On March 18, 1910, the first filmed adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel "Frankenstein," produced by Thomas Edison's New York movie studio, was released, with Charles Ogle as the Monster.
On this date:
In 1766, Britain repealed the Stamp Act of 1765.
In 1837, the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, Grover Cleveland, was born in Caldwell, N.J.
In 1922, Mohandas K. Gandhi was sentenced in India to six years' imprisonment for civil disobedience. (He was released after serving two years.)
AP: In 1925, a tornado with a base nearly a mile wide tore a destructive path 219 miles from southeastern Missouri across Illinois and into southwestern Indiana. With 695 killed, it is the deadliest tornado in U.S. history.
UPI: In 1926, the worst tornado in U.S. history roared through eastern Missouri, southern Illinois and southern Indiana, killing 695 people, injuring 13,000 others and causing $17 million in property damage.
In 1931, Schick Inc. marketed the first electric razor.
In 1937, some 300 people, mostly children, were killed in a gas explosion at a school in New London, Texas.
In 1938, Mexican President Lazaro Cardenas nationalized his country's petroleum reserves and took control of foreign-owned oil facilities.
In 1940, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini met at the Brenner Pass, where the Italian dictator agreed to join Germany's war against France and Britain.
In 1959, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Hawaii statehood bill. (Hawaii became a state on Aug. 21, 1959.)
In 1962, France and Algerian rebels signed a cease-fire agreement, which took effect the next day.
In 1965, the first spacewalk took place as Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov went outside his Voskhod 2 capsule, secured by a tether.
In 1968, the U.S. Congress removed gold reserve requirement for U.S. currency.
In 1970, US postal workers began an unprecedented two-week strike.
In 1974, most of the Arab oil-producing nations ended their embargo against the United States.
In 1992, hotel queen and convicted tax cheat Leona Helmsley was sentenced to four years in prison.
In 1993, Contra rebels freed five hostages they held at the Nicaraguan Embassy in Costa Rica after the two sides agreed to begin talks to end the 10-day siege.
In 1995, Michael Jordan announced he was returning to professional basketball and the Chicago Bulls after a 17-month break, during which he had tried a baseball career.
In 1997, Zaire's parliament fired Premier Leon Kengo wa Dondo and opened negotiations with rebel leader Laurent Kabila.
In 1999, the Kosovar Albanian delegation signed a U.S.-sponsored peace accord following talks in Paris; the Clinton administration warned NATO would act against Serb targets if Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic rejected the agreement.
In 2000, Taiwan ended more than a-half century of Nationalist Party rule, electing an opposition leader (Chen Shui-bian) whose party favored Taiwan's formal independence from the rest of China.
In 2002, a 13-year-old girl died two days after being hit in the head by a hockey puck during an NHL game in Columbus, Ohio.
In 2003, on the eve of war with Iraq, the U.S. State Department listed 30 countries as members of a "coalition of the willing" supporting military intervention but only the United States, Britain and Australia were known to be providing troops.
In 2004, a top U.S. scientist told lawmakers that all bovines slated for consumption should be tested for mad cow disease which he called "the greatest threat to the safety of the human food supply in modern times." Addressing thousands of soldiers at Fort Campbell, Ky., President George W. Bush warned that terrorists could never be appeased and said there was no safety for any nation that "lives at the mercy of gangsters and mass murderers."
In 2005, doctors in Florida, acting on orders of a state judge, removed Terri Schiavo's feeding tube. (Despite the efforts of congressional Republicans to intervene and repeated court appeals by Schiavo's parents, the brain-damaged woman died on March 31, 2005, at age 41.) Former Connecticut Governor John G. Rowland was sentenced to a year in prison and four months under house arrest for selling his office in a corruption scandal (he served 10 months behind bars). Also in 2005, Ukraine admitted to exporting missiles, designed to carry nuclear warheads, to Iran and China.
In 2006, an estimated 500,000 people took to the streets in French cities and towns for a protest against a new labor law that allowed employers to dismiss workers under the age of 26 for any reason during the first two years on the job.
In 2007, Israel's Cabinet voted unanimously to boycott the new Hamas-dominated Palestinian unity government.
In 2008, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama confronted America's racial divide with a speech in Philadelphia. It was prompted by remarks made by Obama's pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. The just-inaugurated governor of New York, David Paterson, and his wife, Michelle, both acknowledged having had affairs during a time when their marriage was troubled. German Chancellor Angela Merkel earned a standing ovation from Israel's parliament with a speech that included a tribute to the victims of the Holocaust.
In 2009, under intense pressure from the Obama administration and Congress, the head of bailed-out insurance giant AIG, Edward Liddy, told Congress that some of the firm's executives had begun returning all or part of bonuses totaling $165 million. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced the U.S. Army would phase out its "stop-loss" policy under which thousands of American soldiers whose military obligations were ending were forced to stay in uniform if their units were about to ship out to Iraq or Afghanistan. Also in 2009, New Mexico banned the death penalty, replacing it with life imprisonment with no chance for parole.
Today's Birthdays: Composer John Kander ("Chicago") is 83. Nobel peace laureate and former South African president F.W. de Klerk is 74. Country singer Charley Pride is 72. Actor Kevin Dobson is 67. Actor Brad Dourif is 60. Jazz musician Bill Frisell is 59. Singer Irene Cara is 51. Movie writer-director Luc Besson is 51. Actor Thomas Ian Griffith is 48. Singer-songwriter James McMurtry is 48. Singer-actress Vanessa L. Williams is 47. Olympic gold medal speedskater Bonnie Blair is 46. Country musician Scott Saunders (Sons of the Desert) is 46. Rock musician Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains) is 44. Rock singer-musician Miki Berenyi is 43. Rapper-actress-talk show host Queen Latifah is 40. Actor-comedian Dane Cook is 38. Rock musician Stuart Zender is 36. Singer Devin Lima (LFO) is 33. Rock singer Adam Levine (Maroon 5) is 31.
Also Born On This Date: John C. Calhoun, the first U.S. vice president to resign that office (1782); Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844); German engineer Rudolf Diesel, inventor of the engine that bears his name (1858); British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (1869); clairvoyant and therapist Edgar Cayce (1877); actors Edward Everett Horton (1886) & Robert Donat (1905); wine maker Ernest Gallo (1909); actor Peter Graves (1926); authors George Plimpton (1927) & John Updike (1932); & singer/songwriter Wilson Pickett (1941).
March 18 In Entertainment History
In 1965, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones were arrested for urinating on the wall of a gas station. The owner wouldn't let them use the restroom.
In 1970, Country Joe McDonald of Country Joe and the Fish was fined $500 for leading a Massachusetts audience in the so-called "Fish Cheer."
In 1978, Ontario, Calif., hosted the California Jam Two concert, which included performances by Aerosmith, Heart, Ted Nugent, Dave Mason and Santana.
In 1982, singer Teddy Pendergrass was paralyzed from the waist down in a car crash in Philadelphia. Also in 1982, XTC singer Andy Partridge walked off stage during a concert in Paris after only 30 seconds. He had long suffered from stage fright. The group only played one more show ever, in San Diego.
In 1993, comedian Eddie Murphy and Nicole Mitchell got married in New York. They divorced in 2006. Also in 1993, a report by a team of child abuse experts in Connecticut cleared Woody Allen of charges he molested his 7-year-old adopted daughter. Allen's former girlfriend, Mia Farrow, had accused him of molesting the child.
In 1994, the Rolling Stones announced Darryl Jones as the replacement for Bill Wyman on bass. Wyman had said he would no longer tour with the group. Also in 1994, police confiscated ammunition and four guns from singer Kurt Cobain of Nirvana. His wife, Courtney Love, had called authorities because she was afraid Cobain was contemplating suicide.
In 1996, the Sex Pistols announced they were reuniting for a 20th anniversary tour.
In 1997, Taylor Hawkins replaced William Goldsmith as drummer for the Foo Fighters. Goldsmith left over creative differences.
In 2001, singer John Philips of The Mamas and The Papas died of heart failure at a hospital in Los Angeles. He was 65.
In 2004, overruling its staff, the Federal Communications Commission declared that an expletive (the "F-word") uttered by U2 frontman Bono on NBC the previous year was both indecent and profane.
In 2008, Oscar-winning filmmaker Anthony Minghella ("The English Patient") died in London at age 54.
In 2009, Tony-winning Actress Natasha Richardson, 45, died at a New York hospital two days after suffering a head injury while skiing in Canada.
Thought for Today: "I take a simple view of living. It is keep your eyes open and get on with it." — Laurence Olivier, British actor (1907-1989).
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