1) On March 9, 1959, the Barbie doll, invented by Ruth Handler (co-founder of Mattel), made its debut
2) A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry opened, the first play produced on Broadway
that was written by a black woman
3) Jack Kerouac published Mexico City Blues, Dr. Sax, and Maggie Cassidy, and narrated the Beat film Pull My Daisy
4) Columbia Records released Miles Davis’s groundbreaking album, Kind of Blue!
5) Gigi won nine Oscars including Best Motion Picture, Best Director (David Niven), and Best Musical Score (AndréPrevin), as well as three Golden Globes
6) Beat Poet Allen Ginsberg completed his epic poem “Kaddish”
7) The Solomon P. Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, opened in New York City
8) Susan Hayward won Best Actress in a Leading Role at the 31st Academy Awards for her role as Barbara Graham in I Want to Live! (Robert Wise, 1958)
9) On February 3, 1959, an airplane crash killed Buddy Holly, J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper), Ritchie Valens and their pilot, now remembered as “The Day The Music Died”
10) Disney released Sleeping Beauty, The Shaggy Dog, Darby O’Gill and the Little People, and Third Man on the Mountain
