MAY 21: The Daily Flashback

1892: Ruggiero Leoncavallo’s opera I Pagliacci had its premiere in Milan, Italy.
1922: Rollin Kirby’s “On the Road to Moscow” won the first Pulitzer Prize awarded to a cartoon.
1955: Chuck Berry recorded his first single, “Maybellene.”
1959: The musical Gypsy opened on Broadway.
1969: John Lennon and Yoko Ono began their ten-day bed-in in Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth Hotel.
1980: The movie “The Empire Strikes Back” was released.
1992: MTV aired the first episode of “The Real World.”
2003: Ruben Studdard wins Season 2 of “American Idol,” beating out Clay Aiken.
2008: Lou Pearlman, manager of Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync, is sentenced to 25 years in prison on four federal charges: two counts of conspiracy, money laundering and using false statements in a bankruptcy proceeding.

BIRTHDAYS
1904: Fats Waller
1926: Robert Creeley
1941: Ronald Isley
1943: Hilton Valentine
1944: Marcie Blane
1947: Bill Champlin
1948: Leo Sayer
1952: Mr. T
1955: Stan Lynch
1972: Notorious B.I.G.