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1890: Ellis Island opens; its original name, "Yitzak Islandowitzbergsteininski" is mistakenly changed by an indifferent immigration clerk.
1907: First time a ball drops at Times Square to signal the new year; Dick Clark hosts.
1929: Guy Lombardo plays Auld Lang Syne for the first time.
1976: Guy Lombardo plays Auld Lang Syne for the last time.
1981: CNN Headline News debuts.
1869 Henri Matisse; 1908 Simon Wiesenthal; 1921 Rocky Graziano; 1941 Sarah Miles; 1942 Andy Summers; 1943 John Denver, Ben Kingsley; 1946 Diane von Furstenberg; 1947 Tim Matheson; 1948 Donna Summer; 1959 Val Kilmer, Bebe Neuwirth.
1809: Wearing masks at balls forbidden in Boston. What is the deal with Boston, anyway?
1879: Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance premieres.
1940: California's first freeway (Arroyo Seco Parkway, aka Pasadena Freeway) opens.
1963: Let's Make A Deal debuts.
1928 Bo Diddley; 1928 Jack Lord; 1935 Sandy Koufax; 1942 Michael Nesmith; 1947 Jeff Lynne; 1957 Matt Lauer; 1959 Tracey Ullman.
1851: First YMCA opens (Boston); inaugural members include a cowboy, a policeman, a construction worker and an indian.
1852: Emma Snodgrass arrested in Boston for wearing pants; it is believed she intended to sneak into the YMCA.
1862: Bowling ball invented; that's right, somebody invented it.
1934: First college basketball game: Notre Dame v. NYU at Madison Square Garden; both teams are made up of pasty white guys of average height who actually have to attend class the next day.
1957: Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme wed (in Las Vegas, naturally)
1967: Star Trek's "The Trouble With Tribbles" first airs.
1721 Madame De Pompadour; 1776 Charles Macintosh; 1808 Andrew Johnson; 1936 Mary Tyler Moore; 1938 Jon Voight; 1947 Ted Danson; 1959 Paula Poundstone.
1732: The Pennsylvania Gazette carries the first ad for the first issue of Poor Richard's Almanack by Richard Saunders (Benjamin Franklin).
1846: Iowa becomes the 29th state admitted to the Union.
1869: William Finley Semple patents chewing gum.
1895: Lumiere Brothers open first movie theater in Paris.
1958: Chipmunks (Alvin, Theodore & Simon) novelty record Alvin's Harmonica hits #1.
1856 Woodrow Wilson; 1922 Stan Lee; 1946 Edgar Winter; 1952 S. Epatha Merkerson; 1954 Denzel Washington; 1978 John Legend.
1932: Radio City Music Hall opens.
1937: Mae West appears on Edgar Bergen's NBC radio show. In a comedy sketch with the ventriloquist's dummy Charlie McCarthy, she purrs at him flirtatiously, "You’re all wood and a yard long . . ." This causes such an uproar that she gets banned from radio until 1950.
1947: Puppet Playhouse, featuring Howdy Doody, is first broadcast; childrens' reaction is split evenly between "gleeful delight" and "abject terror."
1879 Sydney Greenstreet; 1901 Marlene Dietrich; 1943 Cokie Roberts.
Vrolijke Kerstmis, Joyeux Noël, Frohe Weihnachten, Χαρούμενα Χριστούγεννα, Buon Natale, メリークリスマス, Feliz Natal, С Рождеством Христовым, Feliz Navidad, Mele Kalikimaka and a Merry Christmas!
Christmas Eve. But you knew that.
1809 Kit Carson
1905 Howard Hughes
1922 Ava Gardner
1957 Hamid Karzai
1971 Ricky Martin
1888: Vincent van Gogh cuts off his left ear.
1963: Beach Boys first appearance on Shindig.
Festivus! Let the Airing of the Grievances Begin!
1908 Yousuf Karsh
1923 James Stockdale
1943 Harry Shearer
1949 Susan Lucci
1965 Slash,
Eddie Vedder
1882: First string of Christmas tree lights is created by Thomas Edison; they get tangled up in the box, however, and are not put up until 1887.
1968: Julie Nixon marries David Eisenhower.
1744 Abigail Adams
1808 Thomas Cook
1819 George Eliot
1862 Connie Mack
1899 Hoagy Carmichael,
Wiley Post.
Forget about turducken, the hot new holiday meal for 2010 is Blackened Swan!
1919: J. Edgar Hoover deports anarchist Emma Goldman to Russia; but confiscates her wardrobe as "evidence."
1946: Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life premieres.
1969: Vince Lombardi coaches his last football game; when he loses, his remark, "Eh, whaddaya gonna do?" takes many by surprise.
1978: John Wayne Gacy, Jr. is arrested.