Video: 'Marian Anderson canta Un ballo in Maschera'
(Thursday, October 7, 1954) — Marian Anderson today became the first black singer hired by the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York. Anderson made her Met debut in January 1955 playing the role of Ulrica in Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Maschera.”
(Wednesday, October 7, 1914) — Joseph Patrick “Joe” Kennedy, the 26-year-old elder son of businessman/politician P. J. Kennedy, today married Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald, the 24-year-old eldest daughter of Boston Mayor John F. “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald (political rival of P. J.), in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston after a courtship of more than seven years.
(Wednesday, October 7, 1974, around 2:00 a.m. EDT) — Wilbur Mills, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, was pulled over by police this morning with his glasses broken and his face bleeding from a scuffle with his mistress Argentine stripper Annabelle Battistella, better known as Fanne Foxe. Continue reading House Ways and Means chair injured in scuffle with mistress 40 years ago this hour (Oct 7 1974)
Video: 'STS 41-G: Mission Highlights' (launch at 6:45)
(Friday, October 5, 1984, 11:03:00 UTC) — The space shuttle Challenger blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center today on an 8-day mission; members of the crew included Kathryn D. Sullivan, who became the first American woman to walk in space, and Marc Garneau, the first Canadian astronaut.
Video: 'Oct. 5, 1994: Cult Suicide in Switzerland'
(Wednesday, October 5, 1994, around 5 a.m. CET) — 48 people were found dead today in an apparent murder-suicide carried out simultaneously in two Swiss villages by members of a secret religious doomsday cult known as the Order of the Solar Temple; five other bodies were found the same week in a building owned by the sect near Montreal, Canada.
Video: 'frasier season 2 episode 3 The Matchmaker 1'
(Tuesday, October 4, 1994, 9:00 p.m. EDT) — Frasier sets up a date for Daphne with the new station manager, Tom, unaware that Tom is gay and believes he’s actually dating Frasier on tonight’s episode of the NBC-TV sitcom series Frasier.
This episode was listed as #43 on TV Guide‘s 1997 list of Top 100 Episodes of All Time.
Video: 'Father Knows Best: Bud Takes Up The Dance' (aired Oct. 3, 1954)
(Sunday, October 3, 1954, 10:00 p.m. EST) — Father Knows Best, a television comedy series which portrayed a middle class family life in the Midwest, debuted tonight on CBS.
It starred Robert Young, Jane Wyatt, Elinor Donahue and Billy Gray.
Video: 'Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz - Toast of the Town October 3, 1954'
(Sunday, October 3, 1954, 8 p.m. EST) — Tonight’s 60-minute The Ed Sullivan Show on CBS-TV was dedicated to Lucille Ball and her husband Desi Arnaz, the lead actors on the hit sitcom I Love Lucy, including a celebrity testimonial luncheon.
Video: 'Frank Robinson - Baseball Hall of Fame Biographies'
(Thursday, October 3, 1974) — With the poise that has characterized his career as a slugger of 574 home runs and as a clubhouse leader, Frank Robinson was named today by the Cleveland Indians as major league baseball’s first black manager.
(Tuesday, October 3, 1944; during the Battle of Aachen of World War II) — U.S. Army troops cracked the Siegfried Line, a line of defensive forts and tank defenses built by Germany during World War I, today north of Aachen, Germany.
