This Day In History: September 25, 1981 Sandra Day O’Connor was sworn in by Chief Justice Warren Burger as the first female Supreme Court Justice in the United States on September 25, 1981. Born in El Paso Texas in 1930, Sandra Day’s interest in the law was sparked by a legal issue involving her family’s cattle ranch in Arizona, where […]

This Day In History: September 24, 1896 F. Scott Fitzgerald, who exemplified the highs and lows of the Jazz Age through both his writing and his personal life, was born in St. Paul Minnesota on September 24, 1896. The son of an alcoholic father and an Irish immigrant mother, Fitzgerald was always painfully aware of the divide between his family […]

This Day In History: September 23, 1912 On September 23, 1912, movie history was made in several different ways. When Mack Sennett’s first groundbreaking Keystone comedy, “The Water Nymph” was released, Mabel Normand became the first actress to appear on-screen wearing a bathing suit. Additionally, Sennett promoted the film using Normand’s name and likeness, which was a big deal because […]

This Day In History: September 22, 1529 Thomas Wolsey, as high and mighty as he became, rose from humble beginnings. He was born around 1473 as the son of a butcher – as common as it gets. His climb to the top began after he attended Oxford University and was ordained into the clergy in 1498. His ambition and ability […]

This Day In History: September 19, 1952 “A democracy is a place where you can express your ideas freely—or it isn’t a democracy.” – Charles Chaplin During the Red Scare of the late 1940s and early 1950s, legendary actor and film maker Charlie Chaplin, who never gave up his British citizenship and was well-known for his liberal politics, ran afoul […]

Today in History: September 18, 1923 On September 18, 1923, Princess Anne Antoinette Francois Charlotte of Bourbon-Parma was born in Paris, France. The second child of Prince Rene of Bourbon-Parma and princess Margrethe of Demark, she spent her early years with her parents and three brothers in France before they fled from the Nazis and headed for Spain in 1939. […]

This Day In History: September 17, 1630 Long before the Red Sox, Whitey Bulger, or Tom Brady, Boston’s first European settlers called the area Trimountaine in reference to its now non-existent three mountains. The name didn’t stick for very long. The land that was called Shawmut by the local Algonquin inhabitants was named Boston (after Boston, England) on September 17, […]

This Day In History: September 16, 1932 In the early days of Hollywood, many pretty girls, whether they had acting experience or not, decided to head out west to try and make a career in motion pictures. Competition was fierce, and most of them eventually went home to the Midwest or the East Coast – or where-ever – after facing […]

This Day In History: September 15, 1963 The 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama not only served as a house of worship for its predominately black congregation, but it also was a meeting place for organizers of the Civil Rights movement, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Many of the 1960s Civil Rights marches in Birmingham began at the […]

This Day In History: September 12, 1966 The television series The Monkees revolved around four young guys trying to make it in the music business and the mad-cap adventures they had while doing so. The four “insane boys” (as the casting call described the perfect candidates for the job) chosen by producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider to portray The […]

This Day In History: September 11, 1297 “Wallace fought for Scotland and left the name of Wallace to be found like wild flowers all over his dear country” – William Wordsworth On September 11, 1297, The Earl of Surrey’s English forces met Scottish troops led by William Wallace and Andrew de Moray at Stirling Bridge. The Scots were stationed on […]

This Day In History: September 10, 1991 Nobody suspected it at the time, but on September 10, 1991, a three-piece alternative band out of Seattle released a single that sparked a cultural revolution and changed the sound, look and vibe of rock music in ways unimaginable. Within a few months the band Nirvana, thanks to the song “Smells Like Teen […]

This Day In History: September 9, 1956 On September 9, 1956, 21-year-old Elvis Presley made the first of three appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show. If Presley’s career was skyrocketing before, the exposure he received from Sullivan’s program launched it into the stratosphere. At first, Ed Sullivan had no intention of having Presley on his show, insisting that Elvis was […]

This Day in history: September 8, 1504 In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it.” – Michelangelo On September […]

This Day In History: September 5, 1975 In Sacramento, California on September 5, 1975, a young woman with a .45 caliber handgun approached President Gerald Ford while he was walking with a group of well-wishers on the Capital grounds. The would-be assassin, Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, got within two feet of Ford before a Secret Service agent grabbed the gun and […]

Today in History: September 4, 2006 “I would never blame an animal if it bit me, because I’m at fault, not them. I heal so quickly. If you cut my arm off I would grow a new one.” – Steve Irwin On September 4, 2006, popular Australian TV personality and environmentalist Steve “the Crocodile Hunter” Irwin died from a stingray […]

This Day In History: September 3, 1944 On September 3, 1944, Anne Frank, the young Jewish girl who ultimately gave the Holocaust a unique yet universal human face through her famous diary, was sent to the Auschwitz death camp. A month earlier, thanks to an anonymous Dutch tipster, the SS discovered the hiding place in what Anne called the “Secret […]

This Day In History: September 2, 1978 On Sept 2, 1978, George Harrison married Olivia Arias in a private ceremony with only her parents in attendance. She had given birth to their only child, their son Dhani, the month before. The couple remained married until George’s untimely death from cancer on November 29, 2001. Olivia Arias was working as a […]