1970: A sad day for rock music as legendary innovative guitarist/singer/songwriter Jimi Hendrix dies in London of a drug overdose. He was only 27 years old.

He remains one of, if not the greatest guitarist in rock history.

1967: Recording an appearance on the CBS television program The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, Keith Moon of the Who wants his bass drum to explode as a finale.

Unfortunately, a stage hand packs in way more explosives than necessary. The resulting explosion injures Moon’s leg and results in permanent hearing damage for Pete Townsend.

1964: No longer confined to one-off appearances on shows like Ed Sullivan, rock & roll finally gets a prime-time TV series of its own when Shindig! debuts on ABC-TV.

The first telecast, created and hosted by L.A. deejay Jimmy O’Neill, features performances by Sam Cooke, the Everly Brothers, the Righteous Brothers, and their “house singer," a kid named Bobby Sherman.

This week’s featured presentation is the film that signaled the end of Beach Party movies. Frankie and Annette traded their swimsuits for stock cars in FIREBALL 500.

Released in 1966, the film was co-written and directed by William Asher, the same guy who first teamed Avalon and Funicello in the original Beach Party a few years earlier.

It’s worth a look not just to see the Beach Party gang try something different (and pretty much fail), but as a glimpse at the fledgling organization known as N.A.S.C.A.R. According to the film, stock car racing was such small potatoes (mainly popular with kids from California and Southern good ol’ boys) that a guy like Frankie had to augment his income as a stock car driver by hauling moonshine!

Better still, Annette works in a carny where she tries to attract male customers for the hoochie coochie show. (No, I am not making that up.)

Thank goodness Eric Von Zipper (Harvey Lembeck) is still around. Only he seems to have changed his name to Charlie Bigg and no longer runs around with the least threatening bikers in movie history.

The film also features Fabian, Chill Wills and Julie Parrish. But it’s all to no avail. No gilrs in bikinis shaking their behinds at the camera meant very tepid box office. The film spawned only one sequel (Thunder Alley) and marked the last time Frankie and Annette would avoid having sex with each other.

By the time the duo were finally reunited for 1987’s Back to the Beach, they would be a married couple with a growing kid, giving them a whole new excuse for avoiding sex.

A.K.A. The Danny Thomas Show

Virtually forgotten now, Make Room for Daddy was one of TV’s earliest and most successful sitcoms.

But it took a long and winding road to get there and along the way, it created some television firsts. 

Danny Thomas had already flopped hosting a variety show, but ABC was willing to give him a try in a sit-com. So, Danny Thomas the entertainer played an entertainer named Danny Williams (quite the acting stretch, eh?), who juggled his career, wife (Jean Hagen) and two kids, Rusty (Rusty Hamer) and Terry (Sherry Jackson).

The show debuted 1953 and limped through 3 seasons of mediocre ratings. Hagen, not fond of her part or of Thomas, left the show. Instead of re-casting the role, Make Room for Daddy went in a new and untried direction. The show simply explained that Danny’s wife had died. He spent season 4 dating various women and finally proposing to an Irish nurse, Kathy O’Hara, played by Marjorie Lord, in the season 4 finale.

Viewers in the mid-1950's apparently did not like the concept of a single dad. Rating slumped and ABC cancelled the show. Then something unusual happened. CBS was looking for a show to replace I Love Lucy, which was ending its long run. They decided to move Danny’s sit-com, lock, stock and punch lines to CBS.

Season 5 opened with Danny and Kathy already married and added her young daughter Linda (Angela Cartwright) to the cast. Suddenly, TV’s first “blended family” was ratings gold, soaring to #2 in the ratings.

In all, Make Room for Daddy or The Danny Thomas Show as it came to be known ran for 11 seasons, remaining a top 10 show from season 5 on. It featured many recurring characters who became audience favorites including Sid Melton as Danny’s manager Charlie Harper and Pat Carroll as Charlie’s wife, Bunny. Far and away the most popular of the recurring characters was Hans Conried as Uncle Tonoose.

Perhaps its most lasting contribution to TV history was that its success allowed co-producers Danny Thomas and Sheldon Leonard to bankroll other TV series.

Among the other series produced by the team of Thomas and Leonard: The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Andy Griffith Show.

Shazam!

Back in the day, making your own clothes was "Simplicity" in itself!

1997: Elton John’s tribute to Lady Diana, a reworking of his tribute to Marilyn Monroe, “Candle in the Wind” goes on sale and racks up sales of 600,000 copies on its first day in England alone. It goes on to eclipse Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” as the best-selling single of all-time.

1968: Just two years after the Monkees proved you could create a popular rock band artificially, CBS debuts the Saturday morning show The Archies, based on the popular, long-running comic book characters.

The idea was to avoid previous problems that arose when the Monkees actually demanded more control of their records. By using cartoon characters, musical producer Don Kirshner guaranteed he’d never face another mutiny in the recording studio.

1990: In a sign that the times really have “a-changed,” Bob Dylan performs for the cadets at the West Point Military Academy. And yes, he does perform his scathing anti-war song “Masters of War.”

During the concert, the cadets also engage in an impromptu singalong with Dylan on his other anti-war classic “Blowin’ in the Wind.”

1966: NBC debuts a new sitcom, one that also includes musical numbers. The Monkees is broadcast for the first time. The idea of a show built around rock & roll music is off-putting to the management of several NBC affiliates who pass on carrying the broadcast.

Just one week later, “Last Train to Clarksville” hits the top of the American charts and the show does very well in the markets that carry it. Most of the affiliates who passed on the show, now decide they will air it after all.