On February 15 1931, Tod Browning’s Dracula was released by Universal. It starred Bela Lugosi and Edward Van Sloan who originated their roles of Count Dracula and Abraham Van Helsing on Broadway in 1927.

Exactly one year later to the day, George Burns and Gracie Allen debuted as regulars on CBS Radio’s The Guy Lombardo Show. The couple proved to be so popular that they soon were given a program of their own, The Burns & Allen Show, which ran for on radio for 18 years before jumping to television.

CBS News President Fred Friendly resigned from CBS News on February 15 1966 when the network refused to carry the first U.S. hearings questioning American involvement in Vietnam in favor of airing an episode of The Lucy Show.

ABC began airing Amerika on February 15, 1987. The mini-series, about life in the United States after a bloodless takeover by the Soviet Union, starred Kris Kristofferson, Mariel Hemingway, Robert Urich, and a 17-year-old Lara Flynn Boyle in her first major role. Amerika aired for 14½ hours (including commercials) over seven nights.

February 15 1992: Fox Broadcasting aired the 100th episode of Cops.

YouTube, the Internet video-sharing site was launched on February 15 2005.

Launched on February 16 1948, Camel Newsreel Theatre was a 10-minute NBC program that featured Fox Movietone News newsreels. Actor and former game show host John Cameron Swayze provided voice-over for the series.

The Mark Goodson and Bill Todman-produced panel quiz show, What’s My Line debuted on CBS on February 16 1950. It remained on the air for 17 years, making it the longest-running game show in the history of prime-time network television.

The NBC mini-series Celebrity concluded its three-night run on February 16 1983.

February 16 1985: After an absence of seven years, actor Telly Savalas brought his iconic New York City police lieutenant, Theo Kojak, back to CBS in Kojak: The Belarus File. Between the years 1987 and 1990, Savalas would do six more Kojak movies, this time for ABC.

February 17 1933: Three years after Blondie, Chic Young’s popular comic strip, first debuted in U.S. newspapers, Dagwood Bumstead finally married his Blondie. They Bumsteads later became radio, movie and television stars.

Comedian Joan Rivers made her first guest appearance on NBC’s The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson on February 17 1965. She later became Carson’s permanent guest host.

A marshal from New Mexico traveled to New York on a case and stays there for seven years. Dennis Weaver’s pilot, McCloud: Who Killed Miss U.S.A?, aired on NBC on February 17 1970. The series became a regular part of the network’s line-up the following fall as part of the one-hour “wheel” series, Four in One. A year later, in 1971, McCloud expanded to 90 minutes and joined Columbo and McMillan & Wife under the NBC Mystery Movie umbrella.

February 17 1986: After being fired by WNBC, Howard Stern and his radio show returned to New York City morning radio on WXRK 92.3 FM.

10.5 Million viewers tuned in to ABC on February 17 1988 for the finale of Grace Under Fire.

February 18 1953: Robert Stack and Nigel Bruce appeared in the very first movie produced in 3D, Bwana Devil, as it opened in New York.

That same day, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz sign the richest contract in television when they agree to continue I Love Lucy on CBS through 1955 for $8,000,000.

Roots: The Next Generations premieres on ABC TV on February 18 1979. This sequel to the 1977 miniseries was based on the last seven chapters of Haley’s Roots: The Saga of an American Family and new research by the author.

On February 18 1983, King of Comedy opened in theaters.  The film was directed by Martin Scorsese and starred Robert De Niro, Sandra Bernhard and Jerry Lewis, who had to wait for Johnny Carson, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin to turn his role down before he was cast.

Trinity Broadcasting Network, a Christian TV network, cancelled singer Pat Boone’s gospel music show on February 18 1997 after he appeared in black leather and fake tattoos on the American Music Awards show.

Cloverfield, produced by J.J. Abrams, was released on February 18 2008.

February 19 1922: Ed Wynn became the first big-name vaudeville talent to sign on as a radio performer. Previously, vaudevillians had not considered radio a respectable medium.

Stevie Wonder goes up against ABC’s Here Come The Brides and NBC’s The Virginian when appears on CBS’s The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on February 19 1969

Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey’s 1978 bestseller, A Woman of Independent Means, premiered on NBC as a six-hour miniseries starring Sally Field on February 19 1995.

The films Jawbreaker with Rose McGowan, October Sky with Jake Gyllenhaal and Office Space with Jennifer Aniston were all released on February 19 1999.

February 20 1968: Introduced as a 1960 episode of the television-anthology series The Chevy Mystery Show and later adapted into a stage play, Prescription: Murder premiered as an NBC World Premiere Movie. Written by Richard Levinson and William Link, the movie stars Peter Falk as homicide detective Lieutenant Columbo.

After 11 years on the job, David Hartman exited ABC’s Good Morning America on February 20 1987. He introduced his replacement, Charles Gibson, who along with Joan Lunden, would co-host the morning television program into 1998.

On February 20 2004, 20th Century Fox released Welcome to Mooseport starring Ray Romano and Gene Hackman. A critical and financial disaster, Mooseport was Gene Hackman’s final film before waving goodbye to acting.

February 21 1949: The DuMont Television Network airs the first TV soap opera, A Woman to Remember, a backstage drama about the lives and loves of a group of people working on a radio serial. Fifteen minutes in length, it has no sponsors and lasts five months.

1988 – Televangelist Jimmy Swaggert resigned from his ministry after it was revealed he had been with a prostitute. In front of a Baton Rouge, Louisiana congregation of 7,000, Swaggert sobbed and said: “I have sinned against you and I beg your forgiveness…”

On February 21 2003, United Artists’ Dark Blue starring Kurt Russell goes up against The Life of David Gale starring Kevin Spacey at the box office.

BORN THIS WEEK: Actor and ventriloquist Edgar Bergen (The Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy Show), father of actress Candice Bergen; actor Cesar Romero (Ocean’s 11, ABC’s Batman); actor Hugh Beaumont (The Mole People, Leave It to Beaver); TV game show Bill Cullen (I’ve Got a Secret, The Price is Right, The Name that Tune); actor George Kennedy (Cool Hand Luke, the Airport movie series, The Blue Knight); actor Harvey Korman (The Carol Burnett Show, Blazing Saddles); actor William Katt (The Greatest American Hero, the Perry Mason Mystery movie series); actor John Travolta (Welcome Back Kotter, Saturday Night Fever, Pulp Fiction); cartoonist Matt Groening (Life in Hell, The Simpsons); actor Kelsey Grammer (Cheers, Frasier); actor LeVar Burton (Roots, Star Trek: The Next Generation); actress Molly Ringwald (The Breakfast Club, The Secret Life of the American Teenager); model, reality TV star Jenna Morasca (Survivor, Fear Factor, Celebrity Paranormal Project).

DIED THIS WEEK: Explorer and documentary filmmaker Robert Flaherty (Nanook of the North, Louisiana Story); character actor Wally Cox (Mr. Peepers, Underdog); actor Tim Holt (Stagecoach, The Treasure of Sierra Madre); actor Howard Da Silva (The Great Gatsby, The Missiles of October); child actor Tommy Rettig (Lassie/Jeff’s Collie); actor McLean Stevenson (M*A*S*H, Hello Larry); newspaper and TV film critic Gene Siskel (Chicago Tribune, Siskel & Ebert & the Movies); Howard W. Koch, television director (Maverick, The Untouchables) and film producer (The Odd Couple, Airplane, Ghost); broadcast journalist Howard K. Smith (ABC Evening News); commercial actress Jan Miner (Palmolive’s Madge the Manicurist).

On February 8 1928, In London, Scottish engineer and inventor John Logie Baird conducted the world’s first fully electronic color television broadcast.

After 128 years, The Saturday Evening Post published its last issue on February 8 1969. Editor William Emerson bitterly wished “that all the one-eyed critics will lose their other eye”.

February 8 1985: After using more stunt men in its six and a half year run than any other series in TV history, the final episode of The Dukes of Hazzard was broadcast by CBS.

60 Minutes commentator Andy Rooney was suspended by CBS on February 8 1990 for making offensive and distasteful remarks in a print interview. Though the suspension was to be for three months, Rooney returned to the air after four weeks once CBS discovered that 60 Minutes had lost 20 percent of its audience.

On February 9 1933, the movie She Done Him Wrong, starring Mae West and Cary Grant premiered. The movie refers to West as “one of the finest women who ever walked the streets”, prompting conservatives to demand stricter censorship of motion pictures.

America’s moveable fighting man was born on February 9, 1964. Inspired by the success of Mattel’s Barbie doll and a military-themed TV series created by Star Trek’s Gene Roddenberry called The Lieutenant, the Hasbro toy company released a line of “action figures” and accessories collectively known as G.I. Joe,

On February 9 1968, moviegoers get their first look at the Planet of the Apes.

February 9, 1971: CBS aired “Judging Books By Covers”, an episode of All in the Family that is thought to be the first entertainment show to deal with homosexuality. Four months later, a repeat of the episode would prompt an irritated President Richard Nixon to go off on a rant on the May 13 1971 edition of the secret White House tapes.

With a February 9 1997 episode entitled “The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show”, Matt Groening’s The Simpsons became the longest-running prime-time animated series, a record was previously held by The Flintstones.

Based on the 1943 film, My Friend Flicka premiered on February 10 1956 as a weekly series on CBS. ABC’s The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin kills it off in 39 episodes. Woof!

Satirist Terry Southern’s The Magic Christian, starring Peter Sellers, Ringo Starr, Christopher Lee and Raquel Welch opened in theaters on February 11 1969 in New York City.

On February 10 1989, Detectives Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs tackled college football and gambling in “Hard Knocks”, when NBC aired the 100th episode of Miami Vice.

February 11 1960: Angry at NBC for censoring one of his jokes the previous night, Tonight Show host Jack Paar walked off the show, leaving sidekick Hugh Downs to finish the show.

Twelve years after it happened, the show business newspaper Variety reported on February 11 1970 that Walt Disney had secretly taken his film, Song of the South, out of circulation sometime in 1958 over concerns about race. When the half-animated children’s film was first released in 1946, the NAACP had praised “the remarkable artistic merit” of the film, but criticized the “impression it gives of an idyllic master-slave relationship.”

The Winds of War, ABC’s epic 18-hour World War II miniseries starring Robert Mitchum, concluded on February 11 1982. An estimated 140 million people watched one or more nights, making Winds was the most-viewed television program up to that time.

On February 12 1940, Mutual Radio broadcast the premiere of The Adventures of Superman. The name of the actor playing the Man of Steel was kept from listeners for six years. Bud Collyer would later host the CBS television quiz show To Tell the Truth.

The French Alps, February 12 1973: The jury of first International Festival of Horror and Fantasy awards its top prize to an American TV movie that is neither horror or fantasy, Steven Spielberg’s suspense thriller, Duel.

Mattel Toys released a blonde doll figure on February 13 1959 and a cultural icon was born. Barbie would go to conquer music, books, film and television.

February 13 1932: Hal Roach’s 112th Our Gang comedy short, “Free Eats” was released, featuring a new character as George “Spanky” McFarland makes his debut.

“That’s the way it was…” Walter Cronkite announced on February 13 1980 that he would retire as anchor of the CBS Evening News and that his replacement as TV’s most trusted television journalist would be Dan Rather.

On the February 13 1996 edition of his radio show, Howard Stern announced he would be teaming up with producer Ivan Reitman to turn Stern’s book Private Parts into a movie.

February 14 1927: The silent and stylish film, The Lodger, opened in London. Director Alfred Hitchcock’s take on the Jack the Ripper murders was his fourth completed film and the first to feature one of his famous cameos.

First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy conducted the first televised tour of the White House on February 14 1962. The primetime documentary was simulcast on both CBS and NBC, with ABC airing it four nights later.

On February 14 1972, John Lennon and Yoko Ono moved to Philadelphia to co-host the syndicated talk program The Mike Douglas Show for an entire week.

Fabio, the Italian fashion model famous for his countless appearances on paperback romance novels, became a CBS TV star for one night when he hosted Valentine’s Day-themed episodes of The Nanny, Can’t Hurry Love, Murphy Brown and If Not For You on February 14 1995.

BORN THIS WEEK: Seth Green (Buffy the Vampire Slayer); Gary Coleman (Diff’rent Strokes); actor Alejandro Rey (The Flying Nun); Audrey Meadows (The Honeymooners); actor Jim J. Bullock (Too Close for Comfort); actor Lon Chaney Jr. (The Wolf Man, Dracula vs. Frankenstein); actor Conrad Janis (Mork and Mindy, Quark); Sidney Sheldon, novelist (The Other Side of Midnight), screenwriter (Annie Get Your Gun) and TV creator (Hart to Hart, I Dream of Jeannie); actress Eva Gabor (Green Acres); actor Leslie Nielsen (Forbidden Planet, Police Squad); actor Forrest Tucker (F Troop); TV host Ted Mack (Original Amateur Hour); Carol Lynley (The Poseidon Adventure, The Night Stalker); Stockard Channing (Grease, The West Wing); TV host Jerry Springer (The Jerry Springer Show); actor Bo Svenson (Walking Tall 2, The Delta Force); Mena Suvari (American Beauty); comedian Jack Benny (The Jack Benny Show); comedian Jackie “The Jokeman” Martling; broadcaster Hugh Downs (The Tonight Show, The Today Show, 20/20); actress Florence Henderson (The Brady Bunch)

DIED THIS WEEK: Model, actress and reality star Anna Nicole Smith; television journalist Roger Mudd (NBC Nightly News, Meet the Press); actor Jim Varney (Ernest Goes To Camp) canine actor Buddy the Wonder Dog (Air Bud); comic book editor Julius Schwartz (Batman, Superman); actor Don Porter (Gidget); actor Sorrell Brooke (Dukes of Hazzard), actor William Conrad (Cannon, Jake and the Fatman); cartoonist Charles M. Schulz (Peanuts); actor Martin Balsam (The Taking of Pelham One-Two-Three)

Here’s some of what was doing in show business and the media this week in history…

On February 1 1893, inventor Thomas Edison established the world’s first movie studio.

The first telecast of an atomic explosion was broadcast on February 1 1951, when a KTLA-Los Angles camera positioned atop Mount Wilson captured an atomic blast at Frenchman Flats, Nevada some 300 miles away.

On February 1 1953, General Electric Theater opened on CBS with a comedy called Wedding Day, directed by Sheldon Leonard.

February 1 1965: A 26-year-old Peter Jennings was installed as the anchor of ABC News’ Peter Jennings With the News.

Flordia Evans (played by Esther Rolle) was spun-off from Norman Lear’s Maude into her own series. Good Times premiered on CBS on February 1 1974.

February 1 1976 saw the premiere of the ABC mini-series Rich Man, Poor Man, while a post-divorce Sonny and Cher returned to CBS to begin anew with The Sonny & Cher Show.

Network television’s late night landscape changed forever with the premiere of Late Night With David Letterman on February 1 1982. His first guest was Bill Murray.

During February 1 2004’s half-time show for Super Bowl XXXVIII, Janet Jackson exposed one breast and everybody went a little crazy.

Media merchandising took a step into the future on February 2 1946, when the first Buck Rogers atomic pistol debuted at the annual American Toy Fair.

CBS premiered its celebrity-panel quiz show, What’s My Line, on February 2 1950. The celebrities on that first telecast were columnist Dorothy Kilgallen, psychiatrist Richard Hoffman, poet Louis Untermeyer and former New Jersey governor Harold Hoffman. Despite this, the show would be part of the CBS prime time schedule for 17 years and 876 episodes.

February 2 1973: Producer Burt Sugarman’s late-night music show, The Midnight Special, debuted on NBC, featuring Wolfman Jack, soon be seen in George Lucas’ American Graffiti.

The February 2 1987 edition of People magazine hit the stands, with poll results in which readers selected Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant as their “favorite, all-time acting greats.”

February 3 1964: The Beatles received their first gold record for the single, “I Want To Hold Your Hand”. Six days later, they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time. Fourteen years later, Robert Zemekis made a movie about that night called I Wanna Hold Your Hand.

February 3 1986: Capital Cities Communications completed its purchase of the four-times-bigger ABC for $3.5 billion dollars. Word of the purchase, backed by financier Warren Buffet, had been announced to a stunned media industry nearly a year earlier. Hundreds of employees at dozens of television and radio stations were fired or bought out. Ten years later, it would happen again when The Walt Disney Company bought CapCities/ABC.

On February 3, 1993, Frito Lay paid a court-ordered judgment of $2.3-million to Tom Waits for hiring a Waits impersonator to sing a sound-alike jingle based on Waits’ song “Step Right Up”…all after Waits denied Frito Lay the rights to the actual song. Dumb, Frito Lay, dumb!

Bob Hope was first heard over network radio on February 4 1935 as part of NBC Blue’s The Intimate Revue. The variety show, sponsored by Bromo Seltzer, lasted only fourteen weeks.

The big premiere at the Paramount Theatre in New York City on the evening of February 4 1953 was The Stooge, starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.

American Bandstand celebrated its 25th anniversary on television with a special hosted by Dick Clark on February 4 1977.

The CBS comedy Co-Ed Fever premiered on February 4 1979. Yanked from the network schedule before its next airdate, five episodes (including the pilot) go unseen.

February 4 1979: Patricia Hearst, a 19-year-old newspaper heiress and socialite, embarks on a journey to become a convicted bank robber and actress when she is kidnapped by a left-wing urban guerrilla group called the Symbionese Liberation Army. Patty will survive the ordeal and go on to appear in Pauly Shore’s Bio-Dome, Howard Stern’s Son of the Beach and multiple Comedy Central telecasts of The New York Friars Club Roasts.

February 5 1929: Cartoonist Jimmy Hatlo’s single-panel strip, They’ll Do It Every Time, made its debut in the San Francisco Call-Bulletin. Hatlo would continue with the strip until his death, 34 years later.

Charlie Chaplin’s first sound movie, Modern Times, was released on February 5 1937. In 1989, the film was declared “culturally significant” by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

ABC’s variety series Turn-On premiered on February 4 1969. It was yanked by the network before its next airdate after some affiliates dumped out of the program in mid-show.

Saturday morning, February 5 1994: DIC Entertainment’s Where On Earth Is Carmen San Diego? premieres on FOX. It will run for two years and win an Emmy.

Mark Zuckerberg kicked the world of online social networking up a notch when he launched Facebook on February 5 2004.

After five seasons and 143 episodes, America said goodbye to dim-witted architect Wilbur Post, his curvaceous wife, Carol, and their talking horse, Mister Ed as the series comes to a close on February 6 1966, with the episode “Mister Ed Goes to College”.

NBC was proud as a peacock when it premiered The Brady Bunch sequel series, The Brady Brides on February 6 1981. They were somewhat less proud when they cancelled it nine episodes later.

February 6 1992: Dave Letterman celebrates the tenth anniversary of his late night show on NBC by taking it to Radio City Musical Hall and broadcasting Late Night’s 10th Anniversary Show At Radio City Music Hall on NBC.

Moviegoers got their choice of two film premieres on February 6 1998: Dan Aykroyd, John Goodman, Joe Morton and Nia Peeples in Blues Brothers 2000 or The Replacement Killers starring Chow Yun- Fat and Academy Award-winner Mira Sorvino.

February 7 1940: New York turns out for the premiere of Walt Disney’s second feature-length animated feature, Pinocchio, based on the famous Carlo Collodi novel.

Veteran Broadway actors and B-movie series stars Chester Morris (Boston Blackie) and Glenda Farrell (Torchie Blane) supported a 24-year-old Jane Fonda as she made her TV acting debut in the ABC drama special, A String of Beads, on February 7 1961.

February 7 1970: After producing 192 shows over seven seasons from the fabled Vine Street venue, ABC closes the doors on The Hollywood Palace. From Groucho Marx to Dusty Springfield from Sammy Davis Jr. to The Rolling Stones; all of show business appeared on the stage of The Hollywood Place. Today, it’s a dance club where celebrity DJs remix tech house, electro house and breakbeat stylings to packed houses.

Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles premiered in movie theaters on February 7, 1974.

And on February 7, 1985, “Theme from New York, New York” became the official anthem of New York City. No one seemed to recall that the song originated as the theme for an unliked and unsuccessful Martin Scorsese movie about a doomed romance.

BORN THIS WEEK: Singer Lisa Marie Presley (daughter of Elvis); Laura Dern (Blue Velvet, Citizen Ruth); actress Sherilyn Fenn (Twin Peaks); actor Anthony La Paglia (Without a Trace); actor Sherman Hemsley (The Jeffersons, Amen); actor Garrett Morris (Saturday Night Live); actor Clark Gable (Gone With the Wind); comedian Pauly Shore (Encino Man); actor Bill Mumy (Lost in Space); actor and director Terry Jones (Monty Python); actor Stuart Whitman (Cimarron Strip); Michael C. Hall (Six Feet Under, Dexter); actress Holly Hunter (Broadcast News, Always); actor Brent Spiner (Star Trek: The Next Generation); supermodel Christie Brinkley, actress Farrah Fawcett (Charlie’s Angels, The Burning Bed); network executive Barry Diller (FOX); comedian Tommy Smothers (The Smothers Brothers Show); actor Robert Mandan (Soap); Olympic swimmer and actor Clarence “Buster” Crabbe (Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon); kid show host Fred Rogers (Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood); comedian Shelley Berman (Second City, Love American Style); comedian Joey Bishop (The Joey Bishop Show), Atari founder Nolan Bushnell (Pong), TV producer Stephen J. Cannell (The Rockford Files, Wiseguy); actor Rip Torn (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Larry Sanders Show).

DIED THIS WEEK: Actress Heather O’Rourke (Poltergeist); gossip columnist Hedda Hopper; animator Shamus Culhane (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs); actor Boris Karloff (Frankenstein): actor Donald Pleasance (The Great Escape, Halloween): actor, dancer and choreographer Gene Kelly (Singin’ in the Rain); actress Audrey Meadows (The Honeymooners); actor and director John Cassavettes (Husbands, Gloria); TV producer Harry Ackerman (The Donna Reed Show, I Dream of Jeannie); animator Joseph “Bugs” Hardaway, designer of Bugs Bunny; mystery writer Brett Halliday (Michael Shayne Mystery Magazine); singer and actress Barbara McNair (They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!); actor Dean Jagger (White Christmas, Game of Death); writer and director Joseph L. Mankiewicz (Cleopatra); actress Doug McClure (The Virginian, Search); jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi (the Peanuts TV specials); comedian and TV producer Danny Thomas (Make Room for Daddy); actor Joseph Cotton (Citizen Kane, The Third Man); comics creator Jack Kirby (Captain America, The Might Thor, The New Gods); magician Doug Henning; novelist Lawrence Sanders (The Anderson Tapes, The First Deadly Sin); actress and singer Dale Evans (The Roy Roger Show).

Here’s some of what was doing in show business and the media this week in history…

On January 25 1937, the daytime drama The Guiding Light premiered on NBC radio from Chicago. In 1952, it moved to CBS and television, where it remained until its last episode in September of 2009.

The first Emmy Awards were presented at the Hollywood Athletic Club on January 25 1947.

The same day in 1960, The National Association of Broadcasters reacted to the Payola scandal by imposing fines for any disc jockey who accepted money for record airplay.

January 25 1961: President John F. Kennedy hosts the first live television news conference.

Filming began on producer David O. Selznick’s Gone With the Wind on January 26, 1939. Though the film was set in Civil War-era Georgia, it was shot in Culver City, California.

“To all who come to this happy place, welcome …” Disneyland breaks ground in Anaheim, California on January 26 1954.

CBS premiered The Dukes of Hazzard on January 26 1979. The series was inspired by an obscure 1975 United Artists film called Moonrunners.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera opened on Broadway at New York’s Majestic Theatre on January 26, 1988.

Hello, Larry (McLean Stevenson’s third series since leaving M*A*S*H), premiered on NBC on January 26 1979. Creatively weak, the show quickly became a regular punchline in Johnny Carson’s nightly Tonight Show monologue.

On January 27 1940, 20th Century Fox’s production of John Ford’s The Grapes of Wrath opened in Los Angeles.

NBC chose January 27 1961 as the day to premiere Sing Along with Mitch, wherein amateur singers stepped on stage to sing along with Conductor Mitch Miller and his all-male choral group while the lyrics flashed across the TV screen. This home version of karaoke was sponsored by Ballantine Beer.

January 27 1970: After two years of confusing moviegoers, the Motion Picture Association of America modified its rating system and changed “M” to “PG”.

Opening with a Yiddish-American hopscotch chant, Laverne and Shirley (a spin-off from Happy Days) premieres on ABC on January 27 1976 TV. By its second season it had become the America’s most-watched TV show.

During the January 27 1984 shooting of a TV commercial for Pepsi, a pyrotechnics device explodes early and Michael Jackson’s head catches on fire.

On January 28 1956, Elvis Presley made his national TV debut on CBS on Stage Show. It was he first of six appearances for Elvis on the Jackie Gleason-produced variety series.

Buddy Ebsen became a private detective on January 28 1973 with the CBS premiere of Barnaby Jones. Originally intended as an episode of Cannon, the pilot features that series’ star, William Conrad. Three years later, Jones and Cannon would team up again for the two-part crossover “The Deadly Conspiracy”

On January 28 1975, filmmaker George Lucas completed a second draft of what he had titled Adventures of the Starkiller, Episode One of The Star Wars.

CBS News Sunday Morning premiered on CBS the Sunday Morning of January 28 1979.

For its January 29 1953 premiere, 20th Century Fox’s The Robe was billed as the first movie in Cinemascope. In truth, many theaters were not set up for CinemaScope. Two versions of The Robe were actually shot and edited, one in standard screen and one in widescreen.

Peter Sellers appeared in three different roles when Stanley Kubrick’s film Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb opened on January 29 1964.

NBC bought some football on January 29 1964, when it paid $36 million for the TV right to the American Football League for the next five years.

January 29 1986: The nation watches as the Space Shuttle Challenger explodes and breaks apart, live on television. All seven astronauts aboard are killed.

On January 301931, motion picture producer David O. Selznick and screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz exchanged in fisticuffs at a Hollywood Biltmore dance.

Radio’s masked rider of the plains, The Lone Ranger, was heard for the first time on January 30 1933. The production team behind the famous radio western would create 2,956 episodes over the next 21 years.

On January 301961, 25-year-old Bobby Darin became the youngest performer to headline a TV special, NBC’s Bobby Darin and Friends.

If you were awake late at night on January 30 1978, you heard the premiere of The Larry King Show on Mutual Broadcasting Network.

On January 30 1995, Kevin Eubanks officially becomes the leader of The Tonight Show band, replacing Branford Marsalis.

January 31 1936: The Green Hornet was first heard on radio via WXYZ in Detroit. The show stayed on the air for 16 years.

Television’s very first soap opera, NBC’s These Are My Children, was broadcast from Chicago on January 31 1949.

Baseball Hall of Fame legend Leo Durocher had himself a great January 31 in 1958. That’s when he debuted as the host of Jackpot Bowling on NBC.

After 35 years with the network, Edwin Newman retired from NBC News on January 31 1984.

The Cure for Insomnia, a film with an 87-hour running time, premiered at The School of the Art Institute in Chicago, Illinois on January 31 1987.

ABC Sports’ legendary broadcaster Howard Cosell retired on January 31 1992.

January 31 1992: Homicide: Life on the Street debuts on NBC, starting a seven-season run.

BORN THIS WEEK: Newscaster Edwin Newman (NBC News); actor Dean Jones (The Love Bug); actor Gregory Sierra (Barney Miller); director Tobe Hooper (Poltergeist); actress Leigh Taylor-Young (Soylent Green); actress Dinah Manoff (Empty Nest); writer Philip José Farmer (Greatheart Silver); philanthropist and actor Paul Newman (The Verdict); film director Roger Vadim (Barbarella); cartoonist and writer Jules Feiffer (Carnal Knowledge); film critic Gene Siskel; actor David Strathairn (Good Night and Good Luck); Playboy Bunny and Playmate Janet Lupo; comedian and TV host Ellen DeGeneres; newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, Jr.; Donna Reed (The Donna Reed Show); actress Mimi Rogers (Lost in Space); comic book creator and movie director Frank Miller (Sin City) newscaster Keith Olbermann (Countdown); actress Bridget Fonda (Scandal); comedian and actor Patton Oswalt (The King of Queens); director Ernst Lubitsch (To Be or Not to Be); actor John Banner (Hogan’s Heroes); director Jack Hill (Foxy Brown); actor, writer, director Alan Alda (M*A*S*H); actress and Playboy icon Barbi Benton; Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings); John Forsythe (Dynasty); writer Paddy Chayefsky (Network); actor and producer Tom Selleck (Magnum, PI); talk show host Oprah Winfrey; actress Heather Graham (Boogie Nights); David Wayne (Ellery Queen); actor John Ireland (Farewell, My Lovely); director Michael Anderson (Logan’s Run); Dick Martin (Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In); actor Gene Hackman (The French Connection); actor Christian Bale (The Dark Knight); actor John Agar (She Wore a Yellow Ribbon); writer and journalist Norman Mailer (The Armies of the Night);animation producer Norm Prescott (Fantastic Voyage); actor James Franciscus (Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Longstreet); actress Suzanne Pleshette (The Bob Newhart Show); actress Jessica Walter (Arrested Development); actor Anthony LaPaglia (Without a Trace); actress Kelly Lynch (Drugstore Cowboy); actress Portia de Rossi (Ally McBeal); comedian Bobby Moynihan (Saturday Night Live).

DIED THIS WEEK: Al Capone, iconic gangster of fact and fiction (Scarface, Capone, The Untouchables); actress Ava Gardner (On the Beach); author and TV astrologer Jeane Dixon (A Gift of Prophesy); pulp fantasy writer A. E. van Vogt (Slan, Empire of the Atom); Christian Brando, actor and son of Marlon Brando; producer and writer Bill Walsh (Disney’s Flubber series); actor Claude Akins (Battle for the Planet of the Apes); Tonight Show host Jack Paar; actor Tige Andrews (The Mod Squad); actor Hal Smith (Otis the Drunk of The Andy Griffith Show); writer Jerry Siegel, co-creator of Superman; cartoonist Burne Hogarth (Tarzan of the Apes); journalist H. L. Mencken; actor Alan Ladd (This Gun for Hire); comedian/actor Freddie Prinze (Chico and the Man); actor and comedian Jimmy Durante; actor Leif Erickson (The High Chaparral); Dead End Kid and Bowery Boy Huntz Hall; Tonight Show announcer Ed Herlihy; author A. A. Milne (Winnie the Pooh); film producer Samuel Goldwyn (The Best Years of Our Lives); comic book artists and writer Gil Kane (Blackmark, His Name is Savage).

Here’s some of what was doing in show business and the media this week in history…

On January 18 1948, Ted Mack’s Original Amateur Hour (the American Idol of its day) premiered on the DuMont network. It would later air on NBC, ABC and CBS.

January 18 1961 saw Rouben Mamoulian, the director of 20th Century Fox’s upcoming Cleopatra, quitting the film, after a reading of Lawrence Durrell’s script.

After three television movies, ABC’s The Six Million Dollar Man, starring Lee Majors, premiered as a weekly series on January 18 in 1974.

One year later, The Jeffersons, a spin-off of All in the Family, began a ten-year run on CBS.

On January 19 1953, Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball) gave birth to Little Ricky on I Love Lucy. A whopping 68% of all American TV sets were tuned to the CBS show.

On January 19 1969, I Am Curious (Yellow), a Swedish film directed by Vilgot Sjoman, was seized by the United States Custom Agents in New York on the grounds that the film left “nothing to the imagination”.

January 19 1981: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acquired the devastated United Artists following the $40,000,000 failure of director Michael Cimino’s movie Heaven’s Gate.

Orson Welles, The Masked Avenger and the Communist next door all got the Woody Allen treatment when Radio Days was released on January 19 in 1987.

On January 19 2003, The WB series Charmed aired its 100th episode.

On January 20 1910, director D.W. Griffith and his Biograph film company arrived in Los Angeles. In the four months that followed, they made 25 movies.

In Old Arizona, the first full-length talking motion picture filmed outdoors, was released on January 20 1929.

With 40 charter member radio stations, the National Negro Network was established on January 20, 1954. Its most popular show was a soap opera called The Story of Ruby Valentine.

Columbia Pictures paid $9.5 million on January 20 1978 for the movie rights to the Broadway musical, Annie.

On January 20 1998, Dawson’s Creek premiered on The WB.

On January 21 1903, The Life of an American Fireman, Edwin Porter’s first film using several different sets was submitted for US copyright.

Alias Smith and Jones, a comedic western produced by Roy Huggins (Maverick) and Glen Larson (McCloud) premiered on ABC on January 21 1971.

Beam me up! The very first convention of Star Trek fans was held at New York’s Statler-Hilton hotel on January 21 1972.

MTV’s stripped-down acoustic concert series, MTV Unplugged, premiered on January 21 1990 with Squeeze, Syd Straw and Elliot Easton performing.

On January 21 1991, Iraqis in the Persian Gulf captured CBS News correspondent Bob Simon.

Paramount Pictures’ KTLA, the first commercial TV station west of the Mississippi River, began broadcasting from Hollywood on January 22 1947.

From beautiful downtown Burbank, Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In premiered on January 22 1968 on NBC. Look that up in your Funk and Wagnalls…

On January 22 1984, The Apple Macintosh, the first home computer with a mouse and graphical interface, was introduced during Super Bowl XVIII in a TV commercial called 1984.

Chappelle’s Show, a sketch comedy show starring Dave Chappelle, premiered on Comedy Central on January 22 2003.

A New York police station in Greenwich Village was the setting for the ABC comedy Barney Miller, which premiered on January 23 1975.

On January 23 1977, ABC aired the first episode of the epic mini-series Roots, based on the book by Alex Haley.

On January 23 1978, Jaws was released as the first laserdisc, although the format was marketed as Discovision.

“If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire… The A-Team!” The action adventures series, created by Frank Lupo and Stephen J. Cannell, debuted on NBC on January 23 1983.

It was a video store showdown on January 23 1986, when Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and Rambo: First Blood, Part II were released on home video.

The science program MythBusters premiered on Discovery Channel on January 23 2003.

On January 24 1957, Steve Allen made his final appearance as the host of NBC’s The Tonight Show. He was replaced by host Jack Lescoulie in a new format designed to be more like The Today Show. Sadly, Tonight! America After Dark limped along for seven months before the old Tonight Show title and format returned, this time hosted by Jack Paar.

CBS acquired the rights to televise the National Football League’s 1964 and 1965 seasons on January 24 1964. The move cost CBS $28.2 million per year.

Hot l Baltimore, a mature-themed sitcom from producer Norman Lear and playwright Lanford Wilson, premiered on ABC on January 24 1975.

On January 24 1986, the 43th Golden Globes’ top comedy awards went to Prizzi’s Honor (Best Picture), its stars (Jack Nicholson, Kathleen Turner) and its director (John Huston).

On January 24 1995, Charlie Rose interviewed David Frost about his upcoming ABC special, Frankenstein: An Untold Story.

BORN THIS WEEK: Actor Danny Kaye (White Christmas); Kid show host Bob Bell (WGN’s Bozo the Clown); adult film actress Sharon Mitchell; comedian Dave Attell; actor Jesse L. Martin (Law & Order); writer Edgar Allan Poe (The Murders in the Rue Morgue): actress Jean Stapleton (All in the Family); director and actor Nicholas Colasanto (Cheers); actress Tippi Hedren (Marnie); actress Shelley Fabares (The Donna Reed Show); actress Katey Sagal (Married with Children); comedian George Burns, actor Colin Clive (Frankenstein); actor Leon Ames (Mr. Ed); director Federico Fellini (8 ½); DeForest Kelley (Star Trek); director David Lynch (Blue Velvet); comedian and social critic Bill Maher (Religulous); Telly Savalas (Kelly’s Heroes, Kojak); actor Steve Reeves (Hercules); director Koji Hashimoto (Godzilla series) Mike Medavoy (The People vs. Larry Flynt); actress Geena Davis (A League of Their Own); author Robert E. Howard (Conan the Barbarian); actress Ann Sothern (Private Secretary); actress Piper Laurie (Carrie); actor Bill Bixby (The Courtship of Eddie’s Father); writer and producer Joseph Wambaugh (The Blue Knight, The Black Marble); director Jim Jarmusch (Mystery Train); actress Linda Blair (The Exorcist); actress Diane Lane (Streets of Fire); comedian Ernie Kovacs; actor and martial artist Sonny Chiba (The Street Fighter); actress Arlene Golonka (Mayberry RFD): actor Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century); actor Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner); actress Gail O’Grady (NYPD Blue); actress Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit; actor Ernest Borgnine (McHale’s Navy); actress Sharon Tate (Valley of the Dolls); actor John Belushi (The Blues Brothers); actor Matthew Lillard (Scooby Doo).

DIED THIS WEEK: Curly Howard of The Three Stooges;  Sydney Greenstreet (Casablanca), pulp artist Virgil Finlay; actor Carl Betz (The Donna Red Show); actor Bob May (the Lost in Space robot); film producer Don Simpson (Top Gun, The Rock); actor Anthony Franciosa (Search, The Name of the Game); actress Suzanne Pleshette (The Bob Newhart Show); radio disc jockey Alan Freed; actor Johnny Weissmuller (Tarzan the Ape Man); actress Barbara Stanwyck (Double Indemnity); show business caricaturist Al Hirschfeld; director Cecil B. DeMille (The Ten Commandments); actor Jack Lord (Hawaii Five-O); actress Susan Strasberg, American actress (The Trip, Psych-Out); actor Telly Savalas (Kojak, Kelly’s Heroes); actress and dancer Ann Miller (On the Town); actor Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight); actor  Paul Robeson (Song of Freedom); director Alexander Korda (The Thief of Bagdad); actress Nell Carter (Gimme a Break!); actor Bob Keeshan (Captain Kangaroo); photographer Helmut Newton; comedian and TV host Johnny Carson (The Tonight Show); actor J. Carrol Naish (House of Frankenstein); director George Cukor (Adam’s Rib); science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard; actor Chris Penn (Reservoir Dogs); Larry Fine of The Three Stooges.

Here’s some of what was doing in show business and the media this week in history…

On January 11 1940, Howard Hawks’ His Girl Friday opened in Los Angeles.

That same night, a two-hour special aired on all TV networks to celebrate the linking of the Eastern and Midwestern networks via coaxial cable.

On January 11 1969, ABC premiered two new comedies: An anthology, Love, American Style, and the high school-set Room 222. Each series will remain on the air for five years.

On the January 11 1972 edition of the ABC Tuesday Movie of the Week, Darren McGavin made his debut as vampire-hunting newspaper reporter Carl Kolchak in The Night Stalker.

The WB Television Network launched for an eleven-year run beginning on January 11, 1995

On January 12 1961, Francois Truffaut began shooting his first English-language film, Fahrenheit 451, based on Ray Bradbury’s novel.

Batman debuted on ABC on January 12 1966, battling Special Guest Bat-Villain, The Riddler.

The police procedural Dragnet returned to TV as a series on January 12 1967 with an episode entitled “The Big LSD.”

CBS airs the first episode of Norman Lear’s All in the Family on January 12 1971. A network disclaimer warning the audience about potentially offensive content precedes it.

On January 12 2006, the cast and crew of Will and Grace broadcast the second live episode of the show to both the East and West coasts over NBC.

Samantha and Darren Steven’s daughter Tabitha was born on January 13 1966 in the Bewitched episode entitled “And Then There Were Three.”

On January 13 1984, KMBC-TV anchor Christine Craft wins $325,000 in her case against Metromedia. Craft was removed from her anchor desk after a focus group determined that she was “too old, too unattractive and wouldn’t defer to men.”

The daytime drama Ryan’s Hope ended a 13-year run on ABC on January 13, 1980.

January 13 1991 saw the rise of Ben Cross as vampire Barnabas Collins in NBC’s remake of the gothic drama, Dark Shadows. Twelve episodes later, it was canceled.

“This is Today on NBC!” The Today Show premieres on January 14 1952 on NBC, with host Dave Garroway, newsreader Jim Fleming and announcer Jack Lescoulie.

NBC’s Sanford and Son starring Redd Foxx premiered on January 14 1972.

On January 14 1973, Elvis Presley was seen by 1 billion viewers all around the world via his first satellite TV special, Aloha from Hawaii

CBS Late Show host David Letterman underwent quintuple heart bypass surgery at New York-Presbyterian Hospital on January 14 2000.

The first ever Super Bowl was simulcast from Los Angeles by CBS and NBC on January 15 1967.

Later that evening on CBS, The Rolling Stones appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. At Sullivan’s prompting, the band changes their lyrics from “Let’s spend the night together” to “Let’s spend some time together”

United States Customs agents seize a copy of Jack Smith’s avant-garde film Flaming Creatures on January 15 1968, declaring it obscene. The Justice Department begins proceedings against the film’s distributor.

Happy Days premieres on ABC on January 15 1974. It will spawn a record eight spin-off series (five live-action, three animated).

On January 15 1977, Second City alum Bill Murray joins the cast of Saturday Night Live, replacing Chevy Chase.

Sergeant Phil Esterhaus said “Let’s be careful out there” for the first time when Hill Street Blues premiered on NBC on January 15 1981

January 16 1942: Actress Carole Lombard died in a plane crash west of Las Vegas while returning to Hollywood after a War Bond tour.

The Screen Writers Guild called for a strike on January 16 1960, demanding its members receive payment for motion pictures sold to television.

Darren McGavin returns as newspaperman turned paranormal investigator Carl Kolchak on January 16 1973 when the movie The Night Strangler premieres on ABC.

After 14 years, the western series Bonanza airs its last episode on January 16 1973. Two years later, the Raymond Burr crime drama Ironside retires after eight seasons.

January 17 1929: Popeye the Sailor Man, created by E.C. Segar, first appeared in the Thimble Theatre comic strip.

TV’s first sitcom, The Goldbergs, premieres January 17 1949.

Underwater explorer and adventurer Jacques Cousteau’s first network television documentary airs on the CBS series Omnibus on January 17 1954.

Baretta, a detective series created by Stephen J. Cannell, premiered on ABC on January 17 1975. Starring Robert Blake as a streetwise undercover cop, the series is re-make of the previous season’s Toma, starring Tony Mustante.

The New Mickey Mouse Club premieres in syndication on January 17 1977.

On January 17 1984, a 5 to 4 Supreme Court ruling says that the private use of home video recorders to tape TV programs for later viewing does not violate federal copyright laws.

BORN THIS WEEK: Mystery writer Manfred B Lee, (Ellery Queen); actor Lionel Stander (New York, New York); screenwriter Jerome Bixby (The Twilight Zone, Star Trek); television executive Grant Tinker (NBC, MTM); producers David L. Wolper (Roots, L.A. Confidential); actor Rod Taylor (The Birds); director Wayne Wang (Chan is Missing); actress Kirstie Alley (Cheers); novelist Walter Mosley (Devil in a Blue Dress): radio personality and King of All Media Howard Stern; screenwriter Rockne S. O’Bannon (Alien Nation); produce-director John Lasseter (Toy Story); adult film star and model Cherokee; actor Robert Stack (The Untouchables. The Name of the Game); actor and director Charles Nelson Reilly (The Ghost and Mrs. Muir); television and film executive Brandon Tartikoff (NBC, Paramount); actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Seinfeld); screenwriter Shonda Rhimes (Grey’s Anatomy); game show producer Mark Goodson (The Price is Right); journalist Andy Rooney (60 Minutes); actor Guy Williams (Zorro, Lost in Space); actress Faye Dunaway (Chinatown, Network); Carl Weathers (Rocky 1, 2 & 3); director Lawrence Kasdan (Body Heat); director Steven Soderbergh (Out of Sight, Traffic); Jason Bateman (Arrested Development); actress Phyllis Coates (The Adventures of Superman); screenwriter Stirling Silliphant (Longstreet, The Poseidon Adventure); director John Carpenter (Halloween, Escape from New York); producer and director Mack Sennett (Keystone Kops); cartoonist Antonio Prohias (Mad’s Spy vs. Spy); singer and actress Eartha Kitt (1966 Batman TV series); actor James Earl Jones (The Man, Star Wars); screenwriter Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential); actress Zooey Deschanel (Weeds)

DIED THIS WEEK: Actor and music Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. (Alvin & The Chipmunks); actor Ted Cassidy (The Addams Family); actor Bernard Lee (James Bond’s M); actor Jack Soo (Barney Miller); comedian Ernie Kovacs; mystery writer Agatha Christie (Murder on the Orient Express); Keye Luke (The Charlie Chan series, Kung Fu), movie producer Jesse L. Lasky (The Squaw Man); actor Joe Spinell (Taxi Driver. Rocky); director Ted Demme (Blow); actor and director Patrick McGoohan (The Prisoner, Columbo); actor Humphrey Bogart (The African Queen); actor Peter Finch (Network); actor Ron O’Neal (Superfly); Shelley Winters (The Poseidon Adventure); Ray Bolger (The Wizard of Oz); actor Richard Crenna (Rambo, Body Heat); producer Ray Stark, (The Goodbye Girl); Allan Melvin (The Brady Bunch, All in the Family)

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.

For close to five full years, the great CBS broadcaster Walter Cronkite closed out his weekly documdrama series You Are There with the following words:

“What kind of a day was it? A day like all days, filled with those events that alter and illuminate our times. And you were there.”

Well, we may not have been there, but we are here. Welcome to the Cyclops Central Timeline, the weekly feature that brings you some of what happened during this week in show business and media history…

On New Year’s Day in 1954, NBC made the first coast-to-coast NTSC color broadcast with its telecast of Pasadena’s Tournament of Roses Parade. Public demonstrations were conducted via prototype color receivers at 21 television stations across the USA.

Cigarette advertisements were banned on American television as of January 1 1971, with the final cigarette commercial running during that night’s broadcast of The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson on NBC.

On January 1 1994, forty women from all across America vie for a $50,000 grand prize on the live pay per view special, Miss Howard Stern’s New Year’s Rotten Eve Beauty Pageant. Judges included Sherman Hemsley, Mark Hamill, Joe Frazier and Tiny Tim.

With the publication of a book of crossword puzzles, Simon and Schuster was born on January 2 1938. During the book publisher’s seven-decade history, it’s been owned, at various times, by Chicago Sun newspaper publisher Marshal Field III, Gulf & Western, Paramount Communications, Viacom and, currently, CBS.

Alfred Hitchcock signed a contract with Warner Bros on January 2 1949 to produce and direct four films over the next six years, leading to the creation of Stage Fright, Strangers on a Train, I Confess and Dial M for Murder.

On January 2 1967, The Countess of Hong Kong opens in London. The romantic comedy stars Marlon Brando as the Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, who encounters a Russian countess (Sophia Loren) after she sneaks aboard his ship to avoid becoming a prostitute. Naturally, they fall in love. The Countess of Hong Kong was the last film directed Charlie Chaplin, his only one in color. A critical and financial failure, Countess features a cameo by Chaplin, his last appearance on film.

January 3 1951 saw the debut of Dragnet, a police procedural created and produced by series star Jack Webb, on NBC. The show lasted until 1959, but returned in 1967 for three more years.

On January 3 in 1977, Apple Computer, Inc was incorporated in Cupertino, California, seven years before the first Apple Macintosh made its debut.

The British consul traveled to Universal City on January 3 1980 to meet with Alfred Hitchcock and personally deliver the news that the Master of Suspense had been made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Four months later, Sir Alfred died.

In 1993, January 3rd saw the premiere of the second spin-off from Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek. Created by Star Trek: The Next Generation executive producers Rick Berman and Michael Piller at the request of Paramount chief Brandon Tartikoff, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ran for seven seasons and 176 episodes.

BORN THIS WEEK: Ernest Tidyman, novelist (the Shaft series) and screenwriter (The French Connection); Hong Kong film producer Raymond Chow (The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, The Way of the Dragon, Enter the Dragon); Playboy and cat cartoonists B. Kliban; Larry Harmon, the producer who licensed the Bozo the Clown rights from Capitol Records in 1956 and syndicated the character out for locally-made Bozo shows in every major American TV market; film director Todd Haynes (Velvet Goldmine, Far From Heaven); actress Tia Carrere (Wayne’s World, Lilo & Stitch); Middle-earth author J. R. R. Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit); Marion Davies, actress and concubine of newspaper tycoon Will Randolph Hearts; actor Ray Milland (Lost Weekend, The Thing With Two Heads; film director John Sturges (The Great Escape, Ice Station Zebra); film director Sergio Leone (A Fistful of Dollars, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly), actor Robert Loggia (T.H.E Cat, Scarface), actor and director Mel Gibson (Lethal Weapon, The Passion of the Christ); actor Jason Marsden (The X-Men, Ally McBeal); actress Victoria Principal (Dallas, Titans).

DIED THIS WEEK: Disney cartoonist and designer Marc Davis (Pirates of the Caribbean theme park ride); 1966 Batman TV villains Cesar Romero (The Joker) and Victor Buono (King Tut);  Ray Walston (My Favorite Martian, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Picket Fences); Actor Alan Hale Jr. (Gilligan’s Island and 200 other TV shows and movies); fantasy artist and commercial illustrator Frank Kelly Freas (Weird Tales, Astounding, Analog, Mad); Celebrity psychic Edgar Cayce; Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby, who killed Lee Harvey Oswald (the accused murderer of President John F. Kennedy) on live television; cartoonist and graphic novelist Will Eisner (The Spirit, A Contract With God); actor Pat Hingle (Splendor in the Grass, Batman and its three sequels).