Welcome to ON THIS DAY! Each day, we'll look at a few moments from history and popular culture. We'll show you where you can rediscover classic movies and music, or read more about great moments in history. We'll point you to e-books, downloadable and streamable music and film, and e-audio; and of course, we haven't forgotten about physical books or DVDs.

	On this day in 1761, Marie Tussaud was born. Tussaud learned the art of wax sculpture as a teenager, from the doctor for whom her mother worked as a housekeeper. She narrowly avoided the guillotine during the French Revolution, and moved to England after the Revolution. Tussaud opened her first permanent museum there in 1835, and several of her original works are still a part of that collection. There are now more than a dozen branches of Madame Tussaud's wax museum throughout the world. Michelle Moran's Madame Tussaud is a novelized version of her life; it's available as an e-audio from Hoopla, as an e-book from OverDrive, or in print.
	On this day in 1885, Dr Pepper was first sold in Waco, Texas. Like many early sodas, it was marketed as a tonic and energizer. The drink would make its national debut at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904. Dr Pepper's jingles have often been mild fads in pop culture; Randy Newman wrote "The Most Original Soft Drink Ever" in the 1970s, and the "Be a Pepper" jingle was a frequent target of parody in the early 1980s. The documentary Bottled Up follows the legal battle between Dr Pepper and a Dublin, Texas bottler of the beverage that did not want to switch from sugar to high fructose corn syrup; it's available for streaming at Hoopla.
	And on this day in 1940, Richard Pryor was born. Pryor is considered one of the most important standup comedians ever, and has been hugely influential on later comics. His material bluntly explored racism and race relations in contemporary society; his profanity and use of racial epithets occasionally distracted some from his message. Pryor was also a popular actor in the 1970s and 1980s, making more than 40 films. In 1998, he was the first recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Pryor's 1971 album Craps is available for streaming or download at Freegal.