Brooklyn Today for Jan. 18

January 17, 2013 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

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Good morning. Today is the 18th day of the year. On this day in 1861, a grand ball was held to open the new Brooklyn Academy of Music. But if you think we’re referring to the current BAM in Fort Greene, you’re wrong – this was the Academy’s original location on Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights.

The article described the incidental piano music, the lighting, the decorative plants and flowers (supplied by Weir Florists of Bay Ridge), the chandelier, and “carriage after carriage” of Brooklyn’s elite who arrived. At 9 p.m., a trumpet sounded, and the actual ball began. The dances included promenades, quadrilles, waltzes, polkas and more.

Well-known people who were born today include actor-director Kevin Costner (“Field of Dreams,” “Dances With Wolves,” “Bull Durham”), opera singer Evelyn Lear, actor Jesse Martin (“Law & Order,” ‘”Ally McBeal”) and Ray Dolby, inventor of the Dolby sound system.