Tagged: Bruce Springsteen

WHO’S THE BOSS?

December 12 in history:

The presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore was finally settled by the U.S. Supreme Court on December 12th, 2000…more than a month after the voting.  The  court decided 5-4 to accept Florida’s certification that Bush had won the state, giving him one more electoral vote over the 270 majority.  That ruling came a few days after justices halted the Florida recount which showed Texas governor Bush and Vice President Gore only a few hundred votes apart.

Frank Sinatra knew a few presidents, including John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, and in his later years, fans of the singer and actor knew Sinatra as “Chairman of the Board.”  Sinatra was born in Hoboken, New Jersey on this date in 1915.

Like the Chairman of the Board, “The Boss” — singer Bruce Springsteen — also was born in New Jersey.  During a concert on December 12th, 1975, Springsteen recorded a rock version of “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” which has become a popular holiday song on the radio.  The concert was performed on the Long Island campus of C.W. Post College, named after the founder of Post Cereals.

The 1960′s TV cartoon show “Linus the Lionhearted” was based on characters from Post cereal boxes, with the title character, a lion king, voiced by actor Sheldon Leonard.  The characters Sheldon and Leonard on the sitcom “The Big Bang Theory” are named after him.  “Big Bang Theory” actress Mayim Bialik, who starred in the ’90s series “Blossom” and earned a PhD in neuroscience, was born December 12th, 1975.

FAMOUS DISCOVERIES

June 15th in history:

Benjamin Franklin is given credit for proving that lightning is an electrical charge because of an experiment reportedly performed on June 15th, 1752. That’s the day Franklin is said to have flown a kite during a rainstorm, tying the string to a key in a jar to capture an electrical charge from the kite.

On this date in 1844, Charles Goodyear is given a patent for the process of vulcanizing rubber. Goodyear discovered that adding sulfur to rubber hardens it, and makes it last longer.

Baseball fans “discovered” a future Hall of Famer when Lou Gehrig played his first major league game with the New York Yankees on June 15th, 1923.

And actress Courteney Cox was “discovered” when she danced on stage with Bruce Springsteen in the “Dancing in the Dark” music video. The future star of “Friends” and “Cougar Town” was born June 15th, 1964.