John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005)
The Mickey Mouse Club was an ABC television show that aired intermittently from 1955 to 1996 and returned in 2017 to social
media. It was created by Walt Disney and produced by Walt
Disney Productions.
Walt Disney (center) with the Mouseketeers in 1955.
The children’s tv series Captain Kangaroo aired weekday
mornings on the American television network CBS from
October 3, 1955, until December 8, 1984, making it the
longest-running nationally broadcast children’s tv
program of its day. The show was conceived and the
title character was played by Bob Keeshan, who had
portrayed the original Clarabell the Clown on The
Howdy Doody show that aired on NBC.
Robert James Keeshan
(June 27, 1927 – January 23, 2004)
On this day in 1968, North Korea seized the U.S. Navy ship Pueblo, charging it had intruded into the nation’s territorial waters on a
spying mission. The crew was released 11 months later.
The Pueblo’s mission began in early January, 1968, when the crew
set off from the U.S. Navy base on Yokosuka, Japan with orders to conduct surveillance on Soviet Navy and North Korean signal and electronic intelligence activity.
Pueblo, is still being held by North Korea today, officially remains
a commissioned vessel of the United States Navy. Since early 2013,
the ship has been moored along the Potong River in Pyongyang, and
used there as a museum ship at the Pyongyang Victorious War
Museum.
The captured crew (above) were beaten and nearly starved in the
incident that almost led to another war.
Pueblo on display in North Korea, 2012.
North Koreans raise their fists during a rally in 2010 in front of the
U.S. Navy spy ship Pueblo.
On this day in 1977, the TV mini-series "Roots," began airing on ABC. The show was based on the Alex Haley novel. Roots received 37 Primetime Emmy Award nominations and won nine. It also won a
Golden Globe and a Peabody Award. It received unprecedented
Nielsen ratings for the finale, which still holds a record as the third-highest-rated episode for any type of television series, and the
second-most watched overall series finale in U.S. television
history.
LeVar Burton as Kunta Kinte, a warrior of the Mandinka people
in Gambia who is captured by slavers and taken to Annapolis,
Md.
John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005)
Television host, comedian, writer, and producer Johnny Carson was
best known as the host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
(1962–1992) on NBC. Carson received six Emmy Awards, the Television
Academy‘s 1980 Governor’s Award, and a 1985 Peabody Award. He was
inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987 awarded the
Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992 and received a Kennedy Center
Honor in 1993.
It was on this day in 1995.
Prosecutors Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden seek life without parole for O.J.
After careful selection, a Jury of eight women and four men was
selected and included eight blacks, one white, one Hispanic and
two people of mixed race.
In baseball, the "Shot Heard ‘Round the World" was a game-winning home run by New York Giants outfielder and third baseman Bobby Thomson off Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca at the Polo Grounds in New York City on October 3, 1951, to win the National
League (NL) pennant.
Thomson hits the ‘Shot Heard ‘Round the World’ at The Polo Grounds
in New York City .
Robert (Bobby) Brown Thomson
(October 25, 1923 – August 16, 2010)
The children’s television series “Captain Kangaroo” aired weekday mornings on the CBS network from October 3, 1955, until December
8, 1984, making it the longest-running nationally broadcast children’s television program of its day.
Robert James Keeshan
(June 27, 1927 – January 23, 2004)
On this day in 1955, "The Mickey Mouse Club" premiered on
ABC-TV and ran until 1959.
Walt Disney (center) is surrounded by members of "The Mickey
Mouse Club" cast.
Head Mouseketeer Jimmie Dodd with his Mouse Guitar.
On this day in 1968, U.S. troops in Vietnam destroyed a village
consisting mostly of women and children. The event is known
as the My-Lai massacre.
William Laws Calley Jr. will be 75 in June.
Terry Anderson, an Associated Press newsman, was taken hostage
in Beirut on this day in 1985. He was released on December 4,1991.
Physicist Robert H. Goddard launched the first liquid-fuel rocket on
this day in 1926. Goddard is known as the father of modern rocketry.
Robert Hutchings Goddard
(October 5, 1882 – August 10, 1945)
Jerry Lewis (Joseph Levitch) (March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017)
Comedian, actor, and muscular dystrophy telethon host Jerry Lewis
formed one of history’s greatest comedy teams with Dean Martin. He
received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Los Angeles Film
Critics Association, The American Comedy Awards, and the Venice
Film Festival.
From left: Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.