"Round and round she goes and where she stops, nobody knows"...
That's not a description of Paris Hilton doing pirouettes. That's the line that Ted Mack used to open each "Original Amateur Hour" show, the precursor of "American Idol" that debuted on this date in 1948. The show was a spin-off of the popular radio show, "Major Bowes' Amateur Hour"...
The TV show would run for 12 years and was one of the few programs to be aired on all four early TV networks (DuMont, ABC, CBS and NBC) at different times. Ted Mack, originally an assistant of Major Bowes, proved the be the genial host who shared the emotional roller coaster ride of each contestant until the show bowed out on September 26, 1960...
You think of "American Idol" and you think of the four winners: Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Stoddard, Fantasia Barrino and Carrie Underwood but the "Original Amateur Hour" had its share of winners you may have heard of. The radio version gave us Frank Sinatra, the TV version produced 7-year old Gladys Knight and 18-year old Pat Boone...
More January 18 Memories...
1778) English navigator Capt. James Cook discovers the Hawaiian Islands, calling it the "Sandwich Islands" (the Earl of Sandwich meanwhile discovers the sandwich which he calls the Hawaiian Islands)...
1929) Walter Winchell debuts on radio...
1948) "The Original Amateur Hour" debuts on The DuMont Network (feature story)...
1958) Boston Bruin Willie O'Ree becomes the 1st black NHL player...
1961) Bert Kaempfert tops the charts with "Wonderland by Night"...
1964) The Beatles chart with "I Want to Hold Your Hand" (at #35)...
1965) Barbra Streisand and Bobby Darin perform for LBJ's presidential inauguration...
1967) The self-proclaimed "Boston Strangler", Albert DeSalvo is convicted in Cambridge and sentenced to life in prison (DeSalvo will be killed by a fellow inmate in 1973)...
1969) Pete Best wins his defamation suit against the Beatles. Asking for $8 million, he settles for considerably less...
1971) "Knock Three Times" by Dawn is #1...
1973) Pink Floyd begins recording "Dark Side Of The Moon"...
1974) Bad Company is formed by ex-members of Free, Mott the Hoople and King Crimson...
1975) "The Jeffersons" debuts on CBS-TV (the show was a spin-off of "All in the Family", George Jefferson was a neighbor of Archie Bunker's)...
1976) The Pittsburgh Steelers win their 2nd Super Bowl in a row, a 21-17 win over the Dallas Cowboys in Miami (the game goes down to the last play in one of the most exciting SB games in history as Dallas runs out of time-outs)...
1980) Capricorn Records, home of Southern rock acts, files for bankruptcy...
1980) Pink Floyd's "The Wall" hits #1...
1980) Studio 54 owners Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager are sentenced to 3 years in prison for tax evasion and fined $20,000 (drugs ? what drugs ?)...
1986) Dionne & Friends (Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight and Elton John) top the charts with "That's What Friends Are For" with all proceeds going to the "American Foundation for AIDS Research"...
1989) Dion, the Rolling Stones, Otis Redding and Stevie Wonder are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...
1990) Washington, DC Mayor Marion Barry is arrested for drug possession in an FBI sting (Barry is later convicted of a misdemeanor)...
1991) Eastern Airlines shuts down after 62 years in business due to financial problems...
1993) The Martin Luther King Jr. holiday is observed in all 50 states for the 1st time (even Arizona)...
1996) Lisa Marie Presley files for divorce from Michael Jackson (somewhere Elvis is smiling)...
1996) Baseball owners unanimously approve interleague play to start in 1997 (now maybe they can unanimously disapprove it)...
1998) The Boston Celtics retire Robert ("The Chief") Parrish's #00 uniform...
2001) Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson reveals an extramarital affair that resulted in the birth of a daughter...
2004) The Patriots beat Indianapolis (the team that can never go all the way) 24-14 to win the AFC championship and advance to Super Bowl XXXVIII to face Carolina (we know what happened in that game, don't we ?)...
To ensure accuracy, multiple reference sources were used in the timeline...
Happy Birthday To...
1933) Ray Dolby (inventor of the noise reduction system named after him)...
1941) Bobby Goldsboro...
1955) Kevin Costner...
1961) Hockey great Mark Messier...
Today is the 18th day of 2006 with 347 days remaining in the year but only 61 days until Spring and better yet, only 29 days before pitchers and catchers...
