July 23 in Pop Culture History
1829 – In the United States, William Austin Burt patented (#5581X) the typographer, an early typewriter.
1926 – Fox Film bought the patents of the Movietone sound system, for recording sound onto film.
1961 – The Sandinista National Liberation Front was founded in Nicaragua.
1962 – Telstar relayed the first publicly transmitted, live, trans-Atlantic television program, featuring CBS’s Walter Cronkite and NBC’s Chet Huntley in New York, and the BBC’s Richard Dimbleby in Brussels.
1972 – The United States launched Landsat 1, the first Earth-resources satellite. The spacecraft was turned off on January 6, 1978, due to overheating.
1977 – #1 Hit July 23, 1977 – July 29, 1977: Barry Manilow – Looks Like We Made It
1982 – The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Zapped!, The Challenge and The World According To Garp debuted in theaters.
1984 – Vanessa Williams became the first Miss America to resign when she surrendered her crown after (earlier) nude photos of her appeared in Penthouse magazine.
1987 – La Bamba was released in theaters.
1988 – #1 Hit July 23, 1988 – July 29, 1988: Richard Marx – Hold On to the Nights
1995 – Comet Hale–Bopp is discovered, and was visible to the naked eye on Earth in 1996.
1993 – Poetic Justice, Coneheads and Another Stakout debuted in theaters.
1999 – Inspector Gadget, The Haunting and Drop Dead Gorgeous were released in theaters.
2004 – The Bourne Supremacy and Catwoman debuted in theaters.
2010 – Salt and Ramona and Beezus were released in theaters.
2011 – Friends with Benefits was released in theaters.
2012 – Earth had a near miss with a solar flare. Had it occurred a week earlier, it could’ve wiped out communication networks, GPS and electrical grids.