June 21 in Pop Culture History

1834 – Cyrus Hall McCormick received a patent (#X008277) for his grain-reaping machine.

1877 – The Molly Maguires, ten Irish immigrants convicted of murder, were hanged in Pennsylvania prisons in Schuylkill County and Carbon County.

1893 – The first Ferris Wheel premiered at Chicago’s Columbian Exposition and could hold up to 2000 people on 36 cars and was 264 feet tall.

1913 – The first successful parachute jump from an airplane by a woman was made by Georgia Broadwick, age 18, over Griffith Field, Los Angeles, California.

1940 – The first successful west-to-east navigation of the Northwest Passage begins at Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

1947 – Meredith Baxter Birney and Michael Gross, who played the parents on Family Ties, were born on the same day, June 21, 1947.

1948 – Columbia Records introduced the long-playing record album (33 1/3 revolutions per minute) in a public demonstration at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, New York. The first was released in 1949 – ML 4001, with Nathan Milstein performing the Mendelssohn violin concerto.

#1 Hit June 21, 1952 – July 4, 1952: Al Martino – Here In My Heart

1964 – On Father’s Day, at Shea Stadium, Phillies hurler Jim Bunning became the first modern pitcher to toss a no-hitter in both leagues when he threw a perfect game to beat the Mets 6-0.

#1 Hit June 21, 1975 – July 18, 1975: Captain & Tennille – Love Will Keep Us Together

1978 – Evita (East End Musical) Opened on June 21, 1978, and closed on February 18, 1986

1985 – Cocoon and Return To Oz were released in theaters

1990 (Earthquake) Rudbar, Iran

1991 – The Rocketeer and Dying Young debuted in theaters

1996 – The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Eraser were released in theaters

2002 – Lilo and Stitch and Minority Report debuted in theaters

2006 – Pluto’s recently discovered moons were officially named Nix and Hydra.

2013 – Monsters University and World War Z were released in theaters