January 17
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Events on This Day
1795 - The Duddingston Curling Society, the oldest club of its kind, was organized in Edinburgh, Scotland. “What kind of a club is a curling club,” you ask? Easy. It’s where all straight-haired folks go to learn how to get the Shirley Temple look using hockey-type stones attached to sticks. Wrong, Goldilocks! Curling is an ice sport played in many areas. Curling is an olympic ice sport and it first came from Sctoland. It is played with skates and stones and brooms. More about curling.1806 - James Madison Randolph, grandson of President Thomas Jefferson, was the first child born in the White House. The blessed event took place on this day in Washington, DC.
1871 - Andrew S. Hallidie of San Francisco, California received a patent for a cable car system. The public transportation system was put into operation in the city by the bay in 1873, providing a fast, safe way to travel up and down San Francisco’s steep hills. died July 17, 1974
1876 - The saxophone was played by Etta Morgan at New York City’s Olympic Theatre. The instrument was little known at the time in the United States.
1893 - Hawaii’s monarchy was overthrown as a group of white businessmen and sugar planters forced Queen Liliuokalani to abdicate. President Sanford B. Dole declared the Kingdom of Hawaii a republic on July 4, 1894.
1905 - Punchboards were patented by Charles A. Brewer & C.G. Scannell of Chicago, Illinois.
1916 - The Professional Golfers’ Association was formed in New York City. The first PGA Champion was Jim Barnes.
1928 - The fully automatic, film-developing machine was patented by Anatol M. Josepho. Anatol called his gizmo Photomaton.
1938 - Francis X. Bushman was the star of the program, Stepmother, which debuted on CBS radio. The show continued on the air for the next four years.
1941 - Gene Krupa and his band recorded the standard, Drum Boogie, on Okeh Records. The lady singing with the boys in the band during the song’s chorus was Irene Daye.
1945 - The American record holder for the indoor one mile run, Gilbert Dodds, announced his retirement from competition to devote his time to running for a higher source. Dodds became a gospel preacher. He came out of retirement briefly, in hopes of competing in the 1948 Olympics. While training for the Olympics, he broke his own record by winning the Wanamaker Mile in 4:05.3. How’d Gilbert do in the Olympics? He didn’t. The mumps caught up to him before the trials and he permanently retired from running.
1949 - The Goldbergs came to CBS-TV this night. The program had been a radio standard for years, dating back to 1931. The TV version lasted for four years. Molly: “Close the window, Jake. It’s cold outside.” Jake: “Okay. The window’s closed. Now it’s warm outside?” Molly Goldberg was played by Gertrude Berg, who won an Emmy for her performance in 1950.
1950 - Masked gunmen knocked off the Brink’s garage in Boston. It was later determined that the robbers carried away $1,218,211.29 in cash and $1,557,183.83 in checks, money orders and other securities. It was the biggest cash haul in history.
1955 - The submarine USS Nautilus made its first nuclear-powered test run from its berth in Groton, Connecticut. Commanding Officer Eugene P. Wilkinson signaled the historic message, “Underway on nuclear power.”
1961 - In his farewell speech, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned, “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”
1966 - A U.S. Air Force B-52 carrying four unarmed hydrogen bombs crashed on the Spanish coast. Three of the bombs were quickly recovered, but the fourth wasn’t found until the following April.
1969 - Lady Samantha, one of the very first recordings by Reginald Kenneth Dwight (aka Elton John), was released in England on Philips Records. The song floundered, then bombed. The rock group, Three Dog Night, however, thought Elton’s tune was nifty and recorded it for an album.
1970 - Singer Billy Stewart and three members of his band died in a car crash in North Carolina. The new car that they were riding in struck a bridge abutment and plunged into a river. Stewart was 32 years old. He had eleven records that made the Billboard Hot 100. Billy Stewart’s biggest hit was Summertime, which made it to the top ten in 1966.
1971 - Super Bowl V (at Miami): Baltimore Colts 16, Dallas Cowboys 13. Kicker Jim O’Brien’s 32-yard field goal, with 59 seconds to go, won the game for the Colts. MVP: Cowboys’ LB Chuck Howley. Tickets: $15.00.
1973 - The new Philippine constitution named Ferdinand Marcos president for life. Ah, democracy at work...
1976 - Barry Manilow’s I Write the Songs rose to #1 on the Billboard pop chart. The sing-along favorite stayed at the top for one week.
1977 - Gary Gilmore, a convicted murderer in Utah, got his wish, and became the first person in ten years to be executed in the U.S. He was shot by a firing squad. The story became the basis for Norman Mailer’s book and film, The Executioner’s Song.
1983 - Alabama Governor George C. Wallace became governor -- for a record fourth time.
1984 - The U.S. Supreme Court sided with Sony in ruling that the private use of home video cassette recorders to tape TV programs did not violate federal copyright laws.
1986 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan signed a secret order permitting the covert sale of arms to Iran.
1988 - The Washington Redskins won the NFC championship by defeating the Minnesota Vikings 17-10; the Denver Broncos beat the Cleveland Browns 38-33 to win the AFC title.
1989 - Five children were shot to death at the Cleveland Elementary School in Stockton, CA by a drifter who then shot and killed himself.
1991 - Operation Desert Storm began. The U.S. and its United Nations allies went to war to drive Saddam Hussein’s army out of Iraqi-occupied Kuwait. U.S. General Norman Schwarzkopf gave the go-ahead for bombing raids on Baghdad, followed a few weeks later by assaults with ground troops on Iraqi troops in southern Iraq and Kuwait. During the following six weeks Iraq fired its Scud missles at U.S. bases in Saudi Arabia and at the general population in Israel, but was routed soundly. Iraqi troops left Kuwait, retreating all the way to Baghdad and, in many cases, surrendering in the field.
1993 - The United States, accusing Iraq of a series of military provocations, fired Tomahawk missiles toward a military complex eight miles from downtown Baghdad.
1994 - Actors Donny Osmond and Danny Bonaduce slugged it out in a three-round charity boxing match in Chicago, Illinois. The winner: Bonaduce, who bloodied Osmond’s nose in the two-to-one decision. The match was set up after Osmond taunted Bonaduce at the gym where both men were working out.
1994 - A 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck Northridge in Southern California. The quake killed at least 61 people and caused $40 billion worth of damage. At the time, it was the most expensive natural disaster in American history.
1995 - A 7.2-magnitude earthquake hit Kobe, Japan. The ‘Great Hanshin Earthquake’ happened at 5:46 a.m., killing at least 6,000 people and injured more than 26,000. The quake damaged or destroyed more than 56,000 buildings.
1995 - The Golf Channel began on some U.S. cable systems. Four years later, the world’s first 24-hour golf network, co-founded by Arnold Palmer and Joe Gibbs, was seen in over 30,000,000 homes.
1996 - Former U.S. Representative Barbara Jordan died in Austin, Texas. She was 59 years old.
1997 - These films opened in the U.S.: Albino Alligator (the directorial debut of Kevin Spacey), starring Matt Dillon, Gary Sinise, William Fichtner and Faye Dunaway; Beverly Hills Ninja (a baby is raised as one of their own by a clan of Ninja warriors), with Chris Farley, Nicollette Sheridan, Robin Shou, Nathaniel Parker, Soon-Tek Oh and Chris Rock; and Metro (a hostage negotiator catches a murderous bank robber after a blown heist.), starring Eddie Murphy, Michael Rapaport, Michael Wincott and Carmen Ejogo.
1997 - The U.S. House of Representative Ethics Committee approved a $300,000 penalty against Speaker Newt Gingrich for ethics violations.
1998 - Savage Garden’s Truly, Madly, Deeply was the number-one single in the U.S. for the first of two weeks. “I want to stand with you on a mountain; I want to bathe with you in the sea; I want to lay like this forever; Until the sky falls down on me.”
1999 - The defending Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos defeated the New York Jets, 23-10, to win the American Football Conference title. The Atlanta Falcons upset the Minnesota Vikings, 30-27, to grab the National Football Conference trophy.
2000 - British pharmaceutical firms Glaxo Wellcome PLC and SmithKline Beecham PLC announced a merger to form the world’s largest drug maker (combined sales of £15.0 billion/$24.9 billion). Now, that’s a lot of pills...
2000 - Some 50,000 people marched in Columbia, SC to protest the flying of the continued Confederate battle flag over the state Capitol.
2001 - Faced with an electricity crisis, California used rolling blackouts to cut off power to hundreds of thousands of people. Governor Gray Davis signed an emergency order authorizing the state to buy more power.
2001 - President Bill Clinton designated six new U.S. national monuments: The Carrizo Plain, between San Luis Obispo and Bakersfield CA; the Upper Missouri River Breaks, the Pompeys Pillar landmark in Montana; the Sonoran Desert monument in Arizona; the Minidoka Internment National Monument in Idaho; and the Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks in New Mexico.
2002 - The Mount Nyiragongo volcano erupted near Goma in the Congo. Rivers of lava destroyed fourteen villages. Some 400,000 people fled their homes and at least 50 were killed.
2003 - Movies debuting in U.S. theatres: Kangaroo Jack, with Jerry O’Connell, Estella Warren, Anthony Anderson, Christopher Walken, Dyan Cannon, Michael Shannon, Marton Csokas and David Ngoombujarra; and National Security, starring Martin Lawrence, Steve Zahn, Colm Feore, Eric Roberts, Bill Duke, Timothy Busfield, Wayne Morse, Robinne Lee, Troy Gilbert, Kevin Beard, Brett Cullen and Mike Grasso.
2003 - Tom Ridge sailed through U.S. Senate confirmation hearings on his way to becoming the nation’s first Homeland Security Department chief.
2003 - Actor Richard Crenna died at 76 years of age. Crenna appeared on network radio while still a teenager as Ougy Pringle in A Date with Judy (1946). Old timers will also remember him as the crackly-voiced Walter Denton on Our Miss Brooks. Crenna went on to play Luke on The Real McCoys, but really came into his own as the dedicated state legislator in the long-running Slattery’s People. In 1985, Crenna won an Emmy for Best Performance by an Actor for The Rape of Richard Beck. Richard Crenna appeared in more than 70 major motion pictures.
2004 - Producer Ray Stark died at 88 years of age. Stark discovered Barbra Streisand at a New York nightclub and persuaded a reluctant Columbia Pictures to award the singer her Oscar-winning role in Funny Girl. His other films include The Way We Were, The Sunshine Boys, The Goodbye Girl, Somewhere in Time, Steel Magnolias and Barbarians at the Gate.
2005 - Screen star Virginia Mayo died in Los Angeles. She was 84 years old. Her 50+ films include White Heat, The Princess and the Pirate, Best Years of Our Lives, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Along the Great Divide, and the TV soap Santa Barbara.
2005 - The 85-year-old former Chinese leader (1980-1987) Zhao Ziyang died after 15 years under house arrest. He was ousted as China’s Communist Party leader after sympathizing with the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests.
2006 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled (6-3) in Gonzales v. Oregon that federal drug laws did not give the Bush administration power to squelch Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act.
2007 - A snow and ice storm was blamed for dozens of deaths in nine states: 20 deaths in Oklahoma, 9 in Missouri, 8 in Iowa, 4 in New York, 5 in Texas, 4 in Michigan, 3 in Arkansas, and 1 each in Maine and Indiana.
2007 - Columnist and author Art Buchwald died at 81 years of age. Buchwald wrote about the life and times of Washington DC for over four decades.
2008 - Chess Grandmaster Bobby Fischer died in Iceland at 64 years of age. Fischer had become a Cold War hero by dethroning the Soviet world champion (Boris Spassky) in 1972.
2008 - The New York Stock Exchange bought the American Stock Exchange for $260 million in stock.
2009 - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama arrived in Washington DC after pledging to help bring the nation “a new Declaration of Independence” and promising to rise to the stern challenges of the times. He kicked off a four-day inaugural celebration with a daylong rail trip, retracing the path Abraham Lincoln took in 1861.
2010 - The U.S. state of Arizona made $735 million by selling more than a dozen state-owned buildings, including the House and Senate buildings -- and the Capitol.
2011 - Japanese researchers said they were launching a project to attept to resurrect the long-extinct woolly mammoth. By using cloning technology, the scientists hoped to bring the ancient pachyderm back to life.
2011 - Kuwait’s ruling Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah was marking several key anniversaries by handing out $3559 grants and free food coupons for every citizen.
2012 - Opponents of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker submitted 1 million signatures calling for his recall from office, far exceeding the 540,208 signatures required by law to initiate the recall election process.
2013 - A masked assailant, later identified as Yuri Zarutsky, threw acid on the face of Sergei Filin, artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet. Filin suffered 3rd degree burns in the Moscow attack and underwent eye surgery to save his sight. On March 6 police reported that star dancer Pavel Dmitrichenko had confessed to masterminding the attack, and two other men, Zarutsky and Andrei Lipatov, had confessed to being accomplices.
2014 - Motion pictures opening in U.S. theatres included Devil’s Due, with Allison Miller, Zach Gilford and Steffie Grote; Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, starring Chris Pine, Kevin Costner and Keira Knightley; the animated, The Nut Job, featuring the voices of Will Arnett, Katherine Heigl and Brendan Fraser; Ride Along, satrring Ice Cube, Kevin Hart and Tika Sumpter; Back in the Day, with Morena Baccarin, Michael Rosenbaum and Nick Swardson; G.B.F., starring Evanna Lynch, Natasha Lyonne and Sasha Pieters; Gloria, with Paulina García, Sergio Hernández and Diego Fontecilla; and Reasonable Doubt, starring Samuel L. Jackson, Dominic Cooper and Erin Karpluk; Like Father, Like Son, starring Masaharu Fukuyama, Machiko Ono and Yôko Maki.
2014 - Freedom Industries, the West Virginia company blamed for the Jan 9, 2014 chemical spill that left 300,000 people in the state without safe drinking water, filed for bankruptcy protection.
2014 - The U.S. Election Assistance Commission denied requests from Arizona, Georgia and Kansas to modify the federal registration form for their residents. It said heightened proof-of-citizenship requirements would likely hinder eligible citizens from voting in federal elections. And a Pennsylvania judge struck down a state requirement that voters show photo identification at the polls.
2015 - Some 1,200 barrels of crude oil spilled from a pipeline into the Yellowstone River near Glendive, Montana. Local residents were told not to use municipal water after elevated levels of benzene were found downstream from the spill.
2016 - Secretary of State John Kerry said the U.S. would repay Iran a $400 million debt and $1.3 billion in interest dating to the Islamic revolution. At the same time, the U.S. secured the release of five Americans held prisoner in Iran, including The Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian. The money was later delivered in cash on pallets due to lack of a U.S.-Iran banking relationship. Details of the cash delivery drew condemnation of the deal from Republicans, who said the U.S. had paid ransom money for hostages -- but Democrats dismissed the condemnation, calling it election-year political blather.
2017 - The annual World Economic Forum opened in Davos, Switzerland. Chinese President Xi Jinping gave the opening address urging the world to “say no to protectionism” and warning that “no one will emerge as a winner in a trade war.”
2018 - U.S. Border Patrol arrested Arizona State Univ. faculty associate Scott Warren, a volunteer with the aid group, No More Deaths, on charges of felony alien smuggling. Some reports said the charge was in retaliation for a report and videos by the aid group alleging Border patrol agents had destroyed supplies left for migrants.
2018 - Desmond Ricks, a Detroit man who served 25 years in prison for murder before proving he was the victim of police misconduct, was awarded $1 million under a Michigan state program that compensates the wrongly convicted. Separately, Ricks was suing two retired Detroit police officers who were involved in the 1992 murder investigation. He alleged that he was intentionally framed for a fatal shooting outside a restaurant.
2019 - Michael Cohen, POTUS Trump’s former attorney, acknowledged that he paid a technology company to rig Trump’s standings in two online polls before the 2016 presidential campaign.
2019 - A federal judge struck down early-voting restrictions enacted by Wisconsin Republicans. The legislation passed in late 2018 contained three restrictions, which then-governor Scott Walker signed into law: limiting early voting to two weeks prior to an election, requiring a two-year expiration date on student IDs used for identification at a polling place, and limiting the use of receipts as voter ID when people are working through obtaining a compliant ID without being able to obtain their birth certificate. In his decision, federal judge James Peterson wrote, “This is not a close question...” The lawsuit was brought by One Wisconsin Institute, Citizen Action of Wisconsin Education Fund, and the National Redistricting Foundation, which was led by Eric Holder, attorney general for much of Barack Obama’s presidency. One Wisconsin’s director, Scot Ross, said, “The Republican attacks on voting rights were unconstitutional when they were passed, they were unconstitutional when the judge struck them down and they are unconstitutional now.”
2019 - An Indian court sentenced a popular and flamboyant spiritual guru and three followers to life in prison for the murder (16 years before) of a journalist who published a letter about the guru’s sexual exploitation of women. Dr. Saint Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim Insan and his three followers were convicted on Jan. 11 on murder charges.
2020 - New movies in U.S. theatres included: Bad Boys for Life, with Will Smith, Vanessa Hudgens and Alexander Ludwig; Dolittle, starring Robert Downey Jr., Tom Holland and Emma Thompson; The Last Full Measure, with Alison Sudol, Samuel L. Jackson and Christopher Plummer; Disturbing the Peace, starring Guy Pearce, Devon Sawa and Barbie Blank; The Host, with Maryam Hassouni, Mike Beckingham and Dougie Poynter; Intrigo: Death of an Author, starring Tuva Novotny, Ben Kingsley and Michael Byrne and The Wave, with Justin Long, Tommy Flanagan and Katia Winter.
2020 - The Trump administration continued dismantling Michelle Obama’s school nutrition guidelines, with a new rule that would lead to more pizza and fries, less fruit and a smaller variety of vegetables on school menus.
2020 - The U.S. said 11 troops were treated for concussion after Iran launched a rocket attack at the Al-Asad air base in western Iraq on Jan. 8. This, despite initially saying no service members had been hurt.
2021 - Twitter locked the account of Republican U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene for promoting the phony QAnon conspiracy theory.
2021 - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro reported that a convoy of trucks carrying emergency oxygen supplies for Brazil’s northern Amazonas state had departed. The needed shipment was to arrive at the border by the next morning. A second wave of the coronavirus pandemic had hit Amazonas hard.
2022 - Actress Yvette Mimieux died at her home in Los Angeles. She was 80 years old. Mimieux was a star in the early 1960s portraying delicate, fragile women in The Time Machine and Where the Boys Are. Her other films include Light in the Piazza, Diamond Head, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and Toys in the Attic.
2022 - A bipartisan group of U.S. senators promised solidarity and a supply of weapons to Ukraine. On their visit to Kyiv, they also warning Russian President Vladimir Putin against launching a new military offensive...
2023 - China’s population declined for the first time since the 1960s, signaling that start of a “demographic crisis.” China’s government reported 9.6 million births in 2022, and 10.4 million deaths. The country’s declining birth rate was considered to be irreversible, speeding the country toward the day when it would not have enough people of working age to fuel its high-speed growth. By 2035, China will have 400 million people over 60 — nearly a third of its population — raising the threat of big labor shortages.
and more...
Birthdays on This Day January 17
1706 - Benjamin Franklin
statesman: oldest signer of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution; printer, author, publisher [Richard Saunders]: Poor Richard’s Almanack; scientist, inventor: Franklin stove, bifocals, lightning rods; established University of Pennsylvania; died Apr 17, 17901880 - Mack Sennett (Mikall Sinnott)
silent movie director: Tillie’s Punctured Romance, Mack Sennett Comedies, Kid’s Auto Race, Mabel’s Married Life, Cannonball, Dizzy Heights and Daring Hearts; died Nov 5, 19601882 - Noah Beery
actor: Mark of Zorro, Vanishing American, The Drifter; died Apr 1, 19461890 - Louis Santop
Baseball Hall of Famer [catcher]: Philadelphia Giants, New York Lincoln Giants, Brooklyn Royal Giants, Hilldale Daisies; died Jan 22, 19421891 - Marjorie Gateson
Broadway, film actress: Arizona Mahoney, Goin’ to Town; died Apr 17, 19771899 - Al Capone
‘Scarface’: gangster, head of crime empire during Prohibition; died Jan 25, 19471903 - Warren Hull
TV show host: Strike It Rich, You Are an Artist, Public Prosecutor, Cavalcade of Bands; actor: The Walking Dead, The Big Noise, Hawaii Calls, The Girl from Rio, The Green Hornet Strikes Again!, The Spider Returns; died Sep 14, 19741913 - Vido Musso
musician: reed instruments, played with Benny Goodman; bandleader: Stan Kenton was his pianist; died Jan 9, 19821916 - Joel Herron
arranger, conductor, composer, songwriter: I’m a Fool to Want You, Sierra Nevada, Take My Love, Destiny’s Darling, Closer, Closer, I Push My Heart Through a Horn, Too Many Times, Sh’lom bait, Across the Sea, Shocka-boom; died Jan 30, 20121920 - George Handy (George Joseph Hendleman)
pianist, composer, arranger: Boyd Raeburn band, Alvino Rey band, Paramount Studios; died Jan 8, 19971922 - Betty White
Emmy Award-winning actress: The Mary Tyler Moore Show [1974-1975, 1975-1976], The Golden Girls [1985-1986]; The Betty White Show, Ladies Man; singer; died Dec 31, 20211926 - Moira Shearer
ballerina: appeared in ballet film: The Red Shoes; died Jan 31, 20061927 - Eartha Kitt
singer: C’est Si Bon, Santa Baby; actress: stage play: Faust, film: New Faces of 1952, Boomerang; note: Kitt’s birth certificate listing her actual birthdate as 1/17/27 was found in 1997. She has celebrated her birthday as Jan. 26 [1928] all of her life and says, “It’s been the 26th of January since the beginning of time and I’m not going to change it and confuse my fans.”; died Dec 25, 20081928 - Vidal Sassoon
cosmetologist, developer of hair care products; died May 9, 20121929 - Jacques Plante
Hockey Hall of Fame goalie: NHL: Montreal Canadiens Vezina Trophy [1956-1960, 1962/Hart Trophy (NHL’s MVP): 1962]; first goalie to wear mask during games; NY Rangers, SL Blues, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins; died Feb 27, 19861931 - James Earl Jones
actor: Star Wars [Darth Vader], The Hunt for Red October, The Lion King, Sneakers, Roots, The Great White Hope; voice: “This... is CNN”1932 - Sheree North (Dawn Bethel)
actress: Marilyn: The Untold Story, How to be Very Popular, Defenseless, Portrait of a Stripper; died Nov 4, 20051933 - Shari Lewis (Hurwitz)
puppeteer: The Shari Lewis Show [featuring Lamb Chop, the puppet]; died Aug 2, 19981939 - Maury Povich
TV talk show host: A Current Affair, The Maury Povich Show; Twenty One; married to newscaster Connie Chung1942 - Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay)
boxer: heavyweight champion: [1964, 1974, 1978], the only man to have regained this title twice; died Jun 3, 20161942 - Randy Boone
actor: The Wild Pair, Savages, Backtrack!, Country Boy, Dr. Minx, Terminal Island, Hondo and the Apaches1943 - Chris Montez
singer: She’s My Rockin’ Baby, Call Me, There Will Never Be Another You, Some Kinda Fun, Let’s Dance1944 - Denny (Robert Dennis) Doyle
baseball: Philadelphia Phillies, California Angels, Boston Red Sox [World Series: 1975]1945 - William ‘Poogie’ Hart
singer: group: The Delfonics: La-La Means I Love You, I'm Sorry, Break Your Promise, Ready or Not Here I Come [Can't Hide From Love], Somebody Loves You, Didn’t I [Blow Your Mind]1945 - Preston Pearson
football: Baltimore Colts running back: Super Bowl III; Pittsburgh Steelers: Super Bowl IX; Dallas Cowboys: Super Bowls X, XII, XIII1947 - Jane Elliot
actress: Days of Our Lives, Baby Boom, Some Kind of Wonderful, In the Matter of Karen Ann Quinlan, Once an Eagle, One Is a Lonely Number1949 - Andy Kaufman
actor: Taxi, The Midnight Special, Saturday Night Live, Andy’s Funhouse; died May 16, 19841949 - Mick Taylor
singer, musician: rhythm guitar: group: The Rolling Stones; worked with Mike Oldfield, Bob Dylan, The Gods1952 - Pete (Ralph Pierre) LaCock
baseball: Chicago Cubs, Kansas City Royals [World Series: 1980]; son of Hollywood Squares host, Peter Marshall1955 - Steve Earle
songwriter, singer, musician: guitar: Guitar Town, Exit O; more1956 - Anthony Glise
classical guitarist/composer1956 - Mitch Vogel
actor: Bonanza, Texas Detour, Born Innocent, Yours, Mine and Ours1956 - Paul Young
singer: Everytime You Go Away1957 - John Crawford
singer, musician: bass: group: Berlin: Take My Breath Away1957 - Steve Harvey
TV host: Family Feud, The Steve Harvey Morning Show; actor: Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, Straight Talk, No Chaser: How to Find and Keep a Man1959 - Susanna Hoffs
singer, musician: guitar: LP: Rainy Day, group: The Bangles: Walk Like an Egyptian, Manic Monday1960 - Chili Davis
baseball [outfielder]: San Francisco Giants [1981–1987]; California Angels [1988–1990]; Minnesota Twins [1991–1992]: 1991 World Series champs; California Angels [1993–1996]; Kansas City Royals [1997]; New York Yankees [1998–1999]: 1998, 1999 World Series champs; coach: Oakland Athletics [2012–2014], Boston Red Sox [2014]1961 - Selena Steele
exotic dancer, actress [1988-2008]: X-rated films: Moms a Cheater, MILF Filth, Desperate Mothers & Wives, Cumming Clean, Sorority Sex Kittens, Nurse Steamy, Slick Honey, Hate to See You Go1962 - Jim Carrey
actor, comedian: The Mask, Ace Ventura series, Dumb & Dumber, Batman Forever, The Cable Guy, The Truman Show, Me, Myself & Irene, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Majestic; more1964 - Michelle Obama (Michelle LaVaughn Robinson)
U.S. First Lady: wife of 44th U.S. President Barack Obama; author: American Grown, Becoming; more1964 - Andy Rourke
musician: guitar: group: The Smiths: Hand in Glove, The Charming Man, What Difference Does It Make?, Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now, William, It Was Really Nothing1967 - Linda Kash
actress: Second City, Style & Substance, Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond, Running Mates, The Altar Boy Gang, Man of the Year, Cinderella Man, The Bookfair Murders, Ernest Goes to Africa1968 - Nici Sterling
actress [1994-2006]: X-rated films: The Theory of Relativity, Buttman’s Bouncin’ British Babes, The Palace of Pleasure, Taboo 16, Sodomania 12, 13, 15, Nici’s Naked Hookers 2, KSEX 106.9, Shag, Gobble & Spunk: A History of British Porn Cinema1969 - Naveen Andrews
actor: Lost, The English Patient, Rollerball [2002], Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love, Mighty Joe Young, Bride and Prejudice, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland1970 - Darnell Walker
football [defensive back]: Univ of Oklahoma; NFL: Atlanta Falcons, San Francisco 49ers, Detroit Lions1971 - Tyler Houston
baseball: Atlanta Braves, Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians, Milwaukee Brewers, LA Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies1971 - Derek Plante
hockey [center]: Buffalo Sabres, Dallas Stars, Chicago Blackhawks, Philadelphia Flyers1971 - Kid Rock (Robert James Ritchie)
singer, rapper: Black Chick, White Guy, Forever, Cool, Daddy Cool, Bawitdaba; actor: Any Given Sunday, Coyote Ugly, Stripperella; more1972 - Benno Fürmann
actor: Joyeux Noel, Ring of the Nibelungs, The Order, My House in Umbria, Das Staatsgeheimnis, Kanak Attack, Wolfsburg1974 - Derrick Mason
football: Michigan State Univ; NFL: Tennessee Oilers/Titans1975 - Brad Fullmer
baseball: Montreal Expos, Toronto Blue Jays, Anaheim Angels, Texas Rangers1977 - Rob Bell
baseball [pitcher]: Cincinnati Reds, Texas Rangers, TB Devil Rays1979 - Dominic Rhodes
football [running back]: Indianapolis Colts, Oakland Raiders1980 - Maksim Chmerkovskiy
dance pro, choreographer, instructor: TV: Dancing with the Stars [2006-2017]; Broadway: Burn the Floor, Forever Tango1980 - Zooey Deschanel
actress: Mumford, Almost Famous, The Good Girl, Elf, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Failure to Launch, Bridge to Terabithia, The Happening, Gigantic, Yes Man, (500) Days of Summer, New Girl; singer: duo [w/M. Ward]: She & Him: LPs: Volume One, Volume Two, A Very She & Him Christmas1980 - Milan Kraft
hockey: Pittsburgh Penguins1981 - Ray J
singer: Let It Go, Everything You Want, That’s Why I Lie, Wait a Minute, Formal Invite; actor: The Sinbad Show, Mars Attacks!, Aftershock: Earthquake in New York, Christmas at Water’s Edge; more1982 - Melody Johnson
actress: Jason X, Ricky Nelson: Original Teen Idol, The Virgin Suicides, Butterbox Babies, J.F.K.: Reckless Youth, Liar’s Edge1982 - Dwyane Wade
basketball [guard]: Marquette Univ; NBA: Miami Heat [2003–2016]: 2006, 2012, 2013 NBA champs; Chicago Bulls [2016–2017]; Cleveland Cavaliers [2017–2018]; Miami Heat [2018–2019]1984 - Sophie Dee
actress [2005-2012]: X-rated films: Sadistic Eroticism, Busty Construction Girls, Out of Control, Busty Lifeguards, Big Butt Oil Orgy, Don’t Tell Mommy 81989 - Yvonne Zima
actress: ER, The Young and the Restless, You, Only Better..., Love Hurts, Storm Catcher, ’Til There Was You, Bed of Roses1991 - Willa Fitzgerald
actress: Scream, For the Love of a Dog, Alpha House, Royal Pains1992 - Nate Hartley
actor: Hannah Montana, Dirty Girl, South Dakota, Drillbit Taylor, Swan Song, Zeke and Luther1992 - Logan Lerman
actor: The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Butterfly Effect, Jack & Bobby, The Number 23, The 3:10 to Yuma, Meet Bill, Gamer, My One and Only, The Three Musketeers [2011], Noah, Fury1994 - Lucy Boynton
actress: Sense and Sensibility, Miss Potter, Bohemian Rhapsody [2018], Rebel in the Rye, Murder on the Orient Express [2017], Gypsy [2017], Apostle, Locked Down, The Politician, Modern Love, Faithfull, The Ipcress File
and still more...
Hit Music on This Day January 17
1947For Sentimental Reasons (facts) - Nat King Cole
Ole Buttermilk Sky (facts) - The Kay Kyser Orchestra (vocal: Mike Douglas & The Campus Kids)
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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