This will be the Entertainment Tonight! edition of This Day in History: On August 16, 1954, the inaugural edition of Sports Illustrated appears on American newsstands. Time/Life Publishing chief Henry Luce felt the periodicals landscape needed a sports presence, though he wasn't a sports fan himself. Many of his editors disagreed, and the content of the first edition reflected their lack of faith in the project: articles included a guide to buying a puppy and the potential of poison ivy as a salad ingredient. SI lost money for its first decade, but the tide began to turn when veteran sportswriter Andre Laguerre was made managing editor in 1960. Within a few years, SI began to turn a profit, and by the early '70's had risen to be one of the top sports coverage sources in the world. Current circulation is over 3 million. (first edition cover shows the Milwaukee Braves' Eddie Matthews at bat vs. the NY Giants at Milwaukee County Stadium) On August 16, 1962, The Beatles manager Brian Epstein fires drummer Pete Best. Two days earlier, Richard Starkey (stage name Ringo Starr, former drummer for Rory Storm and the Hurricanes) had accepted John Lennon's invitation to join the band. They would perform together for the first time two days later at a society club dance, to poor reviews; Best fans flattened Epstein's tires outside the venue and one fan got in close and punched George Harrison, giving him a black eye. The Beatles would go into the studio a month later, and that went badly as well; within days, producer George Martin brought in a studio drummer and Starr was relegated to playing backup percussion instruments, like tambourine. Starr would later say he thought the band was "about to do a Pete Best on me", but the other members continued to support him as drummer, and the fans would soon begin warming to him. Today, the 82-year old Starr is considered the wealthiest drummer in history (personal wealth exceeding $350 million). He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame both as a member of The Beatles and as a solo performer. On August 16, 1999, an American adaptation of the British game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire debuts on the ABC network, with popular talk show host Regis Philbin as host. It is a summer filler program, airing nightly in prime time for two weeks. ABC was lagging behind the other networks in reality TV programming at the time, and not in the game show genre at all, when division head Michael Davies decided to gamble on a prime-time game show. The format was straight-forward; a single contestant would attempt to answer 15 multiple choice questions of increasing difficulty, with an increasing dollar value on each question. No time limit, and the contestant could elect to walk away any time with the money he/she had accumulated. They could also avail themselves of help with a "life line" assist 3 times. At the end of the 15 question road was a prize of one million dollars. Although no contestant would win the million, the show was a huge ratings success, and Philbin's prompt, "Is that your final answer?" quickly fell into the American vernacular. ABC would bring back Millionaire for another two week run in November, and this time, contestant John Carpenter hit the jackpot. ABC has brought Millionaire back both as regular programming and in special formats multiple times since.
On August 17, 1942, the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion under Col. Evans Carlson attacks Japanese installations on Makin Atoll near the Gilbert Islands. The Raiders were essentially America's first Special Forces, two volunteer battalions specifically trained for light amphibious operations - essentially America's version of the British Commandos. The Makin attack - classified as a "raid", as there was never any intention of holding the island - killed 46 Japanese soldiers and destroyed 2 float planes and 2 small boats, at a cost of 36 Raiders killed or wounded and 9 captured (all are documented to have been executed). Although the raid failed in its military objectives, it nevertheless boosted the morale of the folks back home. (Raiders photoed aboard the submarine Nautilus on their return to Pearl Harbor after the raid). On August 17, 1962, East German guards shoot and kill one of two men attempting to scale the Berlin Wall and escape into West Berlin. The second man successfully scaled the wall, but witnesses say the first man was wounded as he climbed the wall and fell back to the Communist side, stood and made a second attempt to climb the wall and was shot again. Witnesses further say the Communist guards ignored the man as he lay bleeding and calling for help for nearly an hour before he died. All the while, westerners on their side of the wall screamed at the guards to help the man, and attempted to throw medical supplies over the wall to him. It is considered one of the darkest episodes of the Cold War. Throughout the 60's an estimated 80 people were killed attempting to cross the Wall from the Communist side to freedom. On August 17, 1957, Alice Roth has a very bad day at the ball game. The wife of the sports editor of the Philadelphia Bulletin was attending a Phillies-Giants game with her 2 grandsons, seated in the box behind the third base dugout. Future HoFer Richie Asburn, a guy known for his ability to extend at bats by fouling off numerous pitches, was at the plate. True to his form, Ashburn fouled off an offering that struck Roth full in the face, breaking her nose. The game was paused briefly while Roth was attended to, but resumed as she was being taken from the stands on a stretcher. While being carried out, and on the very next pitch, Ashburn ripped another one into the stands that struck Roth and broke a bone in her knee. Roth would be hospitalized but took the injuries in stride, striking up a friendship with the apologetic Ashburn when he visited her. Neither did the injuries deter her from attending Phillies games, though she restricted herself to the outfield bleachers. (Ashburn's 1957 Topps baseball card)
On August 19, 1981, two US Navy F-14 Tomcats shoot down a pair of Soviet-made Libyan Su-22 fighters over the Gulf of Sidra. In 1973, Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi asserted territorial claim to the Gulf, extending some 50 miles into normally recognized international waters. The Navy responded with occasional "Freedom of Navigation" flights into the disputed airspace. It was during one such FON flight by the relatively new F-14s, stationed aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, that the "Gulf of Sidra" incident occurred. As anticipated, the Libyans attempted to intercept the Americans, and when one fired a missile at the Tomcats (which missed), the American Rules of Engagement permitted Commander Henry Kleeman and Lt. Lawrence Muscynski to return fire, shooting down the Su-22's. Both Libyan pilots ejected safely. The incident inspired the 80's military action films Iron Eagle, and to a lesser extent, Top Gun. On August 19, 1912, Ohio candy maker Clarence Crane trademarks his new creation. The summer months were a slow time for Crane's chocolate and maple sugar candy business. Looking for a heat resistant treat, Crane contracted with a local pill manufacturer to stamp a hard mint candy, but the machines were unreliable at first. Experimenting, they found the machines worked much better when they punched a hole in the middle of the round candy. Inspired by the ring shape, Crane trademarked the candy as "Life Savers." A year later, Crane sold the formula to broadcaster (and later founder of the ABC Network) Edward Noble, who first packaged the candy in a stack wrapped in tin foil. He priced the rolls at 5 cents and ingeniously encouraged sellers to display the candy next to the cash registers, and to always include a nickel in any change given to customers to encourage a quick add-on sale. Ownership of "Life Savers" has since passed through numerous candy company hands; its currently owned by Wrigley's. On August 19, 1973, Enter The Dragon premiers in American theaters. It introduces American audiences to Chinese film star and martial arts expert Bruce Lee (his sidekick role in the short-lived 1966 TV series The Green Hornet notwithstanding), who tragically had died one month earlier from a cerebral edema at age 32. In the film, Lee is a martial arts instructor recruited by British intelligence to infiltrate a drug operation on an island fortress near Hong Kong. Though filmed in Hong Kong, Enter The Dragon was partially financed by Warner Brothers (American star and karate black belt John Saxon was cast as co-star to boost American audience appeal) and is considered the first major martial arts project by a Hollywood studio. It is considered the genesis of the martial arts genre in Hollywood (Forbes magazine once called it the best spy/action film not featuring James Bond) and is also the foundation of the martial arts fighting genre in video gaming. In 2004, it was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry. (Note: in the scene below, that's Jackie Chan that attacks Lee and is subsequently "killed" at 1:20)
On August 31, 1886, the strongest earthquake ever felt in the southeast US strikes. Tremors had been noticed for two days before the main event hits shortly before 10am near Charleston, SC. Its felt from Boston to Cuba, and even towns in Ohio and Alabama reported damage. Charleston got the worst of what is believed to be a 7.6 quake; more than 100 residents died and its believed virtually every building in the city was damaged. It wasn't until recently that the source of the quake was discovered; a fault line that runs along the Atlantic coast from Virginia to South Carolina. Geologists maintain that despite the discovery, the region is at low risk of another quake. On August 31, 2001, Fred Rogers hangs up his cardigan, as the Public Broadcasting System airs the final new episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Rogers began producing and hosting the program aimed at preschoolers in 1968 in Pittsburgh (he had done a similar program for 5 years on Canadian TV before returning to his home state). Over the next 33 years, MR'N would become the longest-running children's program in TV history (it has since been passed by Sesame Street), and Rogers would become the face of educational television, earning five Daytime Emmy Awards (including a Lifetime Achievement Award), a Peabody, and more than 40 honorary degrees. In 2002 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Rogers died in 2003; one of his trademark cardigan sweaters now hangs in the Smithsonian Institute. (Note: in 1998 the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh unveiled a MR'N exhibit, featuring memorabilia including another cardigan and a pair of Fred's on-air sneakers, as well as several of the show's puppets. In 2007, the entire exhibit was permanently donated to the Louisiana Children's Museum in New Orleans to help the museum bounce back from Katrina)
On September 1, 1775, King George III refuses to accept the Olive Branch Petition from a delegation representing Great Britain's North American colonies. The rebuff would set the colonies on a one-way road to rebellion. While colonials and the British army had clashed several times in the previous years (including the Battles of Lexington and Concord the previous April), the feeling was that the oppressive laws coming from London were solely the products of Parliament, being passed with no knowledge of the king, and the Petition was carefully worded to express that sentiment. George's refusal of the O.B.P. was the final straw, convincing the Continental Congress that he was as complicit in the colonies' oppression as the Ministers of Parliament.
On November 1, 1952 on Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands, the U.S. successfully tests "Ivy Mike", the first thermonuclear warhead. Often mislabeled a hydrogen bomb, a thermonuclear device generates at least part of its explosive force via nuclear fusion. Ivy Mike's explosive force was measured at 10.4 megatons, more powerful than anything detonated up to that point. But the detonation was strictly experimental, as the U.S. had no way to deliver a weapon of its size. The successful test gave the U.S. a short-lived lead in the nuclear arms race; the USSR would detonate a device of equal yield less than a year later. On November 1, 1755, an earthquake estimated at 7.7 on the Richter Scale devastates the Iberian Peninsula and northwest Africa. The epicenter is in the Atlantic about 180 miles from Lisbon, Portugal, which gets the worst of the damage; one of Europe's largest and most prosperous cities is obliterated. Death toll estimates range from 50-90,000. The resultant tsunami is believed to have touched every coastline on both sides of the Atlantic. The Great Lisbon Quake spurred the first serious study of seismology, and the rebuilding of Lisbon is said to have been the first attempt at earthquake engineering. On November 1, 1959, Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jacques Plante suffers a broken nose when he's hit by the puck 3 minutes into a game vs the New York Rangers. Plante was taken to the locker room and stitched up, and when he returned, he was wearing a fiberglass mask he had used in practice for the past 3 years. Coach Toe Blake had forbidden Plante to use the mask in games and was livid, but he was also out of goalies, and let Plante become the first goalie to mask in a regular season NHL game. Blake's objection to the mask was that it would impair Plante's vision, but the team went on an 18-game win streak that coincidentally ended the game Plante removed the mask. Good old sports superstition kicked in at that point, and Plante never stood in the crease unmasked again. In 1974, the Pittsburgh Penguins' Andy Brown became the last NHL goalie to play in a game unmasked; the headgear is now mandatory equipment.
On November 2, 1959, Columbia University professor Charles Van Doren, appearing before the House Subcommittee on Legislative Oversight, revealed that he was aided during his run as champion of the popular radio game show Twenty-One by the show's producers, who supplied him with questions and answers in advance. The prospect that game show results were being rigged had been brought to public three years earlier by Herb Stempel, who had a successful run of his own on Twenty-One until being beaten by Van Doren. Stempel revealed in a magazine interview that he had been instructed to lose on purpose, the program's producers believing the well-known Van Doren would generate better ratings. Van Doren's testimony launched a public backlash that resulted in Twenty-One and five other quiz shows being implicated in the fix scandal. All of the shows were cancelled, and Van Doren lost his tenure at Columbia, later becoming an editor for the Encyclopedia Britannica. (Van Doren (right) and host Jack Barry during a Twenty-One broadcast) On November 2, 2000, the International Space Station's first residential crew reports aboard. The ISS had been constructed in modular form and assembled in orbit over the previous three years by NASA and Russian, Japanese, Canadian and European space agencies. American Bill Shepherd and Russians Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev formed Expedition 1, the inaugural crew. Most of their assigned duties involved final assembly and activation of the modules already in orbit. Expedition 1 was relieved on March 10, 2001 and they landed at Kennedy Space Center March 21. Since then, the ISS has been continuously crewed, being home to 236 astronauts from 18 countries. It's expected to remain active through at least 2030. On November 2, 1965, Norman Morrison, a 31-year old Quaker from Baltimore, joined Vietnam War protesters gathered at the Pentagon, just below the third floor office window of Defense Secretary Robert McNamara. Morrison carried a gallon can of kerosene in one hand, his 1-year old daughter Emily cradled in the other arm. He handed Emily to a bystander and, before anyone could react, doused himself with the kerosene and set himself ablaze. Morrison's self-immolation (and that of Roger La Porte a week later in front of the UN building in New York), brought the horrors of the use of napalm in Vietnam to the US home front for the first time. Though McNamara would express horror at the display, it did not seem to impact the US use of napalm in the war. Morrison was seen as a hero in postwar Vietnam, with streets named after him in Da Nang and Hanoi.
On November 2, 2000, the International Space Station's first residential crew reports aboard,. Expedition 1, the inaugural crew ..... Expedition 1 was relieved on March 10, 2021 are those dates right?.. hard to believe
