DIANE KEPLY

On this day in 1991, Associated Press correspondent Terry
Anderson (center) was released after nearly seven years of
captivity in Lebanon.

Terry A. Anderson turned 72 in October.

Actor Jeff Bridges starred as Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski in the 1998 cult
classic The Big Lebowski and earned an Academy Award for Best Actor
for his portrayal of Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart. He also
received Academy Award nominations for his roles in The Contender
(2000) Starman (1984) Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974) True Grit (2010) 
Hell or High Water (2016) and The Last Picture Show (1971). He made his
television debut on the Syndicated series Sea Hunt. 

Jeff Bridges with his father Lloyd Bridges in TV Show ‘Sea
Hunt’ 1958-1960.

1982

1988

A security guard and an unidentified man check out an area where
several people were killed as they were caught in a surging crowd. 

The general-admission ticketing policy for rock concerts at Cincinnati’s
Riverfront Coliseum in the 1970s was known as “festival seating.” That
term and that ticketing policy would become infamous in the wake of one
of the deadliest rock-concert incidents in history. Eleven people, including
three high-school students, were killed on December 3, 1979, when a crowd
of general-admission ticket-holders to a Cincinnati Who concert surged
forward in an attempt to enter Riverfront Coliseum and secure prime
unreserved seats inside.

Festival seating had already been eliminated at many similar venues in the
United States by 1979, yet the system remained in place at Riverfront
Coliseum despite a dangerous incident at a Led Zeppelin show two years
earlier. That day, 60 would-be concertgoers were arrested, and dozens
more injured, when the crowd outside the venue surged up against the
Coliseum’s locked glass doors.

Cincinnati police officers help people crushed during a stampede at Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati.

On December 2, 1972, the Temptations earned the last of their four chart-
topping hits when “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone” reaches #1 on the Billboard
Hot 100.

Over the course of their career, the Temptations placed 38 hit records in
the pop top 40—not just more than any other Motown Records artist, but
more than any American pop group ever.

The Our Lady of Angels School was operated by the Sisters of Charity in
Chicago. In 1958, there were well over 1,200 students enrolled at the school,
which occupied a large, old building. Unfortunately, little in the way of fire prevention was done before December 1958. The building did not have any sprinklers and no regular preparatory drills were conducted. When a small
fire broke out in a pile of trash in the basement, it led to disaster on this
day in 1958.

The fire probably began about 2:30 p.m. and, within minutes, teachers on
the first floor smelled it. These teachers led their classes outside, but did
not sound a general alarm. The school’s janitor discovered the fire at 2:42
and shouted for the alarm to be rung. However, he was either not heard or
the alarm system did not operate properly, and the students in classrooms
on the second floor were completely unaware of the rapidly spreading
flames beneath them.

It took only a few more minutes for the fire to reach the second floor where
panic ensued.

When the fire was finally extinguished several hours later, the authorities
found that 90 students and 3 nuns had been killed in the fire.

Panicked parents raced to Our Lady of the Angels from all over
the city, and the police soon had to set up barriers to restrain
the anxious crowd of about 5,000 parents and onlookers.

Officials inspect a classroom after the 1958 fire at Our Lady of the
Angels School.