July 23 in Pop Culture History

1829 – In the United States, William Austin Burt patented (#5581X) the typographer, an early typewriter.

1926 – Fox Film bought the patents of the Movietone sound system for recording sound onto film.

1961 – The Sandinista National Liberation Front was founded in Nicaragua.

1962 – Telstar relayed the first publicly transmitted, live, trans-Atlantic television program featuring CBS’s Walter Cronkite, NBC’s Chet Huntley in New York, and the BBC’s Richard Dimbleby in Brussels.

1972 – The United States launched Landsat 1, the first Earth-resources satellite. The spacecraft was turned off on January 6, 1978, due to overheating.

#1 Hit July 23, 1977 – July 29, 1977: Barry Manilow – Looks Like We Made It

1982 – The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Zapped!, The Challenge and The World According To Garp debuted in theaters.

1984 – Vanessa Williams became the first Miss America to resign when she surrendered her crown after (earlier) nude photos of her appeared in Penthouse magazine.

1987 – La Bamba was released in theaters.

#1 Hit July 23, 1988 – July 29, 1988: Richard Marx – Hold On to the Nights

1995 – Comet Hale–Bopp was discovered and was visible to the naked eye on Earth in 1996.

1993 – Poetic Justice, Coneheads and Another Stakeout debuted in theaters.

1999 – Inspector Gadget, The Haunting and Drop Dead Gorgeous were released in theaters.

2004 – The Bourne Supremacy and Catwoman debuted in theaters.

2010 – Salt and Ramona and Beezus were released in theaters.

2011 – Friends with Benefits was released in theaters.

2012 – Earth had a near miss with a solar flare. Had it occurred a week earlier, it could’ve wiped out communication networks, GPS and electrical grids.