May 16 Fun Facts, Trivia and HistoryTable of Contents |
May 16 History Highlights |
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Hires Root Beer |
In Philadelphia, Charles Hires was the first to successfully market a commercial brand of root beer. The key to the original flavoring is Sassafras and Sarsaparilla. Native Americans used both of them as a topical ointment for wounds and acne, so like most sodas when they started, Root Beer was presented as an exotic, healthy drink. The beverage proved to be popular, and pharmacies and people brewed them home style, but Charles Elmer Hires perfected Root Beer as we know it and sold it at The Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876. The Centennial Celebration was the First World’s Fair in the United States. |
May 16 is… |
| Biographer’s Day Coquilles St. Jacques Day |
May 16 Birthday Quotes |
“Everybody knows there is no such thing as normal. There is no black-and-white definition of normal. Normal is subjective. There’s only a messy, inconsistent, silly, hopeful version of how we feel most at home in our lives.” “I don’t believe in luck. It’s persistence, hard work, and not forgetting your dream.” “Years ago when I started doing TV and making appearances in big arenas, the place would put security guys up there and I said, “Please don’t do that. It’s very distracting to see ten cops in front of the stage. Everybody’s looking at the officers instead of me. I don’t want that.” I also found that people will dare to break a barricade. If they have a barricade, somebody will always try to jump over it. I’ve found that the more open I am, the better.” “Everybody in their own imagination decides what scary is.” “Just be you. I’ve learned the hard way and in the end, some people are just so full of hate that no matter what you say or do, they’ll always have something to say.” |
May 16 Birthdays |
| 1801 – William H. Seward, American lawyer and politician, 24th United States Secretary of State (died in 1872) 1892 – Osgood Perkins, American character actor (died in 1937) 1905 – Henry Fonda, American actor (died in 1982) 1919 – Liberace, American pianist and entertainer (died in 1987) 1937 – Yvonne Craig, American actress (died in 2015) 1944 – Danny Trejo, American actor 1951 – Christian Lacroix, French fashion designer 1953 – Pierce Brosnan, Irish-American actor 1966 – Janet Jackson, American singer-songwriter 1969 – Tucker Carlson, American journalist 1969 – David Boreanaz, American actor 1973 – Tori Spelling, American actress and reality television personality 1986 – Megan Fox, American actress 1990 – Thomas Brodie-Sangster, English actor |
May 16 History |
1866 – Charles Elmer Hires invented Root Beer in Philadelphia, PA. 1891 – The International Electrotechnical Exhibition opened in Frankfurt, Germany. 1920 – Pope Benedict XV canonized Joan of Arc. 1946 – Broadway Show – Annie Get Your Gun (Musical) May 16, 1946 1946 – Jack Mullin demonstrated the first magnetic tape recorder. 1964 #1 Hit May 16, 1964 – May 29, 1964: Mary Wells – My Guy. Motown Records got its first #1 hit with the song. 1966 – The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds and Bob Dylan’s Blonde On Blonde were both released. 1981 #1 Hit May 16, 1981 – June 19, 1981: Kim Carnes – Bette Davis Eyes 1983 – The concert special Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever was broadcast by NBC; Michael Jackson performed his ‘moonwalk’ dance for the first time on television. 1987 #1 Hit May 16, 1987 – June 5, 1987: U2 – With or Without You 1988 – Nicotine was declared to be addictive in ways similar to heroin and cocaine, in a report released by US Surgeon-General C. Everett Koop. 1991 – Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom addressed a joint session of the United States Congress. 1996 – 12 million people tuned in for the series finale of Murder, She Wrote on CBS. The show was the longest-running American Murder-Mystery drama. 1998 – Unsolved Mysteries true-crime series ended. May 16, 2006 – The Apple MacBook was released. 2014 – Broadcast journalist and TV personality Barbara Walters retired from ABC News and from the daytime program The View. #1 Hit May 16, 2020 – May 22, 2020: Say So – Doja Cat featuring Nicki Minaj |
Today’s Random Trivia and Shower Thoughts |
| Anne Ramsey (The Goonies, Throw Mama from the Train) also founded the Theater of Living Arts (the TLA) in Philadelphia. “I think I did pretty well, considering I started out with nothing but a bunch of blank paper.” – Steve Martin If 7 billion competed in a single-elimination rock paper scissor tournament, the winner would have only won 33 times in a row. “Man has always learned from the past. After all, you can’t learn history in reverse!” – Archimedes #moviequotes “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” – Ferris Bueller in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off #moviequotes Sometimes typing without looking at the keyboard works perfectly; other times it ends up kujw rgua~ The charcoal drawing of Kate Winslet in James Cameron’sTitanic was actually drawn by James Cameron. “Forget it, Jake, it’s Chinatown.” – Lawrence Walsh (Joe Mantell) #moviequotes My mom always told me, “Don’t talk to strangers online.” But that’s all I do. The Breakfast Club, Ferris Beuller’s Day Off, Sixteen Candles, and Weird Science were all filmed in Highland Park, Illinois. A group of Rabbits is called a Colony or Warren or Bury or Trace or Trip or Herd. Lorde has made millions off a song about how she will never be a millionaire. |
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