- 1916] Talkin' Baseball: The Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds play a 9-inning game with just one baseball (6/29)...
- 1917] Debuted on this date: Raggedy Ann. Happy 91st Birthday Raggedy (6/28)...1949] "Captain Video and his Video Rangers" debuts on the Dumont TV Network (6/27). It will run daily until April 1, 1955. This was the 1st of a trio of 'space operas'. The others were: "Space Patrol" and "Tom Corbett - Space Cadet". FYI: The 1st Capt. Video was Richard Coogan ('49-'50). Al Hodge took command for the rest of the shows run...
- 1956] Wedding Bells: Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller sing "I want to be loved by you" down the aisle (6/29). Sadly the marriage will end with a Mexican divorce in 1961...
- 1967] Hollywood tragedy: 34-year old blonde bombshell Jayne Mansfield and 2 others are killed when their car goes into the back of a truck on U.S. highway 90 (6/29)...
- 1974] Curtains: "The Flip Wilson Show" ends after 4 seasons of Wilson as "Geraldine Jones", her boyfriend "Killer", the Reverend Le Roy of the Church of What's Happening Now and one of the greatest phrases of all-time - "the devil made me do it" (6/27)...1985] Route 66, originally stretching from Chicago to Santa Monica is decertified (6/27). How do you do this to a landmark highway???
- 1975] 'Happy Trails': Rod Serling dies after open-heart surgery at 50 (6/28). I met Serling at LAX in the early 70s and he told me about selling his rights to "The Twilight Zone" for $1 million. He was then taping "Night Gallery" and we got into a conversation about radio, his training grounds. Several months later there was a "Night Gallery" about a disc jockey (Mickey Rooney) who sells his soul to the devil. I always wondered if our talk may have inspired Serling to write that episode...2001] Legendary actor Jack Lemmon dies from cancer at 76 (6/27)...2002] The Who's John Entwistle dies from a cocaine-induced heart attack at 57 (6/27)...2002] Singer Rosemary Clooney passes away at her Beverly Hills home following a long battle with lung cancer. Rosemary was 74 (6/29)...2003] Legendary actress Katharine Hepburn dies of natural causes at 96 (6/29)...2007] ABC-TV movie critic Joel Siegel passes away from colon cancer at 63 (6/29)...
- 1988] A time for joy, a time for tears: Proving it's never too late to go back to school, Cyndi Lauper (Richmond Hills High) and Debbie Gibson (Merrick High) receive their high school diplomas (6/27)...
- 1996] Sold to the highest bidder: Superman Action Comic #1 (1938) is auctioned at Sotheby's to Maryland businessman Steve Geppi for $61,900 and a pound of kryptonite (6/29)...
- 1997] A bite to the finish: Mike Tyson takes a bite out of Evander Holyfield's ear and is disqualified during their heavyweight championship rematch (6/28)...
- 2007] I phone, you phone, we all phone for iPhone: Apple Inc. rolls out their iPhone in the U.S. (6/29)...
For more on June 27-29: CLICK: http://melphillipsnowandthen.com
