Events Date 1959 March | History by KabAstro

Mar 1 Archbishop Makarios returns to Cyprus after 3 years

Sydney Opera House

Mar 2 Ceremony to mark the start of construction of the Sydney Opera House at Bennelong Point in Sydney, Australia; estimates of $7M and four years to complete project balloon to $102M and 14 years

Mar 3 1st US probe to enter solar orbit, Pioneer 4, launched
Mar 3 British government arrests Hastings Banda of Nyasaland, ends emergency crisis
Mar 3 San Francisco Giants rename their stadium Candlestick Park
Mar 3 The Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts opens in Yerevan, Armenia, with a collection of over 23,000 manuscripts [1]
Mar 4 NASA's scientific spacecraft Pioneer 4 misses moon, enters heliocentric orbit, and becomes 2nd (US 1st) earth-launched 'artificial planet' [1]

Golden Globes

Mar 5 16th Golden Globes: "The Defiant Ones", David Niven, & Susan Hayward win

Mar 5 Iran & US sign economic & military treaty

Emmy Awards

Mar 6 11th Emmy Awards: Playhouse 90, Jack Benny Show, Raymond Burr win

Mar 6 Farthest radio signal heard (Pioneer IV, 400,000 miles)
Mar 7 "Bells Are Ringing" closes at Shubert Theater NYC after 925 performances
Mar 7 1st aviator to fly a million miles (1.61 M km) in a jet (MC Garlow)
Mar 7 6th ACC Men's Basketball Tournament: NC State beats North Carolina, 80-56

Sports History

Mar 7 West Indies all out 76 v Pakistan at Dacca, Fazal Mahmood 6-34

Mar 8 Groucho, Chico & Harpo Marx's final TV appearance together
Mar 8 KUAT TV channel 6 in Tucson, AZ (PBS) begins broadcasting
Mar 8 Pro-Egyptian coup fails in Mosul Iraq
Mar 9 "Juno" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 16 performances
Mar 9 1st known radar contact is made with Venus
Mar 9 Barbie makes her debut at the American Toy Fair in New York. Over a billion have been sold worldwide since.
Mar 9 The Coasters' single "Charlie Brown" peaks at #2 on the Billboard Top 100

Sports History

Mar 10 Dorothy Comiskey Rigney, sells her 54% share of MLB Chicago White Sox to Bill Veeck, for a reported $27M

Event of Interest

Mar 10 Tennessee Williams' "Sweet Bird of Youth" premieres in NYC

Mar 10 Tibetan uprising against Chinese occupation force in Lhasa, Tibet
Mar 11 4th Eurovision Song Contest: Teddy Scholten for Netherlands wins singing "Een beetje" in Cannes

A Raisin in the Sun

Mar 11 Lorraine Hansberry's stage drama "A Raisin in the Sun", 1st Broadway play by a black woman, starring Ruby Dee and Sidney Poitier, opens at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, NYC; later transfers to the Belasco Theatre; runs for 530 performances

Mar 12 Dutch Liberal Party wins 2nd parliamentary elections
Mar 12 US House joins Senate approving Hawaii statehood
Mar 15 LPGA Titleholders Championship Women's Golf, Augusta CC: Louise Suggs wins her 4th Titleholders title by 1 stroke from Betsy Rawls
Mar 15 Robert Foster sets record by staying underwater 13 m 42.5 s
Mar 15 WILX TV channel 10 in Lansing, MI (NBC) begins broadcasting
Mar 16 Iraq & USSR sign economic and technical treaty
Mar 17 Australia & USSR restore diplomatic relations

NBA Record

Mar 18 Boston Celtic's Bill Sharman begins record of 56 straight free-throws

Event of Interest

Mar 18 US President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs Hawaii statehood bill

34th US President and WWII General Dwight D. Eisenhower

First Impressions

Mar 19 George Weiss, Bo Goldman, and Glenn Paxton musical "First Impressions", adapted from Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice", starring Polly Bergen; Farley Granger, and Hermione Gingold, opens at Alvin Theater, NYC; runs for 84 performances

Mar 21 "Juno" closes at Winter Garden Theater NYC after 16 performances
Mar 21 113th Grand National: Michael Scudamore wins aboard 8/1 second favourite Oxo; only 4 of 32 starters finish the race

Sports History

Mar 21 21st NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: California beats West Virginia, 71-70; WV future Hall of Fame point guard Jerry West is named MOP

Mar 24 Iraq withdraws from the Baghdad Pact

Event of Interest

Mar 24 The Party of the African Federation (PFA) is launched by Léopold Sédar Senghor and Modibo Keita.

Poet and 1st President of Senegal Léopold Sédar Senghor

Mar 25 Bill White traded to St Louis for pitchers Sam Jones & Don Choate
Mar 25 French President De Gaulle acknowledges Oder-Neisse boundary
Mar 26 Test debut for Pakistani cricketer Mushtaq Mohammad v West Indies, aged 15 years
Mar 28 11 days after Tibet uprising, China dissolves Tibet's government & installs Panchen Lama

Some Like It Hot

Mar 29 "Some Like It Hot", American comedy film directed by Billy Wilder, and starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon, premieres at Loew’s Capital Theatre, NYC

Mar 29 West Indian cricket fast bowler Wes Hall dismisses Pakistani batsmen Mushtaq Mohammad, Fazal Mahmood and Nasim-ul-Ghani for a hat-trick in 3rd Test at Lahore