This week!

Actor Ted Danson received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1999. Several other cast members of his iconic TV sitcom Cheers— including Rhea Perlman, Kirstie Alley and Kelsey Grammer—were on hand to cheer as Danson, best known as the show’s beloved bartender Sam Malone, was honored!

Kate Smith sang “God Bless America” for the first time on her radio show in 1938, and it became an overnight hit. Irving Berlin had written the song 20 years earlier for a musical comedy, then tossed it in a trunk after deciding it wasn’t a good fit. Worried about impending war in Europe, he retrieved the song and, hoping it would become a “peace” anthem, gave it to Smith!

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Holiday movie classic Home Alone premiered in 1990. The colonial-style house at 671 Lincoln Avenue in Winnetka, Illinois, where many of its scenes were shot, remains a major tourist attraction, even though it’s a private home and doesn’t offer any tours!

The final “Li’l Abner” comic strip by Al Capp was published in 1977, ending a 43-year run that at its peak reached more than 60 million readers in more than 1,000 newspapers here and abroad. It was so popular that when Li’l Abner and his on-again, off-again love Daisy Mae finally wed in 1952 (after Capp caved to pressure from readers), the event was momentous enough to make the cover of Life magazine!

The first of thousands of Wendy’s— home of the square hamburger with all the fixings— opened in 1969 in Ohio. Founder Dave Thomas, who had to begin working while still a pre-teen, so regretted not finishing high school that after he became a multimillionaire he hired a tutor and passed the G.E.D. high-school equivalency exam in 1993!