What Happened On
First Regularly Scheduled In-Flight Movie
July 19, 1961
TWA begins showing in-flight movies to its first-class passengers. The first movie was By Love Possessed (1961) starring Lana Turner, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., and Jason Robards Jr.
• While this was the first regularly-scheduled in-flight movie, the first movie ever shown in flight was in 1921, when Aeromarine Airways showed Howdy Chicago! during the Pageant of Progress Exposition in Chicago. The film was produced by the Rothacker Film Co. for the Chicago Boosters Club.
• The first in-flight screening a major motion picture was the film The Lost World, which was shown on an Imperial Airways flight in April 1925.
Frankie Lymon
Frankie Lymon
Interracial Dancing Outcry
July 19, 1957
Fourteen-year-old black singer Frankie Lymon begins dancing with a white teenaged girl on the TV show The Big Beat. The ensuing scandal caused the cancellation of the show.
Lymon was lead singer and an original member of the integrated teenage group the Teenagers. The Teenagers' first single and their biggest hit was 1956's Why Do Fools Fall in Love.
Lymon died at the age of 25 from a heroin overdose.
The film Why Do Fools Fall In Love (1998) was based on his life.
First Major-League Unassisted Triple Play
July 19, 1909
Neal Ball makes the first unassisted triple play in major league baseball. Ball was playing shortstop for the Cleveland Naps when he caught a Boston Red Sox line drive, touched 2nd, and tagged the runner.
An unassisted triple play occurs when a defensive player makes all three outs by himself in one continuous play, without his teammates making any assists.
Doomsday Comet
July 19, 1862
The Swift-Tuttle Comet is discovered by Horace Tuttle in Massachusetts. It had been independently spotted by Louis Swift in New York three days earlier. It has a 1 in 10,000 chance of colliding with Earth in the year 2126. If this occurs it will probably end civilization.
Bloomers costume
Bloomers costume
Bloomers
July 19, 1848
According to fashion legend, Amelia Jenks Bloomer introduces the new women's fashion by wearing a pair to the first Women's Rights Convention in New York.
Bloomer began advocated the wearing of bloomers in The Lily, the first major women's rights newspaper (1849), which she published.
Bloomers are women's garments that are divided for the lower body. They were considered "not so harmful to women's health as the current fashion". They also represented unrestricted movement that allowed for greater freedom, both metaphorical and physical.
Salem Witch Trials
July 19, 1692
Sarah Good, Sarah Wildes, Elizabeth Howe, Rebecca Nurse, and Sussanah Martin are hanged for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts.
Rebecca Nurse was a central character in Arthur Miller's play The Crucible. A church member known for her generosity and piety, the 71-year-old Nurse was initially found not guilty by a jury. However, after her acquittal, her accusers began having "spasms" claiming she was continuing to bewitch them. The jury reconvened, this time returning a verdict of guilty.
In 1706, one of her accusers recanted her accusation, claiming Satan had tricked her into making the false charges.
Mike Tyson
July 19, 1991
Boxer Mike Tyson has sex with 18-year-old beauty pageant contestant Desiree Washington for which he was later convicted of rape and sentenced to six years in prison, but released in 1995 after serving less than three years of his sentence. During his incarceration, Tyson converted to Islam and took the Muslim name Malik Abdul Aziz.
Challenger Disaster
July 19, 1985
New Hampshire schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe is chosen from among 11,000 applicants to the NASA Teacher in Space Project and was scheduled to become the first teacher to fly in space aboard the Challenger. It would explode on lift-off killing all aboard.
First Woman Nominated for U.S. Vice-President by a Major Political Party
July 19, 1984
Geraldine Ferraro is nominated by the Democratic party. She had been selected by presidential candidate Walter Mondale as his running mate.
First U.S. Rocket With a Nuclear Warhead
July 19, 1957
The first U.S. rocket with a nuclear warhead is fired, at the Nevada proving grounds.
Paris Metropolitain
July 19, 1900
The Paris Metropolitain (Paris Metro) opens, the main line of Metropolitain underground railway.
Declaration of Independence
July 19, 1776
After receiving word of unanimous approval by all 13 colonies, the Continental Congress orders the engrossing and signing of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, which began on August 2nd.
Birthdays
Sir Brian May (Brian Harold May)
Born July 19, 1947
English astrophysicist and guitarist with Queen. He was lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the rock band Queen, which he co-founded with singer Freddie Mercury and drummer Roger Taylor.
Bernie Leadon (Bernard Matthew Leadon III)
Born July 19, 1947
American Hall of Fame guitarist. He is a founding member of The Eagles. Music: Take It Easy (1972), Desperado (1973), and One of These Nights (1975).
Photo Credit: Daniel Christensen
Photo Credit: Daniel Christensen
Inventor of the Microwave Oven
Percy Spencer
Born July 19, 1894 d. 1970
American scientist. While working for the Raytheon company, he stopped for a minute in front of a magnetron, a vacuum tube that generates high-frequency radio waves for use in radar, and noticed that the chocolate bar in his pocket was melting, which inspired him to invent the microwave oven (1946). He named his invention the "Radarange", a combination of the words "radar" and "range".
An orphan at age eight who never graduated from grammar school, he became Senior Vice President at Raytheon and received 150 patents.
Lizzie, her home, father, and stepmother murdered
Lizzie, her home, father, and stepmother murdered
Lizzie Borden (Lisbeth A. Borden)
Born July 19, 1860 d. 1927
American murder suspect. She was accused of axing her father and stepmother to death in 1892. She was acquitted in 1893.
The Dance Class
The Dance Class
Edgar Degas
Born July 19, 1834 d. 1917
French impressionist painter, sculptor. He is noted for his paintings of ballet dancers and racehorses.
Colt Walker pistol, 1847
Photo Credit: Older Firearms
Colt Walker pistol, 1847Photo Credit: Older Firearms
Samuel Colt
Born July 19, 1814 d. 1862
American inventor. He patented his revolver in 1836. He also invented the first electrically detonated water mine (1842). He would give custom engraved revolvers to heads of state and military officers, and received many government and military contracts. He would also give custom revolvers to newspaper editors that wrote favorable stories about his weapons. Colt supplied both the North and the South with firearms during the American Civil War. He had sold weapons to warring parties on both sides of other conflicts in Europe and saw no difference with respect to the war in America.
Bob Burden
Born July 19, 1952
American cartoonist. Creator of Flaming Carrot Comics (1979).
Beverly Archer
Born July 19, 1948
American actress. TV: Mama's Family (Iola).
Vikki Carr
Born July 19, 1941
American singer. Music: It Must Be Him (1967).
Helen Gallagher
Born July 19, 1926
American actress. TV: Ryan's Hope (Maeve Ryan).
George McGovern
Born July 19, 1922 d. 2012
American politician, U.S. Representative (1957-61, South Dakota), U.S. Senator (1963-81, South Dakota), 1972 Presidential candidate, losing in a landslide to Richard Nixon.
Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith
Born July 19, 1904 d. 1985
U.S. President Abraham Lincoln's great-grandson, and last of Lincoln's descendants.
Max Fleischer
Born July 19, 1883 d. 1972
Austrian-born American animator. He and his brother Dave Fleischer created Betty Boop and animated Popeye the Sailor. He also created Out of the Inkwell, which was the first popular animated cartoon series.
Betty Boop was based on real-life squeaky-voiced singers Helen Kane and Clara Bow. Kane began mimicking the style black singer Baby Esther after seeing her perform at the Cotton Club in Harlem in 1928. Baby Esther was about nine years old at the time.
Charles Horace Mayo
Born July 19, 1865 d. 1939
American surgeon. He and his brother, William James Mayo, co-founded the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (1915).
Deaths
Hanged As a Witch
Rebecca Nurse
Died July 19, 1692 b. 1621
New England witch trial victim. She was hanged as a witch in 1692 along with others as part of the Salem Witch Trials. She was a central character in Arthur Miller's play The Crucible.
A church member known for her generosity and piety, the 71-year-old Nurse was initially found not guilty by a jury. However, after her acquittal, her accusers began having "spasms" claiming she was continuing to bewitch them. The jury reconvened, this time returning a verdict of guilty.
In 1706, one of her accusers recanted her accusation, claiming Satan had tricked her into making the false charges.
Hauer as android Roy Batty
Hauer as android Roy Batty
Rutger Hauer
Died July 19, 2019 b. 1944
Dutch actor. Film: Blade Runner (1982, android Roy Batty) and The Hitcher (1986).
Gary Marshall
Died July 19, 2016 b. 1934
American director, producer, writer. TV: Dick Van Dyke Show, The Odd Couple, Happy Days, and Laverne & Shirley.
James Garner (James Bumgarner)
Died July 19, 2014 b. 1928
American Emmy-winning actor. Film: The Great Escape (1963) and The Notebook (2004). TV: Maverick (1957-62, Bret Maverick) and The Rockford Files (1974-80, "Jimbo" Rockford).
Jack Warden (John H. Lebzelter)
Died July 19, 2006 b. 1920
American Emmy-winning actor. TV: Crazy Like a Fox (Harry Fox). Film: Shampoo (1975, Lester Carp). He fought in the WWII Battle of the Bulge (1944).
Alain Bombard
Died July 19, 2005 b. 1924
French biologist, physician. He made a solo voyage across the Atlantic Ocean (1952) in a 15-foot long boat with almost no provisions. He survived by eating raw fish and plankton. He just wanted to prove that it could be done.
I've Fallen, and I Can't Get Up
Dorothy McHugh
Died July 19, 1995 b. 1907
American dancer. An ex-Ziegfeld Follies dancer. She appeared in a medical device commercial proclaiming "I've fallen, and I can't get up", for which she was paid $60.
She also worked as artist's model and posed for illustrations in the Saturday Evening Post. She acted in the film Artists and Models (1937) starring Jack Benny and Ida Lupino and was a model at the 1939 New York World's Fair.
Jack Pierce working on Boris Karloff
Jack Pierce working on Boris Karloff
Jack Pierce
Died July 19, 1968 b. 1889
American make-up artist. Created the monsters for Frankenstein (1931), Werewolf of London (1935), The Mummy (1932), The Invisible Man (1933), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), The Wolfman (1941), Dracula (1945), and many others.
George Stafford Parker
Died July 19, 1937 b. 1863
American inventor. He invented an improved fountain pen (1890) and founded The Parker Pen Company.
Sarah Margaret Fuller
Died July 19, 1850 b. 1810
American writer, critic. She wrote Woman in the Nineteenth Century (1845), the first American book on feminism. She was the first American woman foreign correspondent for the New York Tribune (1846).
Louise
Died July 19, 1810 b. 1776
Queen consort of Prussia (Luise Auguste Wilhelmine Amalie). Wife of Frederick William III.
Saint Symmachus
Died July 19, 514 b. ????
religious leader, 51st Pope (498-514).