The US Grammy Music Awards Started

The last musical from Rodgers and Hammerstein "The Sound of Music" opens on Broadway

The chartered plane transporting musicians Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper goes down
   in an   Iowa   snowstorm, killing all four occupants on board. The tragedy is later termed "The Day
   the Music Died," popularized in Don McLean's song, "American Pie."

The Film Ben-Hur premieres in New York City

Popular Films

Ben-Hur

Some Like It Hot

Anatomy of a Murder

North by Northwest

Sleeping Beauty

Popular Singers

Doris Day                                

Frank Sinatra

Connie Francis

Jim Reeves

Cliff Richard

Ella Fitzgerald

Popular TV Programs

Bonanza premieres on NBC, the first weekly television series broadcast completely in color

Juke Box Jury premieres on BBC Television

Dixon of Dock Green (UK)

The Huckleberry Hound Show

Other Events on May 16^th

1770    Marie Antoinette, age 14, married the future King Louis XVI of France, who was 15.

1568    Mary Queen of Scots flees to England.

1836    Edgar Allan Poe marries his 13-year-old cousin Virginia.

1860    Chicago: Republican convention selects Abraham Lincoln candidate

1862    Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir built the 1st motor car.

1866    Charles Elmer Hires produced root beer.

1866 - The U.S. Congress authorized the first 5-cent piece to be minted.

1881 - In Germany the first electric tram for the public started service.

1888 - The capitol of Texas was dedicated in Austin

1891    George Hormel introduced spam 

1893    Herman L. Wagner, of Brooklyn, N.Y., patented the 1st typewriter to produce a line of writing visible as it was being typed.

1920  In Rome, Pope Benedict XV canonizes Joan of Arc as a saint.

1927    Supreme Court ruled bootleggers must pay income tax

1929    1st Oscars awarded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts &  Sciences.

1946    The musical "Annie Get Your Gun" opened on Broadway.

1954    Ted Williams gets 8 hits in 1st game (DH) since breaking collarbone

1954    Babe Didrikson-Zaharias wins LPGA National Capital Golf Open

1959    85th Preakness: William Harmatz aboard Royal Orbit wins in 1:57

1959    Sam Snead became the 1st golfer to break 60 for 18 holes in a major tournament

1963    Gordon Cooper completes 22 orbits in Faith 7, ends US Project Mercury

1965   The Rolling Stones appeared on the television show  "Hollywood A-GO-GO."
1965   The Beach Boys appeared on the "The Ed Sullivan  Show
1966    The album "Pet Sounds" by the Beach Boys was released.

1966    The album "Blonde on Blonde" by Bob Dylan was released.

2000    The Britney Spears album "Oops!..I Did It Again" was released.

Other things in 1959