What Happened On
Michael Jackson's Hair Catches on Fire
January 27, 1984
The King of Pop Michael Jackson's hair catches on fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial when a pyrotechnic exploded too early. He suffered second degree burns on his scalp and face. Pepsi settled out of court for a $1.5 million settlement and Jackson donated the money to the Brotman Medical Center in Culver City, California, which named its Michael Jackson Burn Center after him.
Colonel Nolde
Colonel Nolde
Vietnam War - Last American Combat Casualty
January 27, 1973
Col. William B. Nolde is killed by an artillery shell 11 hours before the truce was to take effect. He was the 45,914th confirmed death and 57,597th in the total list of Americans killed during the conflict and is the last official Combat Casualty of the Vietnam War.
During his time in service, he earned four medals, including the Bronze Star Medal and Legion of Merit.
Left to right: White, Grissom, and Chaffee
Left to right: White, Grissom, and Chaffee
Apollo 1 Disaster
January 27, 1967
An electrical fire erupts during a simulation on the launch pad, killing astronauts Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Roger Chaffee, and Edward White. They were the first U.S. astronauts to die in a spacecraft.
The ignition source of the fire was determined to be electrical, and the fire spread rapidly due to combustible nylon material, and the high pressure, pure oxygen cabin atmosphere. Rescue was prevented by the plug door hatch, which could not be opened against the internal pressure of the cabin.
• White was the first American to walk in space (1965).
• Grissom was one of the seven original Mercury astronauts (1959) and the first astronaut to go into space twice.
• Chaffee served as capsule communicator (CAPCOM) for the Gemini 3 and Gemini 4 missions and served as the third-ranking pilot on Apollo 1.
World War II - Auschwitz Liberated
January 27, 1945
Soviet soldiers arrive at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Poland to begin freeing the 5,200 survivors, including Anne Frank's father Otto Frank. Anne and her sister Margot had been relocated from Auschwitz to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp the previous October, where they died sometime in early 1945.
More than 1,500,000 people had been killed at Auschwitz.
Vietnam War - Cease-fire
January 27, 1973
The U.S., North and South Vietnam, and the National Liberation Front sign peace accords, ending the longest war in U.S. history.
End of the Vietnam Draft
January 27, 1973
The U.S. Selective Service announces that there would be no more draft calls.
World War II - Air Raids on Germany
January 27, 1943
First U.S. Air Force raid on Germany is carried out by the 8th Air Force over Wilhelmshaven.
Thorpe at the 1912 Summer Olympics
Thorpe at the 1912 Summer Olympics
Olympics - Thorpe's Medals Revoked
January 27, 1913
U.S. athlete Jim Thorpe loses his gold medals for the 1912 pentathlon and decathlon. It was discovered that he had been paid up to $25 a week to play baseball (1909-10), disqualifying him from the strictly amateur Olympics. There was speculation that the revocation was due to his Native American heritage, as it was known that other athletes had played professionally, although usually under aliases.
His medals were restored in 1982.
Thorpe is considered the greatest athlete of the first half of the 20th century, having played professional football and baseball, and excelled in boxing, wrestling, gymnastics, swimming, hockey, basketball, and track.
Thorpe was also the first president of the American Professional Football Association (APFA) from 1920 to 1921, which became the NFL in 1922.
Greece
January 27, 1822
The country declares its independence following its war with Turkey.
Birthdays
Howard McNear
Born January 27, 1905 d. 1969
American actor. TV: The Andy Griffith Show (1961-67, Floyd the barber). Radio: Gunsmoke (1952-61 radio series, Doc Adams).
Real-Life Popeye the Sailor
Frank "Rocky" Fiegel
Born January 27, 1868 d. 1947
Polish-born ruffian. He is said to be the real-life inspiration for the Popeye character created by E. C. Segar in 1929. He was unusually strong, had a characteristic pipe, and a propensity for fist-fighting. He was from Segar's hometown and according to Popeye historian Michael Brooks, Segar regularly sent him money.
Segar drew inspiration for a number of his Popeye characters from real people he knew in his home town, such as Dora Paskel from whom he based the Olive Oyl character.
Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson)
Born January 27, 1832 d. 1898
English mathematician, author. While on a rowboat to a picnic, 10-year-old Alice Liddell asked Carroll to tell her and her sisters a story. He spun the story of a girl named Alice and her adventures when she fell down a rabbit hole. He then turned this into his most famous book. Writings: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1872).
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Born January 27, 1756 d. 1791
Austrian composer. He created over 600 compositions including The Marriage of Figaro (1786) and The Magic Flute (1791). Very little of his work was published during his lifetime.
Robert Ray
Born January 27, 1978 d. 2000
American AIDS victim. He was one of three HIV infected hemophiliac brothers who won a federal court order allowing them in school after they were barred in 1986. Their family home was burned down a week after the court decision.
The three brothers contracted HIV from infusions of Factor 8 when they were less than 8 years old.
Seth Justman
Born January 27, 1951
American keyboardist, with J. Geils Band. Music: Must Have Got Lost (1974), Freeze-Frame (1981), and Centerfold (1981, #1).
Mikhail Baryshnikov
Born January 27, 1948
Russian ballet dancer.
Nick Mason
Born January 27, 1944
English drummer, with Pink Floyd. Music: Dark Side of the Moon (1972, #1), Wish You Were Here (1975, #1), and The Wall (1979, #1).
Sabu (right) in Jungle Book
Sabu (right) in Jungle Book
Sabu (Sabu Dastagir)
Born January 27, 1924 d. 1963
Indian-born American actor. Film: Elephant Boy (1937, Toomai) and Jungle Book (1942, Mowgli). Two days before his death, during a routine medical check, his doctor told him: "If all my patients were as healthy as you, I would be out of a job". He died of a heart attack a month before his 40th birthday.
Donna Reed and as Mrs. Bailey (right)
Donna Reed and as Mrs. Bailey (right)
Donna Reed (Donna Belle Mullenger)
Born January 27, 1921 d. 1986
American Oscar-winning actress. Film: The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), It's A Wonderful Life (1946, Mrs. Bailey), and From Here to Eternity (1953, Oscar win as Alma the prostitute). TV: The Donna Reed Show (1958-66, Donna Stone).
Note: In an episode of The Donna Reed Show, it is revealed that Donna Reed's character's maiden name is Donna Belle Mullenger (the same as Donna Reed's birth name) and she is also from her home town of Denison, Iowa.
Ross Bagdasarian, Sr.
Born January 27, 1919 d. 1972
American novelty musician. As David Seville, he was the manager of Alvin and the Chipmunks. He co-wrote Come On-a My House, Rosemary Clooney's all-time biggest hit. He bought 220 acres of Thompson seedless grapes near Fresno and named it the Chipmunk Ranch.
Skitch Henderson (Lyle Russell Cedric Henderson)
Born January 27, 1918 d. 2005
American orchestra leader. Henderson served as the original bandleader for The Tonight Show (originally called Tonight Starring Steve Allen) from 1953 to 1957, then returned in 1962, leaving again in 1966.
Father of the Nuclear Navy
Hyman George Rickover
Born January 27, 1900 d. 1986
American navy admiral, "Father of the Nuclear Navy." He directed the development of nuclear powered submarines.
First Woman Treasurer of the U.S.
Georgia Neese Clark
Born January 27, 1898 d. 1995
American banker. The first woman treasurer of the U.S. (1949-53).
Jerome David Kern
Born January 27, 1885 d. 1945
American composer. Music: Show Boat (1927, which included the song Ol' Man River) and Smoke Gets In Your Eyes (1933).
Samuel Gompers
Born January 27, 1850 d. 1924
English-born American labor leader, first president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL).
Deaths
Jack Paar
Died January 27, 2004 b. 1918
American host. In 1957, he took over as host of TV's The Tonight Show (later renamed The Jack Paar Show) after the original host Steve Allen quit to do a primetime variety show. Paar famously walked off his show after a water closet joke he told was censored by the network, not returning for a month. After The Jack Paar Show, he hosted The Jack Paar Program (1962-65).
Photo Credit: John McKeon
Photo Credit: John McKeon
André the Giant (André René Roussimoff)
Died January 27, 1993 b. 1946
French giant, wrestler. Billed as 7-foot-4, 520-pounds, and "The Eighth Wonder of the World". He portrayed Fessick the gentle giant in the 1989 movie The Princess Bride. He was the first inductee into the WWF Hall of Fame (1993).
Colonel Nolde
Colonel Nolde
Last American Combat Casualty of the Vietnam War
Colonel William B. Nolde
Died January 27, 1973 b. 1929
American Army officer. Nolde was killed by an artillery shell 11 hours before the truce was to take effect. He was the 45,914th confirmed death and 57,597th in the total list of Americans killed during the conflict and is the last official Combat Casualty of the Vietnam War.
During his time in service, he earned four medals, including the Bronze Star Medal and Legion of Merit.
First American to Walk in Space
Edward Higgins White II
Died January 27, 1967 b. 1930
American astronaut. First American to walk in space (1965).
He died in 1967 with two other astronauts when Apollo 1 caught fire on the launch pad during a simulation, making him and the crew the first American astronauts to die in a spacecraft.
McGowan with Our Gang actors
McGowan with Our Gang actors
Our Gang Director
Robert F. McGowan
Died January 27, 1955 b. 1882
American film director. Directed the Our Gang comedies (1922-33). He quit directing Our Gang after he no longer wanted to deal with the hassles of stage mothers and child stars.
Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Cochran)
Died January 27, 1922 b. 1864
American journalist. She is known for her writings on divorce, women, and child labor conditions. Her book Ten Days in a Mad-House was based on what she experienced after committing herself to the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island (1887) for an undercover story on the treatment of the mentally ill. The atrocities she uncovered there prompted numerous reforms in the treatment of the mentally ill. She completed a record-breaking 72-day around-the-world trip for the New York World (1889-90). She also manufactured the first practical 55-gallon steel oil drum, which evolved into the standard one used today.
John James Audubon
Died January 27, 1851 b. 1785
American ornithologist and wildlife artist. He was elected (1900) to the Hall of Fame for Great Americans.
Inventor of the Piano
Bartolomeo Cristofori
Died January 27, 1731 b. 1655
Italian harpsichord maker and inventor of the piano (circa 1700). The word piano is a shortened form of pianoforte, the Italian term for the instrument in the early 1700s. The terms piano and forte indicate "soft" and "loud" respectively, referring to the variations in volume that occur depending on how hard the keys are struck.
Jack Burns (right) with Avery Schreiber
Jack Burns (right) with Avery Schreiber
Jack Burns
Died January 27, 2020 b. 1933
American actor. With the comedy team, Burns and Schreiber, they were known for routines in which Burns played a talkative taxicab passenger (You know what I mean, huh, huh?), with Schreiber as the driver. He started out partnered with George Carlin in 1959 and they released the album Burns and Carlin at the Playboy Club Tonight (1963). TV: The Burns and Schreiber Comedy Hour (1973, co-host) and The Andy Griffith Show (1965-66, deputy Warren Ferguson, Barney Fife's replacement). Burns was also the headwriter for the first season of Hee Haw (1969-70), was co-creator and writer for The Muppet Show (1976-79), and co-wrote The Muppet Movie (1979).
Mort Walker (Addison Morton Walker)
Died January 27, 2018 b. 1923
American cartoonist. Creator of Beetle Bailey (1950) and Hi and Lois (1954).
Pete Seeger
Died January 27, 2014 b. 1919
American folk singer. Music: Where Have All the Flowers Gone? (1955), If I Had a Hammer (1949, co-writer) and Turn! Turn! Turn! (1959).
After Bob Dylan infamously went electric at the Newport Folk Festival, Seeger said, "If I had an axe, I'd cut the cable right now."
J.D. Salinger (Jerome David Salinger)
Died January 27, 2010 b. 1919
American author. Writings: The Catcher in the Rye (1951). Mark David Chapman was carrying a copy of this book when he killed John Lennon.
John Updike
Died January 27, 2009 b. 1932
American Pulitzer-winning author. Writings: The Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom series which included Rabbit is Rich and Rabbit at Rest, each of which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Tige Andrews (Tiger Andrews)
Died January 27, 2007 b. 1920
American actor. TV: The Mod Squad (Capt. Adam Greer).
Claude Akins
Died January 27, 1994 b. 1926
American actor. TV: Lobo (The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo) (1979-81, title role).
Norman McLaren
Died January 27, 1987 b. 1914
Scottish-born Canadian film animator. Film: Neighbors (1952, Oscar), in which he animated actual actors by filming them one frame at time while slightly changing their positions.
Mahalia Jackson
Died January 27, 1972 b. 1911
American gospel singer, considered one of the greatest of all time. She sang at U.S. President John F. Kennedy's inauguration (1961) and at Martin Luther King, Jr.'s funeral (1968).
Virgil "Gus" Grissom
Died January 27, 1967 b. 1926
American astronaut. One of the seven original Mercury astronauts (1959) and the first astronaut to go into space twice. He died with two other astronauts when Apollo 1 caught fire on the launch pad during a simulation.
Roger B. Chaffee
Died January 27, 1967 b. 1935
American astronaut. He died with two other astronauts when Apollo 1 caught fire on the launch pad during a simulation.
Chaffee served as capsule communicator (CAPCOM) for the Gemini 3 and Gemini 4 missions and served as the third-ranking pilot on Apollo 1.
James Gillespie Blaine
Died January 27, 1893 b. 1830
American statesman, author, known as the Plumed Knight.
Sergius II
Died January 27, 847 b. ????
Italian religious leader, 102nd Pope (844-847).
Saint Vitalian
Died January 27, 672 b. ????
religious leader, 76th Pope (657-672).