April 8
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Events on This Day
1834 - Cornelius Van Wyck Lawrence became the first mayor to be elected by popular vote in a city election. The voters of New York City decided to make him mayor of their fair city.1873 - Alfred Paraf of New York City patented the first successful oleomargarine.
1911 - The first squash tournament was played at the Harvard Club in New York City.
1935 - The Works Progress Administration was approved by the U.S. Congress. The WPA was one of the many programs initiated by the federal government under President Franklin D. Roosevelt to combat the devestating effects of the Great Depression.
1939 - Godshall Ranch, Apple Valley, California was the site of the first Intercollegiate Rodeo. The students who competed came from just about every major college and university campus in the western United States. The young cowboys and cowgirls competed under the guidance of world champion professional cowboys. The competition was such a success and drew so much attention that it sparked the creation of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association now headquartered in Walla Walla, Washington.
1941 - Earle Graser, the eight-year voice of the radio program, The Lone Ranger, died in an auto accident. Brace Beemer, previously the show’s announcer, took over the title role and stayed on the air for 14 years.
1943 - Wendell Willkie’s One World (recounting Willkie’s 1942 trip around the world as FDR’s special envoy) was published for the first time. In less than two months, sales reached a million copies.
1944 - Jackie Gleason, Danny Aiello, Walter Long, and Gertrude Niesen starred as Follow the Girls came to Broadway’s New Century Theatre. The wartime show was a hit in both New York City and London, with a thin plot about a burlesque striptease queen who becomes the star attraction at the Spotlight, a servicemen’s club in Great Neck, Long Island. The plot served as an excuse for a series of songs, dance numbers, and comedy routines. Audiences loved the show for 888 performances. It closed on May 18, 1946.
1946 - The League of Nations assembled in Geneva for the final time. The League was disolved, its property transferred, including its library and historical archives, to the new United Nations organization.
1952 - U.S. President Harry S Truman ordered the seizure of the steel industry by the federal government. This, to avoid a general strike. The action resulted in the Supreme Court’s 6–3 decision later that same year in Youngstown Sheet & Tube v. Sawyer, rebuking Truman for what turned out to be a lawless action.
1957 - Jimmy Dean began a morning show on CBS-TV to compete with the first 45 minutes of the Today show on NBC-TV. No, he didn’t stand around in an apron cookin’ sausage and singing Big Bad John for the audience, though it may not have been a bad idea. No sponsors were found for the show and it was back to the smokehouse for Jimmy when CBS quickly sliced the show from the network.
1958 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposed mutual inspection as means of enforcing atomic test ban.
1963 - Steve Brooks became only the fifth race jockey to ride 4,000 career winners.
1963 - Seven Oscars including the #1 award for Best Picture went to Lawrence of Arabia (Sam Spiegel, producer) at the 35th Annual Academy Awards at Santa Monica’s Civic Auditorium (Los Angeles). The epic production earned Oscars for David Lean (Best Director); Freddie Young (Best Cinematography/Color); John Box, John Stoll, & Dario Simoni (Best Art Direction/Set Decoration/Color); John Cox with Shepperton SSD (Best Sound); Anne V. Coates (Best Film Editing); Maurice Jarre (Best Music/Score - Substantially Original). Ol’ Blue Eyes hosted the festivities honoring the films of 1962 (including the film Sinatra starred in, The Manchurian Candidate.) Other notable flicks of that year including some award winners, and some not: Taras Bulba, Mutiny on the Bounty, Walk on the Wild Side, The Longest Day, The Music Man, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Birdman of Alcatraz. Those that won the top awards other than Lawrence of Arabia were To Kill a Mockingbird (Best Actor - Gregory Peck; Best Art Direction/Set Decoration/Black-and-White - Alexander Golitzen, Henry Bumstead, Oliver Emert; Best Writing/Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium - Horton Foote); The Miracle Worker (Best Actress - Anne Bancroft, Best Supporting Actress - Patty Duke) ; Sweet Bird of Youth (Best Supporting Actor - Ed Begley); and Days of Wine and Roses [title song] (Best Music/Song: - Henry Mancini (music), Johnny Mercer lyrics).
1966 - OAO 1, the first orbiting astronomical observatory, was launched.
1969 - The Montreal Expos and the New York Mets played in Shea Stadium in New York in the first international baseball game in the major leagues.
1971 - Chicago became the first non-classical group to play Carnegie Hall in New York City. Through the 1970s and 1980s, Chicago scored big with these hits: Make Me Smile, 25 or 6 to 4, Saturday in the Park, Old Days, Baby, What a Big Surprise, Hard to Say I’m Sorry and many others.
1973 - Artist Pablo Picasso died at his home near Mougins, France. He was 91 years old.
1974 - It was one historic night in sports in Atlanta’s Fulton County Stadium. Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s home run record by collecting his 715th round-tripper. Hammerin’ Hank trotted into baseball immortality as the Braves beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7 to 4. Aaron finished his career two years later with 755 home runs. When he retired from baseball, Hank Aaron also held a first place record for RBIs.
1975 - The Godfather: Part II won half of the top six awards at the 47th Annual Academy Awards at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. It won for Best Picture: (Francis Ford Coppola, Gray Frederickson, Fred Roos, producers); Best Director (Francis Ford Coppola); and Best Supporting Actor (Robert De Niro); plus Best Writing/Screenplay Adapted from Other Material (Francis Coppola, Mario Puzo); Best Art Direction/Set Decoration (Dean Tavoularis, Angelo P. Graham, George Nelson; and Best Music/Original Dramatic Score (Nino Rota, Carmine Coppola). The other three crowd-pleaser awards went to Best Actor Art Carney for his Harry and Tonto role; to Best Actress Ellen Burstyn for her part in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore; and to Ingrid Bergman as Best Supporting Actress in Murder on the Orient Express. Hosts Sammy Davis Jr., Bob Hope, Shirley MacLaine, and Frank Sinatra livened up the party, even though murder, intrigue and disaster were in the run. The award for Best Music/Song went to Al Kasha & Joel Hirschhorn for We May Never Love Like This Again from the Towering Inferno. Inferno also won for Best Cinematography (Fred J. Koenekamp, Joseph F. Biroc) and Best Film Editing (Harold F. Kress & Carl Kress); while Best Sound went to Earthquake (Ronald Pierce and Melvin M. Metcalfe, Sr.) and Robert Towne’s Chinatown won for Best Writing/Original Screenplay.
1977 - Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin admitted he had violated the country’s currency laws. He later resigned.
1981 - U.S. General Omar N. Bradley died in New York City. He was 88 years old.
1985 - Comedienne Phyllis Diller underwent a surgical procedure for permanent eye liner to eliminate the need for eyelid makeup. Must have been a real slow day over at Phyllis’ house.
1986 - Actor Clint Eastwood thought he was not being treated kindly enough by the Carmel-by-the-Sea, California city administration, and he was upset about it. Hassled by rules, regulations, and taxes regarding building permits and zoning laws, and tired of getting the runaround and being forced to jump thru endless hoops put up by the city, Clint decided to run for mayor and change the way things were done. He won the election, getting 72.5% of the vote and went on to fulfill, to his own satisfaction, all his major campaign promises. Among them, he made it easier to build or to renovate property. He got a tourist parking lot constructed. He remodeled the Mission Ranch (which was going to be demolished in favor of 80 condominiums) and preserved the precious landscape it was on. He also opened a library annex which was dedicated for children’s use -- said to be the accomplishment of which he was most proud.
1992 - P.L.O. leader Yasser Arafat survived a plane crash in the Sahara desert. Three crew members were killed. Arafat suffered a head injury and underwent an operation to drain blood clots.
1994 - Kurt Cobain, lead singer of the rock band Nirvana, was found dead in his Seattle home of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 27.
1996 - Actor Ben Johnson died of a heart attack in Mesa, Arizona. He was 77. Johnson, a veteran of Western films, won an Academy Award (Supporting Actor) for his role in The Last Picture Show.
1998 - The Player’s Club opened in the U.S. The comedy/drama stars Lisaraye, Monica Calhoun, Bernie Mac, Jamie Foxx, Chrystale Wilson, Adele Givens and A.J. Johnson. The film was directed by Ice Cube (O'Shea Jackson), making his writing-directing debut.
1999 - As NATO bombing in Yugoslavia blocked freighter and barge traffic on the Danube, U.S. President Bill Clinton said NATO would win in Kosovo by air power alone.
2001 - Tiger Woods won the Masters golf tournament. It was his fourth straight major championship in a span of 294 days.
2002 - The New York Times won seven Pulitzer Prizes, six of them related to coverage of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.
2004 - Radio giant Clear Channel Communications fired Howard Stern after FCC regulators proposed fining the company $495,000 for airing the shock jock's sexually explicit broadcasts.
2005 - Four Australian performers called The Wiggles topped BRW Magazine’s list of Australia’s 50 richest performers of 2004. The band had an estimated gross income of $34.5 million, up from $10.7 million in the previous year.
2006 - Harley-Davidson opened its first dealership in China -- in Beijing, the country’s largest city. The motorcycle manufacturer had been trying to enter the Chinese market for 50 years.
2006 - The bodies of eight men were found stuffed in old cars in a farmer’s field near the small town of Shedden, Ontario, about 30 kilometres southwest of London. Police called the killings “an internal cleansing” of the Bandidos motorcycle gang and said that the eight victims suffered gunshot wounds. The victims were all from greater Toronto and all were affiliated with the Bandidos gang.
2007 - New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson began a trip to North Korea to recover remains of U.S. servicemen killed in the Korean War.
2008 - Day of the Dead debuted in U.S. movie houses. The horror thriller stars Mena Suvari, Ving Rhames, Nick Cannon, Christa Campbell, Taylor Hoover and Vanessa Johansson.
2008 - An Australian man was sentenced to three years in jail for shining a laser pointer at a police helicopter that temporarily blinded the pilot.
2008 - U.S. Congressional auditors reported federal employees had charged millions of dollars for Internet dating, tailor-made suits, lingerie, lavish dinners and other questionable expenses to their government credit cards over a 15-month period.
2009 - Somali pirates hijacked the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama. The 17,000-ton cargo ship had 20 American crewmembers on board. The pirates took Captain Richard Phillips hostage, then fled as the vessel’s crew regained control.
2010 - U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the biggest nuclear arms pact in a generation.
2010 - The North Dakota Supreme Court ruled that the Board of Higher Education had the authority to dump the nickname (Fighting Sioux) of the University of North Dakota.
2010 - The Addams Family opened on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. Based upon The Addams Family characters created by Charles Addams in his gag cartoons, the musical featured Nathan Lane as Gomez and Bebe Neuwirth as Morticia. The production closed on December 31, 2011 after 722 performances.
2011 - Movies debuting in the U.S.: Your Highness, starring Danny McBride, James Franco, Rasmus Hardiker, Natalie Portman, Toby Jones and Justin Theroux; Hanna, with Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, Vicky Krieps, Cate Blanchett and Paris Arrowsmith; Soul Surfer, starring Sonya Balmores, Chris Brochu, Christie Brooke, David Chokachi ... and Kelly Crean; American: The Bill Hicks Story, with Kevin Booth , John Farneti, Bill Hicks, Lynn Hicks and Mary Hicks; Ceremony, starring Uma Thurman, Michael Angarano, Lee Pace, Rebecca Mader, Reece Thompson and Jake M. Johnson; Exodus Fall, with Jesse James, Rosanna Arquette, Adrien Finkel, Devon Graye, Leo Rossi, Alexander Carroll and Dee Wallace; Henry’s Crime, starring Keanu Reeves, James Caan, Judy Greer, Vera Farmiga, Peter Stormare and Fisher Stevens; Meek’s Cutoff, with Paul Dano, Bruce Greenwood, Shirley Henderson, Neal Huff and Zoe Kazan; Meet Monica Velour, with Kim Cattrall, Dustin Ingram, Brian Dennehy andKeith David; Thank You, with Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Irrfan Khan and Sunil Shetty; and the documentary Born to Be Wild 3D, featuring Morgan Freeman, Birute Galdikas and Daphne Sheldrick.
2011 - Tens of thousands of Egyptians waved flags and shouted slogans in Cairo’s central Tahrir Square, demanding that Hosni Mubarak and his family be put on trial over allegations of corruption. It was one of the biggest protests since Mubarak was ousted in February.
2012 - Tiger Woods failed to break par for the fourth straight round to finish 5-over par at golf’s Masters Tournament, his worst performance as a professional. Woods shot a 2-over-par 74 in the day’s final round in Augusta, Georgia, after rounds of 72, 75 and 72. When he finished play, Woods was tied for 41st place, 14 shots off the lead.
2013 - Actress and singer Annette Funicello died in Bakersfield, CA from complications of multiple schlerosis. She was 70 years old. Funicello was one of the Mouseketeers on the original Mickey Mouse Club -- discovered by Walt Disney himself -- when she performed as the Swan Queen in Swan Lake at a dance recital at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank, California. She later moved on to become a successful singer with the pop singles O Dio Mio, Tall Paul and Pineapple Princess, as well as establishing herself as a film actress, popularizing the successful Beach Party genre alongside co-star Frankie Avalon during the mid-1960s. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1992.
2013 - Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1979 to 1990) Margaret Thatcher died at 87 years of age following a stroke. Known as the Iron Lady, she transformed Britain and inspired conservatives around the world.
2014 - A Shanghai collector paid a record $36 million for a rare Ming Dynasty ‘chicken cup’ that was touted as the ‘holy grail’ of China’s art world. The cup was made during the reign of the Ming Dynasty’s Chenghua Emperor, who ruled from 1465 to 1487. Sotheby’s said there are only 17 such cups in existence, with four in private hands and the rest housed in museums.
2014 - World Heath Organization officials reported that more than 110 people had died in an outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, with as many as 175 others infected. This included 151 suspected and confirmed cases of the disease in guinea, where 101 people had died, and 10 deaths in Liberia.
2015 - Hawaii’s Governor David Ige said Thirty Meter Telescope had agreed to halt construction for a week on building one of the world’s largest telescopes. This, after more than a week of demonstrations at the Big Island’s Mauna Kea. (Construction was later postponed indefinitely.)
2016 - Motion pictures opening in the U.S. included: Before I Wake, starring Jacob Tremblay, Annabeth Gish and Kate Bosworth; The Boss, with Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Bell and Peter Dinklage; Demolition, starring Naomi Watts, Jake Gyllenhaal and Chris Cooper; High Strung, with Keenan Kampa, Nicholas Galitzine and Jane Seymour; The Invitation, starring Logan Marshall-Green, Emayatzy Corinealdi and Michiel Huisman; Louder Than Bombs, with Jesse Eisenberg, Rachel Brosnahan and Amy Ryan; Memoria, starring Sam Dillon, Thomas Mann and James Franco; and Mr. Right, with Anna Kendrick, Tim Roth and Anson Mount.
2016 - A court in southern China jailed four activists who had publicly supported Hong Kong’s pro-democracy Occupy Central movement. The four also had criticized the Chinese Communist Party on social media.
2016 - SpaceX resumed station deliveries for NASA, and in a double triumph, successfully landed its reusable Falcon 9 booster rocket on an ocean platform for the first time.
2018 - China banned exports to North Korea of electronics and other goods that could be used in making weapons. The move tightened U.N. sanctions imposed over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile development.
2018 - German police raided the homes of suspected members of a far-right group in Berlin and nearby states, searching for weapons. The investigators were after members of the Reichsbuerger (Citizens of the Reich) group, who do not recognize modern-day Germany as a legitimate state.
2019 - Earth’s glaciers were melting much faster than scientists thought. A study showed they were losing 369 billion tons of snow and ice each year, more than half of that in North America.
2019 - A federal judge in San Francisco ordered a halt to Donald Trump’s practice of sending migrants back to Mexico while their cases were being considered. A month later, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the ruling -- during the legal challenge. The case was heading for the Supreme Court. But allowing the policy to remain in effect in the meantime let the administration carry out an unprecedented change to U.S. asylum practices.
2020 - A federal judge in Manhattan rejected an effort by Donald Trump and his adult children to send a lawsuit against them to arbitration. The suit accused them of exploiting their family name to promote a marketing scam. U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield accused the Trumps of acting unfairly by seeking arbitration -- after first obtaining “the benefits of litigating in federal court,” including the dismissal of a racketeering charge.
2020 - COVID-19 news: 1)New Jersey and Virginia joined 15 other states in delaying their primaries so election officials could make preparations to address public health concerns and deal with a poll worker shortage brought on by the outbreak. 2)The U.S. awarded General Motors a contract worth some $500 million to make ventilators needed to treat severely sick coronavirus patients. 3)Some 100 American Airlines flight attendants had tested positive; one had died from the virus. 4)France’s Defense Ministry said its aircraft carrier FS Charles de Gaulle was heading back to port due to an on-board virus outbreak. Two-thirds of crew were said to be infected, but only half were symptomatic. 5)A plane carrying 90 tons of U.N. health, water and sanitation aid/supplies arrived in Venezuela to help the cash-strapped country fight the coronavirus pandemic.
2020 - Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, progressive standard-bearer whose campaigns for the Oval Office helped usher in a liberal-leaning movement within segments of the Democratic party, ended his 2020 bid. As Joe Biden emerged from Super Tuesday in an apparent sweep, moderate Democrats–including many former presidential contenders such as Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, California Senator Kamala Harris, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg and entrepreneur Andrew Yang — all had coalesced behind the former VP.
2021 - Northern Ireland leaders called for calm and an end to the unrest that had rocked the country for a week. Police used water cannons and riot gear to try and break up riots between rival unionist and nationalist gangs as they briefly smashed open the peace wall dividing the Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods.
2021 - President Biden, VP Harris and Attorney General Garland announced measures to start tackling gun violence in the U.S. The plan included: 1)An effort to rein in the proliferation of so-called ghost guns, which can be assembled at home from kits and contain no serial numbers; 2)An annual report on firearms trafficking; 3)Rules regulating stabilizing braces that make AR-15 pistols more stable and accurate; and 4)Drafting of a template for states to use to write ‘red flag’ laws that enable law enforcement and family members to seek court orders to remove firearms from people determined to be a threat to themselves or others.
2022 - Movies scheduled to open in the U.S.: Ambulance, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Yahya Abdul-Mateen Eiza González; the animated Sonic the Hedgehog 2, featuring characters voiced by Ben Schwartz, Idris Elba, Colleen O’Shaughnessey and Jim Carrey; All the Old Knives, starring Chris Pine, Thandiwe Newton and Laurence Fishburne; and As They Made Us, starring Dianna Agron, Simon Helberg and Dustin Hoffman.
2022 - The Board of Governors for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences met to discuss the consequences/punishment for actor Will Smith following his slap of presenter Chris Rock during the 94th Oscars telecast.The board voted to ban Smith from all Academy events -- including the Oscars -- for ten years.
2022 - The mega merger of Discovery and WarnerMedia closed, putting many of the biggest names in movies, TV and news under one roof.
2022 - German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for a war crimes tribunal against Russian President/despot Vladimir Putin and foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. “Anyone who has responsibility for these crimes will have to explain themselves,” Steinmeier said. “That includes soldiers and officials with political responsibility.”
2023 - Two soldiers were killed after their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. In a separate incident, a police officer was killed and two more injured during a grenade attack in Swabi. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for both attacks.
and more...
Birthdays on This Day April 8
563 B.C.- Buddha (Shakyamuni)
‘The Enlightened One’ in the Buddhist faith; died Feb 15, 483 B.C.1872 - Ray (O. Raymond) Knight
‘Father of Canadian Rodeo’: conceived, coined, organized first Canadian stampede (rodeo); died Feb 7, 19471892 - Mary Pickford (Gladys Louise Smith)
Academy Award-winning actress: Coquette [1928-29], Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Stella Maris, The Taming of the Shrew, Pollyanna, A Poor Little Rich Girl; died May 29, 19791909 - Patrick O’Moore
actor: The Sword and the Sorcerer, The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler, 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt, Copper Sky, QB VII, Khyber Patrol; died Dec 10, 19831910 - George Francis ‘Moose’ Musso
Pro Football Hall of Fame guard, tackle: NFL: Chicago Bears: first to win All-NFL at 2 positions; played in 7 Championship games; died Sep 5, 20001912 - Sonja Henie
ice skater: Norwegian Olympic gold medalist [1928, 1932, 1936]; World Champion [1927 thru 1936]; died Oct 12, 19691918 - Elizabeth ‘Betty’ Ford (Bloomer)
First Lady: wife of 38th U.S. President Gerald R. Ford; founder of the Betty Ford Clinic for substance abuse rehabilitation; died Jul 8, 20111921 - Alfie Bass
actor: Moonraker, Revenge of the Pink Panther, The Goodies and the Beanstalk, Up the Junction, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; died July 15, 19871921 - Franco (Dario) Corelli
tenor: debut: Spoleto (Italy) as Don José in G. Bizet’s Carmen [1951]; in films: Great Moments in Opera, Franco Corelli in Tosca, The Great Tenors - Voice of Firestone Classic Performances; died Oct 29, 20031922 - Carmen McRae
jazz singer: The Next Time It Happens, Skyliner; died Nov 10, 19941923 - Edward Mulhare
actor: Megaforce, Our Man Flint, Von Ryan’s Express, Knight Rider; died May 24, 19971926 - Shecky Greene (Sheldon Greenfield)
comedian, Las Vegas nightclub performer; actor: Splash, Mel Brooks’ History of the World -- Part 1, Tony Rome, Laverne and Shirley, The A-Team, Northern Exposure; died Dec 31, 20231927 - Charlie (Charles Richard) ‘Smokey’ Maxwell
baseball: Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Detroit Tigers [all-star: 1956, 1957], Chicago White Sox1928 - Monty Sunshine
jazz musician: clarinet: Petite Fleur; played in film: Look Back in Anger; died Nov 30, 20101929 - Jacques Brel
singer, songwriter: Jackie, Next, If You Go Away, I’m Not Afraid; appeared in his own French version of Man of La Mancha and in film: Montdragon; died Oct 9, 19781930 - John Reardon
opera: baritone: Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera Opera; Broadway: Do-Re-Mi; TV: Mister Rogers's Neighborhood [Operamaster]; actor: The Labyrinth, The Flood; died: Apr 19, 19881931 - John Gavin (Anthony Golenour)
actor: Psycho, Spartacus, A Time to Love & a Time to Die, Sophia Loren: Her Own Story; died Feb 9, 20181937 - Pamela Gordon
actress: This Is Not a Film, Wrong Way to Sundance, Buddy Boy, Starry Night, Bloodstone: Subspecies II, Poltergeist II: The Other Side; died Sep 21, 20031938 - Kofi Annan
Secretary-General of United Nations [1997-2006 ]; Nobel Peace Prize [2001]; died Aug 18, 20181940 - John Havlicek
Basketball Hall of Famer: Boston Celtics [eight NBA championship teams: 1963-1966, 1968-1969, 1974, 1976/13 NBA All-Star Games: 1966-1978/four-time All-NBA First Team: 1971-74/five-time NBA All-Defensive First Team (1972-1976]; Celtics all-time leading scorer [26,395 points]; died Apr 25, 20191941 - Peggy Lennon
singer: group: The Lennon Sisters: The Lawrence Welk Show: My Favorite Things, Greensleeves, I Will Wait for You, Goin’ Out of My Head, Scarborough Fair, Ave Maria1942 - Roger Chapman
singer: groups: Shortlist, Streetwalkers, Family: Hung Up Down, The Weaver’s Answer, No Mule’s Fool, In My Own Time, Burlesque1942 - Leon Huff
songwriter [w/Kenneth Gamble]: You Don’t Know What You Got Until You Lose It, I’m Gonna Make You Love Me [Diana Ross & The Supremes and The Temptations, Expressway to Your Heart [The Soul Survivors]; worked with Archie Bell & the Drells, Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, The Sweet Inspirations; also produced Mercury Records artists Jerry Butler and Dee Dee Warwick1943 - John (Frederick) Hiller
baseball: pitcher: Detroit Tigers [World Series: 1968/all-star: 19741946 - Jim (James Augustus) ‘Catfish’ Hunter
baseball: pitcher: KC Athletics [all-star: 1966, 1967], Oakland Athletics [Cy Young Award- winner: 1974/all-star: 1970, 1972-1974/World Series: 1972-1974], NY Yankees [all-star: 1975, 1978/World Series: 1976-1978]; died Sep 9, 1999 [ALS: Lou Gehrig’s disease]1946 - Stuart Pankin
actor: The San Pedro Beach Bums, No Soap Radio, Nearly Departed, Knots Landing, Falcon Crest, Not Necessarily the News, the voice of Earl Sinclair in Dinosaurs, Father and Scout, Irreconcilable Differences, Arachnophobia, Fatal Attraction, Dirt Bike Kid1947 - Steve Howe
musician: guitar, singer: groups: Asia: Heat of the Moment, Only Time Will Tell; Bodast; Yes: Roundabouts; Tomorrow: My White Bicycle, Real Life Permanent Dream, Auntie Mary’s Dress Shop, An Excerpt from a Teenage Opera, Sam1951 - Sara Botsford
actress: E.N.G., Trudeau, Tremors 4: The Legend Begins, Ricky Nelson: Original Teen Idol, Our Guys: Outrage at Glen Ridge, Dangerous Offender: The Marlene Moore Story, NCIS: Brothers in Arms1951 - Mel Schacher
musician: bass: group: Grand Funk Railroad: We’re an American Band, Walk like a Man, Shinin’ On1953 - Adam Woods
musician: drums: group: The Fixx: Stand or Fall, One Thing Leads to Another, The Sign of Fire, Deeper and Deeper, Sunshine in the Shade, Secret Separation, Driven Out, How Much Is Enough1954 - Gary Carter
Baseball Hall of Famer [catcher, outfield, first, third base]: Montreal Expos, New York Mets, San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers; died Feb 16, 20121960 - John (Richard) Schneider
actor: Second Chances, Heaven Help Us, Grand Slam, Dukes of Hazzard, Night of the Twisters, Texas, Speed Zone, Stagecoach, Cocaine Wars, Smokey and the Bandit, Smallville1962 - Izzy Stradlin
songwriter, musician: rhythm guitarist: group: Guns n’ Roses: Welcome to the Jungle, November Rain, Sweet Child O’ Mine, Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, Nightrain, Estranged, Don’t Cry, Patience1963 - Julian Lennon
singer: Valotte, Too Late for Goodbyes; son of John and Cynthia Lennon1963 - Dean Norris
actor: Breaking Bad, Under the Dome, Lethal Weapon 2, Total Recall, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Starship Troopers, Little Miss Sunshine, Evan Almighty, Sons of Liberty, United States of Al1963 - Terry Porter
basketball [guard]: NBA: Portland Trail Blazers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs; head coach: Milwaukee Bucks1966 - Robin Wright
actress: House of Cards, Moll Flanders, Santa Barbara, Forrest Gump, Hurlyburly, Message in a Bottle, How to Kill Your Neighbor’s Dog, White Oleander, The Princess Bride1968 - Patricia Arquette
actress: CSI: Cyber, Medium, Flirting with Disaster, Holy Matrimony, True Romance, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, Severance; granddaughter of actor Cliff Arquette and sister of actress Roseanna Arquette1970 - J.R. Bourne
actor: Revenge, Stargate SG-1, Teen Wolf, Thir13en Ghosts, The Truth About Miranda, The Secret Circle, The Butterfly Effect 2, Brake, NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, The Mentalist1972 - Sung Kang
actor: Better Luck Tomorrow, The Fast and the Furious film series1972 - Chuck Todd
TV news host: Meet the Press, NBC Chief White House Correspondent, The Daily Rundown; political analyst: NBC News with Brian Williams, Today1973 - Emma Caulfield
actress: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Beverly Hills, 90210, General Hospital, Darkness Falls1977 - Ana Delareguera
actress: Eastbound & Down, Royal Pains, Empire State, Cop Out, Cowboys & Aliens1978 - Rachel Roberts
actress: How to Seduce Difficult Women, Numb3rs, S1m0ne, FlashForward1979 - Jeremy Guthrie
baseball [pitcher]: Stanford Univ; MLB: Cleveland Indians, Baltimore Orioles, Colorado Rockies1979 - Mark Ruiz
diving: 21-time U.S. champ, 2-time Olympic team champ1980 - Ben Freeman
actor: Emmerdale Farm, Grange Hill1980 - Katee Sackhoff
actress: Battlestar Galactica, White Noise 2: The Light, 24, How I Married My High School Crush, My First Mister, Fifteen and Pregnant1981 - Taylor Kitsch
actor: Friday Night Lights, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, John Carter, Battleship, Savages, True Detective1984 - Kirsten Storms
actress: Days of our Lives, General Hospital, General Hospital: Night Shift, Dadnapped, Love Letters, Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century1986 - Félix Hernández
baseball [pitcher]: Seattle Mariners1989 - Matty Healy
songwriter, singer: lead vocalist for indie art pop band, The 1975: LPs: The 1975, I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It, A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships, Notes on a Conditional Form, Being Funny in a Foreign Language2002 - Skai Jackson
actress: Jessie, Bunk’d, Liberty Kid, Marvel Rising TV series, DreamWorks Dragons: Rescue Riders; author: Reach for the Skai: How to Inspire, Empower, Clapback
and still more...
Hit Music on This Day April 8
1947The Anniversary Song (facts) - Dinah Shore
How are Things in Glocca Morra (facts) - Buddy Clark
1956
1965
1974
1983
1992
2001
2010
2019
and even more...
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...
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