DYR Today, February 26

“February 26”

“BORN TODAY”

• Erykah Badu (45)
• Teresa Palmer (30)
• Shiloh Fernandez (31)
• Ally Hilfiger (31)
• Nate Ruess (34)
• Sharon Van Etten (35)
• Corinne Bailey Rae (37)
• Maz Jobrani (44)
• Max Martin (45)
• Mark Dacascos (52)
• Greg Germann (58)
• Michael Bolton (63)
• Bree Walker (63)
• Dante Ferretti (73)
• Fats Domino (88)

“DIED TODAY”

• Bukka White (Born: November 12, 1909 / Died: February 26, 1977)
• Sherman Garnes (Birth: Jun. 8, 1940 / Death: Feb. 26, 1977)
• Cornell Gunter (Born: November 14, 1936 / Died: February 26, 1990)
• Ben Raleigh (Born: June 16, 1913 / Died: February 26, 1997)
• James Algar (Born: June 11, 1912 / Died: February 26, 1998)
• Buddy Miles (Born: September 5, 1947 / Died: February 26, 2008)

“MOVIES TODAY”

• 1988 – Bloodsport
• 1988 – Frantic
• 1993 – Amos & Andrew
• 1993 – Falling Down
• 1999 – 200 Cigarettes
• 1999 – The Other Sister
• 1999 – 8mm

“MUSIC TODAY”

• • 1955 – Johnny Ace had the #1 R&B hit–“Pledging My Love”.
  • 1962 – Shelley Fabares released the single “Johnny Angel” on Colpix Records.
  • 1964 – The Beatles worked on the final mixes for “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “You Can’t Do That” at Abbey Road Studios in London.
  • 1965 – Jimmy Page released the single “She Just Satisfies” on Fontana Records.  When the album didn’t seem to satisfy the public, Page joined the Yardbirds.
  • 1966 – Slim Harpo moved to #1 on the R&B chart with “Baby Scratch My Back”.
  • 1966 – Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass racked up their eighth week at #1 on the Album chart with Whipped Cream & Other Delights.
  • 1966 – Herman’s Hermits had a hot song as their latest, “Listen People”, moved from 41 to 13.
  • 1966 – Nancy Sinatra stepped up to #1 with “These Boots Are Made For Walkin'”, sending “Lightnin’ Strikes” by Lou Christie down below.
  • 1968 – Gary Puckett, from Twin Falls, Idaho, & the Union Gap released the single “Young Girl”.
  • 1968 – The Box Tops released the single “Cry Like A Baby”.
  • 1970 – The Beatles released the album Beatles Again in the United States.  To promote the inclusion of the song “Hey Jude” on the album, the album title was changed to Hey Jude, but not before some copies of both LP’s and cassettes were printed and released with the title Beatles Again.
  • 1972 – Al Green had a hold on #1 on the R&B chart–he spent week #8 in the top spot with “Let’s Stay Together”.

• 1972 – “Without You” by Nilsson once again was #1 with the Carpenters at #2–“Hurting Each Other”.
• 1973 – War released the single ‘The Cisco Kid”.
• 1975 – After premiering on February 14, Harry Chapin’s play The Night That Made America Famous opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on Broadway in New York City.
• 1977 – The Soundtrack to “A Star Is Born” topped the Album chart for a third week, with two great albums, Hotel California by the Eagles and Songs in the Key of Life from Stevie Wonder, right behind
• 1977 – Natalie Cole’s great song “I’ve Got Love On My Mind” was the new #1 on the R&B chart.
• 1977 – The Eagles flew to #1 with “New Kid In Town”, holding off “Evergreen” by Barbra Streisand for now.
• 1977 – Glen Campbell rose to the top spot on the Adult chart with “Southern Nights.”
• 1983 –  “You Are” by Lionel Richie, one of The Top 100 Adult Contemporary Songs of the 1980’s*, became the new AC #1 song.
• 1983 – “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson spent a third week at #1 on the R&B chart.
• 1983 – The new album by Michael Jackson, Thriller, moved into the #1 spot on the Album chart. Built for Speed by the Stray Cats spent a record 14th straight week at #2.
• 1987 – Capitol Records released the first four Beatles albums on CD.   1991 – Roxette released the single “Joyride”.
• 1994 – The self-titled Toni Braxton moved from 7-1 on the Album chart, flying over Music Box from Mariah Carey.
• 1995 – Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, formerly with Led Zeppelin, began a world tour at the Pensacola Civic Arena in Florida to support their reunion album No Quarter.
• 1997 – Eric Clapton won Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the Grammy Awards for “Change The World”.  The Popular and Rock categories used to be merged when Rock songs were good enough to also be popular but were separated several years previous when the quality of rock songs went down.
• 1997 – The Beatles won Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group, Best Music Video Short and Best Music Video Long for “Free As A Bird”. The song had been recorded as a home demo by John Lennon in 1977, and Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr added their contributions to the final release.
• 2000 – Lonestar topped the chart with “Amazed”.

“TV/RADIO TODAY”

• 1967 – Gene Kelly does the tango with some weird animated birds in the Hanna-Barbera TV special Jack and the Beanstalk.
• 1958 – The Disneyland TV series airs episode 92 – “The Saga of Andy Burnett:  The Land of Enemies.” It is the 4th episode of the Burnett serial.
• 1960 – The TV series Walt Disney Presents airs “Texas John Slaughter: Kentucky Gunslick,” the 12th of a 17-part miniseries starring Tom Tryon.

• 1961 – Walt Disney Presents airs part 2 of the film”Westward Ho! The Wagons.”
• 1995 – Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman – The Return of the Prankster aired on ABC – It stars Dean Cain as Clark Kent/Superman and Teri Hatcher as Lois Lane. Kyle Griffin (a.k.a The Prankster) escapes from jail using a new weapon that freezes people using a yellow beam of light and resumes harassing Lois. This time he has an added goal, kidnapping the President while he is visiting Metropolis.
• 2000 – The Disney animated series The Weekenders debuts with the episode “Crush Test Dummies.” The show’s title music is written and performed by Wayne Brady.
• 2000 – ABC-TV airs episode 11 of Mickey Mouse Works. The program features the shorts “Mickey’s Mixed Nuts,” “Goofy’s Extreme Sports: Shark Feeding,” “Mickey’s Mountain,” and “computer.don” (featuring Donald, Daisy, Mickey & Goofy).
• 2000 – Godzilla: The Series – Where Is Thy Sting? Aired on Fox Kids.  While tracking Godzilla to Fort Armstrong, New Mexico the team discover that a gigantic mutated scorpion, called Ts-eh-go by the locals, is on the rampage.

“OTHER IMPORTANT EVENTS…”

• 1934 – Disney’s Building a Building and Three Little Pigs are both nominated for the same Academy Award … Short Subjects, Cartoon! (So is Walt Lantz’s The Merry Old Soul – starring Oswald the Rabbit!) Winners will be announced March 16.
• 1942 – It’s a blockbuster night for Disney as Walt himself receives a special Academy Award, the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award (given to creative producers) at the 1941 Academy Awards. Music conductor Leopold Stokowski receives a special Oscar for his work on Disney’s Fantasia. Walt Disney, William Garity, John N. A. Hawkins and the RCA Manufacturing Company are also awarded a special Oscar for “their outstanding contribution to the advancement of the use of sound in motion pictures through the production of Fantasia.” The Disney/RKO short cartoon Lend a Paw is presented with an Academy Award as well (beating out 9 other cartoon shorts including Disney’s Truant Officer Donald). Songwriters Frank Churchill and Oliver Wallace take home Oscar for Scoring of a Musical Picture, for their work on Dumbo.
• 1953 – Walt Disney is given the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 10th Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California. Given for lifetime achievement in motion pictures by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the award is named in honor of Cecil B. DeMille, one of the industry’s most successful filmmakers. Walt Disney’s award is only the second ever given (Cecil B. DeMille himself was awarded the very first one in 1952).
• 1955 – For the first time, sales of the newer, smaller 45rpm records outpace those of the old 78rpm variety.
• 1962 – Academy Award nominations are announced. Disney’s The Absent Minded Professor earns 3, Parent Trap is nominated for 2, Babes in Toyland is also recognized for 2, and the animated short Aquamania is nominated for 1. Winners will be announced April 9.

• 1985 – Chuck Berry is the recipient of the annual Lifetime Achievement Award at tonight’s Grammys.
• 1995 – Grand opening ceremonies begin for Disneyland’s newest attraction, Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye. The dark ride attraction will open to the public March 3.
• 1998 – The All Star Café (a 240-seat restaurant) opens at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Florida. A chain of sports themed restaurants developed by Planet Hollywood, it features “stadium  cuisine” and sales of professional sports merchandise and souvenirs. (The franchise will ultimately be unsuccessful and the last Official All Star Café, the one at Disney’s Wide World of Sports, will close on September 23, 2007.)
• 2002 – Disney holds a wrap party for its successful animated television series Recess, which has just finished production on its 5th season. The new episodes will begin to air in September.