how the body can defend itself against millions of different diseases it has never before encountered)
1940 - Brian Smith (hockey: NHL: LA Kings, Minnesota North Stars)
1940 - Tom Janik (football: Texas A & I, Boston Patriots, Buffalo Bills)
1942 - Carol Wayne (actress: The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Scavenger Hunt, Heartbreakers; died Jan 13, 1985 [drowning accident in Manzanillo, Mexico])
1943 - Roger Waters (musician: bass, songwriter: group: Pink Floyd: Another Brick in the Wall [Part II])
1944 - Swoosie Kurtz (Tony Award-winning actress: Fifth of July [1981], The House of Blue Leaves [1986]; Emmy Award-winner: Reunion: Carol & Company [1989-90]; Sisters, Love, Sidney, The World According to Garp)
1946 - Ron Boone (basketball: Utah Jazz; record: 1,041 consecutive games; broadcaster [color analyst]: Utah Jazz)
1947 - Jane Curtin (Emmy Award-winning comedienne, actress: Kate and Allie [1983-84, 1984-85]; Coneheads, Saturday Night Live, Suspicion)
1948 - Claydes (Charles) Smith (musician: guitar: group: Kool & The Gang: Ladies Night, Celebration, I.B.M.C.; LPs: Wild and Peaceful, Kool Jazz, Light of Worlds, Spirit of the Boogie, Love & Understanding, Something Special, As One, In the Heart, Emergency)
1949 - Mike (Michael Wayne) Thompson (baseball: pitcher: Washington Senators, SL Cardinals, Atlanta Braves)
1951 - Ken Bernich (football: Auburn Univ. All-American)
1954 - Banner Thomas (musician: bass: group: Molly Hatchet)
1958 - Jeff Foxworthy (comedian: You Know You’re a Redneck, The Jeff Foxworthy Show; TV host: Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?; author: No Shirt, No Shoes ... No Problem)
1961 - Paul Waaktaar (musician: guitar, singer: group: a-ha)
1974 - Justin Whalin (actor: The Dead Pool, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Serial Mom, Dungeons & Dragons)
Chart Toppers - September 6
1948
A Tree in the Meadow - Margaret Whiting
It’s Magic - Doris Day
You Call Everybody Darlin’ - Al Trace (vocal: Bob Vincent)
Bouquet of Roses - Eddy Arnold
1956
Hound Dog/Don’t Be Cruel - Elvis Presley
Canadian Sunset - Hugo Winterhalter & Eddie Heywood
Tonight You Belong to Me - Patience & Prudence
I Walk the Line - Johnny Cash
1964
The House of the Rising Sun - The Animals
Because - The Dave Clark Five
Bread and Butter - The Newbeats
I Guess I’m Crazy - Jim Reeves
1972
Alone Again (Naturally) - Gilbert O’Sullivan
Long Cool Woman (In a Black Dress) - The Hollies
I’m Still in Love with You - Al Green
Woman (Sensuous Woman) - Don Gibson
1980
Upside Down - Diana Ross
Emotional Rescue - The Rolling Stones
All Out of Love - Air Supply
Lookin’ for Love - Johnny Lee
1988
Monkey - George Michael
Sweet Child o’ Mine - Guns N’ Roses
Simply Irresistible - Robert Palmer
I Couldn’t Leave You if I Tried - Rodney Crowell
