Moments in Time – February 14, 2024

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• On Feb. 26, 1917, the Original Dixieland Jass (later Jazz) Band recorded “Livery Stable Blues,” the world’s first jazz record, for the Victor Talking Machine Company in New York. That same year, the group also made the first appearance of a jazz band in a motion picture, a silent film titled “The Good for Nothing.”
• On Feb. 27, 1938, a new mascot design was created by Chris Klein and C. Karnstadt for use by the Pontiac car brand, in the form of an Indian maiden. The theme was inspired by connections with the General Motors war chief who was employed in the GM manufacturing division.
• On Feb. 28, 1983, the final episode of “M*A*S*H,” a series about the staff of an Army hospital during the Korean War, titled “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen,” became the most-watched television episode in U.S. history, with an estimated 106 million American viewers.
• On Feb. 29, 2012, Davy Jones, a former teen idol and singer for The Monkees, died of a heart attack at the age of 66. Jones starred with his bandmates in a popular TV series and a few other shows during his career, later returning to his first passion of horses and becoming a jockey.
• On March 1, 2008, Britain’s Prince Harry, who had been sent secretly to Afghanistan with his regiment in December at his request, was forced to return to Britain after the American website the Drudge Report made his deployment public.
• On March 2, 1969, the supersonic airliner and joint British/French project Concorde set off on its maiden flight, reaching 10,000 feet and 300 mph. It would be another seven years before the plane began commercial flights, which continued until 2003, when it was retired from service.
• On March 3, 2005, Steve Fossett became the first person to fly a plane solo and nonstop around the globe without refueling, landing his Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer in Salina, Kansas, after a 67-hour journey. Two years later, he would disappear while flying over the Great Basin Desert, with his wrecked aircraft discovered in 2008.

© 2024 King Features Synd., Inc.