1877 US in baseball; metaphorical usage from 1896, more generally from 1930. Since at least 1870, baseball teams would reissue tickets in case of postponement due to rain, which became known as rain checks.
Update: In fact, the latest update of iPhoto is using Helvetica Neue. And now there's Avenir, a Linotype typeface and Apple's new favorite. It was designed by Adrian Frutiger in 1988, inspired by two old school typefaces created in the 20s: Erbar by Jakob Erbar and Futura by Paul Renner.
April 15th 1904 - Died July 21st 1948. Vostanik Manoog Adoyan (commonly known as Arshile Gorky) was an Armenian-American painter who had a fatherly influence on the creation of the Abstract Expressionist art movement. Gorky created a crucial bridge between Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism. Gorky was born in the Armenian village of Khorkom near Van.