**Events - October 13 1775 - The second Continental Congress gave the okay for its young country to acquire ships and form what is now the United States Navy. 1792 - The cornerstone of what was termed the President’s House was laid by George Washington in Washington, DC. The name, White House, was not officially adopted until 1902. The house, designed by James Hoban, would be three stories tall with more than 100 rooms. 1903 - Beginning this night, and for 192 performances, Babes in Toyland entertained youngsters of all ages in New York City. Toyland is just one of Victor Herbert’s timeless operettas. 1924 - The Guardsman, starring Lynne Fontanne and Alfred Lunt, was the catalyst to stardom for the pair. The play opened in New York this day. 1939 - Harry James and his band recorded On a Little Street in Singapore for Columbia Records. A kid singer named Frank Sinatra was the featured vocalist on what was his seventh recording. 1953 - An ultrasonic (sound with a frequency greater than 20,000 Hz) burglar alarm was patented by New Yorker Samuel Bagno. 1957 - Two superstars introduced a new car on ABC-TV. Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra joined forces in an hourlong special that turned out to be a big ratings hit. Too bad the Edsel, the car that Ford Motor Company was introducing, didn’t fare as well. 1958 - This day was musically memorable as Warren Covington conducted the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra for what would be the last big band tune to climb the pop charts. Tea for Two Cha Cha, made it into the Top 10, peaking at #7. And that was the end of the Big Band Era. Rock ’n’ roll was here to stay. 1960 - After game six of the World Series, the New York Yankees had scored 46 runs and the Pittsburgh Pirates only 17, yet the Bucs had the series tied going into game seven. The final game opened with a home run by Rocky Nelson and was concluded by a historic game-winning hit by Bill Mazeroski, giving the Pirates their first world championship in thirty-five years. 1961 - For the first time since 77 Sunset Strip debuted (Oct. 10, 1958), viewers saw Gerald Lloyd ‘Kookie’ Kookson III (Edd Byrnes) wearing a coat and tie. It was “the ginchiest.” Kookie, Kookie, lend us your comb. 1961 - A TV news icon called it quits. Howard K. Smith parted ways with CBS News. He said that “there was a difference in interpretation of network news policy.” 1962 - A young 34-year-old named Edward Albee brought his play, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, to the stage in New York. Four years later, Albee’s play became an Academy Award-winning film (6 Oscars). 1963 - Beatlemania hit the London Palladium. The Beatles made their first appearance on a major TV show -- for the BBC. Thousands of delirious fans jammed the streets outside the theatre to voice their support of the Fab Four. A few months later, Beatlemania would sweep the U.S. as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah! 1971 - ‘Little’ Donny Osmond received a shiny gold record for his rendition of the Steve Lawrence hit, Go Away Little Girl. He went on to garner million-seller success with Hey Girl and Puppy Love too. Donny was quite popular with the bubblegum set, as well he should have been. Donny was only 13 years old. 1973 - The Rolling Stones’ Goat’s Head Soup was number one album in the U.S. With the exception of Angie, the album’s tracks were only semi-memorable: Dancing With Mr. D, 100 Years Ago, Coming Down Again, Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker), Silver Train, Hide Your Love, Winter, Can You Hear the Music, Star Star. 1979 - Speaking of the teenage set, Michael Jackson went to “#1 ... 1 ... 1” for the second time with Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough. His first number one (Oct. 14, 1972 - age 14) was a ratty little number about Ben. 1994 - Netscape Communications Corporation announced that it was offering its new Netscape Navigator free to users via the Internet. The Internet browser, developed by the six-month-old Silicon Valley company led by Silicon Graphics founder Jim Clark and NCSA Mosaic creator Marc Andreessen, was available for free downloading by “individual, academic and research users.” 1995 - The Scarlet Letter opened in U.S. theatres. The romantic drama stars Demi Moore, Gary Oldman, and Robert Duvall
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 19:10:06 +0000