May 19
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Events on This Day
1847 - The first English-style railroad coach was placed in service on the Fall River Line in Massachusetts.1857 - William F. Channing and Moses G. Farmer patented the electric fire alarm system in Boston, MA: the first city to adopt the system.
1866 - When You and I Were Young, Maggie, which became one of the most popular ballads in North America, was published in Indianapolis, Indiana by James A. Butterfield. The song was based on a poem written by G.W. Johnson in Hamilton, Ontario about 1864 as a tribute to his wife. Johnson was a schoolteacher who later taught at the University of Toronto. The most popular recorded version of the song was made in 1905 by Frank Stanley and Corrine Morgan for the Victor label.
1906 - The Simplon Tunnel (19.8 kilometers/12.3 miles) was officially opened by the King of Italy and the president of the Swiss Republic. The twin-tube tunnel connects Switzerland and northwest Italy, making it possible to ride by train from Geneva to Milan. The tunnel was the world’s longest railroad tunnel until the construction of the Seikan Tunnel in Japan in 1984 (53.85 km/33.46 miles).
1921 - The first opera presented in its entirety over the radio was broadcast by 9ZAF in Denver, CO. The opera, Martha, aired from the Denver Auditorium.
1928 - The Pride of San Joaquin Valley was declared the winner of the first jumping-frog jubilee held in Calaveras County, CA. The froggy jumped three feet, four inches, higher than 49 other frogs entered in the contest. The true beginnings of the frog jubilee date back to gold rush days, an event instigated by none other than Mark Twain.
1935 - T.E. (Thomas Edward) Lawrence died from injuries sustained in a motorcycle crash near his home in Dorset, England. Lawrence became famous after WWI because of the role he had played while serving as a British liaison officer during the Arab Revolt of 1916-1918. When the war ended, U.S. journalist Lowell Thomas toured the British Empire, presenting a successful slide-show about Lawrence’s achievements. Out of the romantic story of Lawrence’s campaigns in Arabia grew the legend of ‘Lawrence of Arabia’.
1941 - The Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra backed the popular singing duo of Bob Eberly and Helen O’Connell as Decca record number 3859 turned out to be Time Was -- a classic.
1942 - Famed actor John Barrymore was rehearsing a sketch with Rudy Vallee for a scene that refers to the actor’s possible death from excessive drinking. Ten days later, John Barrymore died from complications brought about by -- excess imbibing.
1944 - The Gustav Line, the German defense line in Italy, collapsed under heavy assault by Allied forces.
1945 - The U.N. Charter committee met in Muir Woods National Monument (in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area). The meeting was planned by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt on a suggestion by Secretary of the Interior Ickes, who had said one of the sessions “might be held among the giant redwoods in Muir Woods. Not only would this focus attention upon the nation’s interest in preserving these mighty trees for posterity, but in such a “temple of peace” the delegates would gain a perspective and sense of time that could be obtained nowhere better than in such a forest.” (Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, shortly before he was to have opened the conference. The delegates unveiled a dedication plaque in his honor.)
1952 - Yoshio Shirai defeated flyweight champion Dado Marino in Tokyo to become Japan’s first world-boxing champ.
1958 - Bobby Darin’s single, Splish Splash, was released as the first eight-track master recording pressed to a plastic 45 RPM disc.
1962 - Stan Musial of the St. Louis Cardinals got his 3,431st hit, setting a new National League record.
1965 - Roger Miller received a gold record for the hit, King of the Road. The song was Miller’s biggest hit record. It got to number four (3/20/65) on the pop charts and stayed on for 12 weeks. It was a number one country music hit (3/27/65) as well. Miller, a country singer, humorist, guitarist and composer from Fort Worth, TX and raised in Oklahoma, went to Nashville, TN in the mid-1950s to begin a songwriting career. He wrote songs and played drums for Faron Young in 1962, then won what was an unprecedented six Grammy Awards in 1965, had his own TV show in 1966. And he composed the music for the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, Big River in 1985. (Miller died Oct 25, 1992 of throat cancer.)
1968 - Piano stylist and vocalist Bobby Short gained national attention as he presented a concert with Mabel Mercer at New York’s Town Hall. He had been the featured artist at the intimate Hotel Carlisle for years.
1970 - Future U.S. V.P. Al Gore (Albert Arnold Gore Jr.) was married to Tipper (Mary Elizabeth Aitcheson).
1973 - Secretariat won the second jewel of horse racing’s Triple Crown by capturing the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore, MD. The famed horse later went on to win the Belmont Stakes in New York to earn the Triple Crown with jockey Ron Turcotte as the rider.
1973 - Stevie Wonder moved to the number one position on the Billboard pop music chart with You are the Sunshine of My Life. It was the third number one song for Wonder, following earlier successes with Fingertips - Pt 2 (8/10/63) and Superstition (1/27/73). He would have seven more number one hits between 1973 and 1987: You Haven’t Done Nothin’, I Wish, Sir Duke, Ebony & Ivory (with Paul McCartney), I Just Called to Say I Love You, Part-Time Lover and That’s What Friends are For.
1976 - The U.S. Senate established its permanent Select Committee on Intelligence -- creating Congressional oversight of the CIA.
1977 - Smokey and the Bandit opened in New York City.
1980 - Love Canal homeowners held two representatives of the EPA hostage for five hours in an effort to gain a hearing with the White House about their plight and their demand for immediate evacuation from the the chemically contaminated Love Canal area of Niagara Falls, New York.
1982 - Actress Sophia Loren was jailed in Naples for tax evasion. (She served 18 days.)
1984 - The Edmonton Oilers defeated the New York Islanders by a 5-2 score to win the Stanley Cup. The win by the Oilers ended the Islanders’ domination of the National Hockey League the previous four seasons.
1988 - Carlos Lehder Rivas, co-founder of Colombia’s Medellin drug cartel, was convicted in Jacksonville, Florida, of smuggling more than three tons of cocaine into the U.S.
1990 - Vogue by Madonna peaked at #1. The hit had a three-week run at the top of the Billboard pop chart.
1990 - Summer Squall won the Preakness Stakes.
1991 - Singer Odia Coates died of breast cancer at age 49. She’s best known for duets with Paul Anka on several of his hits in the mid-1970s, including the chart-topper (You’re) Having My Baby.
1992 - In a speech on family values to the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, U.S. V.P. Dan Quayle criticized the TV show Murphy Brown for having its title character make the decision to bear a child out of wedlock. Quayle said, “It doesn’t help when primetime TV has Murphy Brown, a character who supposedly epitomizes today’s intelligent, highly paid, professional woman, mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone and calling it just another lifestyle choice.”
1993 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 3,500 for the first time (3,500.03).
1994 - Former First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis succumbed to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in New York City at the age of 64.
1994 - The final episode of LA Law aired on NBC-TV after eight-year run.
1995 - Die Hard: With a Vengeance debuted in the U.S. The action thriller stars Bruce Willis, Jeremy Irons and Samuel L. Jackson.
1997 - A cyclone roared through coastal areas of Bangladesh. Some 250 people were killed by the 124 mph winds. 400,000 houses were damaged, leaving more than a million people homeless.
1997 - NBC-TV sportscaster Marv Albert was charged in an indictment with biting a woman in an Arlington, VA hotel (as many as 15 times) and forcing her to perform oral sex. (Albert received a one-year suspended prison sentence Oct 24, 1997.)
1999 - Following months of media hype and promotional gimmicks, George Lucas’s Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace opened in theaters across the U.S. The film stars Liam Neeson, Ewan Mcgregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd, Ian Mcdiarmid, Ahmed Best, Frank Oz, Samuel L. Jackson and Ray Park.
2000 - These films were new in U.S. theatres: The animated Dinosaur, with the voices of D.B. Sweeney, Alfre Woodard, Ossie Davis, Max Casella, Hayden Panettiere, Samuel E. Wright, Julianna Margulies, Peter Siragusa, Joan Plowright and Della Reese; Road Trip, starring Breckin Meyer, Seann William Scott, Amy Smart and Paulo Costanzo; and Small Time Crooks, featuring the funnies of Woody Allen (writer & director too), Tracey Ullman, Tony Darrow, Hugh Grant, George Grizzard, Jon Lovitz, Elaine May, Michael Rapaport and Elaine Stritch.
2001 - Point Given won the Preakness Stakes as Kentucky Derby winner Monarchos finished out of the money.
2002 - Author Walter Lord died at 84 years of age. Lord wrote A Night To Remember, the minute-by-minute retelling of the Titanic tragedy.
2003 - MCI agreed to pay investors $500 million to settle fraud charges that came along with its merger with WorldCom.
2004 - Shrek 2 opened in the U.S. The animated family fantasy features the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, John Lithgow, John Cleese and Julie Andrews.
2004 - Jack Eckerd, founder of the Eckerd drug store chain, died in Florida. He was 91 years old.
2004 - Specialist Jeremy C. Sivits received the maximum penalty -- one year in prison -- for his part in the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison. Sivits also recieved a dishonorable discharge from the U.S. Army.
2005 - Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith opened in the U.S. The sci-fi action adventure -- the final episode of the prequel trilogy -- and the final of the six Star Wars flicks stars Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Ewan McGregor, Samuel L. Jackson, Ian McDiarmid, Frank Oz, Kenny Baker, Ahmed Best, Anthony Daniels, James Earl Jones, Jay Laga'aia, Peter Mayhew, Jimmy Smits, Tux Akindoyeni, Dave Bowers, Mimi Daraphet, Paul Davies, Sandi Finlay, Nalini Krishan, Kenji Oates, Mary Oyaya, Matt Rowan, Orli Shoshan, Sandy Thompson, Marty Wetherill, Keisha Castle-Hughes and Graeme Blundell. Hey, Sith happens.
2005 - 45 Chilean soldiers froze to death after they were caught in a fierce snowstorm in the Andes mountains. The soldiers, mostly teenagers, were on a training march in the Andes Mountains when they were hit by the worst snowstorm in the area in decades.
2006 - New movies in the U.S.: The Da Vinci Code, starring Tom Hanks, Jean Reno, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen, Alfred Molina and Paul Bettany (its weekend global debut produced $224 million); Over the Hedge, featuring the voices of Bruce Willis, Garry Shandling, Steve Carell, William Shatner, Avril Lavigne, Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, Wanda Sykes, Nick Nolte, Omid Djalili, Allison Janney and Thomas Haden Church; and See No Evil, with Kane, Christina Vidal, Samantha Noble, Luke Pegler, Michael J. Pagan, Steven Vidler, Rachael Taylor, Ponny McNamee, Craig Horner, Michael Wilder, Tiffany Lamb, Cecilly Polson and Cory Robinson.
2006 - 150 Vietnamese fishermen were missing at sea and another 28 had been found dead after getting caught in Typhoon Chanchu.
2007 - Officials in China said an outbreak of a viral disease common in children had sickened almost 900 people in eastern China. The outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease began in late April in the city of Linyi in Shandong province.
2008 - Al Gore received a $1 million prize for his environmental work -- from the Dan David Foundation in Israel. The former U.S. vice president was presented with the foundation’s annual ‘present’ prize for alerting the world to the crisis from the overuse of fossil fuels.
2009 - U.S. astronauts on the space shuttle Atlantis released the Hubble Space Telescope after a series of spacewalks to repair and upgrade the observatory.
2009 - President Barack Obama announced a new fuel and emission standard that he said would put the United States on the road to a cleaner environment and better fuel efficiency.
2010 - In a sweeping civil liberties drive, Britain’s deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, announced plans to scrap an unpopular national identity card program. The government also planned to limit the retention of DNA samples and tightly regulate the use of closed circuit TV cameras.
2010 - U.S. President Barack Obama hosted his second state dinner. This one honored the visiting president of Mexico, President Felipe Calderón, and his wife Margarita Zavala. No gatecrashers slipped through this time (as had been the case back in 2009), and one assistant secretary of state was actually sent home to get proper ID. The 200 guests who made it through after their invitations were triple-checked included Whoopi Goldberg, George Lopez, and Olympic speed skater Shani Davis.
2011 - The first major U.S. social networking company to sell stock on a public market was LinkedIn, whose IPO was priced at $45 per share and closed at $94.25.
2012 - G8 leaders meeting in Maryland made progress on addressing big threats to their economies: the euro zone crisis and very high oil prices. The G8 countries also pledged to lift millions of Africans out of poverty by promoting investments in sustainable agriculture. And the leaders backed keeping Greece in the euro zone, vowing to take all steps necessary to combat financial turmoil while revitalizing a global economy increasingly threatened by Europe’s debt crisis.
2013 - 11,000 police and soldiers in Tunisia blocked an annual conference by a radical Islamist movement that had been implicated in attacks across the country.
2014 - AT&T Inc. announced its purchase of DirecTV for $48.5 billion in cash and stock, or $95 per share. AT&T later said it was considering changing the brand name of the big satellite TV provider...
2015 - Britain’s prestigious Man Booker International Prize was awarded to Hungarian novelist Laszlo Kraszhnahorkai, whose sentences roll out over paragraphs in what his translator, George Szirtes, called a “slow lava flow of narrative, a vast black river of type.”
2015 - POTUS Barack Obama signed a law creating a nationwide alert system to help apprehend anyone who hurts, kills or makes credible threats against police officers.
2016 - Deaths on this day included: TV actor Alan Young, English-born actor who played the owner of the talking horse Mr. Ed (1961-1966). He died in Woodland Hills, CA at 96 years of age. And Morley Safer, longtime TV journalist for 60 Minutes, died at his home in Manhattan (age 84) a week after announcing his retirement.
2016 - An EgyptAir Airbus 320 jet carrying 66 passengers and crew from Paris to Cairo disappeared from radar over the Mediterranean south of Greece. Flight MS804 made “sudden swerves” before dropping off radar over the Mediterranean, reportedly making a 90-degree turn left, and dropping from 37,000 feet to 15,000 feet before swerving 360 degrees right. Greek searchers later found pieces of plastic and two life vests found floating some 230 miles south of Crete. On 29 June, Egyptian officials announced that the flight data recorder data indicated smoke in the aircraft, and that soot plus damage from high temperatures was found on some of the wreckage from the front section of the aircraft.
2017 - New movies in U.S. theatres included: Alien: Covenant, starring Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, Demián Bichir and Carmen Ejogo; Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul, with Alicia Silverstone, Tom Everett Scott and Charlie Wright; Everything, Everything, starring Amandla Stenberg, Nick Robinson and Anika Noni Rose; The Commune, with Trine Dyrholm, Fares Fares and Ulrich Thomsen; and Wakefield, starring Jennifer Garner, Bryan Cranston and Jason O’Mara.
2017 - Sweden announced the investigation of Julian Assange had been discontinued. Assange won his battle against extradition to Sweden, which wanted to question him about a rape allegation. The founder of WikiLeaks had spent nearly five years inside the Embassy of Ecuador in London to avoid being sent to Sweden.
2017 - The World Health Organization (WHO) reported the cholera outbreak in war-ravaged Yemen had killed 242 people, and left nearly 23,500 others sick in the previous three weeks alone.
2018 - Justify held off several hard-charging challengers to win the Preakness Stakes on a sloppy, slippery Pimlico track -- on his way to winning the Triple crown. Justify is descended from Seattle Slew, Secretariat, Count Fleet, War Admiral, Omaha, and Gallant Fox, all winners of the Triple Crown.
2018 - Prince Harry (of the British royal family) and Meghan Markle (American former actress) were married at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor, England. The British-American pair became officially known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
2019 - Billionaire technology investor Robert Smith pledged to eliminate student debt for the entire 2019 class at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. Smith, an entrepreneur and founder of the investment firm Vista Equity Partners, made the announcement in front of about 400 students while delivering the college’s commencement address. “On behalf of the eight generations of my family that have been in this country, we’re going to put a little fuel in your bus. This is my class, 2019. And my family is making a grant to eliminate their student loans,” Smith said. “I know my class will make sure they pay this forward ... and let’s make sure every class has the same opportunity going forward, because we are enough to take care of our own community.”
2019 - Martin Tower, the former world headquarters of Bethlehem Steel (Bethlehem, PA), was imploded to make way for a $200-million development project. The 21-story monolith opened at the height of Bethlehem Steel’s power and profitability but had stood vacant for a dozen years after America’s second-largest steelmaker went out of business.
2020 - Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer declared an emergency for Midland county after two dams breached there. Rapidly rising water forced the evacuation of about 10,000 people. The Edenville Dam, built in 1924, and the Sanford Dam, built in 1925, were breached. Dow Chemical, headquartered in Midland, activated its emergency operations center.
2020 - COVID-19 news:
1)More than 200 doctors and medical staff took part in protests in the western Afghanistan city of Herat, saying they had not been paid for three months while risking their lives to treat coronavirus patients. Afghanistan had confirmed 7,653 COVID-19 infections and 178 deaths from the respiratory disease.
2)The British medical journal The Lancet challenged a key claim in POTUS Trump’s diatribe against the World Health Organization (WHO), saying Trump cited nonexistent academic research.
3)Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, welcomed a European Union (EU) resolution, adopted by consensus of WHO’s 194 member states, that called for an independent evaluation of the international response to the coronavirus, “including, but not limited to, WHO’s performance.”
4)Ecuador closed several embassies and state enterprises to save money amid an economic crisis provoked by the pandemic. 34,000 people in the country had been infected and at least 2,800 had died. Authorities have reported another 1,700 deaths probably caused by the virus but not included in the official death toll.2021 - Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law a fetal heartbeat abortion bill that banned the procedure after some six weeks of pregnancy and granted citizens the right to sue doctors who perform abortions past that point.
2021 - The U.S. House of Representatives created a commission to investigate the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack. 35 Republicans voted in favor of the commission.
2021 - The husband of the mayor of Rochester, New York was arrested after police said they discovered drugs and guns in searches of his car and home. Mayor Lovely Warren’s husband, Timothy Granison (42), was accused of being part of a midlevel cocaine trafficking ring. (In April 2022 Granison pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy.)
2022 - Mercedes said it had sold the world’s most expensive car - a 1955 Mercedes-Benz SLR coupe -- for €135 million ($142 million). The sale took place May 5 in a secretive and highly unusual auction at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, Germany.
2022 - Thomas Lane, the former Minneapolis Police officer who held down George Floyd’s legs, pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter. Lane, 39, was one of three officers accused of aiding and abetting in the killing of Floyd, who died after another former officer, Derek Chauvin, pressed a knee into the unarmed Black man’s neck for more than nine minutes. Floyd’s death, which triggered nationwide Black Lives Matter protests.
2022 - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Donbas is “completely destroyed” as a result of Russia’s constant strikes. Donbas is a heartland region that blankets much of eastern Ukraine. “The bombing and shelling of other cities, the air and missile strikes of the Russian army -- all this is not just fighting during the war. This is a deliberate and criminal attempt to kill as many Ukrainians as possible,” Zelensky said.
2023 _Fast X (also known as Fast & Furious 10) was released in the U.S. The action film features and all-star cast: Vin Diesel, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Michelle Rodriguez, Ludacris, Jason Momoa, John Cena, Jason Statham, Rita Moreno, Helen Mirren, Brie Larson, Charlize Theron, Alan Ritchso, Abelo Perry, Michael Rooker, Cardi B, Nathalie Emmanuel, Luis Da Silva Jr., Scott Eastwood, Daniela Melchior and Sung Kang.
and more...
Birthdays on This Day May 19
1800 - Sarah Peale
portrait artist; died Feb 4, 18851890 - Ho Chi Mihn (Nguyen That Thanh)
North Vietnamese leader: trail and city named after him; died Sep 2, 19691901 - Dorothy Buffum Chandler
Los Angeles cultural patron; widow of LA Times publisher Norman Chandler; mother of publisher Otis Chandler; Dorothy Chandler Pavillion named for her; died July 6, 19971904 - Anthony Bushell
actor: The Crunch, The Queen’s Guards, Desert Mice, The Battle of the River Plate, The Long Dark Hall, The Red Beret; director: Danger Man [TV]; died Apr 2, 19971906 - Bruce Bennett (Herman Brix)
Olympic silver medalist [shot-put; 1928 games in Amsterdam]; actor: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Dark Passage, Angels in the Outfield; died Feb 24, 20071919 - Georgie Auld (John Altwerger)
musician: saxophones: bandleader; actor: The Rat Race, dubbed soundtrack for Robert DeNero in New York, New York; died Jan 8, 19901921 - Martha Carson
gospel singer, songwriter, musician: Satisfied; died Dec 16, 20041925 - Malcolm X (Malcolm Little)
black nationalist, civil rights activist; assassinated Feb 21, 19651928 - Gil (Gilbert James) McDougald
baseball: NY Yankees [AL Rookie of the Year: 1951/World Series: 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1960/all-star: 1952, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959; died Nov 28, 20101928 - Dolph Schayes
Basketball Hall of Famer: Syracuse Nationals, Philadelphia Warriors; coach: Philadelphia ’76ers, Buffalo Braves, NBA Coach of the Year [1966]; NBA’s Silver Anniversary Team [1971]; died Dec 10, 20151929 - Curt (Curtis Thomas) Simmons
baseball: pitcher: Philadelphia Phillies [all-star: 1952, 1953, 1957], SL Cardinals [World Series: 1964], Chicago Cubs, California Angels; died Dec 13, 20221930 - Lorraine Hansberry
playwright: A Raisin in the Sun, To be Young, Gifted and Black; died Jan 12, 19651931 - Trevor Peacock
actor: The Legend of the Tamworth Two, The Way We Live Now, Madame Bovary, Lorna Doone, The Sins, Don Quixote; died Mar 8, 20211934 - Jim Lehrer
PBS: journalist: anchor: The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer; co-anchor: The MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour; novelist: Blue Hearts; died Jan 23, 20201935 - David Hartman
Emmy Award-winning TV host: Good Morning America; actor: Hello Dolly, Lucas Tanner, The Bold Ones1939 - James Fox
actor: Patriot Games, The Russia House, A Passage to India1939 - Nancy Kwan
actress: The World of Suzie Wong, Flower Drum Song, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story1939 - Francis R. (Dick) Scobee
astronaut: commander of the ill-fated U.S. space shuttle, Challenger; killed in Challenger explosion Jan 28, 19861939 - Stephen Young (Levy)
actor: Judd for the Defense, Patton, Scorned, Who’s Harry Crumb?, Deadline, Lifeguard, When Husbands Cheat, Strange Justice1940 - Mickey Newbury
singer, songwriter: Sweet Memories [Willie Nelson, Andy Williams], Weeping Annaleah [Tom Jones], Just Dropped In [To See What Condition My Condition Was In] [Kenny Rogers and The First Edition]; died Sep 29, 20021941 - Jane Brody
science and nutrition author: Jane Brody’s Nutrition Book, Jane Brody’s Good Food Book, Jane Brody’s Guide to the Great Beyond: A Practical Primer for Preparing for the End of Life; columnist: Personal Health [New York Times]1941 - Nora Ephron
author: screenwriting Oscar nominee: Silkwood, When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle; Heartburn, Julie & Julia, Love, Loss, and What I Wore; died Jun 26, 20121944 - Peter Mayhew
played the character Chewbacca in the Star Wars film series from 1977 original to The Force Awakens [2015]; died Apr 30, 20191945 - Pete Townshend
musician: group: The Who [Rock and Roll Hall of Famers (1990)]: My Generation, Happy Jack, I Can See for Miles, Magic Bus, Won’t Get Fooled Again; composed rock-opera: Tommy, See Me, Feel Me, Pinball Wizard; solo: Rough Boys, Let My Love Open the Door, Uniforms, Exquisitely Bored, The Sea Refuses No River1946 - John Waihee III
fourth governor of Hawaii [1986-1994]; its first governor of Hawaiian descent1948 - Grace Jones (Mendoza)
singer: Slave to the Rhythm, La Vie en Rose, Private Life, Love Is the Drug, Breakdown, Warm Leatherette, Walking in the Rain; actress: A View to a Kill, Gordon’s War, Cyber Bandits, Wolf Girl, Shaka Zulu: The Citadel, Conan the Destroyer, Deadly Vengeance1949 - Dusty Hill
musician: bass, singer: group: ZZ Top: Jesus Just Left Chicago, LA Grange, Tush, Gimme All Your Lovin’, Legs, Sharp Dressed Man, Sleeping Bag; died Jul 27, 20211949 - Archie Manning
football [quarterback]: Univ of Mississippi; NFL: New Orleans Saints [NFC Player of the Year [1978]; Houston Oilers; Minnesota Vikings; father of NFL stars Peyton and Eli Manning1951 - Robert Harper
actor: The Insider, Gunmen, Held Hostage: The Sis and Jerry Levin Story, Twins, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Once Upon a Time in America; died Jan 23, 20201951 - Joey Ramone (Jeffry Ross Hyman)
(musician: drums; singer: co-founder of group: The Ramones: LPs: Too Tough to Die, Animal Boy, Halfway to Sanity; died Apr 15, 20011952 - Mike Nott
football: BC Lions [CFL]1954 - Rick (Richard Aldo) Cerone
baseball: Cleveland Indians, Toronto Blue Jays, NY Yankees [World Series: 1981], Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers, Boston Red Sox, NY Mets, Montreal Expos1954 - Phil Rudd
musician: drums: group: AC-DC: LPs: Let There Be Rock, Powerage, Highway to Hell, Dirty Deeds Done Cheap, For Those About to Rock1956 - Steven (Meigs) Ford
actor: When Harry Met Sally, Body Count, Eraser, Contact, Armageddon; son of former U.S. President Gerald R. and Betty Ford1956 - Luis Salazar
baseball [third base]: Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres, Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox1956 - Martyn Ware
musician: synthesizer: groups: The Human League: LP: Reproduction; Heaven 17: We Don’t Need This Fascist Groove Thang, Temptation, Crushed by the Wheels of Industry1967 - Turk Wendell
baseball [pitcher]: Quinnipiac Univ; Chicago Cubs, NY Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Colorado Rockies, Houston Astros1970 - Alison Elliott
actress: The Spitfire Grill, The Wings of the Dove, Birth, Buccaneers, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Griffin and Phoenix, A Wrinkle in Time, The Miracle Worker, Trance1970 - Jason Gray-Stanford
actor: Monk, Doomsday Rock, Contagious, The Escape, Puppy Love, Caroline and Jackie, NCIS, Monday Mornings1972 - Jenny Berggren
singer: group: Ace of Base: All That She Wants, The Sign, Don’t Turn Around, Cruel Summer, Beautiful Life, Lucky Love1973 - Andreas Johansson
hockey [left wing]: New York Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins, Ottawa Senators, Tampa Bay Lightning, Calgary Flames, New York Rangers, Nashville Predators1976 - Kevin Garnett
basketball: Minnesota Timberwolves [1995–2007]; Boston Celtics [2007–2013]: 2008 NBA champs; Brooklyn Nets 2013–2015]; Minnesota Timberwolves [2015–2016]1976 - Wade Richey
football [kicker]: Louisiana State Univ; SF 49ers, SD Chargers, Baltimore Ravens1976 - Brian Skinner
basketball [center]: Baylor Univ; LA Clippers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Philaelphia 76ers, Milwaukee Bucks, Sacramento Kings1979 - Lauren Graham
actress: Gilmore Girls, Parenthood, Prison-A-Go-Go!, Zombie Campout, Cornman: American Vegetable Hero, Conrad Bloom, NewsRadio1979 - Andrea Pirlo
Italian footballer [midfielder]: Italian national team [2002-2015]: 2006 World Cup champs1982 - Rebecca Hall
actress: The Prestige, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, The Town, Frost/Nixon, Iron Man 3, Transcendence1983 - Michael Che
stand-up comedian, actor, writer: Saturday Night Live co-anchor of Weekend Update; The Daily Show with Jon Stewart1986 - Mario Chalmers
basketball [point guard]: Univ of Kansas; NBA: Miami Heat [2008-2015]: 2012, 2013 NBA champs; Memphis Grizzlies [2015-2018]1986 - Eric Lloyd
actor: The Santa Clause, The Santa Clause 2, ER, Rocket Power, A Christmas Memory, Jesse, ChromeSkull: Laid to Rest 21991 - Jordan Pruitt
singer: LPs: No Ordinary Girl, Permission to Fly1992 - Eleanor Tomlinson
actress: Jack the Giant Slayer, The White Queen, Poldark1992 - Lainey Wilson
songwriter, singer: Things a Man Oughta Know, Heart Like a Truck, Watermelon Moonshine, Wildflowers and Wild Horses
and still more...
Hit Music on This Day May 19
1947Mam’selle (facts) - Art Lund
Linda (facts) - Buddy Clark with the Ray Noble Orchestra
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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