This Day in History for January 17 – Chevy Corvette Debuts and More

Here’s a look at some interesting events that took place on this day in history:

1929 – Popeye the Sailor Man, a cartoon character created by Elzie Segar, first appears in the Thimble Theatre comic strip (More info)

1950 – In what would come to be called the Great Brinks Robbery, thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car in Boston (More info)

1953 – The Chevrolet Corvette makes its debut at General Motors’ Motorama auto show in New York (More info)

1977 – Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore is executed by a firing squad in Utah, ending a ten-year moratorium on capital punishment in the United States (More info)

1994 – A magnitude 6.7 earthquake hits Northridge, California, killling 54 people and causing billions of dollars in damage (More info)

Today is "Kid Inventors Day", honoring the 500,000 kids and teens who invent gadgets and games each year;  "Rid The World Of Fad Diets and Gimmicks Day", and the birthday of comic Andy Kaufman (1949); In 1976 he was a regular on the TV flop "Van Dyke and Company", but was the wonderfully weird Latka Gravas on "Taxi"; also did bits where he wrestled with women.  He died in 1984.