On the evening of October 3, 1961, a future television classic
called “The Dick Van Dyke Show” debuted on CBS.

The sitcom’s inaugural episode—which revolves around the
lead couple bickering over leaving sick son, Ritchie, with a
babysitter while they go to a party—kicked off a beloved
show that would run for five seasons and receive 15 Emmy
awards.

The show, created by actor, writer and comedian Carl Reiner,
starred the titular Dick Van Dyke, along with a ensemble cast 
including Mary Tyler Moore, Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam.   

Richard Wayne Van Dyke will be 100 on December 13th.

Chief Justice Earl Warren swore in Thurgood Marshall, the first
Black justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. As chief counsel for
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People in the 1940s and ’50s.

Marshall was the architect and executor of the legal strategy
that ended the era of official racial segregation.

Thoroughgood "Thurgood" Marshall
(July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993)

Charles M. Schultz’s “Peanuts” comic strip debuted in just seven
US newspapers. (It would eventually run in more than 2,600.)

The cartoonist almost named Charlie Brown’s dog Sniffy—
not Snoopy—but another comic dog had that name.

Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz
(November 26, 1922 – February 12, 2000)

                   
TIM  MAGUIRE

On October 1, 1958, the American Express Company issued
its first charge card in the U.S. and Canada to give traveling
customers more flexibility.

The purple paperboard card—which later became the iconic
green or gold plastic card—pre-dates a new era of paying for
purchases with revolving credit cards, with MasterCard and
Visa following years later.

William George Fargo (1818 – 1881)  

        
          
 
 John Butterfield (1801 – 1869)         
       

 
In 1850, American Express was started as a
freight forwarding company in Buffalo, New
York.

owned by Henry Wells (Wells & Company),
William G. Fargo (Livingston, Fargo & Co.)
and John W. Butterfield.