Birthdays: Roman Emperor Claudius, Emperor Pertinax, Francis Scott Key, William Clark of Lewis & Clark, Herman Melville, Robert Todd Lincoln, Geoffrey Holder, Yves St. Laurent, Giancarlo Giannini, Dom Deluise, Jerry Garcia, Coolio, Sam Mendes, Jason Mamoa is 44.
14 A.D. The Roman Senate voted to change the name of Sextilis Mensis (month number 6) sacred to Ceres (Demeter) to the Month of the deified Caesar Augustus, or August.
Except for February, the calendar system of Julius Caesar alternated one month at 30 days with the next month at 31. But the family of the emperor Augustus did not like that Julius Caesar's month July had 31 days, while theirs had only 30! So, they ordered the Senate to borrow a day from February, a month nobody liked anyway, which went down to 28.
1933- The WPA Arts Project set up to employ starving artists on large public works projects like murals for libraries and bridges, etc. Artists like Grant Wood, Andrew Wyeth, Dorothea Lang, Jackson Pollock, Orson Welles and Bernice Abbott got commissions.
1936- Carl Stalling first day as music director for Leon Schlesinger’s Looney Tunes and Merry Melodys. Stalling became famous for blending classical music seamlessly with modern swing tunes. Many young people say it was their first exposure to classical music.
1946-The first drive-in bank teller opens in Chicago.
1952- The first Mad Magazine hit the newsstands.
1953- The Alan Ladd movie Shane released.
1960 - Chubby Checker released "The Twist" and started a worldwide dance craze.
1960 –A young Baptist preacher’s daughter who had sung nothing but gospel went into a recording booth to try her hand at R & B. Aretha Franklin’s career began.
1970- The first San Diego Comicon. Shel Dorf, Richard Alf, and Ken Keuger’s idea of a national comic book & fantasy fan convention. The SDCC has run continually ever since and had brought in the Hollywood studios. There have always been other comicons in other cities, but San Diego’s has become the premiere event, averaging hundreds of thousands of attendees.. Special guests for the very first convention were comic book artist Jack Kirby and science fiction authors Ray Bradbury and A.E. van Vogt.
1971- The Rock Concert for Bangladesh, organized by George Harrison. The first charity-fund raising rock-concert.
1971- The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour debuted.
1971- PBS started a new television series called Masterpiece Theater hosted by Alastair Cooke. It’s first presentation was The Six Wives of Henry VIII. The high-quality BBC and Thames Television programs became so popular in the USA, that people said PBS stood for Preferably British Shows.
1973- With the tag line “Where were you in ’62?” the film American Graffiti opened in theaters. The hit made skinny young director George Lucas a player in Hollywood, and made stars of kids like Harrison Ford, Richard Dreyfus, Ron Howard, and Susanne Somers.
1976- Elizabeth Taylor had married Richard Burton a second time. Today she divorced Richard Burton a second time. This was her 6th marriage.
1981-I WANT MY MTV! MTV goes on the air, rock videos 24 hours a day. The idea was funded by a consortium of investors including Mike Nesmith of the Monkees, then on the board of 3M Paper company. If you put on the TV this day you saw a slide of an astronaut for several hours, then finally a voice said:” Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Rock & Roll.” The first rock video played was by a British New-Wave Band called the Buggles entitled “Video Killed the Radio Star.” followed by a Pat Benatar single.
1986- Howard the Duck premiered. George Lucas’ first major flop.
1991- Elderly movie queen Heddy Lamarr was busted in Tampa Florida for shoplifting.
2014- Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy opened in theaters. I am Groot.
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