History Brooklyn Boro

May 9, birthdays for Rosario Dawson, Ghostface Killah, Billy Joel

Brooklyn Today

May 9, 2017 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Actress and Brooklyn native Rosario Dawson celebrates her birthday today. Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

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Greetings, Brooklyn. Today is the 128th day of the year.

Notable people born on this day include Candice Bergen and Billy Joel, among others.

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ON THIS DAY IN 1952, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle published an article titled “Wonder Drug for Plant Life Developed by Boro Scientists.”

The article focused on a new drug called thiolutin, which was discovered by Brooklyn scientists to kill mold and other diseases that attack trees and other plant life.

“The new discovery, a chemical substance produced by fungus grown in huge ‘stills’ at the borough wonder-drug plant, was isolated from a pinch of dirt which came from somewhere in the United States. The exact location was not divulged by the Pfizer chemists,” the Eagle reported.

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include actress CANDICE BERGEN, who was born in 1946; Oscar Award-winning director, producer and screenwriter JAMES L. BROOKS, who was born in Brooklyn in 1940; actress ROSARIO DAWSON, who was born in 1979; actor ALBERT FINNEY, who was born in 1936; Oscar Award-winning actress GLENDA JACKSON, who was born in 1937; singer and composer BILLY JOEL, who was born in 1949; rapper GHOSTFACE KILLAH, who was born in 1970; former U.S. Poet Laureate CHARLES SIMIC, who was born in 1938; and hockey executive and Hall of Fame player STEVE YZERMAN, who was born in 1965.

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MIKE WALLACE WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1918. With a career of more than 60 years as a journalist and broadcaster, he was known for his tireless work ethic and strident interviewing style, firing probing questions at his subjects in a relentless quest for the real story. Wallace got his start as a radio announcer, game show host and pitchman, but by 1960 had developed his hard-hitting style. ABC even promoted him as “the Terrible Torquemada of the TV Inquisition.” He brought that tenacity to “60 Minutes” when it debuted in 1968, helping to shape the style and substance of the long-running CBS newsmagazine, and in the process became a star in his own right. Wallace was arrested at the 1968 Democratic Convention, conducted legendary interviews with the Ayatollah Khomeini, Jack Kevorkian and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, won 21 Emmys and stayed active on “60 Minutes” until 2008. He died in 2012 in Connecticut.

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JOHN BROWN WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1800. The abolitionist leader spearheaded the attack on Harpers Ferry, Virginia in 1859, which was intended to give impetus to the movement for escape and freedom for slaves. His aim was frustrated and resulted in increased polarization and sectional animosity. He was hanged in 1859 in Virginia.

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HANK SNOW WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1914. The Country Hall of Fame singer’s career spanned six decades. His first hit among many was 1950’s “I’m Moving On”— it stayed on top of the charts for 21 weeks. Snow, a regular at the Grand Ole Opry, was instrumental in getting Elvis Presley on the bill there. Snow died in 1999 in Tennessee.

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JAMES M. BARRIE WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1860. The playwright and author is best known for his play “Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Would Not Grow Up,” which was first performed in 1904 and published in 1928. Barrie died in 1937 in England.

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THE BROOKLYN HISTORICAL SOCIETY (BHS) WILL HOST “TALKING Privilege with Hari Kondabolu and Jordan Carlos” tonight at 7 p.m. Tackling the topic of privilege is no easy task, but it’s often comedians who do it best. Kondabolu and Carlos (formerly of “The Nightly Show”) will bring their observations on race, gender and social class to BHS during an unmoderated, one-on-one conversation. For more information, visit brooklynhistory.org.

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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.

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“The highest levels of consciousness are wordless.”— poet Charles Simic, who was born on this day in 1938