October 17 is the 290th day of the year. There are 75 days remaining until the end of the year.
+ 1814 – Eight people die in the London Beer Flood.
+ 1888 – Thomas Edison files a patent for the Optical Phonograph (the first movie).
+ 1919 – RCA is incorporated as the Radio Corporation of America.
+ 1931 – Al Capone is convicted of income tax evasion.
( Births )
+ 1902 – Irene Ryan, American actress (d. 1973)
+ 1918 – Rita Hayworth, American actress, singer and dancer (d. 1987)
+ 1921 – Tom Poston, American actor and comedian (d. 2007)
+ 1938 – Evel Knievel, American motorcycle rider and stuntman (d. 2007)
+ 1941 – Earl Thomas Conley, American country singer-songwriter and guitarist
+ 1958 – Alan Jackson, American singer-songwriter
+ 1959 – Norm Macdonald, Canadian actor, comedian, producer, and screenwriter