Back In the Day-The Game Show that Debuted Back On This Day in 1964. What is Jeopardy?

March 3oth brings the half dime (huh?), President Reagan was shot, and Amelia Earhart flew across the Atlantic.

1795 - The United States produced the first "HALF-DIME" COINS which were exactly half the SIZE of a dime.  The half-dime was soon discontinued  because it was too tiny to handle.

1858 - Philadelphia genius HYMAN LIPMAN patented the FIRST PENCIL WITH AN ERASER.  The average pencil can write a continuous line 35 miles long.

1870 - The 15TH AMENDMENT to the U.S. Constitution went into effect, giving black men the right to vote, by guaranteeing this right REGARDLESS OF RACE.

1932 - AMELIA EARHART became the first woman to make a solo flight across the Atlantic.  She was played by Hilary Swank in "Amelia" and by Amy Adams in the second "Night at the Museum" movie.

1955 - At the 27th Academy Awards, the Best Picture was "On The Waterfront", the same film for which MARLON BRANDO won Best Actor.  (--GRACE KELLY took Best Actress for her performance in "The Country Girl".)

1960 - Congressman Tip O'Neill demanded that the FCC investigate payola and PROTECT AMERICA'S YOUTH FROM ROCK AND ROLL, which he called, quote, "a type of sensuous music unfit for impressionable minds."

1964 - "Jeopardy" debuted on TV.  It was hosted by a guy named Art Fleming and ran until 1975.  It was resurrected in its current form in 1984, with Alex Trebek.

1981 - PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN was shot and seriously injured by JOHN HINCKLEY as he left a Washington, D.C., hotel.  White House press secretary JAMES BRADY and two others were also wounded.

1992 - At the 64th Academy Awards, "The Silence Of The Lambs", starring ANTHONY HOPKINS and JODIE FOSTER, ate up the competition  by winning Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director for Jonathan Demme and Best Adapted Screenplay.