This Day…

1896 – Fight in Central Dance Hall starts fire at Cripple Creek, Colorado.

1930  – “All Quiet on the Western Front” based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque, directed by Lewis Milestone and starring Louis Wolheim and Lew Ayres premieres in Los Angeles (Academy Awards Outstanding Production 1930).

1956 – US film actress Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier III of Monaco in a civil ceremony in Monaco

1865 – US President Abraham Lincoln is shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater in Washington; he dies a day later.

April 13, 1933 – Ruth Bryan Owen is the first woman to represent the U.S. as a foreign minister when she is appointed as envoy to Denmark

1961 – “Show Girl” closes at Eugene O’Neill Theater NYC after 100 performances.

1949 – “South Pacific” opens at Majestic Theater NYC for 1928 performances

1914 – Film serial “Perils of Pauline” shown for the first time in Los Angeles

1930 – “The Blue Angel” starring Marlene Dietrich in her breakthrough role premieres in Germany.

1867 – The United States buys Alaska from Russia.  The territory at the north-western tip of North America cost only $7.2 million.