1976: The World Takes a Bite of Apple 1
In March of 1975, Gorden French hosted the first meeting of the Homebrew Computer Club in garage. Among the attendees was Steve Wozniak was got inspired and set out to make an early draft of what later became the Apple 1 computer. After showing it to the club and giving schematics out so that they could build one themselves, Steve Jobs suggested that the two of them should design and sell silkscreen circuit boards. To do so, the cost was about $1000 plus $20 per board and the goal was to sell 50 of them for $40 each. Jobs sold his van and Wozniak sold his HP-65 calculator to fund the project. Next, Jobs sold about 50 computers to the Byte Shop in Mountain View, CA for $500 each. The next year on this day, the Apple I went on sale with a price tag of $666.66 because Wozniak was a fan of “repeating digits.” About 200 computers were built and all but 25 of them were sold within ten months. (Image: Wikimedia)
1966: Frank Sinatra’s Records a Song He Hated
Though a favorite love song of many in the 60’s, Frank Sinatra never liked the song, “Strangers in the Night.” Written by Ivo Robić and Bert Kaempfert with English lyrics by Charles Singleton and Eddie Snyder, the song was originally offered to Melina Mercouri, but she refused to sing it stating that she thought the melody would go better with male vocals. And so, on this day in 1966, Sinatra recorded the famous song. Glen Campebell was there playing rhythm guitar, although, he was brought on to the project at the last minute. Sinatra, who was used of doing his recording with only one take, became agitated when Campbell faked his way through and making a mistake forcing Sinatra to sing it again. It is said that Sinatra shouted, “Is that guy with us or is he sleeping?”. While Sinatra hated the song, it became a #1 hit and remained on the Billboard charts for 15 weeks. His album of the same name became his most successful. The song also won him Grammy Awards for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, Record of the Year and Best Arrangement.
1955: ‘Marty’ Premieres
Directed by Delbert Mann with a screenplay by Paddy Chayefsky, Ernest Borgnine starred in the film, Marty which premiered in New York on this day in 1955. The romantic drama centered on the unlikely romance between a man with no social life and a very plain girl (Betsy Blair). It later won the Academy Award for Best Picture. It was also the fourth American film to win at the Cannes Film Festival and winning the Palme d’Or. Only 1945’s The Lost Weekend and 2019’s Parasite are two other films to win both awards.
Movies Released
- Anaconda (1997)
- Anger Management (2003)
- Joe (2014)
- Joe Dirt (2001)
- Josie and the Pussycats (2001)
- Kingdom Come (2001)
- Oculus (2014)
- Prom Night (2008)
- Rio 2 (2014)
- Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
TV Series Debuts
- Basketball Wives (2010)
- Don’t Trust the B in Apartment 23 (2012)
- The Detour (2016)
- The Nevers (20210
- The Real Housewives of Dallas (2016)
- Treme (2010)
Famous Birthdays
- 1932: Joel Grey (actor)
- 1939: Louise Lasser (actress)
- 1987: Joss Stone (actress)
Writer of Pop Culture 
Leave a Reply