During this week in show business and media history, here’s what went down when…

January 4 1941 saw the release of Flaming Havoc, the first installment of Universal Pictures’ 16-chapter serial The Green Hornet Strikes Again, starring Warren Hull as Britt Reid/The Green Hornet and Keye Luke as his faithful valet, Kato.

It was a bad day for lovers of Lassie back on January 4, 1970 when CBS aired an episode in which the series’ star was struck by a car while pushing a child to safety. For the next few months, TV audiences sat riveted, watching Lassie’s personal struggle with the affects of amnesia. Lassie was a dog.

On January 4 1982, Bryant Gumbel moved from the NBC Sports desk to the NBC News desk, joining Jane Pauley, Willard Scott and Chris Wallace on the start of his 15-year run as co-anchor of The Today Show.

On January 5 in 1961, Wilbur and Carol Post moved into their new Southern California home and discovered they owned a horse named Mr. Ed. The CBS comedy about the relationship between an architect and his talking horse ran for six years and remains the only TV sitcom ever to guest star Clint Eastwood.

Glen Larson (McCloud, Battlestar Galactica) and Roy Huggins (Maverick, The Fugitive, The Rockford Files) saw the premiere of their ABC series Alias Smith and Jones on January 5 1971. Peter Duel and Murphy starred as Western outlaws looking to retire from a life of crime.

All My Children celebrated its 25th Anniversary with a primetime special hosted by Carol Burnett on January 5, 1995.

On January 6 1957, Elvis Presley made his third and final appearance on CBS’ The Ed Sullivan Show. The CBS variety show host revealed his thoughts about Elvis at the end of the show, saying, “This is a real decent, fine boy.”

John Wayne starred in his first (of only two) contemporary police thrillers, McQ, released on January 6 1974. Eddie Albert, Diana Muldaur and Colleen Dewhurst support the Duke in the John Sturges-directed Warner Bros. crime drama.

On January 6 1994, Nancy Kerrigan was assaulted and clubbed in the knee at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit. Kerrigan’s plaintive wail of “Why, Why?” was captured by ESPN’s SportsCentury.

January 7 1929 saw the debut of the first science fiction adventure comic strip, Buck Rogers 2429 A.D., in newspapers all across America. The strip’s title was later changed to Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.

The NBC Blue radio network presented the first installment of The Squeaky Door on January 7, 1941. It will later be re-titled The Inner Sanctum.

The Duoscopic TV receiver was unveiled on January 7 1954. A primitive, picture-in-picture split-screen, the TV was tested in New York City and Chicago,. It was a product of DuMont Laboratories, which owned the DuMont Television Network.

By January 8 1960, nearly 90% of all homes in the United States owned a television set, with over one hundred million television sets in use worldwide…but not a Duoscopic TV in sight.

ABC’s Shindig! aired for the last time on January 8 1966, with guests the Kinks and the Who.

Rawhide premiered on CBS on January 9 1959. Starring Eric Fleming and Clint Eastwood, the western series aired for eight seasons, the fifth-longest-running western in TV history. Its theme song, sung by Frankie Laine, later appeared in The Blues Brothers and Shrek.

On January 9 1972, reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes spoke to a group of reporters by speakerphone from the Bahamas to denounce Clifford Irving’s authorized biography of Hughes as a fake. Irving was eventually imprisoned and ordered to repay his $750,000 advance, plus damages. Thirty-four years later, Richard Gere played Irving in the Miramax film, The Hoax, based Irving’s own book about the affair.

Clara Peller was featured in director Joe Sedelmaier’s classic “Where’s the Beef?” commercial campaign for Wendy’s for the first time on January 9 1984.

On January 10 1952, Cecil B. DeMille’s circus epic, The Greatest Show on Earth, premieres at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

Time Inc. acquired Warner Communications on January 10 1990 for $14.1 billion, making Time Warner one of the world’s largest media and entertainment conglomerates on the planet.

January 10 1999 saw the premiere of David Chase’s family crime drama The Sopranos on HBO…which is owned by Time Warner. Bada Bing!

BORN THIS WEEK: Film composer Lionel Newman (Doctor Dolittle); Robert Parrish, film editor (Body and Soul) and director (Casino Royale); actress Dyan Cannon (Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice); actor Matt Frewer (Max Headroom); actor Dave Foley (NewsRadio); actor George Reeves (The Adventures of Superman); actor Hugh Brannum (Mr. Green Jeans on Captain Kangaroo); actor Robert Duvall (The Godfather, Network); writer Michael O’Donoghue (The National Lampoon, Saturday Night Live); journalist and interviewer Charlie Rose; actress Diane Keaton (The Godfather, Annie Hall); actor Bradley Cooper (Alias, The Hangover); actress January Jones (Mad Men); western film star Tom Mix, comedian Danny Thomas (Make Room for Daddy); actress Bonnie Franklin (One Day at a Time), film director John Singleton (Boyz N the Hood) actress Butterfly McQueen (Gone with the Wind); cartoonist Charles Addams (The Addams Family); Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner; broadcasters Julie Chen (The Early Show and Big Brother); Katie Couric (The Today Show, The CBS Evening News); actor David Caruso (CSI: Miami); Nicholas Cage (Leaving Las Vegas); show business legend Elvis Aaron Presley (Jailhouse Rock); actors Jose Ferrer (The Great Man), Larry Storch (F-Troop) and Soupy Sales (The Soupy Sales Show); illustrator and painter Boris Vallejo (Conan, Tarzan, Doc Savage); actress Yvette Mimieux (The Time Machine); cartoonist Chic Young (Blondie); actor Lee Van Cleef (For a Few Dollars More); actor Bob Denver (Gilligan’s Island); studio executive Roy E. Disney; Screw magazine publisher Al Goldstein; actor Sal Mineo (Rebel Without a Cause); actress and model Linda Lovelace (Deep Throat).

DIED THIS WEEK: Actress and cartoon voice Mae Questel (Betty Boop, Popeye’s Olive Oyl); Iron Eyes Cody (A Man Called Horse); cinematographer Conrad Hall (In Cold Blood, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, American Beauty); Producer Steve Krantz (Spider-Man, Fritz the Cat); Actor Arthur Kennedy (A Summer Place, Fantastic Voyage); singer, actor and politician Sonny Bono (The Sonny and Cher Show, U.S. House of Representatives); mother of Martin Scorsese and actress Catherine Scorsese (The King of Comedy, Goodfellas); Mad cartoonist Don Martin; photographer Francesco Scavullo; pulp writer, radio drama scriptwriter, crime novelist and screenwriter David Goodis (Dark Passage, Shoot the Piano Player); actor and Second City improv teacher Avery Schreiber; Jesse Garon Presley, twin brother of Elvis; writer Dashiell Hammett (The Maltese Falcon); actor Richard Boone (Have Gun, Will Travel; Hec Ramsey); actor Sheldon Leonard, who also produced The Danny Thomas, Andy Griffith and Dick Van Dyke Shows; TV horror host and actress Maila Nurmi (Vampira, Plan Nine from Outer Space), producer Carlo Ponti (La strada, Dr. Zhivago, Blowup) and radio personality, television producer and the Honorary Mayor of Hollywood, Johnny Grant.