Burns started smoking cigars when he was 14.

On March 9, 1996, the legendary cigar-chomping performer
George Burns dies at his home in Beverly Hills, California,
just weeks after celebrating his 100th birthday.

George Burns is one of the few entertainers whose career
successfully spanned vaudeville, radio, film and television.

 
                                                             Zenith Console Floor Radio
                                                             Model 11S474, 1940s.

Burns and Allen’s radio show was inducted into the National Radio
Hall of Fame in 1994.

Burns is also a member of the Television Hall of Fame, where he
and Gracie Allen were inducted in 1988.

The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show premiered on
CBS on October 12, 1950 and ran through 1958. 

1977

On March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, carrying
227 passengers and 12 crew members, lost contact with
air traffic control less than an hour after taking off from 
Kuala Lumpur, then veers off course, disappears and
most of the plane, and everyone on board, were never 
seen again.

About an hour after Flight 370 was scheduled to land in
Beijing, Malaysia Airlines announced it was missing.

Prior to the aircraft’s mysterious disappearance, it had
been flying seemingly without incident.

There were no distress signals from the plane, reports
of bad weather or technical problems.

In 2015, French police officers carried a piece of airplane
debris on the island of Réunion which later proved to
have been from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

More debris from Flight 370 found.

 
SANDY KOZEL

(1914 – 1999)

Joe DiMaggio (“Joltin Joe”) is widely considered one
of the greatest baseball players of all time and is best
known for setting the record for the longest hitting
streak in baseball (56 games from May 15 – July 16,
1941), which still stands today.

DiMaggio was a heavy smoker for much of his adult
life. He was admitted to Memorial Regional Hospital
in Hollywood, Florida, on October 12, 1998, for lung
cancer surgery and remained there for 99 days. He
returned to his Florida home, on January 19, 1999
and died thereon March 8 at age 84.

DiMaggio’s plaque at the National Baseball Hall of Fame
and Museum.

Steve Lawrence, the charismatic Grammy- and Emmy-
winning crooner who delighted audiences for decades
in nightclubs, on concert stages, in film and television appearances, died Thursday.

Publicist Susan DuBow announced Lawrence died in
Los Angeles of complications from Alzheimer’s disease. 

He partnered with the late Eydie Gormé, his wife of 55
years, in a very popular act (below). 

In 1959, Steve Lawrence released Pretty Blue Eyes as a single
and it spent 18 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking
at No. 9, while reaching No. 7 on the Cash Box Top 100.