The first all-talking “talkie” movie was shown. (1928) The Lights of New York was screened in New York City. It was the first feature movie that incorporated sound throughout the show. The movie cost $23,000 US Dollars to make and brought in $1.2 million US Dollars in gross revenue. The first commercial movie to incorporate sound was The Jazz Singer, which had a score and a few spoken ad-libbed parts, and it set a gross revenue record for the time of $2.6 million US Dollars.
Two of the lead members of the Beatles met for the first time. (1957) Paul McCartney and John Lennon, both teenagers, met at an outdoor fair, the Woolton Parish Church Garden Fete, where John was scheduled to perform with his band, the Quarry Men Skiffle Group. After the performance, a friend introduced the two, Paul pulled out a guitar and started to play. Two weeks later, Paul joined the Quarry Men Skiffle Group.
Explosions destroyed the Piper Alpha drilling platform, causing the world’s worst off-shore drilling disaster to date. (1988) A gas leak caused an explosion, killing 167 workers.
One of the worst fires in US history broke out at a circus, killing 168 people and injuring more than 700. (1944) 6,800 people were attending the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus performance in Hartford, Connecticut. A small fire started along a side wall of the tent. Attempts to keep the crowd calm failed. Many of the victims burned to death and others were trampled. The cause of the fire was never officially determined, but years later an arsonist named Robert Dale Segee confessed to starting it. He was never tried for the crime.
The United States Naval Academy admitted its first class of women. (1976) 81 women were inducted into the US military academy on this day. Elizabeth Anne Rowe became the first female graduate in May 1980.
Louis Pasteur saved a nine-year-old boy’s life with the first human test of his rabies vaccine. (1885) Joseph Meister was bitten by a rabid dog while poking it with a stick. Pasteur’s new vaccine was successful, and Meister did not contract the viral disease.
The first Major League All-Star game was played. (1933) The game, played in Comiskey Park, was a highlight of the Chicago World’s Fair. Sports editor of the Chicago Tribune, Arch Ward, came up with the idea, which was intended to be a one-time event. The game was so successful, it became an annual event. In the first game, the American League beat the National League 4 to 2.
The first black tennis player won the Wimbledon singles title. (1957) Althea Gibson was the first black person to play the game professionally and the first black person to win the title. She was the top-ranked tennis player in 1957 and 1958 and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1975. 1975 was also the same year that another famous tennis player — Arthur Ashe — became the first black man to win the men’s singles title.
For the first time, an American won a stage of the Tour de France bicycle race. (1986) Davis Phinney was riding for the American 7-Eleven Cycling Team. The first Tour de France was held in 1903.
Nancy Reagan was born. (1921) Nancy was the wife to Ronald Reagan who served as US President from 1981 to 1989.
George W. Bush was born. (1946) Bush was the 43rd President of the United States and the son of the 41st President of the United States, George H. W. Bush.