December's Today in Your History
A look at the people, events and popular culture that shaped our lives
AARP Members Only Access, December 2022
- |
- Photos
-
- 1 of
PHOTO BY: Gary Williams/AP Photo
Dec. 31: Roberto Clemente dies in a plane crash on his way to deliver relief supplies to earthquake victims (1972)
One of the first Latin American stars to make it in Major League Baseball, Roberto Clemente was a beloved member of the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise who garnered a well-deserved reputation for giving back to his community: In the off seasons, he often went back to his native Puerto Rico to offer baseball clinics to young players and do charity work. When a massive earthquake struck Nicaragua in December 1972, Clemente was dismayed at how little was being done to help the victims, so he decided to collect relief supplies himself. Fearing that the items might fall into the clutches of profiteers, he decided to fly to Nicaragua with the cargo, but the four-engine DC-7 plane was badly in need of repairs. Despite warnings from airport workers that the plane appeared to be overloaded, Clemente took off from San Juan International Airport at 9:22 p.m. Dec. 31, 1972, with one other passenger and a crew of three. Unfortunately, the plane only made it 200 feet in the air before it exploded and crashed into the sea. Clemente’s body was never recovered. The following year, the Baseball Hall of Fame decided to waive the rule that required five years to pass after retirement or death before a player can be considered for inclusion, and he was inducted in July 1973, becoming the first player born in Latin America to be thus honored. —Nicholas DeRenzo
-
- 2 of
PHOTO BY: Martyn Hayhow/AFP via Getty Images
Dec. 30: George Harrison fights off an attacker who stabs him in the chest (1999)
Nearly two decades after the December 1980 murder of John Lennon, on Dec. 30, 1999, another member of the Beatles faced a terrifying situation, when a 33-year-old intruder broke into Friar Park, the longtime Oxfordshire home of George and Olivia Harrison. Mick Abram scaled the wall of the compound in remote Henley-on-Thames and around 3:30 a.m. broke through a window with a statue of St. George and the dragon. Armed with the spear from St. George and a kitchen knife, Abram stabbed George in the chest multiple times as the musician bravely fought back and Olivia smashed the intruder over the head with a brass lamp. The ordeal ended when police arrived about 15 minutes later and arrested Abram, and Harrison was taken to a local hospital and treated. Abram’s mother told the Liverpool Echo that her son was a former heroin addict who hated the Beatles. In describing the incident to hospital administrators, Harrison said the attacker wasn’t a burglar, but “he certainly wasn’t auditioning for the Traveling Wilburys.” —Nicholas DeRenzo
-
- 3 of
PHOTO BY: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
Dec. 29: Life magazine officially stops weekly publication (1972)
In 1936, Time publisher Henry Luce resurrected a defunct weekly humor publication called Life, which had ceased publication during the Great Depression, and changed its focus to photojournalism. For more than three decades, the magazine published some of the most iconic images of the 20th century, but by the early 1970s, it simply couldn’t compete with television. On Dec. 29, 1972, Life published its last weekly issue, and it began with a letter from editor-in-chief Hedley Donovan: “This is the last issue of Life. In the brief time since we announced that Time Incorporated could not keep on publishing Life, thousands of you have written us wonderfully warm letters about what the magazine has meant to you. These letters fortify us in our conviction that Life is far from having ‘failed.’” The special double issue, “The Year in Pictures,” included memorable images of the Apollo 17 mission, Idi Amin, Richard Nixon in China and Liza Minnelli. The Life name lived on over the next six years in special issues, before the magazine was once again brought back from the dead in 1978 as a monthly, which stuck around until 2000. —Nicholas DeRenzo
-
- 4 of
PHOTO BY: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
Dec. 28: The Detroit Lions become the first NFL team to lose all 16 games of the regular season (2008)
On Dec. 28, 2008, the Detroit Lions lost to the Green Bay Packers 31 to 21, and though that would have been bad enough, it marked an even more dubious record: They had lost every game that season, making them the first franchise in NFL history to go 0 and 16. There had been other teams that never racked up a win during a season, but not since it was expanded to 16 games; the last had been the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who lost 26 consecutive games in their debut and sophomore seasons combined. “The record speaks for itself, and we know what that is,” Detroit coach Rod Marinelli said after the game. “This team tried hard all year, they gave it their best, and I felt I gave it my best. But sometimes your best isn’t good enough, and it wasn’t good enough this year.” Less than 24 hours later, Marinelli was fired. Of course, their atrocious record came with a silver lining for the Lions: They got the number 1 slot in the 2009 NFL Draft, nabbing University of Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford. Unfortunately, he could only improve matters slightly, and the Lions ended the next season with a record of 2 wins and 14 losses. —Nicholas DeRenzo
-
- 5 of
PHOTO BY: MCNY/Gottscho-Schleisner/Getty Images
Dec. 27: Radio City Music Hall opens (1932)
Ninety years ago today, billionaire John D. Rockefeller threw open the doors on his art deco masterpiece, Radio City Music Hall, part of a plan to pump life (and money) back into Midtown Manhattan during the throes of the Great Depression. When it debuted, Radio City was the largest indoor theater in the world — a title it still holds — and its premiere performance was an appropriately dazzling spectacle. Performers included modern dancer Martha Graham, ballerina Patricia Bowman, the Tuskegee Choir, Ray Bolger (a.k.a. the Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz) and the Roxyettes, who later became the world-famous Rockettes. That opening night went on and on and on, stretching a behind-numbing six hours and not ending until 2 a.m.! Theater critic Burns Mantle wrote in the Daily News of the inaugural program, “Like the building, this, too, is a little bigger than big! It was 11 o’clock before they reached intermission last night, after a slightly belated start at 9. … But it is not the show so much as the show place that will be the sensation of Radio City’s first weeks. This one happens to be a three-star show in a four-star theater. So we give it three stars plus.” —Nicholas DeRenzo
-
- 6 of
PHOTO BY: Rick Loomis/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Dec. 26: The first Kwanzaa is celebrated in the United States (1966)
In the wake of the 1965 Watts riots that rocked Los Angeles and left 34 people dead and over 1,000 injured, activist and Black Power leader Maulana Karenga devised Kwanzaa as a secular alternative to Christmas that would honor Pan-African history and culture. The weeklong festival took its name from the Swahili word for “first,” and each day a candle is lit to celebrate one of seven principles: unity (umoja), self-determination (kujichagulia), collective work and responsibility (ujima), cooperative economics (ujamaa), purpose (nia), creativity (kuumba) and faith (imani). Much like Christmas and Hanukkah, the holiday ends with parties and gift giving. As for the timing at the end of December, Karenga said that it coincided with pre-Christian festivals, like Pert-em-Min in ancient Egypt, which fall at the end of the year. But in a 1972 Time interview, Imamu Clyde Halisi — the national chairman of Karenga’s organization US — had a more pragmatic answer: “It begins Dec. 26, so we’ll be in a position to benefit from the after-Christmas sales.” —Nicholas DeRenzo
-
- 7 of
PHOTO BY: Everett Collection
Dec. 25: To Kill a Mockingbird is released in theaters (1962)
It might be hard to believe that it’s been a full six decades since the Dec. 25, 1962, theatrical release of To Kill a Mockingbird, the coming-of-age film based on Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel. Gregory Peck delivered one of cinema’s all-time-great performances as the crusading Alabama attorney Atticus Finch, earning both an Academy Award for best actor and the top spot on the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 greatest film heroes. Costarring alongside Mary Badham as the young protagonist Scout Finch was a brand-new actor in his debut film role, Robert Duvall, who played Boo Radley — though he had his one line cut. Among the movie’s early fans was Walt Disney, who privately screened To Kill a Mockingbird for his family and reportedly said to them when it was over, “Boy, that was a helluva picture … I wish I could make a picture like that." —Nicholas DeRenzo
-
- 8 of
PHOTO BY: Barry King/WireImage/Getty Images
Dec. 24: Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman tie the knot (1990)
Just a few months after he finalized his divorce from actress Mimi Rogers, Tom Cruise tied the knot with Aussie newcomer (and future Oscar winner) Nicole Kidman, whom he had met on the set of the car-racing drama Days of Thunder. The private Christmas Eve ceremony took place Dec. 24, 1990, deep in the Colorado Rockies at a ski resort in Telluride, and the couple was almost immediately dogged by tabloid rumors: that she was pregnant, that he was gay, that their marriage was dictated by the Church of Scientology. According to Lawrence Wright’s Scientology exposé Going Clear, Cruise’s best man was church leader David Miscavige and the civil ceremony was performed by Ray Mithoff, the man who had “audited” Cruise as part of the church’s secretive practices. Cruise and Kidman adopted two children together and remained married until 2001, when he filed for divorce due to “irreconcilable differences.” When David Letterman later asked the 5-foot-11 actress about how she was doing after the divorce, Kidman joked, “Well, I can wear heels now.” —Nicholas DeRenzo
-
- 9 of
PHOTO BY: Anthony Camerano/AP Photo
Dec. 23: The highest piece of steel was put in place on the World Trade Center (1970)
Just over four years after ground was broken, in August 1966, construction on New York City’s World Trade Center complex reached its highest heights on this date in 1970. Designed by architect Minoru Yamasaki, the 110-story Twin Towers promised to change the skyline of Downtown Manhattan, and on Dec. 23, 1970, the North Tower topped out at 1,368 feet when the highest piece of steel was fitted into place. With that, the tower officially became the tallest building in the world, surpassing its neighbor a few miles uptown, the Empire State Building (1,250 feet), and it held on to the title until 1974 with the construction of Chicago’s Sears Tower (1,451 feet). Construction continued on the South Tower until July 1971, and the five-acre outdoor plaza was completed in April 1973 with the installation of Fritz Koenig’s 25-foot-tall bronze sculpture. During the official ribbon-cutting ceremony that month, Governor Nelson Rockefeller told the crowd, “It’s not too often that we see a dream come true. Today, we have.” —Nicholas DeRenzo
-
- 10 of
PHOTO BY: Thierlein/ullstein bild via Getty Images
Dec. 22: The Brandenburg Gate is reopened, symbolizing the reunification of East and West Germany (1989)
In one of the more dramatic examples of the thawing of Cold War tensions, Berlin’s iconic Brandenburg Gate — which had divided East from West since it closed in 1961 — was officially reopened Dec. 22, 1989. Thousands of Berliners gathered to watch West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl walk through the gate and shake hands with East German Prime Minister Hans Modrow; the crowd popped champagne corks and waved flags of a unified Germany, as people poured through the open gate or climbed atop the Berlin Wall and chanted “Deutschland, Deutschland.” In a televised speech, Modrow declared, “The burning stench of war must never be smelled here. It must be a gate of peace.” Kohl followed up by adding that it was “the most important moment of my life.” Two days later, Berliners were allowed to travel visa-free from one side of the city to the other, and on New Year’s Eve, David Hasselhoff serenaded the newly unified city with his single “Looking for Freedom.” —Nicholas DeRenzo
-
- 11 of
PHOTO BY: Everett Collection
Dec. 21: The Graduate hits theaters (1967)
The Graduate hit American movie theaters on Dec. 21, 1967, a day after premiering in New York City. Dustin Hoffman starred as recent college graduate Benjamin Braddock, who finds himself seduced by an older family friend, Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), while also developing feelings for her daughter, Elaine (Katharine Ross). Directed by Mike Nichols, the film quickly caught on with critics, with Roger Ebert calling it “the funniest American comedy of the year.” Despite its saucy subject matter, it was also a major hit at the box office, and it went on to become the highest-grossing movie of 1967. At the following year’s Oscars, The Graduate picked up seven nominations, including best picture, winning only one, for best director. But its place in the American movie canon has only grown over the decades: It currently sits at number 17 on the American Film Institute’s updated list of the 100 greatest American films of all time. —Nicholas DeRenzo
-
- 12 of
PHOTO BY: John Stillwell/WPA Pool/Getty Images
Dec. 20: Queen Elizabeth II surpasses Queen Victoria as the oldest British monarch in history (2007)
On Dec. 20, 2007, Queen Elizabeth II turned 81 years and 243 days old, and while that may not sound like a particularly consequential number, it marked an important milestone: At about 5 p.m. GMT, she surpassed her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, as the oldest British monarch in history. Before her death earlier this year, at the age of 96, the queen continued to rack up impressive milestones. On Sept. 9, 2015, she once again overtook Victoria, this time as Britain’s longest-serving monarch, although she said at the time that the title was “not one to which I ever aspired.” And this June, she became the second-longest-serving monarch of any kingdom in history, surpassing Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej with her reign of 70 years and 127 days; Elizabeth would have needed to live to May 2024 to take the title from the “reigning” champion, Louis XIV of France, who ruled for 72 years and 110 days. But he had a bit of a head start: He took the throne at the age of 4. —Nicholas DeRenzo
-
- 13 of
PHOTO BY: 20th Century Fox Film Corp/Courtesy Everett Collection
Dec. 19: Titanic opens in American theaters (1997)
It’s been 25 years since James Cameron’s $200 million disaster-romance flick Titanic first hit American theaters on Dec. 19, 1997, and it was unlike anything that had been seen on the big screen in generations. With a runtime of three hours and 14 minutes, the film earned comparisons to Hollywood epics of yore. Janet Maslin of The New York Times called it “the first spectacle in decades that honestly invites comparison to Gone With the Wind” — which, as luck would have it, premiered in New York 58 years earlier to the day. Taking in $28.6 million in its opening weekend, the film went on to earn $2.2 billion at the box office, making it the highest-grossing film of all time — that is, until Cameron’s own film Avatar bumped it to second place! Titanic also proved a smash success at the following year’s Academy Awards, when it took home 11 wins out of 14 nominations, including best picture and director. That number puts it in a three-way tie with Ben-Hur and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King for the most wins in history. —Nicholas DeRenzo
-
- 14 of
PHOTO BY: Everett Collection
Dec. 18: How the Grinch Stole Christmas! debuts (1966)
On Dec. 18, 1966, Dr. Seuss’ furry green baddie made the leap to the small screen with the debut of the animated CBS special How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The soon-to-be holiday classic was produced and codirected by Chuck Jones, the legendary director of Warner Bros. animation, who was responsible for creating such immortal characters as Wile E. Coyote, Road Runner, Pepé Le Pew and Marvin the Martian, and it featured the voice talents of Boris Karloff, who pulled double duty as the Grinch and the narrator. The producers enlisted Thurl Ravenscroft to sing “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” and if his thunderously deep voice sounds familiar, that’s because he was also the voice of Tony the Tiger! About 38 million viewers tuned in to catch that debut screening, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas! became a perennial favorite broadcast year after year for decades. —Nicholas DeRenzo
-
- 15 of
PHOTO BY: Janette Beckman/Redferns/Getty Images
Dec. 17: Run D.M.C.'s debut album is the first rap album to go gold (1984)
Often credited with popularizing hip-hop music for a wider audience, Run-D.M.C. became the first rap group to achieve gold record status, when their self-titled debut album crossed the milestone threshold on Dec. 17, 1984. The album included five singles (“It’s Like That,” “Hard Times,” “Rock Box,” “30 Days” and “Hollis Crew”) and peaked at number 53 on the Billboard 200 album charts. That year, the Queens trio also became the first rap act to have one of their songs, “Rock Box,” appear on MTV. Their game-changing debut effort has continued to hold a special place in the hearts of hip-hop fans. This year, Rolling Stone included it at number 43 on its list of the 200 greatest rap albums of all time, where music journalist Charles Aaron summed up their revolutionary appeal as follows: “There is before Run-D.M.C. and after Run-D.M.C., and the after still reverberates almost four decades later. The group’s debut, hip-hop’s first gold-selling album, reduced the genre to its elemental boom. … Turning Melle Mel’s poetic social commentary into a blunt worldwide edict, they also reinvented and dethroned rock & roll.” —Nicholas DeRenzo
-
- 16 of
PHOTO BY: Joe Raedle/Newsmakers/Getty Images
Dec. 16: George W. Bush selects Colin Powell to be America's first Black secretary of state (2000)
During his 35 years in the military, Colin Powell rose to the rank of four-star general and became the first Black man to serve as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1989 to 1993. Though there was speculation that the beloved Gulf War figure would run for president, Powell didn’t reemerge in the world of politics until Dec. 16, 2000, when the newly elected President George W. Bush officially nominated him to become America’s first Black secretary of state. Bush held the ceremony at an elementary school near his ranch in Crawford, Texas, and he called Powell “an American hero, an American example and a great American story.” During his acceptance speech, the 63-year-old general and child of Jamaican immigrants said, “They will say that Colin Powell is the first African American to ever hold the position of secretary of state. And I’m glad they will say that. I want it repeated because I hope it will give inspiration to young African Americans coming along that no matter where you began in this society, with hard work and with dedication and with the opportunities that are presented by this society, there are no limitations upon you.” He was confirmed unanimously by the Senate and sworn in the following January. —Nicholas DeRenzo
-
- 17 of
PHOTO BY: Everett Collection
Dec. 15: Walt Disney dies (1966)
On Dec. 15, 1966, animation pioneer Walt Disney died of complications from lung cancer at St. Joseph Hospital in Burbank, California, just across the street from the studios where he had created some of the most enduring films of all time. He was 65. A private funeral was held, and Disney was cremated and interred in the family mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, but rumors quickly spread that something decidedly less traditional happened to his body: As the story goes, he was cryogenically frozen and stored in a bunker under Disneyland, to be thawed out when technology had advanced enough to allow for reanimation! The bizarre story started as early as 1967, when a tabloid reporter from The National Spotlite claimed that he snuck into the hospital disguised as an orderly and saw Disney’s body suspended in a metal tube. The rumor even made its way into some dubiously sourced biographies, but Disney’s daughter Diane officially put the kibosh on the tall tale when she wrote in 1972, “There is absolutely no truth that my father, Walt Disney, wished to be frozen. I doubt that my father had ever heard of cryonics.” —Nicholas DeRenzo
-
- 18 of
PHOTO BY: Michael Wyke/Tulsa World via AP
Dec. 14: Wilma Mankiller becomes the first female chief of a major Native American tribe (1985)
Cherokee activist Wilma Mankiller broke an important, if lesser-known, glass ceiling on Dec. 14, 1985, when she was sworn in as the principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, making her the first woman in history to lead a Native American tribe. In 1957, she and her family moved to California as part of a federal program to urbanize Indigenous Americans, and there she studied sociology and became active in the Native American rights movement. Upon returning to Oklahoma in the mid-1970s, Mankiller worked her way up in tribal politics, starting as an economic stimulus coordinator in 1977, and she ascended to the head of the tribe when her predecessor, Chief Ross Swimmer, was named the head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington. During her tenure as chief, she led about 140,000 enrolled tribal members and managed a $75 million budget, focusing on lowering unemployment, improving health care, bolstering the regional economy and promoting literacy in tribal traditions. She was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame and awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and this year, Mankiller became the third woman to be honored with her face on a coin as part of the U.S. Mint’s American Women Quarters Program. Her portrait depicts the chief wearing a traditional shawl with wind blowing at her back, next to a seven-pointed Cherokee Nation star. —Nicholas DeRenzo
-
- 19 of
PHOTO BY: Universal History Archive/Getty Images
Dec. 13: The last humans walk on the moon — for now (1972)
Everyone knows about the first moon landing, but how many remember the last? On Dec. 7, 1972, Apollo 17 — the final Apollo mission — launched from Kennedy Space Center carrying three astronauts: mission commander Eugene Cernan, lunar module pilot Harrison Schmitt and command module pilot Ronald Evans. Cernan and Schmitt touched down on the surface of the moon on Dec. 11, and two days later, they embarked on their third moonwalk, or EVA (extravehicular activity), which turned out to be the last one ever taken by astronauts of any country. In his last dispatch to Mission Control in Houston, Cernan said, “As we leave the moon at Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return: with peace and hope for all mankind. Godspeed the crew of Apollo 17.” As NASA celebrates the 50th anniversary, it looks ahead to new space exploration, planning to return to the surface of the moon on the upcoming Artemis III mission. Tentatively scheduled for 2025, the mission is set to bring the first woman and the first person of color onto the lunar surface. —Nicholas DeRenzo
-
- 20 of
PHOTO BY: Paramount/Getty Images
Dec. 12: Saturday Night Fever has its world premiere (1977)
Forty-five years ago today on Dec. 12, 1977, Saturday Night Fever disco-danced its way into the hearts of movie lovers when it premiered in New York City. The Brooklyn-set film proved a star-making turn for John Travolta, who had appeared on TV as Vinnie Barbarino in Welcome Back, Kotter and in a few films, including Carrie. Travolta earned an Oscar nomination for playing Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever. After the movie’s debut screening at the Loew’s State Theater, about 250 guests celebrated at Tavern on the Green in Central Park, and among those in attendance were 1970s icons Farrah Fawcett and Gilda Radner. Perhaps even more impressive than the film was the blockbuster soundtrack, which included hits by the Bee Gees and other disco acts. It was certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America, racking up sales of more than 16 million albums in the United States, and it ranks behind only The Bodyguard as the second-best-selling soundtrack album of all time. Among the movie’s biggest champions was critic Gene Siskel, who later called it his favorite film of all time; he even bought Travolta’s iconic white suit at a charity auction! —Nicholas DeRenzo
-
- 21 of
PHOTO BY: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
Dec. 11: Bernie Madoff is arrested for his Ponzi scheme (2008)
Former Wall Street bigshot Bernie Madoff’s record-breaking Ponzi scheme came crashing down in 2008 during the financial crisis, and by December of that year, he decided to confess his crimes to his sons, who worked for his trading operation. Madoff told them that he planned to surrender to the authorities after using his remaining $200 million to $300 million to pay out employees, but he didn’t have the chance to get that far: The following morning, on Dec. 11, 2008, FBI agents showed up at Madoff’s Manhattan penthouse, where they found the 70-year-old fraudster in a bathrobe. He admitted to the agents that his business was “all just one big lie” and that he had lost at least $50 billion. Madoff pleaded guilty to fraud, money laundering and other crimes, and he was sentenced to 150 years in prison. Last year, the disgraced swindler died in prison at the age of 82. —Nicholas DeRenzo
-
- 22 of
PHOTO BY: Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images
Dec. 10: Richard Pryor dies at the age of 65 (2005)
Over the years, stand-up legend Richard Pryor faced a series of hardships that complicated his image as a funnyman: In 1980, he lit himself on fire in a suicide attempt after freebasing cocaine, and he was later diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The comedy world sadly lost one of its most pioneering voices when Pryor suffered a fatal heart attack Dec. 10, 2005, at his San Fernando Valley home, shortly after his 65th birthday on Dec. 1. “He enjoyed life right up until the end,” said his wife, Jennifer Lee Pryor. “At the end, there was a smile on his face.” In the aftermath of his death, his friend Quincy Jones described Pryor as “the Charlie Parker of comedy, a master of telling the truth that influences every comedian that came after him.” As shown in the documentary I Am Richard Pryor, his widow eventually scattered his ashes in Hana, on the island of Maui, where the couple were married. —Nicholas DeRenzo
-
- 23 of
PHOTO BY: Mary Evans/AF Archive/Everett Collection
Dec. 9: A Charlie Brown Christmas debuts (1965)
On Dec. 9, 1965, Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the rest of Charles Schulz’s Peanuts gang made their TV debut in the holiday special A Charlie Brown Christmas — or at least that’s what most fans thought. They had actually first appeared on the small screen in a 1959 Ford Falcon commercial! Though the 25-minute special went on to become a holiday classic, it was anything but a sure bet when it was announced. That August, in an article titled “Good Grief, Charlie Brown!” New York Times reporter Val Adams wrote, “Television is running a big gamble. … In lifting Peanuts characters from the printed page and infusing them with motion and audibility, television is tampering with the imaginations of millions of comic strip fans both well and self-conditioned on how Charlie Brown, Lucy and others should act and talk.” Indeed, the special was unlike anything else on TV at the time: Real kids (instead of grownup actors) voiced the Peanuts gang, and the special incorporated jazz music by Vince Guaraldi, a Bible passage and no standard laugh track. But its creators had the last laugh, when almost half of all American TV viewers (or more than 15 million households) tuned in that night. When the special picked up the trophy for outstanding children’s program at the Emmys, Schulz joked, “Charlie Brown is not used to winning, so we thank you.” —Nicholas DeRenzo
-
- 24 of
PHOTO BY: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images
Dec. 8: The Grateful Dead announces they’re breaking up after the death of Jerry Garcia (1995)
The music world faced a tragic loss on Aug. 9, 1995, when Grateful Dead guitarist and vocalist Jerry Garcia died of a heart attack at a drug treatment facility in California at 53. After his death, the legendary jam band — which had been going strong for three decades — existed in a kind of limbo until Dec. 8, 1995, when the remaining members announced that they’d made the difficult decision to disband. “After four months of heartfelt consideration,” they said in a statement, “the remaining members of the band met yesterday and came to the conclusion that the ‘long strange trip’ of the uniquely wonderful beast known as the Grateful Dead is over. Although individually and in various combinations they will undoubtedly continue to make music, whatever the future holds will be something different in name and structure.” It wasn’t until 2002 that the four surviving bandmates, who called themselves the Other Ones, played their first show together at Wisconsin’s Alpine Valley Resort, in front of a crowd of more than 35,000 Deadheads. Their first song, appropriately, was “He’s Gone.” —Nicholas DeRenzo
-
- 25 of
PHOTO BY: CBS via Getty Images
Dec. 7: Instant replay is used for the first time (1963)
On Dec. 7, 1963, video instant replay made its big debut during the annual Army-Navy football game, which had to be delayed because of the Nov. 22 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, who had been scheduled to attend. The technology was the creation of 29-year-old CBS producer Tony Verna, who while working at the 1960 Summer Olympics devised a system that incorporated tape decks that were roughly the size of a refrigerator and weighed nearly 1,200 pounds. Looking for the right footage to use to unveil the video trick, Verna waited until the fourth quarter, when Army quarterback Rollie Stichweh scored a 1-yard touchdown. The only problem? The audience had no idea what was happening! Soon, fans were jamming the CBS phones to inquire whether Army had scored another touchdown, and sportscaster Lindsey Nelson had to assure the audience, “This is not live. Ladies and gentlemen, Army did not score again.” Navy won the game 21-15, and the team’s quarterback, Roger Staubach, won the Heisman Trophy that year. —Nicholas DeRenzo
-
- 26 of
PHOTO BY: AP Photo
Dec. 6: The Altamont rock festival erupts into violence during a Rolling Stones set (1969)
To cap off their 1969 American tour, the Rolling Stones devised a West Coast answer to Woodstock, a one-day free festival held at the Altamont Speedway near Livermore, California, on Dec. 6, 1969. The band hired a few dozen members of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club as security, paying them $500 worth of beer. During Jefferson Airplane’s set, a member of the Angels knocked singer Marty Balin unconscious, and Stephen Stills received a stab wound as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young performed. Later, an 18-year-old fan named Meredith Hunter rushed the stage with a gun during the Rolling Stones set, and an Angel named Alan Passaro killed him. It was one of four confirmed deaths during the festival; another man drowned in an irrigation ditch, and two others were killed in a hit-and-run. (Four babies were also born!) The chaos inspired many cultural critics to dub the festival “the end of the 1960s” — or at least the end of the peace and love that the decade was supposed to represent — and footage of the Hunter killing forms the climax of the Rolling Stones documentary Gimme Shelter. —Nicholas DeRenzo
-
- 27 of
PHOTO BY: Adam Rountree/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Dec. 5: New York becomes the first city to ban trans fats in restaurants (2006)
Before trans fats suddenly started becoming a major topic of conversation in the news, many Americans probably had never heard of them. In simple terms, artificial trans fats are made by adding hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils in order to make them more solid; they appear in products like margarine and shortening, and are used in fried foods and spreads. Studies show that they can lead to an increased risk of heart disease and higher blood cholesterol levels. Mayor Michael Bloomberg crusaded for public health, and after banning smoking in bars and restaurants, he set his sights on trans fats, saying, “Nobody wants to take away your french fries and hamburgers — I love those things too. But if you can make them with something that is less damaging to your health, we should do that.” On Dec. 5, 2006, the New York City Board of Health voted unanimously to ban artificial trans fats in restaurants, making the Big Apple the first major U.S. city to make such a move. By July 1, 2007, restaurants had to stop using most artificial trans fat frying oils, and by the following July 1, they needed to eliminate the fat entirely. —Nicholas DeRenzo
-
- 28 of
PHOTO BY: Dick Barnatt/Redferns/Getty Images
Dec. 4: Led Zeppelin officially disbands after the death of drummer John Bonham (1980)
In September 1980, Led Zeppelin suffered a devastating loss when 32-year-old drummer John “Bonzo” Bonham tragically died in his sleep. In the aftermath of Bonham’s death, the band decided to scrap their planned North American tour, and soon record executives were discussing potential replacements. But the remaining band members refused to consider a new lineup. “I couldn’t even think how to do this without John,” bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones later said. “No John Bonham, no Led Zeppelin — it’s as simple as that.” Finally, on Dec. 4, 1980, the band officially called it quits with a press release announcing their decision to disband: “We wish it to be known, that the loss of our dear friend and the deep respect we have for his family, together with the deep sense of undivided harmony felt by ourselves and our manager, have led us to decide that we could not continue as we were.” Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant wouldn’t play again together until July 1985 at Live Aid, with Phil Collins and Tony Thompson of Chic filling in on the drums. —Nicholas DeRenzo
-
- 29 of
PHOTO BY: Bettmann/Getty Images
Dec. 3: A Streetcar Named Desire opens on Broadway (1947)
Seventy-five years ago today, on Dec. 3, 1947, the American theater world was first introduced to former Southern belle Blanche DuBois and her brutish brother-in-law Stanley Kowalski, when the Tennessee Williams classic A Streetcar Named Desire opened at Broadway’s Ethel Barrymore Theatre, in a celebrated production by director Elia Kazan. That original cast included eventual Tony winner Jessica Tandy as Blanche, a then-unknown Marlon Brando as Stanley, Kim Hunter as his wife, Stella, and Karl Malden as Blanche’s suitor Mitch — the latter two of whom would go on to win supporting actress and actor Oscars for the 1951 film adaptation. In his review for The New Yorker, Wolcott Gibbs called the Pulitzer Prize–winning drama “a fine and deeply disturbing play, almost faultless in the physical details of its production and the quality of its acting.” And he characterized Brando as “almost pure ape,” which we’re sure he meant as a compliment. His animalistic nature was unlike anything else on the stage at the time, and after the play ends with Blanche being carted off in a straitjacket, the audience reportedly sat in stunned silence for a few seconds before bursting into thunderous applause that lasted for a half-hour. —Nicholas DeRenzo
-
- 30 of
PHOTO BY: Alamy
Dec. 2: “Thriller” music video airs for the first time on MTV (1983)
With its creepy, spooky lyrics about something evil lurking in the dark, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” was an unexpected chart-topper — the seventh and final single released from the album of the same name. But even more than the song itself, “Thriller” is remembered for its cinematic music video, one of the finest ever produced, which premiered on MTV on Dec. 2, 1983. At nearly 14 minutes long, the short film was directed by John Landis, best known for Animal House and The Blues Brothers, with a record-breaking budget of half a million dollars. The project was so expensive that Landis helped finance it by producing a 45-minute making-of documentary and selling the rights to Showtime and MTV for $250,000 each; he nicknamed it The Making of Filler. MJ costarred opposite horror legend Vincent Price and Playboy Playmate Ola Ray, and the zombie dance by Tony nominee Michael Peters went on to become a bona fide smash. Just how popular is the video? Its official YouTube video has been viewed more than 863 million times! —Nicholas DeRenzo
-
- 31 of
PHOTO BY: Jeffrey R. Staab/CBS via Getty Images
Dec. 1: Oprah Winfrey and David Letterman end their feud when she appears on Late Show (2005)
Nobody could pinpoint exactly when it started, but Oprah Winfrey and David Letterman were engaged in a years-long feud that often involved the late-night jester mocking the Queen of Daytime TV on his show. As Winfrey told Time in 2003, she’d been “completely uncomfortable” as the target of his jokes, and she hadn’t been a guest on Letterman’s show since the 1980s, before he made the move from NBC to CBS. All that changed on Dec. 1, 2005, when she finally appeared on the Late Show on the night that The Color Purple, a musical she was producing, was set to open on Broadway. As Letterman said, “Put bygones behind us, the water under the bridge, over the dam, wherever water goes — standing in your basement — she’s going to be here and it’s going to be fantastic.” The pair seemed to play down the idea of a cold war, with Winfrey asking Letterman during the episode, “Could you please tell me what has transpired? I have never for a moment had a feud with you.” To bury the hatchet, she presented Letterman with a gift-wrapped signed photograph of herself and Uma Thurman, a nod to his awkward “Oprah, Uma, Uma, Oprah” joke at the 1995 Academy Awards ceremony. “I want you to know it’s really over, whatever you thought was happening,” she continued. During the taping, Letterman escorted Winfrey across the street to the Broadway Theatre for her musical’s big premiere. —Nicholas DeRenzo
Members Only Access content
Find exclusive interviews, smart advice, free novels, full documentaries, fun daily features and much more — all a benefit of your AARP membership — on Members Only Access.
Find exclusive interviews, smart advice, free novels, full documentaries, fun daily features and much more — all a benefit of your AARP membership — on Members Only Access.
Not a member? Join
Already a member? Link Your Membership
Renew your membership today and save 25% on your next year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal. Get instant access to discounts, programs, services, and the information you need to benefit every area of your life.