ON THIS DAY IN 1909, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “An expedition to search for Dr. Frederick A. Cook of Brooklyn, who has been in the North Polar regions since the summer of 1907, will leave New York about July 1. Dillon Wallace will be in command of it. Wallace has a reputation as a traveler through the Labrador wilderness, but has had no personal experience with Polar travel. His first visit to Labrador was as the companion of Leonidas Hubbard, who lost his life there through starvation. Wallace wrote the book which otherwise would have come from the pen of Hubbard, and it was one of the most simple and dramatic narratives of privation in an unfriendly land that has ever been given to the public. Subsequently Wallace penetrated deep into the heart of Labrador and accomplished a journey that was successful in every way. The hunt for Dr. Cook is prompted by the fact that the Brooklyn explorer has not been heard from in nearly a year. He is supposed to be somewhere north of Etah, on the west coast of Greenland, which was his base of supplies and the scene of his first winter camp. While no actual alarm is felt for Cook, because of his long experience in Arctic work and his knowledge of the conditions there, it is figured that he has already reached the limit of his supplies and is therefore in need of help.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1927, the Eagle said, “An interesting item from the Mack Sennett studio is that the old Keystone comedy cops are to be revived. What good movie fan cannot recall with pleasure those nonsensical two-reelers in which Ford Sterling, Charles Murray, Chester Conklin, Mack Swain and Fatty Arbuckle once cavorted about in their misfit uniforms and their false whiskers? Now these old-timers are to be impersonated in the new series by a younger group of Sennett’s comedians. Oddly enough, they are to be introduced as the sons of the old Keystonians. Andy Clyde is to be Chief of Police Sterling, Barney Hellum will play Sergeant Conklin, and William Armstrong and Tiny Ward will appear as Sergeants Murray and Swain respectively. The cops themselves will not be ‘modernized’ in any way, but will appear in the same old type of uniform and two-quart helmets. The Keystone patrol will again go careening on its way in pursuit, this time, of Madeline Hurlock, a beautiful speed demon, and Johnny Burke, as Desperate Dan, in the first of the new comedies.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1936, the Eagle reported, “The bitterest cold wave of this Winter, intensified by a 40-mile gale, held the city in its grip today. Three men were frozen to death in Brooklyn. Another succumbed in Manhattan. The Weather Bureau predicted that the cold weather would continue until Saturday, when a slow rise in temperature is expected. The mercury was expected to touch zero again tonight, but not to go below. The cold wave covered the nation from the Atlantic seaboard to the Rocky Mountains. All of New York and the New England States experienced near-record low temperatures. Intense human suffering was reported from all districts affected by the cold wave. A film of hard-packed snow and ice on the highways made automobile traffic perilous and gave promise of a growing casualty list.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1946, the Eagle reported, “The door to the Hall of Fame has been slammed shut again right in the faces of some of the greatest stars of baseball. For the second straight year the baseball writers failed to vote a single candidate into the Cooperstown shrine. There was a field of 21 players — otherwise immortals of the game — and not one of them could poll the requisite 75 percent of the ballots. Frank Chance, manager and first baseman of the greatest defensive team of all time, the Chicago Cubs of 1906, 1907 and 1908, received the heaviest vote from the scribes. But he was 47 shy of the required total. Last year he missed by only seven votes. The voting wasn’t as scattered as the 21 names would indicate. The final selection included but five players. But when the returns were all in and tabulated the result was the same as the 1945 elections. Johnny Evers was second, 40 votes behind his old Chicago manager. Miller Huggins and Big Ed Walsh were tied for third place. Rube Waddell and Clark Griffith followed. It was thought that Griff would surely make it under the new system, but the Old Fox of the Senators polled only 82 votes. Carl Hubbell led the moderns over Frankie Frisch and Mickey Cochrane.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1963, the Eagle reported, “Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower has suggested limiting the tenure of members of Congress so ‘we would no longer have the unhappy spectacle of elderly Senators and Congressmen perpetuating themselves in power.’ Eisenhower, writing in the Saturday Evening Post, proposed a limit of two six-year terms for Senators and three four-year terms for Representatives. ‘We have already limited the Presidency to two terms, and it strikes me that what is good for the President might very well be good for Congress,’ he said.”
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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “MacGyver” star Richard Dean Anderson, who was born in 1950; pilot and safety expert Chesley Sullenberger, who was born in 1951; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Robin Zander (Cheap Trick), who was born in 1953; “NYPD Blue” star Gail O’Grady, who was born in 1963; “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” star Mariska Hargitay, who was born in 1964; Hockey Hall of Famer Brendan Shanahan, who was born in 1969; Pro Football Hall of Famer and former N.Y. Jets center Kevin Mawae, who was born in 1971; “Saved by the Bell” star Tiffani Thiessen, who was born in 1974; “Dexter: New Blood” star Julia Jones, who was born in 1981; sprinter and Olympic gold medalist Andrew Rock, who was born in 1982; model and actress Doutzen Kroes, who was born in 1985; and soccer player Steve Birnbaum, who was born in 1991.
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SIGNATURE MOMENT: John Hancock was born on this day in 1737. The Massachusetts native was president of the Continental Congress (1775-77) and the first signer of the Declaration of Independence. Because of his conspicuous signature on the Declaration, Hancock’s name has become part of the American language, referring to any handwritten signature. He died in 1793.
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MILLER TIME: “Barney Miller” premiered on this day in 1975. The ABC sitcom about a New York precinct captain starred Hal Linden as Barney, Barbara Barrie as his wife Elizabeth, Abe Vigoda as Det. Phil Fish, Ron Glass as Det. Ron Harris, Max Gail as Sgt. Stan Wojciehowicz, Gregory Sierra as Sgt. Chano Amenguale, and Jack Soo as Sgt. Nick Yemana. The last episode aired in 1982.
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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.
Quotable:
“We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.”
— U.S. Founding Father John Hancock, who was born on this day in 1737
