History of 23 September
1912 – “Keystone Comedy” by Mack Sennett was released.
1930 – Flashbulbs were patented by Johannes Ostermeier.
1951 – The first transcontinental telecast was received on the west coast. The show “Crusade for Freedom” was broadcast by CBS-TV from New York.
1952 – The first Pay Television sporting event took place. The Marciano-Walcott fight was seen in 49 theaters in 31 cities.
1952 – Richard Nixon gave his “Checkers Speech”. At the time he was a candidate for U.S. vice-president.
1953 – “The Robe” premiered in Hollywood a week after its premiere in New York. The 20th Century Fox movie had been filmed using the Cinemascope widescreen process.
1957 – Nine black students withdrew from Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas due to the white mob outside.
1962 – New York’s Philharmonic Hall opened. It was the first unit of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. The hall was later renamed the Avery Fisher Hall.
1962 – “The Jetsons” premiered on ABC-TV. It was the first program on the network to be carried in color.
1964 – The new ceiling painting of the Paris Opera house was unveiled. The work was done by Russian-born artist Marc Chagall.
1973 – Overthrown Argentine president Juan Peron was returned to power. He had been overthrown in 1955. His wife, Eva Duarte, was the subject of the musical “Evita.”
1981 – The Reagan administration announced its plans for what became known as Radio Marti.
1986 – Japanese newspapers quoted Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone as saying that minorities lowered the “intelligence level” of America.
1990 – Iraq publicly threatened to destroy Middle East oil fields and to attack Israel if any nation tried to force it from Kuwait.
1991 – U.N. weapons inspectors find documents detailing Iraq’s secret nuclear weapons program. The find in Baghdad triggered a standoff with authorities in Iraq.
1993 – The Israeli parliament ratified the Israel-PLO accord.
1993 – Blacks were allowed a role in the South African government after a parliamentary vote.
1998 – Jamie Lee Curtis received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1999 – A 17-month-old girl fell 230 feet from the Capilano Suspension Bridge in North Vancouver, British Columbia. The girl had bruises but no broken limbs from the fall onto a rocky ledge.
1999 – Siegfried & Roy received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
2002 – The first public version of the web browser Mozilla Firefox (“Phoenix 0.1”) is released.
2004 – Over 3,000 people die in Haiti after Hurricane Jeanne produces massive flooding and mudslides.
2008 – Matti Saari kills ten people before committing suicide.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Robert Doornbos, Dutch race car driver
- 1981 – Natalie Horler, German singer
- 1981 – Helen Richardson-Walsh, English field hockey player
- 1982 – May Künnap, an Estonian tennis player
- 1982 – Shyla Stylez, Canadian pornographic actress (d. 2017)
- 1983 – Shane del Rosario, American mixed martial artist and kick-boxer (d. 2013)
- 1983 – Joffrey Lupul, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1983 – Regan Smith, American race car driver
- 1984 – Patrick Ehelechner, German ice hockey player
- 1984 – Matt Kemp, American baseball player
- 1984 – Anneliese van der Pol, Dutch-American entertainer
- 1985 – Brian Brohm, American football player
- 1985 – Joba Chamberlain, American baseball player
- 1985 – Hossein Kaebi, Iranian footballer
- 1985 – Nahomi Kawasumi, Japanese footballer
- 1985 – Lukáš Kašpar, Czech ice hockey player
- 1986 – Martin Cranie, English footballer
- 1988 – Juan Martín del Potro, an Argentinian tennis player
- 1988 – Anthony Straker, English footballer
- 1988 – Yannick Weber, Swiss ice hockey player
- 1989 – Brandon Jennings, American basketball player
- 1989 – Taniela Lasalo, Australian rugby league player
- 1991 – Melanie Oudin, an American tennis player
- 1993 – Duke Johnson, American football player
- 1994 – John Folau, Australian-Tongan rugby league player