It was on this day in 1889 that Louis Glass and William Arnold placed a modified Edison cylinder phonograph into a saloon in San Francisco. With an oak cabinet built around it, the machine would play only after a nickle was inserted. The songs were changed daily and included such titles as “Down Went McGinty“, “Pretty as a Butterfly“, and “The Men of Wall Street.” Despite only allowing up to four people to listen to the music (via stethoscope-type listening tubes) at one time, the machine was a huge success and earned over $1000 in the next couple months. The men took out a patent for their new machine the following Spring, and jukeboxes soon began springing up all over the country.
The earliest event that Wiki says happened on this day is “534 BC – Thespis of Icaria becomes the first recorded actor to portray a character onstage” and the most recent is “2010 – The Bombardment of Yeonpyeong occurs on Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea. The North Korean artillery attack kills 2 civilians and 2 South Korean marines.”
Wishes for a very happy birthday go out to Bruce Hornsby.