Today in History: Saturday, July 3, 2021

Television:
The Jenkins Television Corporation (owned by Charles Jenkins) went on air with W3XK in 1928, the first television broadcasting station in the USA…”The Bob & Ray Show,” hosted by Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding, premiered on NBC radio in 1951…“The Lawrence Welk Show,“ which was initially a summer replacement series, began its 16-season run on ABC in 1955. When the alphabet net canceled the series in 1971 because of the older audience skew, it remained in original production in first-run syndication in 1982…The first Walmart store opened in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas…President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the historic Civil Rights Act officially into law in 1964…The 70’s version of game show “Match Game” — the series’ most popular — hosted by Gene Rayburn premiered on CBS daytime in 1973…Brian Wilson in 1976 joined the Beach Boys on stage for the first night in 12 years. The next night the show was recorded for an NBC Beach Boys special… NBC aired the 90-minute special “Live from Studio 8H: An Evening with Jerome Robbins” in 1980 featuring members of the New York City Ballet performing the popular dance numbers by the famed Broadway musical choreographer.

Movies:
Musical drama “King Creole,” starring Elvis Presley, opened in theaters in 1958…”Shaft” starring Richard Roundtree premiered in 1971. Its popular instrumental theme song was composed by Isaac Hayes… Two films premiered in 1980: comedy film “Airplane!” written and directed by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker and starring Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty; “The Blue Lagoon” starring Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins…Three movies opened in 1986: John Carpenter‘s “Big Trouble in Little China” starring Kurt Russell and Kim Cattrall ; “About Last Night” starring Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Jim Belushi and Elizabeth Perkins; “Psycho III” starring Anthony Perkins… Will Smith continued his successful run of box office hits in the late 90’s with the alien invasion blockbuster “Independence Day” (alongside stars Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, and Vivica A. Fox) in 1996 and the science fiction comedy smash “Men in Black” (also starred Tommy Lee Jones and Linda Fiorentino) in 1997.

Music:
Single “You’ve Never Been This Far Before” was released by Conway Twitty in 1973. It was ultimately named Billboard Song of the Year… Reaching No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart: “Gonna Fly Now (Theme to ‘Rocky’)” by Bill Conti in 1977; “Dirty Diana” by Michael Jackson in 1988

Celebrity Birthdays
Former Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos is 93; Jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal is 92; actor Robert Ito (“Quincy”) is 91; NASCAR legend Richard Petty is 85; actress Polly Holliday (“Alice”, “Flo”) is also 85; “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star Larry David is 75; actress Wendy Schaal (“American Dad,” ″It’s a Living”) is 68; model Jerry Hall is 66; former professional wrestler Bret “The Hitman” Hart is 65; actor Jimmy McNichol is 61; former baseball slugger Jose Canseco is 58; actress Yancy Butler (“Witchblade”) is 52; actor Owain Yeoman (“The Mentalist”) is 44; singer Michelle Branch is 39; Olympic figure skating broadcaster Johnny Weir is 38; Disney star Ashley Tisdale is 37; actress Lindsay Lohan is 36; actress Margot Robbie is 32. And a Happy 28th Birthday to my son (and “UpDating” host) Brandon Berman!

Did You Know?
In the early seasons of “The Lawrence Welk Show,“ the primary sponsor was Dodge. The Dodge name would be part of the set and during some performances, and the original show title was “The Lawrence Welk Dodge Show.”