April 25, 2012

Born on this date
Happy Birthday, Suzie Martin!

70 years ago
1942

Hit parade
#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Moonlight Cocktail--Glenn Miller and his Orchestra (9th week at #1)

60 years ago
1952

On television tonight
Tales of Tomorrow, on ABC
Tonight's episode: Plague from Space, starring Gene Raymond, Charles Proctor, and Philip Pine



At the movies
Loan Shark, directed by Seymour Friedman, and starring George Raft, Dorothy Hart, Paul Stewart, and John Hoyt, received its premiere screening in Philadelphia.



40 years ago
1972

Died on this date
George Sanders, 65. Russian-born U.K. actor. Mr. Sanders won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for All About Eve (1950). He played The Saint and The Falcon in movie series in the 1940s. Other notable films in which Mr. Sanders appeared include Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939); Rebecca (1940); Foreign Correspondent (1940); The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945); The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947); Death of a Scoundrel (1956); Solomon and Sheba (1959); and A Shot in the Dark (1964). Mr. Sanders was also the first actor to portray Mr. Freeze in the television series Batman (1966). He committed suicide in Barcelona with an overdose of pills, leaving a note that read, "Dear World, I am leaving because I am bored. I feel I have lived long enough. I am leaving you with your worries in this sweet cesspool. Good luck."

Politics and government
U.S. Senator George McGovern of South Dakota won the Massachusetts primary for the 1972 Democratic party nomination for President of the United States, taking 52% of the vote. U.S. Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine was second with 22%, followed by U.S. Senator Hubert Humphrey (Minnesota) (8%), Alabama Governor George Wallace (7%), and U.S. Representative Shirley Chisholm (New York) (5%). Sen. Humphrey won the Pennsylvania primary, taking 35% of the vote and 57 delegates to the party’s nominating convention in July. Gov. Wallace was second with 21 %, and Sen. McGovern third with 20% and 37 delegates, enough to give him the overall lead. Sen. Muskie finished fourth.

Business
Ford Motor Company recalled 436,000 cars—the entire 1972 model year of Ford Torino and Mercury Montego—to correct a problem that caused the rear wheels to fall off.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Semi-Finals
Boston 5 @ St. Louis 3 (Boston won best-of-seven series 4-0)

Phil Esposito and Johnny Bucyk each scored 2 goals as the Bruins completed the series sweep at St. Louis Arena. Boston led 4-1 in the 3rd period before the Blues rallied for 2 goals, but the Bruins put the game away with an empty net goal in the last minute. It was the only competitive game in the series, which ended with the Bruins outscoring the Blues 28-8 over 4 games. The game was broadcast across Canada on CBC radio, with the legendary Foster Hewitt calling the play-by-play.

30 years ago
1982

Died on this date
Don Wilson, 81. U.S. radio and television announcer. Mr. Wilson was an announcer and part of the cast of Jack Benny’s radio and television programs from the 1930s through the 1960s.

War
The British government reported that its troops had recaptured the port of Grytviken on South Georgia in the Falkland Islands after a two-hour battle with Argentine forces.

World events
Israel withdrew the last of its soldiers from the Sinai Peninsula, turning the territory over to Egypt as part of the 1978 peace treaty between the two countries.

Religion
The New Age prayer known as the Great Invocation was published in many newspapers, greatly increasing public awareness of the New Age Movement.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Division Finals
Quebec 2 @ Boston 1 (Quebec won best-of-seven series 4-3)

Baseball
PCL
Tucson 13 @ Edmonton 11

This blogger was in attendance at Renfrew Park.

25 years ago
1987

Hit parade
#1 single in Italy: Loving You is Sweeter than Ever--Nick Kamen

#1 single in the U.K.: La Isla Bonita--Madonna

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): I Knew You were Waiting (For Me)--Aretha Franklin and George Michael (2nd week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 I Knew You were Waiting (For Me)--Aretha Franklin and George Michael
2 Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now--Starship
3 Don't Dream it's Over--Crowded House
4 Sign 'o' the Times--Prince
5 Looking for a New Love--Jody Watley
6 (I Just) Died in Your Arms--Cutting Crew
7 The Finer Things--Steve Winwood
8 La Isla Bonita--Madonna
9 Walking Down Your Street--Bangles
10 With or Without You--U2

Singles entering the chart included In Too Deep by Genesis (#54); Jammin' Me by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (#84); Soul City by the Partland Brothers (#88); and Sweet Sixteen by Billy Idol (#90).

Canada’s Top 10 (RPM)
1 Lean on Me--Club Nouveau (3rd week at #1)
2 Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now--Starship
3 Don't Dream it's Over--Crowded House
4 I Knew You were Waiting (For Me)--Aretha Franklin and George Michael
5 Somewhere Out There--Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram
6 With or Without You--U2
7 Wild Horses--Gino Vannelli
8 Heat of the Night--Bryan Adams
9 Holiday Rap--M.C. Miker G. & DJ Sven
10 Sign 'o' the Times--Prince

Singles entering the chart were Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You by Glenn Medeiros (#92); Walkin' a Fine Line by Johansen (#94); Get that Love by Thompson Twins (#96); Right on Track by Breakfast Club (#97); and Just to See Her by Smokey Robinson (#98).

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup
Division Finals
Toronto 2 @ Detroit 4 (Toronto led best-of-seven series 2-1)
Edmonton 5 @ Winnipeg 2 (Edmonton led best-of-seven series 3-0)

20 years ago
1992

Hit parade
#1 single in Australia (ARIA): Under the Bridge--Red Hot Chili Peppers (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Italy: Why--Annie Lennox (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in France: Joy--François Feldman

#1 single in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Jump--Kris Kross

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Tears in Heaven--Eric Clapton
2 Save the Best for Last--Vanessa Williams
3 Make it Happen--Mariah Carey
4 Masterpiece--Atlantic Starr
5 Bohemian Rhapsody--Queen
6 Everything Changes--Kathy Troccoli
7 Hazard--Richard Marx
8 Jump--Kris Kross
9 Beauty and the Beast--Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson
10 My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)--En Vogue

Singles entering the chart included Just Take My Heart by Mr. Big (#69); Damn I Wish I was Your Lover by Sophie B. Hawkins (#72); and Lift Me Up by Howard Jones (#96). Bohemian Rhapsody had been a major hit in Great Britain in 1975 and in North America in 1976, and had been reissued as a single, presumably because it had been featured in the movie Wayne's World (1992).

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Thought I'd Died and Gone to Heaven--Bryan Adams
2 Tears in Heaven--Eric Clapton
3 Human Touch--Bruce Springsteen
4 Hazard--Richard Marx
5 Save the Best for Last--Vanessa Williams
6 One--U2
7 Make it Happen--Mariah Carey
8 To Be with You--Mr. Big
9 Ain't it Heavy--Melissa Etheridge
10 Sinking Like a Sunset--Tom Cochrane

Singles entering the chart included Why by Annie Lennox (#77); A Horse in the Country by Cowboy Junkies (#81); Under the Bridge by Red Hot Chili Peppers (#89); and Damn I Wish I was Your Lover by Sophie B. Hawkins (#99).

Died on this date
Brian MacLeod, 39. Canadian musician. Mr. MacLeod was a member of the rock groups Chilliwack and Headpins in the 1980s.

World events
Islamic forces took over most of Kabul after the previously Soviet-controlled Afghan government collapsed.

Hockey
NHL
Stanley Cup playoffs
New York Rangers 3 New Jersey 0

10 years ago
2002

Space
NASA scientists announced that they had measured the temperature of the coldest white dwarf stars observed by the Hubble Space Telescope in the constellation Scorpius in the Milky Way, and concluded that the universe is about 13 billion years old.

A Russian rocket blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying among its crew South African millionaire Mark Shuttleworth, the world’s second space tourist and the first person from Africa to go into space.

Terrorism
12 women and children were killed when a bomb exploded in a women’s section of a Shiite mosque in Bukker in eastern Pakistan.

Crime
Two teenage brothers were acquitted of the November 2000 murder of 10-year-old Damiloa Taylor in London.