MOMENTS IN TIME - Aug. 5, 2010

The History Channel

* On Aug. 11, 1921, Alex Haley, author of “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” is born in Ithaca, N.Y. Haley’s next novel, “Roots” (1976), was a fictionalized account of his family’s history, traced through seven generations. The novel was translated into 37 languages and won a special Pulitzer Prize.

* On Aug. 10, 1937, the electric guitar was recognized by the United States Patent Office with the award of Patent No. 2,089.171 to G.D. Beauchamp for an instrument known as the Rickenbacker Frying Pan.

* On Aug. 13, 1952, “Hound Dog” is recorded for the first time by rhythm-and-blues singer Ellie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton, a native of Montgomery, Ala., who started her professional career in 1941 at the age of 14. Four years later, Elvis Presley also had a hit with the song.

* On Aug. 15, 1969, a press party to promote the building of a professional recording studio in the vicinity of Woodstock, N.Y., turns into the biggest music festival the world had ever seen. The outdoor concert was expected to draw less than 5,000 people; instead, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair attracted a crowd of 500,000 over three days.

* On Aug. 9, 1974, Richard M. Nixon officially resigns as the 37th president. Minutes later, Vice President Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as the 38th president of the United States. After taking the oath of office, President Ford spoke to the nation in a television address, declaring, “My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.”

* On Aug. 14, 1985, Michael Jackson takes control of the publishing rights to the vast majority of the Beatles’ catalog for $47 million, outbidding Paul McCartney himself. In the years that followed, the catalog — estimated to be worth in excess of $1 billion — allowed Jackson to remain solvent by serving as collateral for several enormous personal loans.

* On Aug. 12, 1990, fossil hunter Susan Hendrickson discovers three huge bones jutting out of a cliff near Faith, S.D. They turned out to be part of the largest Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever discovered, a 65 million-year-old specimen dubbed Sue, after its discoverer.

(c) 2010 King Features Synd., Inc.