What Happened On
The Simpsons
December 17, 1989
The animated series The Simpsons debuts on Fox television. It began as a series of 48 one-minute animated shorts on The Tracy Ullman Show two years earlier. It has gone on to win over 30 Emmy Awards.
Creator Matt Groening modeled "Bart" after his older brother, Mark, naming him "Bart" - an anagram of "brat".
Tiny Tim Marries Miss Vicky
December 17, 1969
37-year-old Tiny Tim marries 17-year-old Miss Vicki (Victoria Budinger) live on The Tonight Show. This was the highest-rated talk show episode ever up to then, drawing over 40 million viewers, and remained the highest-rated Tonight Show episode until Johnny Carson's final episode in 1992 which drew in 55 million viewers.
In 1971, they gave birth to a daughter, Tulip Victoria Khuary, but later divorced in 1977.
Tiny Tim died of the results of a heart attack he suffered while performing his 
falsetto/ukulele version of Tip Toe Through The Tulips on stage.
Orville piloting, Wilbur on ground.
Orville piloting, Wilbur on ground.
Wright Brothers First Flight
December 17, 1903
The Wright brothers have their first controlled, powered, heavier-than-air flight. Orville Wright flies their plane for 12 seconds near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Later that day, his brother Wilbur Wright flew for 59 seconds.
There is evidence that Gustave Whitehead made a powered, heavier-than-air-flight two years earlier.
Diamonds Are Forever
December 17, 1971
The James Bond movie Diamonds Are Forever premieres in the U.S., 7th in the James Bond series, it starred Sean Connery as 007.
First National Football League Championship
December 17, 1933
The Chicago Bears beat the New York Giants 23-21 in the first NFL championship.
Civil War - Expulsion of Jews
December 17, 1862
Union army Major-General Ulysses S. Grant issues orders for the expulsion of all Jews in his military district, comprising areas of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky. He believed the Jews were involved in the black market trading of Southern cotton. Under pressure from Jewish community leaders, members of Congress, the press, and President Abraham Lincoln, he revoked this order the following January. Grant later claimed the order was written by a subordinate and he had issued it without reading it.
Photo Credit: Anagoria
Photo Credit: Anagoria
Ancient Aztec Calendar Stone
December 17, 1790
An ancient Aztec calendar stone is found buried in Mexico City. This 25-ton 52-year-cycle calendar is believed to have been carved in 1479. It is also believed that it took thousands of workers to move the stone the 13.7 miles (22 km) from its source to Mexico City. The stone was buried shortly after the Spanish conquest (1519-21) by Archbishop Alonso de Montúfar so that "the memory of the ancient sacrifice that was made there would be lost." It was rediscovered during repairs on the Mexico City Cathedral over 250 years later.
Henry VIII Excommunicated
December 17, 1538
Pope Paul III excommunicates the King of England Henry VIII from the Catholic Church. Earlier in the year, Henry had begun a campaign of what he termed "idolatry" practiced under the old religion, including the dismantling of the shrine of St. Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. In 1540, Henry sanctioned the complete destruction of shrines to saints and in 1542, England's remaining monasteries were all dissolved, and their property transferred to the Crown.
England had broken away from the Catholic Church after Pope Clement VII had threatened Henry with excommunication in 1533. Clement died before the excommunication became official.
Birthdays
Won Pulitzer for Book Published 11 Years After His Suicide
John Kennedy Toole
Born December 17, 1937 d. 1969
American Pulitzer-winning author. Writings: A Confederacy of Dunces (written in 1963, but not published until 11 years after he committed suicide), which won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Toole's mother found a copy of the manuscript after his suicide and persisted in getting it published, even after rejections by several publishing houses. It instantly became a classic work of Southern U.S. fiction.
The book takes its title from the Jonathan Swift essay, Thoughts on Various Subjects, Moral and Diverting: "When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
Barry Livingston
Born December 17, 1953
American actor. TV: My Three Sons (1963-72, Ernie Douglas). He originally played next door neighbor Ernie Thompson, but when Tim Considine left the show, Barry's character was adopted into the Douglas family. His real-life older brother, Stanley Livingston, played his older brother Chip on the show.
Eugene Levy
Born December 17, 1946
Canadian Emmy-winning comedian. TV: SCTV.
Eddie Kendricks
Born December 17, 1939 d. 1992
American singer. With the Temptations, the most successful male vocal group of the 1960s and '70s. Music: My Girl (1965, #1).
Francis (Jorge Mario Bergoglio)
Born December 17, 1936
266th Pope (2013‑). Francis is the first Jesuit pope, the first from the Americas (born in Argentina), the first from the Southern Hemisphere, and the first non-European pope since 741.
Dave Madden (David Joseph Madden)
Born December 17, 1931 d. 2014
Canadian-born American actor. TV: The Partridge Family (1970-1974, child-hating manager Reuben Kincaid). In real life, he took in costar Danny Bonaduce during Bonaduce's family's domestic strife.
Bob Guccione (Robert Charles Joseph Edward Sabatini Guccione)
Born December 17, 1930 d. 2010
American publisher. Founder of Penthouse (1965) and Omni (1978).
Willard Frank Libby
Born December 17, 1908 d. 1980
American Nobel-winning chemist, inventor of radiocarbon dating (1949).
Erskine Caldwell
Born December 17, 1903 d. 1987
American author. Writings: Tobacco Road (1932) and God's Little Acre (1933).
Arthur Fiedler
Born December 17, 1894 d. 1979
American conductor, with the Boston Pops Orchestra. He is the world's best-selling classical artist (50,000,000 records) and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1977).
William Allen Miller
Born December 17, 1817 d. 1870
English scientist. He performed the first trustworthy chemical analysis of stars.
Gave the first Public Demonstration of an Electric Light
Sir Humphry Davy
Born December 17, 1778 d. 1829
English scientist. He discovered inhaling laughing gas for anesthesia (1799), discovered potassium, sodium (1807), barium, strontium, calcium (1808), gave the first public demonstration of an electric light (1806), and invented the safety lamp for miners (1815).
The word anesthesia is from the Greek for "without sensation".
William Floyd
Born December 17, 1734 d. 1821
American politician, signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Paracelsus
Born December 17, 1493 d. 1541
Swiss physician, alchemist. He was one of the first to recognize that illnesses had specific causes that could be treated, as opposed to the then-current belief that they were caused by the imbalance of body fluids.
Deaths
Photo Credit: Evolution and evolvability
Photo Credit: Evolution and evolvability
Dr. Henry J. Heimlich
Died December 17, 2016 b. 1920
German physician. He is credited with inventing the Heimlich maneuver (1974) to aid choking victims. He also assisted Paul Winchell (voice of Tigger in Winnie the Pooh movies) in developing the first implantable artificial heart to receive a U.S. patent.
Penny Marshall
Died December 17, 2018 b. 1943
American actress. TV: Laverne & Shirley (1976-83, Laverne DeFazio). She directed the movie Big (1988), which became the first film directed by a woman to gross more than $100 million at the U.S. box office.
She was married to actor Rob Reiner (1971-81).
Louis Harris
Died December 17, 2016 b. 1921
American public opinion analyst. He conducted The Harris Poll, one of the best-known polls of his time.
Kim Jong-il
Died December 17, 2011 b. circa 1941
North Korean Supreme Leader (1994-2011). It is claimed that his birth was foretold by a swallow, the appearance of a double rainbow over Mount Paekdu, and a new star in the heavens.
Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet)
Died December 17, 2010 b. 1941
American singer. He appeared regularly on TV as a child prodigy, especially noted for his clay sculpting. Music: Trout Mask Replica.
Jack Anderson
Died December 17, 2005 b. 1922
American Pulitzer-winning columnist. Writings: Washington Merry-Go-Round (Pulitzer, 1972). He was credited for breaking the Iran-Contra Affair and a CIA-Mafia plot to kill Fidel Castro.
Mary Ann Jackson
Died December 17, 2003 b. 1923
American actress, one of The Little Rascals (older sister of Wheezer). She appeared in 32 Our Gang films (1928-31).
Rex Allen
Died December 17, 1999 b. 1920
American singing cowboy, "The Arizona Cowboy," actor, and narrator of numerous Walt Disney nature films.
Grover Washington Jr.
Died December 17, 1999 b. 1943
American saxophonist. Music: Just the Two of Us (1981, #2). He was one of the most commercially successful jazz musicians of the '70s and '80s.
Dana Andrews (Carver Dana Andrews)
Died December 17, 1992 b. 1909
American actor. Film: Laura (1944), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), and Night of the Demon (1957, which is referenced in the opening song of The Rocky Horror Picture Show). TV: Bright Promise (1969-72, Tom Boswell).
Thomas Mitchell
Died December 17, 1962 b. 1892
American Oscar-Tony-Emmy-winning actor. Broadway: Hazel Flagg (1953, Tony). Film: Stagecoach (1939, Oscar) and Gone with the Wind (1939, Scarlett O'Hara's father).
First Baron Kelvin (William Thomson)
Died December 17, 1907 b. 1824
British scientist, inventor. He developed the Kelvin temperature scale (1848), based on the temperature of absolute zero.
Simon Bolivar
Died December 17, 1830 b. 1783
Venezuelan general, "The Liberator." He led revolutions that freed Bolivia, Columbia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela from Spanish rule.
Oliver Pollock
Died December 17, 1823 b. 1737
Irish-born American businessman, He is often credited with creating of the '$' symbol for the U.S. dollar (1778). He also used his wealth to help finance the American Revolution in the West, which left him broke and he was eventually imprisoned for his debt. Congress, after initially refusing, discharged his debt in 1791.
Gregory VIII
Died December 17, 1187 b. ????
religious leader, 173rd Pope (Oct. - Dec. 1187).