Video: 'The "Today" Show Talks with New "Tonight" Show Host, Jay Leno - May, 1992!'
(Monday, May 25, 1992, 11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. EDT) — Comedian Jay Leno made his debut tonight as host of NBC’s Tonight Show, succeeding Johnny Carson. Leno’s first guest was actor, comedian Billy Crystal.
Video: 'The Joseph Warren Stilwell Story - The Big Picture'
(Monday, May 25, 1942, during World War II) — U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Joseph Stilwell, frustrated over being driven out of Burma by Japanese troops, bluntly told reporters in Delhi, India today, “I claim we got a hell of a beating.”
Video: 'The Pianist' trailer
(Friday, May 24, 2002) — The Pianist, a biographical war film about a Polish Jewish musician who struggles to survive the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto of World War II, premiered today at the Cannes Film Festival. Continue reading ‘The Pianist’ premieres at Cannes 10 years ago today (2002)
Video: May 24, 1962 (at 20:50)
(Thursday, May 24, 1962, 12:41:21 p.m. EDT) — Astronaut Malcolm Scott Carpentered orbited the world three times today in his Aurora 7 spacecraft, but overshot the planned landing area in the Atlantic Ocean by 200 miles. Splashing down to earth at 12:41 p.m. EDT, Carpenter was sighted in a life raft outside his floating Mercury space capsule shortly after 1:20 p.m. EDT.
Video: May 24, 1952 (at 6:18)
(Saturday, May 24, 1952, during the Korean War, part of the Cold War) — South Korean President Syngman Rhee declared martial law today around the temporary capital of Pusan (now spelled Buson), and had some of his opponents in the National Assembly arrested. Continue reading President Rhee proclaims martial law in Pusan, South Korea 60 years ago today (1952)
Video: 'The Miracle Worker' trailer
(Wednesday, May 23, 1962) — The Miracle Worker, a biographical film about the determined teacher who helped Helen Keller overcome deafness and blindness to learn to communicate, opened today at the Astor and the Trans-Lux Fifty-second Street theaters in New York.
Directed by Arthur Penn, the film stars Patty Duke and Anne Bancroft, both of whom would win acting Oscars for reprising their Broadway roles as Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan.
(Saturday, May 23, 1992, 12:00 a.m. EDT) — Ex-Beatle Ringo Starr appeared on tonight’s ABC In Concert on ABC-TV, rehearsing for an upcoming tour with his All-Starr band at S.I.R. Studios in Los Angeles.
(Wednesday, May 22, 2002) — A jury in Birmingham, Alabama, convicted former Ku Klux Klansman Bobby Frank Cherry of murder today in a 1963 church bombing that killed four black girls: Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Denise McNair.
Video: 'Weight Of The World'
(Friday, May 22, 1992) — Time Takes Time, the tenth studio album by ex-Beatle Ringo Starr, was released today, his first studio album since 1983. Continue reading Starr released ‘Time Takes Time’ album 20 years ago today (1992)
Video: Martha Washington (at 1:03)
(Saturday, May 22, 1802) — Martha Dandridge Custis Washington, the first First Lady of the United States from 1789 to 1797 as the wife of President George Washington, died today in Mount Vernon, Virginia. She died 11 days before her 71st birthday.
