'Star Wars' Gets Its Own Holiday: This Day in Pop Culture History (May 4)

The original Star Wars movie made pop culture history when it opened in theaters in 1977. The phrase “May the Fourth be with you” was first uttered in 1979. The first organized May the Fourth Day, celebrating all things Star Wars, came about in 2011.

In other pop culture history stuff, the first Grammys awards were given out on this day in 1959. And Julia Louis-Dreyfus got a shock when she won a Hollywood Walk of Fame star on this day in 2010.

1979: May the Fourth Be with You

(LucusFilm)

The unofficial holiday known as Star Wars Day began as a funny twist from a line from the movies. It is said that the phrase “May the Fourth be with You” was first used on May 4, 1979, in an advertisement placed in The London England News when Margaret Thatcher took the role as Prime Minister. The ad said, “May the Fourth Be with You, Maggie. Congratulations.”

The first organized event for Star Wars Day took place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 2011 which included the “Original Trilogy Trivia Game Show”, a costume contest and more. The Walt Disney Company has celebrated the day every year since 2013 with special events at Disneyland in California and Disney Hollywood Studios in Florida. In 2015, astronauts within the International Space Station took part by watching Star Wars.

1959: The First Grammy Awards

It is said that a group of recording executives came to the realization that only a fraction of music artists would ever get their own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Because of this, they decided to create awards that would be similar to the Academy Awards, but for music artists.

For a time, these awards were going to be called the “Eddie”, named after Thomas Edison (he invented the phonograph after all). There was talk about calling them, the Gramophone Awards too. This was a reference to Emile Berliner’s invention, the gramophone.

The first Grammys were presented on this day back in 1959. A total of 28 Grammys were awarded at two different locations: the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills and the Park Sheraton Hotel in New York City. However, a second presentation was held in November of that same year so that they could be televised. Even so, they were not televised live until 1971.

A red hot air balloon — *(Wikimedia Commons)*

1927: First Balloon

The first balloon flight to reach an altitude that exceeded 40,000 feet was reached at Scott Field, Illinois.

(Wikimedia Commons)

1869: First Game

The Cincinnati Red Stockings played their first baseball game and won!

(Wikipedia)

1964: First Episode

The soap opera Another World aired its first episode on NBC.

2010: Julia’s Star Typo

On this day, Julia Louis-Dreyfus became the 2,407th star recipient on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. However, the star had a typo! Her name was written as “Julia Luis Dreyfus”. She took in stride saying, “The misspelling was so perfectly apt, a great metaphor for show business. Right when you think you’ve made it, you get knocked down. It’s an ideal metaphor for how this business works.” Yes, she did receive a second, corrected star.