March 2 in Pop Culture History

March 2 Fun Facts, Trivia and History

March 2 History Highlights

  • 1925 – Highway numbers were introduced in the United States.
    East/West are even numbered, North/South are odd-numbered
  • 1943 – The Battle of Bismarck, Ally victory in South Pacific
  • March 2, 1961 – (fictional) Baltian made first contact with humans on Earth, Men in Black, Comics/Film
  • If you were born on March 2nd,
    You were likely conceived the week of… June 9th (prior year)

Dr. Seuss

Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, the author and illustrator of such beloved children’s books as The Cat within the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham, was born in Springfield in 1904. Geisel, who used his name (which was also his mother’s maiden name) as his nom de plume, wrote 48 books, including some for adults, that have sold overflow 200 million copies and been translated into multiple languages. Dr. Seuss’s books are known for his or her whimsical rhymes and quirky characters, which have names just like the Lorax and therefore the Sneetches and sleep in places like Whoville.

Geisel graduated from Dartmouth College, where he was editor of the school’s humor magazine, and studied at Oxford University. There he met Helen Palmer, his first wife and therefore the one that encouraged him to become a knowledgeable illustrator. Back in America, Geisel worked as a cartoonist for a spread of magazines and in advertising.

The first children’s book that Geisel wrote and illustrated, And to Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street, was rejected by over twenty-four publishers before making it into print in 1937. Geisel’s first bestseller, The Cat within the Hat, was published in 1957. The story of a mischievous cat during a tall striped hat happened after his publisher asked him to supply a book using 220 new-reader vocabulary words that would function an entertaining alternative to the varsity reading primers children found boring.

Other Dr. Seuss classics include Yertle the Turtl,  If I Ran the Circus, Fox in Socks and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.

March 2 is…

Banana Cream Pie Day
Dr. Seuss’s Birthday
Old Stuff Day
Read Across America Day

March 2 Birthday Quotes

“I stay fat because it just wouldn’t be fair to all the thin people if I were this good-looking, intelligent, funny, and thin. It’s a public service really.”
– Rebel Wilson

“It is a matter of great satisfaction to me to hope that my children will be in circumstances to receive a good education. Mine was defective and I feel the inconvenience, if not the misfortune of not receiving a classical education. Knowledge is the food of genius, and my son, let no opportunity escape you to treasure up knowledge.”
– Sam Houston

“I write stuff. Sometimes people pay me for some of it. “
– Mark Evanier

“Nothing is as important as passion. No matter what you want to do with your life, be passionate. The world doesn’t need any more gray. On the other hand, we can’t get enough color. Mediocrity is nobody’s goal and perfection shouldn’t be either. We’ll never be perfect. But remember these three P’s: Passion + Persistence = Possibility.”
– Jon Bon Jovi

“Life is beautiful in all its colors, even the darker ones, they’re here for a reason.”
– Chris Martin

March 2 Birthdays

1793 – Sam Houston, American soldier and politician, 1st President of the Republic of Texas (died in 1863)
1836 – Henry Billings Brown, American lawyer and judge (died in 1913)
1886 – Willis H. O’Brien, American animator and director (died in 1962)
1900 – Kurt Weill, German-American pianist and composer (died in 1950)
1904 – Dr. Seuss, American children’s book writer, poet, and illustrator (Theodor Seuss “Ted” Geisel d. 1991)
1917 – Desi Arnaz, Cuban-American actor, singer, and producer (died in 1986)
1919 – Jennifer Jones, American actress (died in 2009
1931 – Mikhail Gorbachev, Russian lawyer and politician, Nobel Prize laureate
1938 – Lawrence Payton, American singer-songwriter (died in 1997)
1942 – John Irving, American novelist and screenwriter
1948 – Larry Carlton, American guitarist and songwriter
1950 – Karen Carpenter, American singer (died in 1983)
1952 – Mark Evanier, American author and screenwriter
1952 – Laraine Newman, American actress and comedian
1953 – Russ Feingold, American lawyer and politician
1962 – Jon Bon Jovi, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor
1968 – Daniel Craig, English actor
1971 – Method Man, American rapper and record producer
1977 – Chris Martin, English singer-songwriter
1980 – Rebel Wilson, Australian actress
1981 – Bryce Dallas Howard, American actress
1988 – Laura Kaeppeler, Miss America 2012
1997 – Becky G, American singer

March 2 History

1657
The Great Fire of Meireki in Edo (now Tokyo), Japan, caused more than 100,000 deaths and lasted three days

1807
The US Congress passed an act to “prohibit the importation of slaves into any port or place within the jurisdiction of the United States… from any foreign kingdom, place, or country.”

1863
The US Congress authorized a track width of 4 feet, 8-1/2 inches as the standard for the Union Pacific Railroad, which became the standard width for most of the world.

1899
Mount Rainier National Park: Established on March 2, 1899, in Washington, this park covers 369 square miles. Known for its towering Mount Rainier, an active stratovolcano, glaciers, and alpine meadows.

1933
King Kong (film) opened at New York’s Radio City Music Hall.

1944
Train #8017 stopped in a tunnel near Salerno, Italy; more than 500 people on board suffocated and died. In the midst of WW II, the story was very much covered up by the Italian government.

1949
The first round-the-world nonstop airplane flight was completed in a US Air Force B-50 Superfortress bomber, the Lucky Lady II, by Captain James Gallagher. They landed back at Carswell Air Force Base, Fort Worth, Texas, which they had left on February 26, about 94 hours earlier.

1957
#1 Hit March 2, 1957 – March 29, 1957: Tab HunterYoung Love

1960
Lucille Ball filed for divorce from Desi Arnaz, ending their marriage and the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show franchise on CBS.

1962
Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a single basketball game against the New York Knicks. Final score: 169-147, at the Hershey Arena. Although only about 6,000 tickets were sold, guesstimates are that almost 50% of male sports fans born in the Philadelphia area between 1925 and 1958 claim to have been at the event.

1963
#1 Hit March 2, 1963March 22, 1963: The Four SeasonsWalk Like A Man

1965
The Sound of Music Premiered in NYC

1969
The Concorde SST Supersonic jet, prototype 001, took its first flight from Toulouse airport in France.

1972
US spacecraft Pioneer 10 was launched.

1974
#1 Hit March 2, 1974 – March 22, 1974: Terry JacksSeasons in the Sun

1978
Charlie Chaplin’s body was stolen from a cemetery in the Swiss village of Corsier-sur-Vevey, near Lausanne, Switzerland. The grave robbers (and the re-buried body) were found a few weeks later.

1983
Compact discs and players are released for the first time in the United States and other markets. (They had previously been available only in Japan.)

1985
Sheena Easton was the first and still only recording artist to score top-10 singles on all five major Billboard singles charts: Pop, Country, Dance, Adult Contemporary, and R&B, with her hit Sugar Walls.

1987
The Apple Macintosh SE & II was released.

1990
Nelson Mandela was elected deputy President of the African National Congress.

1995
Broadway Show – Smokey Joe’s Cafe (Review) opened

2009
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon premiered on NBC.

2013
#1 Hit March 2, 2013April 19, 2013: BaauerHarlem Shake

2022
#1 Hit March 12, 2022 – April 15, 2022: Heat WavesGlass Animals

Today’s Random Trivia and Shower Thoughts

Is your refrigerator running? Refrigerators that run at least 1 mile a day have a 30% reduced chance of heart disease and stroke, even if they smoke.

A Welsh king, Morgan of Gla-Morgan, established trial by jury in 725 AD by declaring: “For as Christ and his 12 apostles were finally to judge the world, so human tribunals should be composed of the king and 12 wise men.”

Useless Pronunciation: K as in knee

Heard in our office:
Joe: Did somebody move this desk closer to the wall?
Lauren: No Joe, you’re getting fat.

The Popeye’s restaurant chain was named after Gene Hackman’s character in “The French Connection”

The McDonnell Douglas F-15 can reach 30,000 ft (9,100m) in 60 seconds and has a thrust-to-weight ratio that allows the aircraft to accelerate while flying straight up. It is also the only aircraft to ever shoot down a satellite orbiting in space.

Scooby-Doo was basically CSI for kids.

What are the strongest days of the week?
Saturday and Sunday, the rest are weekdays.

There are some things money can’t buy, for everything else, there’s money.

The chords to the AC/DC song “It’s a long way to the top (if you wanna rock’n’roll)” are A, C, D, C.

The King’s Own Immemorial 1st Infantry Regiment of the Spanish Army is claimed to be the oldest continuously operating military unit in the world, formed in 1248.

Rodney Dangerfield’s gravestone reads, “There goes the neighborhood”.

Too late comes sooner than you think. #foodforthought

Sexy Primes are prime numbers that differ from each other by six.
Sexy Prime Pairs include:
(5,11), (7,13), (11,17), (13,19), (17,23), (23,29), (31,37), (37,43), (41,47), (47,53), (53,59), (61,67), (67,73), (73,79), (83,89), (97,103), (101,107), (103,109), (107,113), (131,137), (151,157), (157,163), (167,173), (173,179), (191,197), (193,199), (223,229), (227,233), (233,239), (251,257), (257,263), (263,269), (271,277), (277,283), (307,313), (311,317), (331,337), (347,353), (353,359), (367,373), (373,379), (383,389), (433,439), (443,449), (457,463), (461,467).

Sexy Prime Triplets include:
(5,11,17), (7,13,19), (17,23,29), (31,37,43), (47,53,59), (67,73,79), (97,103,109), (101,107,113), (151,157,163), (167,173,179), (227,233,239), (257,263,269), (271,277,283), (347,353,359), (367,373,379), (557,563,569), (587,593,599), (607,613,619), (647,653,659), (727,733,739), (941,947,953), (971,977,983).

Sexy Prime Quadruptes include:
(5,11,17,23), (11,17,23,29), (41,47,53,59), (61,67,73,79), (251,257,263,269), (601,607,613,619), (641,647,653,659).

The (only) Sexy Prime Quintuplet is:
(5,11,17,23,29)

More Pop Culture History Resources