Posted in: Entertainment History, News, Trivia Q & A | No Comments | Posted on August 13, 2021 by Mary Anne

August 17
~ 1970 - TV show Soul Train debuts
~ 1958 - Belinda Carlisle of The Go-Go’s fame, is born

August 18
~ 1962 - Ringo Starr made his first appearance as a Beatle.
~ 1974 - Patrick Moraz replaced Rick Wakeman in Yes.

August 19
~ 1939 - Ginger Baker (of Cream & Blind Faith fame) was born
~ 1972 - NBC-TV presented “The Midnight Special” for the first time with John Denver as the first host. The Midnight Special is an American late-night musical variety series originally broadcast on NBC during the 1970s and early 1980s, created and produced by Burt Sugarman. It premiered as a special on this date, then began its run as a regular series on February 2, 1973; its last episode was on May 1, 1981. The 90-minute program followed the Friday night edition of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
The Midnight Special was noted for featuring musical acts performing live, which was unusual since most television appearances during the era showed performers lip-synching to prerecorded music. The series also occasionally aired vintage footage of older acts, such as Bill Haley & His Comets. The program also featured occasional performances of comedians such as Richard Pryor, Andy Kaufman, and George Carlin.
ELO had more appearances than any other band with four. The show presented The 1980 Floor Show, the last performance of David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust. It was broadcast on November 16, 1973, and was taped a month earlier from specially-commissioned performances at the Marquee Club in Soho, London
The series was canceled by NBC at the request of Dick Ebersol as part of a deal for him to take over then-ailing Saturday Night Live. The Midnight Special was replaced by SCTV, a weekly Canadian sketch comedy series produced by the Toronto satellite of The Second City improvisational troupe; that in turn would later be replaced with another music program, Friday Night Videos.
In 2014, an 11-DVD collection entitled The Midnight Special was released and is available at Cheeky Monkey

August 20
~ Robert Plant was born
~ 1960 - Connie Francis begins working on the film “Where the Boys Are.”

August 21
~ 1952 - Joe Strummer of The Clash & the Mescaleros was born
~ 1923 - In Kalamazoo, Michigan, an ordinance was passed forbidding dancers from gazing into the eyes of their partner.

August 22
~ 1917 - Bluesman John Lee Hooker was born.
~ 1956 - Elvis began work on his first movie, “Love Me Tender.” The film was originally entitled “The Reno Brothers.”
~ 1963 - songstress Tori Amos was born

August 23
~ 1947 - Margaret Truman, U.S. President Truman’s daughter, gave her first public performance as a singer. The event was at the Hollywood Bowl and had an audience of 15,000.
~ 1968 - Ringo Starr temporarily quit The Beatles.