HISTORY ~ MAR 22

   March 22nd

 

1765     Stamp Act imposed on American colonies

In an effort to raise funds to pay off debts and defend the vast new American territories won from the French in the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), the British government passes the Stamp Act on this day in 1765. The legislation levied a direct tax on all materials printed for commercial and legal use in the colonies, from newspapers and pamphlets to playing cards and dice.

Though the Stamp Act employed a strategy that was a common fundraising vehicle in England, it stirred a storm of protest in the colonies. The colonists had recently been hit with three major taxes: the Sugar Act (1764), which levied new duties on imports of textiles, wines, coffee and sugar; the Currency Act (1764), which caused a major decline in the value of the paper money used by colonists; and the Quartering Act (1765), which required colonists to provide food and lodging to British troops.

 

Though the Stamp Act employed a strategy that was a common fundraising vehicle in England, it stirred a storm of protest in the colonies.

 

1894 First Stanley Cup championship played

     The first championship series for Lord Stanley’s Cup is played in Montreal, Canada.

The Stanley Cup was the creation of Sir Frederick Arthur Stanley, lord of Preston and the 16th earl of Derby. Stanley was of noble birth, the son of a three-time prime minister of England.  As the governor general of Canada in 1888. Stanley became an ice hockey fan after watching an 1889 game at the Montreal Winter Carnival.

 

1933 FDR legalizes sale of beer and wine

With the passage of the 18th Amendment & the Volstead Act in 1919, temperance advocates received their slong sought after goal of prohibiting the sale of alcohol or “spirits.”

On this day in 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Beer and Wine Revenue Act officially ending the era of "Prohibition".

 

1980  "Another Brick in the Wall" tops the charts

Pink Floyd's single "Another Brick in the Wall," from the album of the same title, hits No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard pop charts. The song was the band's only No. 1 single in the United States.

 

The band set records with its 1973 breakthrough album Dark Side of the Moon, which stayed on Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart for 741 weeks, longer than any other album in history.

 

     Birthdays March 22

1887 - Chico (Leonard) Marx, comedian; the Marx Brother who wore the hat: Animal Crackers, A Day at the Races, Duck Soup; died Oct 11, 1961

1912 - Karl Malden (Mladen Sekulovich),  actor

1930 - Stephen Sondheim composer: Send in the Clowns, A Little Night Music; scores for West Side Story, Reds, Gypsy, Dick Tracy

1931 - William Shatner Emmy Award-winning actor: The Practice [2004], Boston Legal [2005]; Star Trek, Rescue 9-1-1, T.J. Hooker

1948 - Andrew Lloyd Webber composer: Jesus Christ Superstar, Hair, Cats, Phantom of the Opera

1952 - Bob Costas (Robert Quinlan)  sportscaster