September 1977 - Voyager, Panama Canal, Ted Turner

Don't Stop Thinking About...September 1977!

A number one hit on the Cash Box Top 100 list in September 1977 was 'Don't Stop' by Fleetwood Mac.

September 1 – Ethel Waters, singer and actress, dies. (b. 1896)

September 4 – The Golden Dragon Massacre, a gang related shooting killing 5, took place in San Francisco, California at the Gold Dragon Restaurant.  The perpetrators, members of the Joe Boys, a Chinese youth gang, were attempting to kill leaders of the Wah Ching, a rival Chinatown gang. The attack also left 11 injured, none of whom were gang members. Seven perpetrators were later convicted and sentenced in connection with the murders. 

September 5 – Voyager program: Voyager 1 is launched after a brief delay.

September 5 - The Fitzpatricks debuts on CBS.

September 7 – Treaties between Panama and the United States on the status of the Panama Canal are signed. The U.S. agrees to transfer control of the canal to Panama at the end of the 20th century.

September 8 – Zero Mostel, actor, dies. (b. 1915)

September 10 - Several TV series debut:
 - Baggy Pants and the Nitwits on NBC
 - CB Bears, I Am the Greatest: The Adventures of Muhammad Ali, The New Archie and Sabrina Hour, The Red Hand Gang, Search and Rescue, Space Sentinels, Thunder and Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics on ABC
 - The Skatebirds and Space Academy on CBS

September 11 - The Haunting of Julia movie premieres.

September 11 - The 29th Primetime Emmy Awards were held.  Mary Tyler Moore Show (CBS) won best comedy series.  Upstairs, Downstairs (PBS) won best drama series.  Carroll O'Connor (All in the Family) won best comedy actor, Bea Arthur (Maude) won best comedy actress, James Garner (Rockford Files) won best drama actor and Lindsay Wagner (Bionic Woman) won best drama actress.

September 12 - The Betty White Show, Young Dan'l Boone and Lucan tv shows debut on ABC.

September 13 - Soap, The Richard Pryor Show and Mulligan's Stew tv shows debut on NBC.

September 14 - Inside the NFL debuts on HBO.

September 15 - Carter Country debuts on ABC.  CHiPs debuts on NBC.

September 16 – Maria Callas, Greek soprano, dies. (b. 1923)

September 16 - Sanford Arms and Logan's Run debut on CBS.

September 17 - Operation Petticoat debuts on ABC.

September 18 – Courageous, skippered by Ted Turner, sweeps Australia in the 24th America's Cup.

September 19 - Under pressure from the Carter administration, President Anastasio Somoza Debayle lifts the state of siege in Nicaragua.

September 19 - The San Pedro Beach Bums debuts on ABC.  The Amazing Spider-Man debuts on CBS.

September 20 - Lou Grant debuts on CBS.

September 21 – A nuclear non-proliferation pact is signed by 15 countries, including the United States and the Soviet Union.

September 21 - The Oregon Trail debuts on NBC.

September 22 - Man from Atlantis debuts on NBC.

September 24 - The Love Boat debuts on ABC.

September 26 – Ernie Lombardi American baseball player and member of the MLB Hall of Fame, dies. (b. 1908)

September 30 - A Little Night Music movie premieres.

Great YouTube video of intros to the new shows of fall 1977:
New Shows of Fall 1977

Batman Mego playset (released 1977):

1977 Chrysler Cordoba Coupe:

Fantastic Four comic for September:

Montgomery Ward Fall and Winter 1977 catalog:

Chairman, manager and hostesses for the Tennessee State Fair, September 1:

Playboy playmate of the month (and later playmate of the year), Debra Jo Fondren and Playgirl man for September, John Alexander:

The Nielsen top 20 shows for the week ending September 18th: 1 Charlie's Angels; 2 Happy Days; 3 Three’s Company; 4 Soap; 5 Welcome Back, Kotter; 6 Young Joe The Forgotten Kennedy (ABC movie); 7 Betty White Show; 8 Best of All in the Family; 9 Barney Miller; 10 Eight is Enough; 11 Carter Country; 12 Maude; 13 60 Minutes; 14 Sex and the Married Woman (NBC Tuesday movie); 15 Rooster Cogburn (NBC Saturday movie); 16 Billy, Portrait of a Street Kid (NBC Monday movie); 17 Judge Roy Bean (CBS Sunday movie); 18 The Redd Foxx Show; 19 Little House on the Prairie; 20 Rafferty.  

Albums released in September (album / artist):

A Farewell to Kings / Rush

Bad Reputation / Thin Lizzy

Dance Band on the Titanic / Harry Chapin

Chicago XI / Chicago

Foreign Affairs / Tom Waits

Baby It's Me / Diana Ross

Rough Mix / Pete Townshend and Ronnie Lane

Talking Heads: 77 / Talking Heads

Aja / Steely Dan

Little Criminals / Randy Newman

Love You Live / The Rolling Stones

The Stranger / Billy Joel

Ringo the 4th / Ringo Starr

Susan Perkins from Ohio is crowned Miss America:

Esquire magazine for September:

National Geographic magazine for September:

Sports Illustrated for September:

Peanuts comic strip from September 1977:

For detailed news/info on what happened each day in September 1977, check out this really good site:  ultimate70s.com

August 1977 - Son of Sam, Elvis Presley

Let August 1977 Be Your Everything!

A number one hit on the Cash Box Top 100 list in August 1977 was 'I Just Want to be Your Everything' by Andy Gibb.

August 1 – Francis Gary Powers, U-2 spy plane pilot, dies. (b. 1929)

August 3 – United States Senate hearings on MKULTRA (the CIA mind control program) are held.

August 3 - The Kallikaks tv series debuts on NBC.

August 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the United States Department of Energy.

August 5 – Waldo L. Schmitt, biologist, dies. (b. 1887)

August 10 – David Berkowitz is captured in Yonkers, New York, after over a year of murders in New York City as the Son of Sam.  Using a .44 caliber Bulldog revolver, he killed six people and wounded seven others.

August 10 - The Kentucky Fried Movie premieres.

August 12 – The NASA Space Shuttle, named Enterprise, makes its first test free-flight from the back of a Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA).

August 12 - Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger movie premieres.

August 14 - Suspiria movie premieres.

August 15 – The Big Ear, a radio telescope operated by Ohio State University as part of the SETI project, receives a radio signal from deep space; the event is named the "WOW!" signal for a notation made by a volunteer on the project.

August 16 – Elvis Presley, actor, musician and singer-songwriter, dies at his home, Graceland. (b. 1935)

August 17 - The Soviet nuclear-powered icebreaker Arktika is the first surface ship to reach the North Pole. It spends 15 hours there. 

August 19 – Groucho Marx, actor and comedian, dies. (b. 1890)

August 20 – Voyager program: The United States launches the Voyager 2 spacecraft.

August 22 – Sebastian Cabot, English actor, dies. He's best known as Mr. French on Family Affair.  (b. 1918)

August 29 – Jean Hagen, actress, dies. (b. 1923)

August 31 - You Light Up My Life movie premieres. Of course, it's best known for the hit song by Debby Boone, which on the soundtrack was sung by Kasey Cisyk.

Playboy playmate of the month, Julia Lyndon, and Playgirl man for August, Dan Delany:

Nielsen's top 10 shows for the week ending August 21st: 1 Buona Sera Mrs. Campbell (NBC Monday Movie); 2 Charlie's Angels ABC; 3 Laverne and Shirley ABC; 4 Happy Days ABC; 5 Barnaby Jones CBS; 6 The Super Cops (CBS Sunday Movie); 7 Szysznyk CBS; 8 M-A-S-H CBS; 9 Eight is Enough ABC; 10 The Carey Treatment (CBS Friday Movie).

Albums released in August (album / artist):
Tasty / The Shadows
Foghat Live / Foghat
Livin' on the Fault Line / The Doobie Brothers
Pacific Ocean Blue / Dennis Wilson
Lust for Life / Iggy Pop
Barry White Sings for Someone You Love / Barry White

1977 Jaguar XJ6:

Iron Fist comic for August:

Shazam card game (released 1977):

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine for August:

Tiger Beat magazine for August:

Us magazine for August:

Peanuts comic strip from August 1977:

For detailed news/info on what happened each day in August 1977, check out this really good site:  ultimate70s.com

July 1977 - New York Blackout, The Deep, Orca

What is a Da Doo Ron Ron?  July 1977

A number one hit on the Cash Box Top 100 list in July 1977 was 'Da Doo Ron Ron' by Shaun Cassidy.

July 1 - Greased Lightning movie premieres.

July 8 - The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training movie premieres.

July 9 – Alice Paul, suffragist, dies. (b. 1885)

July 11 - President Carter posthumously awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  Coretta Scott King accepts the award at a White House ceremony.

July 13 – The New York City blackout of 1977 lasts for 25 hours.

July 13 - The Spy Who Loved Me and The Island of Dr. Moreau movies premiere.

July 15 - The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington movie premieres.

July 17 - The Deep movie premieres.  The shipwreck featured in the movie was actually the R.M.S. Rhone, which sank in 1867 off the coast of Salt and Peter Islands in the British Virgin Islands with 125 of 135 of her crew losing their lives. The R.M.S. Rhone broke into two pieces during the sinking. This movie was filmed at the bow section of the ship, located about seventy-five feet underwater.

July 18 - The Better Sex game show debuts on ABC.

July 19 and 20 – Flooding in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, caused by massive rainfall, kills over 75 people and causes billions in damage.

July 22 - Orca and The Hills Have Eyes movies premiere.

July 24 – Led Zeppelin plays their last U.S. concert in Oakland, California at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. A brawl erupts between Led Zeppelin's crew and promoter Bill Graham's staff, resulting in criminal assault charges for several of Led Zeppelin's entourage including drummer John Bonham.

July 28 – The first oil through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System reaches Valdez, Alaska.

Black Lightning comic for July:

1977 Ford Bronco:

System7 toy gun (released 1977):

Playboy playmate of the month, Sondra Theodore, and Playgirl man for July, David Haskell:

Ebony magazine for July:

Ms. magazine for July:

People magazine for July 18th:

Nielsen ratings for the week ending July 3:  1 Terraces (TV Movie); 2 Charlie's Angels ABC; 3 Laverne and Shirley ABC; 4 Love Boat II (ABC's Tuesday movie); 5 Happy Days ABC; 6 Barnaby Jones CBS; 7 Maude CBS; 8 What's Happening ABC; 9 Shields and Yarnell; 10 (tie) Quincy NBC and Barney Miller ABC.

Albums released in July 1977 (album / artist):

Going for the One / Yes

The Grand Illusion / Styx

Village People / Village People

Leif Garrett / Leif Garrett

My Aim Is True / Elvis Costello

Terrapin Station / Grateful Dead

Peanuts comic strip from July 1977:

For detailed news/info on what happened each day in July 1977, check out this really good site:  ultimate70s.com