Video: 'The 1903 Iroquois Theater Fire - Chicago (HQ)'
(Wednesday, December 30, 1903, about 3:15 p.m.) — At least 605 people died today when fire broke out at the recently opened Iroquois Theater in Chicago. It is the deadliest theater fire and the deadliest single-building fire in United States history.
Video: 'Gadsden Purchase - Manifest Destiny Choose Your Own Adventure'
(Friday, December 30, 1853) — The United States and Mexico signed a treaty today under which the U.S. agreed to buy some 45,000 square miles of land from Mexico for $10 million in a deal known as the Gadsden Purchase.
Video: 'The Forgotten War of 1812.' (Dec. 30, 1813 at 1:08:25)
(Thursday, December 30, 1813, during the Battle of Buffalo,
part the War of 1812) — British forces engaged in considerable plundering and destruction today in Buffalo, New York, in retaliation for the burning by American troops of the Canadian village of Newark (present day Niagara-on-the-Lake).
(Friday, December 30, 1983, 9:15 a.m. CET) — Four gunmen today walked to the shared ticket counter for Israel’s El Al Airlines and Trans World Airlines at Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport outside Rome, Italy, fired assault rifles, and threw grenades. Continue reading 19 civilians killed in terrorist attacks on airports in Rome and Vienna 30 years ago this hour (12/30/1983)
Video: '1963 - Hank Williams Jr. - Cheatin' Heart - 14yr. Old
(Sunday, December 29, 1963, 8 p.m. EDT) — Hank Williams, Jr. performed “Your Cheatin’ Heart” on tonight’s edition of the CBS-TV variety show The Ed Sullivan Show.
Video: 'Sons of the Desert Fan Made Trailer'
(Friday, December 29, 1933) — Sons of the Desert, a Laurel and Hardy comedy film about two friends who hatch a harebrained scheme to attend a lodge convention over their wives’ objections, was released today in U.S. theaters.
Directed by William A. Seiter, the film starred Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Charley Chase and Mae Busch.
(Monday, December 29, 1913) — The first true “cliffhanger” movie serial, The Adventures of Kathlyn, premiered today.
Filmed in Chicago, its thirteen episodes were directed by Francis J. Grandon from a story by Harold MacGrath and Gilson Willets and starred Kathlyn Williams as the heroine.
Video: 'Dennis Wilson the Real Beach Boy' (presented in six videos)
(Wednesday, December 28, 1983) — Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson, 39, drowned today while swimming in the harbor at Marina Del Rey, California.
Video: 'Gulag Archipelago Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 's 1 - 7 audio/bk'
(Friday, December 28, 1973) — The Gulag Archipelago, a three-volume book by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn about the Soviet forced labor camp system, was published today by the distinguished French publishing house Seuil.
Video: 'Sinking the Scharnhorst Documentary on the Sinking of the Great German Battleship Scharnhorst'
(Sunday, December 26, 1943, 7:45 p.m. CEST; during World War II) — The German battleship Scharnhorst was sunk tonight by British naval forces during the Battle of the North Cape off Norway; only 36 of its crew of 1,968 survived.
