October 12
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Events on This Day
1492 - In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. And on this day, with a crew of 90 and three ships, the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, he landed on Guanahani Island in the Bahamas. An entry in his journal described meeting the natives of the island, “As I saw that they were friendly to us, and perceived that they could be much more easily converted to our holy faith by gentle means than by force, I presented them with some red caps, and strings of beads to wear upon the neck, and many other trifles of small value, wherewith they were much delighted and became wonderfully attached to us.” And most people in Spanish-speaking countries and the Americas are still pretty much attached to Christopher Columbus, as they continue to celebrate this day as a holiday in his honor.
1792 - The first monument honoring Christopher Columbus was dedicated -- in Baltimore, MD.
1823 - Charles Macintosh of Scotland began selling raincoats. The early ‘macs’ were stiff in the winter and sticky in hot weather and it wasn’t until vulcanised rubber, which resisted temperature changes, became available in 1839 that the ‘mackintosh’ became widely popular.
1850 - Classes began at the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania, the first medical school entirely for women.
1895 - The first amateur golf tournament was held -- in Newport, Rhode Island. A chap named Charles Blair McDonald beat a field of 31 others in the event.
1901 - By executive order, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt renamed the ‘Executive Mansion’ ‘The White House’.
1915 - Former U.S. President (1901-1909) Theodore Roosevelt criticized U.S. citizens who identified themselves by dual nationalities, saying, “There is no room in this country for ‘hyphenated Americanism’.”
1920 - The leading race horse money winner of the day ran for the last time. Man o’ War beat Sir Barton in Canada’s Kenilworth Park. Man o’ War’s career earnings totaled nearly $250,000.
1920 - Construction of the Holland Tunnel got underway. The tunnel would provide a direct link between Twelfth Street in Jersey City, NJ and Canal Street in New York City. The tunnel has two tubes more than 8,000 feet (2,400 meters) long. It opened to traffic on November 13, 1927. Oh, and one more thing: The Holland Tunnel was named for Clifford Milburn Holland (1883-1924), the civil engineer who died while directing the tunnel’s construction.
1923 - The largest crowd to catch a World Series game (over 62,000) saw Casey Stengel hit the winning home run as the New York Giants beat the Yankees 1-0.
1937 - The longest-running detective show on radio debuted. Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons lasted until 1955. Three different actors played the title role, Bennett Kilpack was Mr. Keen the longest, and Arthur Hughes saw the final show. Phil Clark also played the part. There were many more than three sponsors -- Anacin, Kolynos (a toothpaste), BiSoDol antacid mints, Hill’s cold tablets, Heet liniment, Dentyne, Aerowax, RCA Victor and Chesterfield cigarettes. Some are long gone, some are still around, some don’t advertise on radio anymore, and some are not allowed to.
1942 - U.S. Attorney General Francis Biddle announced that Italian nationals in the United States would no longer be considered enemy aliens.
1944 - Who could forget the picture of a huge crowd of swooning bobbysoxers stopping traffic in New York’s Times Square as Frank Sinatra made his triumphant return to the famed Paramount Theatre (he had played there for eight weeks starting on December 30, 1942). In what was called the ‘Columbus Day Riot’, 25,000 teenagers, mostly young women, blocked the streets, screaming and swooning for Frankie. Sinatra later explained, “It was the war years, and there was a great loneliness. And I was the boy in every corner drug store ... who’d gone off, drafted to the war. That was all.”
1946 - Joseph W. Stilwell, U.S. general in China, died.
1950 - The Kefauver Crime Commission convened in New York to investigate interstate organized crime. TV was there the following year, showing Frank Costello’s hands for a long, long time on screen. Mr. Costello told Senator Estes Kefauver’s committee that he would refuse to testify on TV if his face was shown. So, viewers were shown his hands instead.
1950 - The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show made its debut on CBS-TV. Burns and Allen had been on the radio since 1935. The TV show ran through Sep 22, 1958, featuring the real-life married couple at home. George played on-screen host/narrator and straight man for Gracie’s scatterbrained (but hillarious) schemes.
1950 - Call Me Madam opened at the Imperial Theatre on Broadway in New York City. Call Me Madam is the story of Sally Adams, “The hostess with the mostest,” who becomes U.S. Ambassador to the tiny duchy of Lichtenburg, captivating its handsome Prime Minister and encouraging the romance of her aide with an enchanting young Princess. All ends happily, helped along by songs such as You’re Just in Love, It’s A Lovely Day Today and Marrying for Love. The show was a success, running for 644 performances.
1957 - Canada Prime Minister Lester Bowles Pearson was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his solution to the Suez Crisis: the establishment of the U.N. Emergency Force.
1960 - At the United Nations, Soviet Premier Nikita Khruschev went ballistic, taking off his shoe and pounding it on his desk! The U.N. Assembly President, Frederick Boland, was so irritated that he split his gavel trying to reestablish order.
1961 - The first video memoirs by a U.S. president were made. CBS presented a three-hour discussion with former President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Reportedly, 11 hours of film were used and later, edited to the final print. The interviewer was Walter Cronkite.
1963 - Traffic on the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge was reconfigured -- with five westbound lanes on the upper deck and five eastbound lanes on the lower deck.
1967 - The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Boston Red Sox, 4 games to 3 in the World Series. A few stats worth remembering: In 27 innings, Bob Gibson allowed three runs and 14 hits to notch St. Louis’ eighth title. Although he and Boston’s Jim Lonborg pitched spectacularly, the series tied the record for most pitchers used (20). St. Louis’ Lou Brock collected 12 hits for a .414 average and a Series-record seven stolen bases. He also tied a Series mark with eight runs. Roger Maris batted .385, collecting ten hits. Julian Javier batted .360. Boston’s Carl Yastrzemski batted .400 with three homers. Dalton Jones batted .389.
1968 - Cheap Thrills, the album by Big Brother and the Holding Company, started an eight-week run as number one in the U.S. It was the first and only album (for a major label) Janis Joplin made with Big Brother and the Holding Company. The album’s tracks: Combination of the Two, I Need a Man to Love, Summertime, Piece of My Heart, Turtle Blues, Oh, Sweet Mary, Ball and Chain.
1968 - The games of the XIX Olympiad were opened in Mexico City by Mexican President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz. Norma Enriqueta Basilio de Sotelo became first woman to light the Olympic flame. The high-altitude (2,240 meters or 7,573 feet above seal level) and polluted air in Mexico City, put the athletes to a real test. Black Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos gave the black power salute during the national anthem as a protest against racism in the U.S. They were expelled from the Olympic Village & thrown off the team by the USOC.
1971 - Some folks weren’t pleased when Jesus Christ Superstar premiered on Broadway because of the controversial content of the musical. Before the show opened at the Mark Hellinger Theatre, some 2.5 million copies of the album were sold to the curious. The Tim Rice/Andrew Lloyd Weber collaboration would become a big hit. Jesus Christ Superstar would run on Broadway for 720 shows, and spawn several hit songs, including I Don’t Know How to Love Him (Helen Reddy) and the title song, Jesus Christ Superstar (Murray Head).
1971 - 1950s pop singer Gene Vincent died of a bleeding ulcer. He was 36 years old. Vincent’s biggest claim to fame was the multi-million-selling Be-Bop-A-Lula.
1973 - U.S. President Richard Nixon nominated House minority leader Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. to become vice-president (after Spiro Agnew’s resignation). On December 6, 1973, Ford was approved by Congress and sworn in. He was the first vice president to be appointed, rather than elected, and the first to take office in the middle of an administration.
1975 - Archbishop Oliver Plunkett became the first Irish-born saint in 700 years. He had been beheaded by Cromwell’s troops.
1976 - China announced that Hua Guofeng was named to succeed the late Mao Tse-tung as chairman of the Communist Party.
1981 - Barbara Mandrell walked away with the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year honor for the second year in a row.
1986 - It cost $100 a seat. It featured refreshments and food. It ran for 8.5 hours. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby closed on Broadway this day. Incidentally, those who saw it may remember that there were potty breaks scheduled, so the audience wouldn’t miss one thrilling moment...
1987 - Alfred ‘Alf’ M. Landon, who ran for president against Franklin Roosevelt, died. The former Kansas Governor passed away at his home in Topeka, Kansas. Landon was 100 years old.
1990 - The Cincinnati Reds won the National League baseball pennant, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-to-1, and winning the Championship Series 4 games to 2.
1992 - An earthquake, measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale, hit Dahshur, near Cairo, Egypt. More than 500 people were killed and about 6500 others were injured.
1993 - The Toronto Blue Jays won their second straight American League pennant, defeating the Chicago White Sox in six games.
1994 - American Clifford G. Shull and Canadian Bertram N. Brockhouse won the Nobel Prize in Physics; American George A. Olah won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
1994 - The Magellan space probe ended its four-year mapping mission of Venus, plunging into the planet’s atmosphere.
1997 - Singer/songwriter John Denver, piloting an experimental, amateur-built Rutan Long-EZ airplane, crashed into Monterey Bay, California. Witnesses said the plane, made of fiberglass with a single engine and two seats, was flying about at about 500 feet “when it just sort of dropped unexpectedly into the ocean. When it hit the water it broke into numerous parts.” Denver, age 53 and the only occupant of the plane, was killed.
1998 - Americans Robert F. Furchgott, Louis J. Ignarro and Ferid Murad won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for blood vessel research.
1999 - Ahmed H. Zewail of the California Institute of Technology won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry; Dutch scientists Gerardus ’t Hooft and Martinus J.G. Veltman won the Nobel Prize in Physics.
1999 - According to estimates by the United Nations, the world’s population had reached 6 billion. The new benchmark came 12 years after the previous billion.
2000 - Chinese writer Gao Xingjian won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
2000 - A small ship, described as either a Zodiac-type rubber craft or a fiberglass boat loaded with explosives, rammed the U.S. destroyer Cole. The explosion blew a 40 by 40 foot hole in the ship, at anchor in the port of Aden, killing 17 U.S. sailors. (The Cole returned to active duty in 2003 following $250 million in repairs.)
2001 - These movies debuted in U.S. theatres: Bandits, with Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Cate Blanchett, Troy Garity and Bobby Slayton; Corky Romano, starring Chris Kattan, Peter Berg, Chris Penn, Richard Roundtree, Vinessa Shaw, Matthew Glave, Fred Ward, Peter Falk and Dave Sheridan; Iron Monkey, with Yu Rong-Guang, Donnie Yen, Jean Wang, Tsang Sze-Man and Yuen Shun-Yee; and Mulholland Drive, starring Justin Theroux, Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, Ann Miller, Robert Forster and Dan Hedaya.
2001 - The United Nations and its secretary-general, Kofi Annan, won the Nobel Peace Prize.
2001 - U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft urged federal agencies to resist most Freedom of Information Act requests made by American citizens. The act had been passed in 1974 during the Watergate scandal.
2002 - Bandleader Ray Conniff, “one of the few commercially successful musical geniuses of our time,” died in Escondido, CA. He was 85 years old. Recordings by Ray Conniff’s Orchestra and Chorus and the Ray Conniff Singers were heard on just about every easy-listening radio station in the U.S. in the 1950s and 1960s.
2003 - Some 70,000 employees of Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons grocery stores began a strike in Southern California, Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia and Ohio. Health care costs were a main issue. Workers approved an agreement for Southern California on Feb 29, 2004.
2004 - The Seattle Storm won their first WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association) title with a 74-60 victory over the Connecticut Sun.
2006 - A tugboat pushing two barges hit an undersea pipeline in West Cote Blanche Bay (100 miles from New Orleans). The ensuing explosion and fire killed six people. Two others were rescued.
2007 - Films opening in U.S. theatres: Elizabeth: The Golden Age, starring Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, Clive Owen, Samantha Morton and Abbie Cornish; Why Did I Get Married?. starring Tyler Perry, Janet Jackson, Sharon Leal, Jill Scott, Tasha Smith, Malik Yoba, Richard T. Jones and Michael Jai White; and We Own the Night, with Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg, Robert Duvall, Eva Mendes and Alex Veadov.
2007 - Two men were sentenced to prison for distributing pornographic e-mails. It was the first successful criminal prosecution under the CAN-SPAM Act -- in Phoenix, AZ. James R. Schaffer, 41, of Paradise Valley, AZ and Jeffrey A. Kilbride, 41, of Venice, CA had been convicted of fraud, conspiracy, money laundering, and obscenity.
2007 - Former U.S. VP Al Gore and the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, “for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.”
2008 - Australia and New Zealand gave a blanket guarantee to all bank deposits and European leaders hammered out action to confront the financial crisis, adding their voices to a global chorus of demands for coordinated action.
2009 - Americans Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson won the Nobel economics prize for their work in economic governance. Ostrom was the first woman to win the Nobel prize in Economic Sciences.
2010 - Hundreds of thousands of French workers, students and functionaries staged protests of a new law requiring people to work until 62, rather than 60, before receiving retirement pensions.
2010 - A train crashed into a crowded bus in eastern Ukraine, killing 43 people, including two children, and injuring nearly a dozen others. Prime Minister Mykola Azarov ordered the installation of automated crossing gates at all railway crossings to prevent cars, buses and trucks from ignoring warning sirens.
2011 - China announced its investment of some 4 trillion yuan ($600 billion) over ten years to try to overcome the huge water shortage that threatened the country’s economic growth.
2012 - Movies opening in the U.S.: Argo, starring Bryan Cranston, Ben Affleck, Taylor Schilling, John Goodman, Kyle Chandler, Chris Messina and Clea DuVall; Here Comes the Boom, with Salma Hayek, Kevin James, Melissa Peterman, Henry Winkler, Reggie Lee and Greg Paul; Atlas Shrugged: Part II, with Samantha Mathis, Jason Beghe, Esai Morales, Patrick Fabian, Kim Rhodes and Richard T. Jones; Middle of Nowhere, starring Omari Hardwick, David Oyelowo, Sharon Lawrence, Dondre Whitfield, Lorraine Toussaint and Maya Gilbert; Nobody Walks, with Olivia Thirlby, Jane Levy, John Krasinski, Dylan McDermott, Justin Kirk, Rosemarie DeWittand Emma Dumont; Seven Psychopaths, starring Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson, Christopher Walken, Sam Rockwell, Abbie Cornish, Olga Kurylenko and Zeljko Ivanek; Simon & the Oaks, with Bill Skarsgård, Helen Sjöholm, Jan Josef Liefers, Stefan Gödicke and Karl Linnertorp; and Smashed, starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Aaron Paul, Octavia Spencer, Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally and Mary Kay Place.
2013 - Russian police arrested 67 people after a fight broke out between gay rights activists and their opponents at a demonstration in St. Petersburg. The activists had held several protests since the adoption of a law in June 2013 that banned homosexual “propaganda” directed at minors. Critics said the law interfered with homosexuals’ rights to free speech and assembly.
2014 - A federal judge struck down Alaska’s first-in-the-U.S. ban on gay marriages. District Court Judge Timothy Burgess wrote, “The court finds that Alaska’s ban on same-sex marriage and refusal to recognize same sex marriages lawfully entered in other states is unconstitutional as a deprivation of basic due process and equal protection principles under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.”
2014 - Chinese police stormed into a conference room outside Beijing and broke up a meeting where rights lawyers were discussing wrongful cases. Chinese scholar and rights advocate Guo Yushan, founder of an influential non-governmental think tank, was detained on the criminal charge of provoking troubles.
2015 - Consumer PC giant Dell and investment firm Silver Lake acquired corporate software, storage and security king EMC Corporation for some $67 billion. The deal was the biggest tech merger to that time.
2016 - Two police officers in Boston were seriously injured and a suspected gunman armed with a rifle was killed during a shootout. The officers came under fire at a home in the East Boston neighborhood of Orient Heights. “Right now it looks like it was possibly a domestic incident gone bad,” said Police Commissioner William Evans. “Domestic calls are probably the most volatile,” Evans said during the briefing outside Massachusetts General Hospital, where the officers were being treated. “You never really know what you’re walking into.”
2017 - The Trump administration announced that the U.S. was pulling out of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) because of what the White House said was UNESCO’s anti-Israel bias and its need for “fundamental reform”. The U.S. had stopped funding UNESCO after it voted to include Palestine as a member in 2011.
2017 - Winds up to 45 mph (72 kph) were expected to fan fires in areas north of San Francisco where at least 31 people had died and at least 3,500 homes and businesses were destroyed. Officials voiced concern that the 22 separate ongoing blazes would merge into larger infernos.
2018 - Motion pictures opening in U.S. theatres included: Bad Times at the El Royale, starring Chris Hemsworth, Dakota Johnson and Jon Hamm; First Man, starring Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy and Jason Clarke; Goosebumps: Haunted Halloween, with Wendi McLendon-Covey, Madison Iseman and Ken Jeong; After Everything, starring Maika Monroe, Marisa Tomei and Jeremy Allen White; All Square, with Michael Kelly, Jesse Ray Sheps and Josh Lucas; Beautiful Boy, starring Steve Carell, Timothée Chalamet and Maura Tierney; Bigger, with Julianne Hough, Tyler Hoechlin and Calum Von Moger; I Still See You, with Bella Thorne, Dermot Mulroney and Amy Price-Francis; Jane and Emma, with Danielle Deadwyler, Emily Goss and Brad Schmidt; The Kindergarten Teacher, starring Maggie Gyllenhaal, Rosa Salazar and Gael García Bernal; Kinky, with Vivica A. Fox, Robert Ri’chard and Obba Babatundé; The Oath, with Billy Magnussen, Tiffany Haddish and Ike Barinholtz; and Sadie, starring Jason Adkins, Cortney Anderson-Sanford and Danielle Brooks.
2018 - The Philippines became one of 18 new council members elected to the U.N. Human Rights Council. This, despite rights groups’ complaints that the Philippine government, widely condemned internationally for a deadly drug crackdown, doesn’t belong in a group meant to condemn abuses.
2018 - Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Washington DC Cardinal Donald Wuerl after he became entangled in two major sexual abuse and cover-up scandals and lost the support of many in his flock.
2019 - A Fort Worth, Texas police officer shot and killed Atatiana Jefferson, a 28-year-old black woman, inside a home where she had been playing video games with her 8-year-old nephew. The officer fired through a window into the home while responding to a call to check on the well-being of those inside. (On December 20, 2019, officer Aaron Dean was indicted for murder.)
2020 - Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson, both of Stanford Univ, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Science -- for improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats.
2020 - California’s chief elections official ordered Republicans to remove phony ‘ballot drop boxes’ from churches, gun shops and other locations. Attorney General Xavier Becerra warned those behind the “vote tampering” would face prosecution.
2020 - Johnson & Johnson said a late-stage study of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate had been paused due to the unexplained illness of a study participant. The company declined to provide further details. “We must respect this participant’s privacy. We’re also learning more about this participant’s illness, and it’s important to have all the facts before we share additional information,” a company statement said. Meanwhile, the New Zealand government signed a deal to buy 1.5 million COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer Inc and Germany’s BioNTech, with delivery in the first quarter of 2021.
2020 - Argentina surpassed 900,000 cases of coronavirus, with strong growth of infections in large, populated centers in the interior of the country. This, after months of the virus being concentrated in coastal Buenos Aires and its suburbs.
2021 - Walgreens closed five stores in San Francisco because of ongoing smash and grab retail thefts in the city.
2021 - American Airlines and Southwest Airlines said they would comply with President Biden’s executive order to require that their employees be vaccinated for COVID-19. Companies doing business in Texas faced new, complicated challenges after Governor Abbott banned COVID-19 vaccine mandates for all entities in the state -- including private businesses -- for employees or customers.
2022 - The United Nations General Assembly passes a resolution condemning Russia’s attempted annexation of Ukrainian territory.
2022 - Conspiracy theorist, radio host Alex Jones was ordered by a Connecticut defamation trial jury to pay $965 million to families of those killed in the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Jones falsely and repeatedly claimed on his broadcasts that none of the 20 children and six adults killed had actually died and that their relatives were crisis actors.
2023 - Roman scrolls burnt in the Mt. Vesuvius eruption at Herculaneum were read for the first time, after a computer-science student developed a machine-learning algorithm. The first word deciphered was “πορφυρας” (porphyras), signifying “purple dye” or “cloths of purple.”
2023 - Israel said it would not stop its bombardment of Gaza until the Hamas-held Israeli hostages were released. Energy minister Israel Katz wrote on social media that no “electrical switch will be turned on, no water hydrant will be opened and no fuel truck will enter” until the “abductees” were free. The proclamation came amid a growing Gaza humanitarian crisis with 338,000 displaced and the population without electricity or water. Starting on Oct 7, 2023, immediately after Hamas-led attacks, Israel began the bombing of Gaza Strip. On Oct 13, Israel began ground operations in Gaza, and on Oct 27 a full-scale invasion was launched. Israel’s campaign, called Operation Swords of Iron, had two stated goals: to destroy Hamas and to free the hostages Hamas had taken.
and more...
Birthdays on This Day October 12
1860 - Elmer A. (Ambrose) Sperry
inventor: Sperry Automatic Pilot [gyroscopic compass]; founder: Sperry-Rand Corp.; died Jun 16, 19301872 - Ralph Vaughan Williams
composer: The Pilgrim’s Progress, Fantasia on a Theme of Tallis, Mass in G Minor; died Aug 26, 19581891 - Perle Mesta (Skirvin)
socialite: ‘The hostess with the mostes’; diplomat: appointment as U.S. envoy to Luxembourg [1949] inspired Broadway play Call Me Madam; died Mar 16, 19751906 - Joe (Joseph Edward) Cronin
Baseball Hall of Famer: Pittsburgh Pirates, Washington Nationals [World Series: 1933/all-star: 1933, 1934], Boston Red Sox [all-star: 1935, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1941]; American League president; American League Chairman; died Sep 7, 19841923 - Jean Nidetch
diet mogul: founder of Weight Watchers; died Apr 29, 20151923 - Jean Wallace
actress: No Blade of Grass, The Big Combo, Blaze of Noon, Ziegfeld Girl; was married to actors Cornel Wilde and Franchot Tone; died Feb 14, 19901929 - Nappy Brown
singer: Don’t Be Angry, Night Time Is the Right Time; died Sep 20, 20081932 - Dick Gregory
comedian; civil rights activist; died Aug 19, 20171932 - Ned Jarrett
auto racer: NASCAR Hall of Famer: 50 Grand National victories; radio/TV commentator1935 - Tony (Anthony Christopher) Kubek
baseball: NY Yankees outfielder/shortstop [Rookie of the Year: 1957/World Series: 1957, 1958, 1960-1963/all-star: 1958, 1959, 1961]; broadcaster: Toronto Blue Jays, NBC Game of the Week1935 - Samuel Moore
singer: group: Sam & Dave: Hold On! I’m a Comin’, Soul Man, I Thank You, Soul Sister Brown Sugar1935 - Luciano Pavarotti
Emmy Award-winning opera star: Pavarotti in Philadelphia: La Boheme [1982-1983]; actor: Yes, Giorgio; died Sep 6, 20071939 - Jerry Hill
football: Baltimore Colts running back: Super Bowl III, V1940 - Glenn (Alfred) Beckert
baseball: Chicago Cubs [all-star: 1969-1972], SD Padres; died Apr 12, 20201942 - Melvin Franklin
singer: group: The Temptations: Ain’t Too Proud to Beg, Beauty Is Only Skin Deep, I Wish It Would Rain, I Can’t Get Next to You, Ball of Confusion, Just My Imagination [Running Away with Me], Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone; Franklin sang the lead on: I Truly, Truly Believe, Silent Night, The Prophet, Ol’ Man River; died Feb 23, 19951943 - Lin Shaye
actress: Dumb & Dumber, There’s Something About Mary, A Cinderella Story, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Critters, Insidious, Dead End, 2001 Maniacs, 2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams, Alone in the Dark, Amityville: A New Generation, Ouija1947 - Chris Wallace
news broadcaster, TV host: FOX News Sunday; son of news broadcaster Mike Wallace1947 - Randy West
actor: [1975-2010]: X-rated films: Mission: Erotica, Last Little Whorehouse, Scotty’s X-Rated Adventure, In X-cess, Hypnotic Passions, Coming Clean1948 - Rick Parfitt
singer, musician: guitar: group: Status Quo: LPs: Picturesque Matchstickable, Piledriver, Hello, On the Level, Blue for You, 19821949 - Dan Medlin
football: Oakland Raiders guard: Super Bowl XI1950 - Susan Anton
singer: Killin’ Time [w/Fred Knoblock]; actress: Cannonball Run 2, Goldengirl, Baywatch, Stop Susan Williams1951 - Sally Little
golf champ: Nabisco Dinah Shore [1982], Du Maurier Classic [1988], LPGA [1980]1951 - Jeff Winans
football: University of Southern California [USC], Tampa Bay Buccaneers1956 - Dave Vanian (Letts)
singer; group: The Damned: Love Song, Grimly Fiendish, Shadow of Love, Eloise, Alone Again Or1960 - Steve Lowery
golf pro: PGA Tour wins: Sprint International [1994], Southern Farm Bureau Classic [2000], AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am [2008]1960 - Hiroyuki Sanada
actor: Lost, Rush Hour 3, The Wolverine, Revenge, Sunshine, The Last Samurai1962 - Carlos Bernard
actor: 24, Dallas [2012], Scoundrels, The Killing Jar1962 - Chris Botti
composer, Grammy Award-winning musician: trumpet: Best Pop Instrumental Album: Impressions [2013]; LPs: First Wish, Midnight Without You, Slowing Down the World, Night Sessions, December, A Thousand Kisses Deep, When I Fall in Love, To Love Again: The Duets, Italia1965 - Chris Chandler
football [quarterback]: Univ of Washington; NFL: Indianapolis Colts, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Phoenix Cardinals, L.A./St. Louis Rams, Houston Oilers, Atlanta Falcons, Chicago Bears1968 - Hugh Jackman
actor: Wolverine, Happy Feet, X-Men series, The Fountain, Van Helsing, Standing Room Only, Kate & Leopold, Swordfish, Reminiscence1968 - Adam Rich
actor: Eight Is Enough, The Devil & Max Devlin, Zertigo Diamond Caper, Code Red1968 - Sophie von Kessel
actress: Eisfieber, Das Geheimnis im Wald, Ich bin ein Berliner, Einsteins Ende, Nachtfenster1969 - Martie Maguire
musician: fiddle, mandolin; singer: group: The Dixie Chicks: Landslide, Goodbye Earl, Long Time Gone, There’s Your Trouble, I Can Love You Better, Give It Up or Let Me Go1970 - Kirk Cameron
actor: Growing Pains, Listen to Me, The Best of Times, Like Father, like Son, Two Marriages1970 - Tanyon Sturtze
baseball [pitcher]; Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers1970 - Charlie Ward
football: Florida State quarterback: Heisman Trophy winner [1993]; NFL: New York Knicks [1994–2004]; San Antonio Spurs [2004]; Houston Rockets [2004–2005]1975 - Randy Robitaille
hockey [center]: Boston Bruins, Nashville Predators, LA Kings, Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Islanders, Atlanta Thrashers, Philadelphia Flyers
1977 - Bode Miller
U.S. Olympic skier: won gold, silver, and bronze at Vancouver Olympics [2010]1979 - Adrian Wilson
football [safety]: North Carolina State Univ; NFL: Arizona Cardinals [2001–2012]; New England Patriots [2013]; Chicago Bears [2014]1983 - Harmony Rose
actress [2004-2011]: X-rated films: Big Toy Orgy, Cream Filled Cookies, Sloppy Seconds, Getting Personal, The Young & the Raunchy1986 - Tyler Blackburn
actor: Peach Plum Pear, Pretty Little Liars, Unfabulous, Days of Our Lives1992 - Taylor Horn
singer: Lily’s Lullaby, Sunlight in Your Eyes, I’m So Glad, Feelings Seem to Fade, If You Gotta Ask, Can You Love Me; actress: Life at the Resort, Britney’s Redneck Roots1992 - Josh Hutcherson
actor: Journey to the Center of the Earth [2008], The Hunger Games, Little Manhattan, Zathura, RV, Firehouse Dog, Bridge to Terabithia, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant, MTV Cribs
and still more...
Hit Music on This Day October 12
1949You’re Breaking My Heart (facts) - Vic Damone
That Lucky Old Sun (facts) - Frankie Laine
1958
1967
1976
1985
1994
2003
2012
2021
and even more...
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...
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