Good morning. It’s October 13th—and before we rewind to a Friday that shook Wall Street, let’s see what else this date has carried through history.
Today marks the U.S. Navy’s 251st birthday—fair winds to everyone who has served at sea and ashore.
📅 On This Day — October 13
1775 — The Continental Congress authorized the first vessels of what became the United States Navy.
1792 — The cornerstone of the future White House was laid in the new federal capital.
1843 — B’nai B’rith, the Jewish service organization, was founded in New York City.
1943 — Italy declared war on Germany, its former Axis partner, after the Italian armistice with the Allies.
1972 — Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashed high in the Andes, beginning a 72-day survival ordeal.
2010 — The last of 33 Chilean miners reached the surface after 69 days trapped underground.
2016 — Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Now, let’s set the dial back to 1989...
⏪ REWIND: 1989
Batman logos filled theater marquees, cassette cases clicked shut, and Janet Jackson’s precision-pop marched out of radios. The World Series was about to cross one bay instead of a country. But before baseball took the weekend, a late-day wave of selling turned Wall Street’s Friday the 13th into something more than superstition.
📰 The Headlines
On October 13, financing collapsed for a proposed $6.75 billion employee-led buyout of UAL, the parent of United Airlines. The news hit a market already uneasy about debt-fueled takeovers, and selling accelerated into the close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 190.58 points—6.91%—to 2,569.26, its steepest slide since the 1987 crash. It was not another Black Monday, but it became the “Friday the 13th” mini-crash: a sharp reminder that the decade’s deal-making machine could seize up fast.
🎬 At the Movies
Look Who’s Talking opened at No. 1 for the October 13–15 domestic weekend, earning $12,107,784. A baby’s running commentary had become the weekend’s biggest ticket.
Batman had turned Gotham into the summer’s main attraction. Tim Burton’s June release, starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson, finished as 1989’s top domestic movie with about $251.2 million. The black-and-gold bat emblem seemed to be everywhere, and the opening weekend helped reset expectations for how loudly a studio could launch a comic-book film.
🎵 On the Charts
Janet Jackson’s “Miss You Much” held No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart dated October 14, its second of four consecutive weeks at the top. The lead single from Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814 arrived with clipped beats, disciplined choreography and an unmistakable sense that pop could be both a dance-floor command and a larger statement.
🏁 In Sports
The Bay Bridge World Series was one sleep away. The Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants were set to open Game 1 on October 14 in Oakland—the first all-Bay Area World Series. Anticipation belonged to a regional rivalry with almost no travel required. History adds a sobering coda: the Loma Prieta earthquake would strike before Game 3 on October 17, suspending the Series for ten days. Oakland ultimately swept in four.
📺 On Television
Friday’s television menu mixed family comedy and glossy drama:
ABC — Full House aired “Nerd for a Day.”
CBS — Snoops was on the evening’s schedule.
NBC — Baywatch aired “Second Wave.”
🏰 Disney Vault
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids opened the same June weekend as Batman and found its own enormous audience. Rick Moranis played inventor Wayne Szalinski, whose electromagnetic shrinking machine reduced four children to quarter-inch size and turned an ordinary backyard into a wilderness.
— a couple of quick things before you go —
❤️ Health Snap
Give handwashing the full 20 seconds. The CDC recommends wetting, lathering, scrubbing—including between fingers and under nails—rinsing and drying. If soap and water are not available, use sanitizer containing at least 60% alcohol. Small habit, useful defense.
🎂 October 13 Birthdays
Forward this to them right now—there’s no better “this is the day you were born” gift than a little time travel.
In good company:
Paul Simon, born in 1941, the singer-songwriter behind a six-decade catalog, turns 85.
Sammy Hagar, born in 1947, the rock singer and former Van Halen frontman, turns 79.
Marie Osmond, born in 1959, the singer, actor and television host, turns 67.
Sacha Baron Cohen, born in 1971, the actor and satirist, turns 55.
Ashanti, born in 1980, the Grammy-winning singer and actor, turns 46.
October 13 has held cornerstones, rescues, crashes and comebacks. In 1989, one number on a closing bell captured the nerves of an era—while across the country, two baseball teams were preparing to make the Bay their stage. Thanks for rewinding with us. Tomorrow, the dial moves again.
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