Good kid gone bad .. .

Wed., Sept. 21, 2005

The History Channel King Features Syndicate

• On Sept. 23, 1875, 15-year-old Billy the Kid is arrested for the first time, for holding a stolen bag of laundry for an acquaintance. Only after his two-day imprisonment for hiding the laundry did the good-natured and hardworking William Bonney start down the road to becoming the murdering outlaw Billy the Kid.

• On Sept. 20, 1878, Upton Sinclair, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, is born in Baltimore. An assignment on meat-packing plants led to his best-selling Chicago stockyard novel, “The Jungle.” The book’s gritty portrayal of labor abuses and unsanitary conditions led to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906.

• On Sept. 21, 1921, following the scandal caused by the arrest of actor Fatty Arbuckle on suspicion of manslaughter, Universal announces it will require its actors to sign a “morality clause” in their contracts.

• On Sept. 25, 1957, under escort from the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division, nine black students enter all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Ark. Gov. Orval Faubus later ordered Little Rock’s three high schools closed rather than permit integration.

• On Sept. 19, 1960, “The Twist,” by Chubby Checker, hits the top of the charts. The only song to top the charts twice — it was No. 1 again in 1962 — “The Twist” stayed on the charts for a total of 39 weeks.

• On Sept. 22, 1989, songwriter Irving Berlin dies at the age of 101. A self-taught piano player who played by ear, he wrote 1,500 songs, including “God Bless America.” Berlin was able to play in only one key, F sharp, and had a special piano made for him that could be set to different keys using a gear shift.

• On Sept. 24, 1996, best-selling author Stephen King releases two new novels at once. The first, “Desperation,” was released under King’s name, while the second, “The Regulators,” was published under his pseudonym, Richard Bachman.

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