Interesting Facts from July

Interesting Facts from July

 

July 11, 1914- Babe Ruth debuted in the major leagues with the Boston Red Sox. Ruth made $2,900 his rookie season. Just six years later, his paycheck was worth $125,000 when he became a member of the New York Yankees.

 

July 14, 1914- Robert H. Goddard of Worcester, MA, patented liquid rocket fuel.

 

July 28, 1914- The First World War began when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.

 

July 29, 1914- The first transcontinental telephone service was inaugurated when two people held a conversation between New York and San Francisco.

 

July 1, 1934- The Federal Communications Commission, as mandated in the “Communications Act of 1934,” replaced the Federal Radio Commission as the regulator of broadcasting in the United States.

 

July 3, 1934- The first payment by the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was made to Lydia Losiger of East Peoria, IL.

 

July 5, 1934- “Love in Bloom,” sung by Bing Crosby with Irving Aaronson’s orchestra, was recorded for Brunswick Records in Los Angeles. The song was fairly popular, but became a much bigger hit when comedian Jack Benny made it a popular standard.

 

July 16, 1934- The NBC Red Radio premiered the musical drama, “Dreams Come True.”

 

July 22, 1934- Public enemy number one, the notorious John Dillinger, was gunned down and mortally wounded by FBI agents at the Biograph Theater in Chicago, IL.

 

July 23, 1934- The program “Home Sweet Home” debuted on the NBC Red radio network. The principal characters were Fred, Lucy, Dick Kent and Uncle Will.

 

July 10, 1944- “The Man Called X,” starring Herbert Marshall, debuted on CBS radio.

 

July 17, 1944- Two transport vessels loading ammunition at the Port Chicago (California) naval base on the Sacramento River were suddenly engulfed in a gigantic explosion at 10:19 p.m. The incredible blast wrecked the naval base and heavily damaged the small town of Port Chicago, located 1.5 miles away. Some 320 American naval personnel were killed instantly, thousands were injured, and millions of dollars in property damage was caused by the huge blast. The two ships and the large loading pier were totally annihilated. Windows were shattered in towns 20 miles away, and the glare of the explosion could be seen in San Francisco, some 35 miles away. It was the worst home-front disaster of World War II.

 

July 21, 1944- American marines captured the western Pacific island of Guam.

 

July 3, 1954- Food rationing in Britain officially ended.

 

July 5, 1954- Elvis Presley records ‘That’s All Right, Mama” at Sun Records. Presley had caught the interest of recording executive, Sam Phillips, when he cut a record for his mother’s birthday in 1953. Phillips later asked him to record a few songs. Phillips was unimpressed with the session until Presley and a friend started playing rhythm and blues between takes. Awed with an improvised version of Arthur Crudup’s “That’s All Right, Mama,” Phillip asked Presley to record the song, and two days later it became a sensation on a Memphis radio station.

 

July 15, 1954- RCA announced development of a new and improved 21-inch color kinescope with a picture area of 255 square-inches. The first regular network TV series broadcast in color was NBC’s “The Marriage,” a sitcom starring Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn. It made its debut in July that year.

 

July 12, 1954- The Major League Baseball Players Association was organized in Cleveland, OH. Its purpose was to represent ball players in policy decisions with baseball club owners.

 

July 31, 1954- The Mountain K2 was climbed for the first time by an Italian team.

 

July 2, 1964- President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the “Civil Rights Act of 1964” into law. The law included the prohibition of discrimination on the basis of race, not only where the registration of voters was involved, but also in public accommodations, in publicly owned facilities, in employment and union memberships.

 

July 18, 1964- Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds connected for the only grand-slam home run of his career. It came against the team he would later play for, the Philadelphia Phillies. Rose had been in the major leagues for only two years and was just 22 years old.

 

July 27, 1964- Winston Churchill made his last appearance in the House of Commons.

 

July 31, 1964- Spacecraft Ranger 7 transmitted the first close-up photographs of the Moons surface.

 

 

Famous July Birthdays

 

July 1, 1934- Jean Marsh (The Jewel in the Crown, The Changeling)

July 4, 1924- Eva Marie Saint (On the Waterfront, North by Northwest)

July 5, 1904- Milburn Stone (Gunsmoke, Arrowhead, Branded)

July 11, 1924- Gene Evans (Walking Tall, Operation Petticoat)

July 19, 1924- Pat Hingle (Batman, Norma Rae, Of Mice and Men)

July 21, 1924- Don Knotts (The Andy Griffith Show, Matlock)

July 24, 1914- Frank Silvera (Toys in the Attic, The High Chaparral)

July 25, 1924- Estelle Getty (Golden Girls, Tootsie, Mask)

July 29, 1924- Robert Horton (Wagon Train, Kings Row, The Green Slime)

July 29, 1934- Robert Fuller (Wagon Train, Emergency, Maverick)

 

 

Chart Toppers in July

 

 

July 3, 1944

“I’ll Be Seeing You” by Bing Crosby

“Straighten up and Fly Right” by King Cole Trio

 

 

July 21, 1954

“Little Things Mean a Lot” by Kitty Kallen

“Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight” by The McGuire Sisters

 

 

Movie Releases in July

 

July 9, 1954- Garden of Evil, starring Gary Cooper and Susan Hayward

July 28, 1954- On the Waterfront, starring Marlon Brando, and Eva Marie Saint

 

Published U.S. Legacies July 2004