Today in History January 24th

First canned beer goes on sale

Canned beer makes its debut on this day in 1935. In partnership with the American Can Company, the Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company delivered 2,000 cans of Krueger’s Finest Beer and Krueger’s Cream Ale to faithful Krueger drinkers in Richmond, Virginia. Ninety-one percent of the drinkers approved of the canned beer, driving Krueger to give the green light to further production.

1967  Aretha Franklin’s career is reborn

“Respect,” “Chain of Fools,” and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” are the passionate, gospel-charged classics with which Aretha Franklin is most closely associated. They were enormous, career-defining hits that earned her universal and eternal acclaim as the Queen of Soul, among other, more formal honors. What some fans may not realize, however, is that when Aretha recorded those hits, she was already 10 years into a professional career that would have been defined very differently had it ended before January 24, 1967. That was the date on which Aretha Franklin’s career was effectively reborn in a historic recording session at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Sheffield, Alabama.

1871 Albert Erskine, Studebaker chief, is born

Albert Erskine became the president of Studebaker in 1915. Under his leadership, the company acquired luxury automaker Pierce-Arrow in the late 1920s and launched the affordably priced but short-lived Erskine and Rockne lines, the latter of which was named for the famous University of Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne (1888-1931). During the early 1930s, Studebaker was hit hard by the Great Depression and Erskine was accused of financial mismanagement. In March 1933, the company was forced into bankruptcy.

1940 “The Grapes of Wrath”, directed by John Ford and based on John Steinbeck‘s novel of the same name, starring Henry Fonda and Jane Darwell, is released

Birthdays

1862 Edith Wharton [-Jones], Pulitzer prize-winning novelist (Ethan Frome, House of Mirth), born in NYC, New York (d. 1937)

1917 Ernest Borgnine, American actor (Ice Station Zebra, McHale’s Navy, Marty), born in Hamden, Connecticut (d. 2012)

1918 Oral Roberts, Pontotoc County Oklahoma, American Televangelist, founder Oral Roberts College

1941 Neil Diamond, American singer–songwriter, born in Brooklyn, New York

1949 John Belushi, American comedian and actor (SNL, Blues Brothers), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1982)