BIRTHDAYS . . .

May 22nd:
—1907  Actor Sir Laurence Olivier (Wuthering Heights) (d. 7-11-1989)
—1924  Actor/Singer Charles Aznavour (Shoot the Piano Player)
—1927  Actor Michael Constantine (Room 222)
—1934  Pianist Peter Nero
—1938  Actress Susan Strasberg (Picnic) (d. 1-21-1999)
—1938  Actor/Director Richard Benjamin (Goodbye Columbus)
—1938  Actor Frank Converse (Movin’ One)
—1940  Actor Michael Sarrazin (Princess Bride)
—1941  Actor Paul Winfield (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) (d. 3-7-2004)
—1943  Actress Barbara Parkins (Valley Of The Dolls)
—1943  Baseball's Tommy John
—1950  Songwriter Bernie Taupin
—1954  Musician Jerry Dammers (The Special AKA)
—1955  Musician Iva Davies (Icehouse)
—1959  Singer Stephen "Morrissey" Patrick (The Smiths)
—1970  Supermodel Naomi Campbell

May 23rd:
—1810  Author Margaret Fuller (d. 7-19-1850)
⎯1883  Actor Douglas Elton Fairbanks (The Duke’s Jester) (d. 12-12-1939)
—1910  Actor Scatman Crothers (d. 11-22-1986)
—1910  Musician Artie Shaw (d. 12-30-2004)
—1912  Actor John Payne (Miracle on 34th Street) (d. 12-6-1989)
—1919  Actress Betty Garrett (Laverne & Shirley)
—1920  Actress Helen O'Connell (d. 9-9-1993)
—1928  Singer/Actress Rosemary Clooney (White Christmas) (d. 6-29-02)
—1931  Actress Barbara Barrie (Suddenly Susan)
—1933  Actress Joan Collins (Dynasty)
—1934  Inventor Dr. Robert Moog  (d. 8-12-2005)
⎯1944  Musician Raymond Fulwood (The Parliaments)
—1943  Tennis Player John Newcombe
—1952  Musician James Andrew Mankey (Concrete Blonde)
—1954  Boxer Marvin Hagler
—1958  Actor/Comedian Drew Carey (The Price Is Right)
—1974  Singer Jewel
⎯1976  Actress Kelly Monaco (“Sam” General Hospital)

May 24th:
—1895  Publisher Samuel I. Newhouse (d. 8-29-1979)
—1914  Actress Lilli Palmer (d. 1-27-1986)
—1938  Comedian Thomas Chong (Up In Smoke)
—1941  Musician Bob Dylan  (Lay Lady Lay)
—1942  Singer Derek Quinn
—1943  Actor Gary Burghoff (M*A*S*H)
—1944  Singer Patti Labelle (“I Got A New Attitude”)
—1945  Actress Priscilla Presley (Naked Gun)
—1946  Musician Steve Upton (Wishbone Ash)
—1953  Actor Alfred Molina (Raiders of the Lost Ark)
—1955  Baseball's Bobby Brown
⎯1955  Singer Roseanne Cash (Seven Year Itch)
—1956  Singer Helen Terry (Culture Club)
⎯1960  Actress Kristin Scott Thomas (Random Hearts)
—1963  Actor/Dancer Gene Anthony Ray (Fame) (d. 11-14-2003)
—1963  Basketball’s Joe Dumars III
—1970  Musician Tommy Page
⎯1974  Actress Alyson Hannigan (How I Met Your Mother)
⎯1994  Actor Cayden Boyd (Freaky Friday)

May 25th:
—1803  Author Ralph Waldo Emerson (d. 4-27-1882)
—1878  Tap dancer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson (d. 11-25-1949)
—1889  Inventor/Engineer Igor Sikorsky (d. 10-26-1972)
—1918  Actor Claude Akins (B.J. & The Bear)
—1921  Composer Hal David
—1926  Musician Miles Davis (d. 9-28-1991)
—1929  Opera Singer Beverly Sills (d. 7-2-2007)
—1932  Basketball's K.C. Jones
—1932  Broadcaster Ron Nessen
—1936  Singer/Songwriter Tom. T. Hall (I Love)
—1939  Actress Dixie Carter (“Julia” Designing Women)
—1939  Actor Sir Ian McKellan (Amadeus)   
—1943  Singer/Actress Leslie Uggams (Roots)
⎯1944  Puppeteer Frank Oz
—1947  Actress Karen Valentine (Room 222)
—1947  Singer/Songwriter Jessi Colter (I’m Not Lisa)
—1948  Musician Klaus Meine (Scorpions)
—1955  Actress Connie Sellecca (Mrs. John Tesh) (Hotel)
—1958  Musician Paul Weller (Style Council)
—1963  Actor/Comedian Mike Myers (Wayne’s World)
—1969  Actress Anne Heche (Men In Trees)
—1971  Actor Justin Henry (Kramer vs. Kramer)
—1971  US Olympic basketball’s Sheryl Swoopes
⎯1975  Singer Lauryn Hill


THIS DAY IN HISTORY . . .

May 22nd:
Today is NATIONAL MARITIME DAY
—1868  Seven members of the Reno Gang held up a train at Marshfield, Indiana, and stole $98,000 in what history would remember as "The Great Train Robbery."
—1900  Edwin Votley was granted a patent for the first practical air-powered player piano.
—1958  Jerry Lee Lewis announces his marriage to his 13-year-old cousin Myra.
—1966  16 year-old Bruce Springsteen records his first song, "That's What You'll Get," with his band the Castiles.
—1967  TV premiere of “Mister Rogers Neighborhood.”
—1969  The Allman Brothers Band is formed as Gregg Allman comes to Jacksonville to audition for the other band members.
—1972  President Richard Nixon became the first US president to visit Moscow; talks with the Kremlin leaders led to the first S.A.L.T. Agreement, on May 27th.
—1972  Bruce Springsteen auditions for legendary talent scout John Hammond.
—1977  Janet Gutherie, driving nearly 190 MPH, became the first woman driver to ever qualify for the Indianapolis 500.
—1979  Cheap Trick's "Live At Budakon" goes gold.
—1979  Elton John gave his first concert in Russia, before 4000 comrades.
—1980  Four of Jimi Hendrix's gold records are stolen from Electric Ladyland studios in New York.
—1981  A funeral is held for Bob Marley in his home town of St. Annes, Jamaica.
—1982  Soft Cell's "Tainted Love" enters the US singles chart, where it stays for 43 weeks. Paul McCartney's "Tug Of War" replaces Asia at the top of the album chart.
—1982  "Complete Madness" by Madness tops the British album chart.
—1985  Ratt release their second album "Invasion of Your Privacy."
—1985  Thailand bans Murray Head’s “One Night in Bangkok” because the lyrics “cause a misunderstanding about Thai society.”
—1986  AC/DC release the album "Who Made Who?"
—1987  U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" tops the Hard Hundred, while "The Joshua Tree" continues to hold the number one position on the Hard Report's album chart.
—1987  Frank Sinatra makes his last appearance at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas before switching to Bally’s Grand.
—1989  The Georgia Satellites begin recording their third album, "In the Land Of Salvation and Sin."
—1992  Johnny Carson hosted his final “Tonight Show” on NBC.

May 23rd:
—1785  Ben Franklin invented bifocals.
—1827  The first nursery school in America opened, in NY.
—1873  An Act Of Parliament created the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
—1903  Nelson Jackson left San Francisco in a late model Winton, to begin the first transcontinental automobile trip. He arrived in NY on August 1st.
—1934  Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow died in a hail of police bullets near Arcadia, Louisiana, ending a two year spree of robberies in which they had killed 12 people.
—1960  Israel announced they had captured Nazi war criminal Adolph Eichmann in Argentina, and would try him in Israel.
—1967  Pink Floyd record "See Emily Play" in London.
—1970  The Beatles set a US record as "Let It Be" racks up 3.7 million in advance orders.
—1973  Clive Davis leaves CBS Records and later heads up Arista.
—1975  The second tier of Anaheim Stadium sways back and forth during a Beach Boys concert. The group repeats the feat in Oakland the next day, then congratulates their sound man.             
—1976  The Washington Post reported that Ohio Congressman Wayne L. Hays was paying a secretary $14,000 a year - a hefty salary in those days, considering she couldn't type.
—1979  Tom Petty files for bankruptcy and asks to be released from his ABC deal so he can pursue a better one.
—1981  "Being With You" by Smokey Robinson is the top single in the US.
—1983  Pink Floyd's "The Final Cut" album is awarded platinum status by the RIAA.
—1984  $17,000 in box office receipts is stolen at a Clash concert at Michigan State University while the band is on stage.
—1987  The Doobie Brothers reunion tour makes a stop at the Hollywood Bowl.
—1991  The Supreme Court upheld federal regulations that barred federally funded family planning clinics from providing any information about abortion.
—1995  The shell of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City is demolished.

May 24th:
MOON PHASE: NEW MOON (8:11am EDT).  Today is BROTHER’S DAY
—1543  Nicholas Copernicus, the father of modern astronomy, died in his native Poland. He amazed many - and angered many - with his theory that the earth revolved around the sun.
—1830  The first passenger train service in America began, linking Baltimore and Elliot's Mills, Maryland. The distance was 113 miles.
—1844  Samuel F.B. Morse sent the first telegraph message in the US from Washington to Baltimore: "What hath God wrought?"
—1861  First Union combat fatality in the Civil War was when Federal troops moved to occupy Alexandria, VA and 24-year-old Elmer Ellsworth was killed in an attempt to remove a Confederate flag from a hotel roof.  He was shot by the hotel keeper, James Jackson, who was then shot by a Union soldier.
—1883  The Brooklyn Bridge was opened for traffic.
—1935  Baseball first played under the lights anniversary. The Cincinnati Reds defeated the Philadelphia Phillies by a score of 2-1. The Game was played at Crosley Field, Cincinnati, OH.
—1958  Jerry Lee Lewis is forced to abandon his tour of Britain after the press reveals his marriage to his 13-year-old cousin.
—1969  Police raid the home of Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithful and arrest them for marijuana possession. Both are released on bail.
—1969  "Get Back" by the Beatles is the top single in the US.
—1970  Peter Green leaves Fleetwood Mac to join a religious cult.
—1971  Bob Dylan celebrates his 30th birthday at Jerusalem's Wailing Wall.
—1974  Jazz great Duke Ellington dies of lung cancer at the age of 75.  He was born 4-29-1899.
—1980  The members of Genesis hop into the ticket booth and sell tickets to their upcoming benefit show at LA's Roxy.
—1982  A week after Joe Strummer returns, Topper Headon quits the Clash, citing political differences.
—1983  Alison Moyet and Vince Clarke break up Yazoo to pursue solo efforts.
—1988  NARAS announces the addition of four new Grammy Award categories: Rap, Hard Rock/Heavy Metal, Fusion, and Bluegrass.
—1988  Van Halen's "OU812" album is released.
—1990  Guns N' Roses lead singer Axl Rose files for divorce in Los Angeles less than a month after marrying Erin Everly in Las Vegas.

May 25th:
Today is NATIONAL MISSING CHILDREN’S DAY, NATIONAL TAP DANCE DAY
—1721  John Copsen began advertising coverage for "vessels and other goods," thereby becoming the first insurance agent in the US.
—1787  Delegates from seven states, including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, opened the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.
—1810  Buenos Aires and a few surrounding provinces set up their own government in the name of the King Of Spain, after their mother country was invaded and captured by Napoleon. Argentines celebrate this as their Independence Day.
—1829  J.P. Sheldon, editor of the Michigan Gazette, sent the first letter ever written on a typewriter to Senator Van Buren of NY.
—1928  Amelia Earhart took off from Boston, enroute to becoming the first woman to solo across the Atlantic.
—1935  Babe Ruth hit his 712th, 713th and 714th home runs, in a game between the Braves and Pittsburgh  a record that survived 39 years until it was broken by Hank Aaron in 1974.
—1961  President John Kennedy announced a national goal of putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins got there in July, 1969.
—1962  The Isley Brothers' "Twist & Shout" is released.
—1968  The Rolling Stones release the single "Jumpin' Jack Flash."
—1973  Carole King's free concert in NY's Central Park draws 100,000. The No Nukes concert in 1982 draws five times that amount.
—1974  The Righteous Bros. release "Rock And Roll Heaven."
—1977  "Star Wars" premiered. It soon became the most successful movie in history.                                                                                                 
—1978  Keith Moon performs his last gig with The Who while filming footage for "The Kids Are All Right." Moon overdoses in September.
—1981  Motown Records announces plans for its yearlong 25th anniversary celebration, including an all-star televised concert.
—1985  Dire Straits' "Brothers In Arms" albums debuts on the British album chart at number one. The LP stays in the UK chart for over 3 1/2 years.
—1988  Frank Zappa receives an invitation to perform during the Reagan-Gorbachev summit. Citing inadequate preparation time, Zappa declines.
—1996  A fire ravages Eric Clapton’s home but he manages to save his guitars.