On This Day July 6

1962
First H-bomb explosion within the boundaries of the U.S., at the Nevada proving grounds.

1944
The Day the Clowns Cried: 169 people are killed when the big top at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus catches fire during a performance to a crowd of 6,000.

1933
First All-Star baseball game. Played at Comiskey Park, the American League won 4-2.

1930
First international flight record set by a woman, Emelia Earhart sets the average speed record at 181.18 mph over a 64 mile course.

1928
Hail stones measuring 5½ inches in diameter and weighing 1½ pounds fall in Potter, Nebraska.

1928
First all-talking motion picture: The Lights of New York premiers in New York City.

1854
Republican party is formed, when a Detroit convention of the Whigs and Free Soil party adopts their new name.

1787
First coin authorized by the Continental Congress, a copper Franklin cent, designed by Benjamin Franklin. (Source: Famous First Facts)

1785
The dollar is adopted as the unit of U.S. currency by the Continental Congress. (Source: Famous First Facts)

1954
Allyce Beasly, American actress. TV: Moonlighting (the rhyming receptionist Agnes di Pesto).

1937
Ned Beatty, American actor. Film: Deliverance (1972). TV: Roseanne (Dan's Father).

1931
Della Reese (Delloreese Patricia Early), American singer. Music: Don't You Know (1959, #2).

1927
Janet Leigh (Jeanette Morrison), American actress. Film: Psycho (1960, shower scene victim).

1925
Merv Griffin, American TV executive, creator of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune.

1925 d. 1981
Bill Haley, American rock 'n' roll pioneer. Music: Rock Around the Clock (1954, #1).

1922
William Schallert, American actor. TV: The Patty Duke Show (Patty's father), The Nancy Drew Mysteries (Nancy's father), and The New Gidget (Gidget's father).

1921
Nancy Reagan, American First Lady, in her 1939 high school production of First Lady her only line read: "They ought to elect the First Lady and let her husband be president."

1918 d. 1977
Sebastian Cabot, English actor. TV: Family Affair (Mr. French).

1888 d. 1975
Annette Kellerman, Australian swimmer, actress. She starred in the first sex-shocker movie, A Daughter of the Gods (1916). Earlier, in 1907, she had been arrested for wearing a one-piece bathing suit at a Boston beach.

1747 d. 1792
John Paul Jones, Scottish-born American naval officer. He is known for his famous proclamation, "I have not yet begun to fight."

2003 b. 1908
Buddy Ebsen (Christian Ebsen Jr.), American actor. TV: The Beverly Hillbillies (Jed Clampett) and Barnaby Jones (title role). He was originally cast as the "Tin Man" in the The Wizard of Oz (1939), but had to quit because he was allergic to the silver makeup.

1998 b. 1911
Roy Rogers (Leonard Franklin Slye), American singing cowboy, who appeared in movies and TV with Dale Evans and Trigger. TV: The Roy Rogers Show.

1971 b. 1901
Louis Armstrong, American jazz musician, "Satchmo," the first and greatest solo jazz musician.

1967 b. circa 1875
Chief John Big Tree, American Indian. He was the model for the Indian head nickel.

1962 b. 1897
William Faulkner, American Nobel-Pulitzer-winning author, wrote The Sound and the Fury (1929), Sanctuary (1931), A Fable (1954), and The Reivers (1962, Nobel).

1932 b. 1859
Kenneth Grahame, English author. Writings: The Wind in the Willows (1908).

1893 b. 1850
Guy de Maupassant, French short-story writer, novelist. Writings: Boule de suif (1880) and Pierre et Jean (1888).

1851 b. 1802
Thomas Davenport, American inventor. He built the first practical electric motor (1837).

1835 b. 1755
John Marshall, 4th chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1801-35), and principle founder of the U.S. system of constitutional law. The Liberty Bell cracked whiled tolling his death.

1553 b. 1537
Edward VI, King of England (1547-53). He was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour.

1189 b. 1133
Henry II, King of England (1154-89), established trial by jury in England. He banned football, believing people were playing it too much and neglecting more important sports such as archery.

July 6

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