History Brooklyn Boro

MILESTONES: May 26, birthdays for Lenny Kravitz, Scott Disick, Stevie Nicks

Brooklyn Today

May 26, 2017 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Rocker and actor Lenny Kravitz celebrates his birthday today. Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

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Greetings, Brooklyn. Today is the 145th day of the year.

Notable people born on this day include Helena Bonham Carter and Stevie Nicks, among others.

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ON THIS DAY IN 1952, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle published an article on the front page titled “Home Looted of $20,000 in Gems, Minks.”

The article focused on a robbed Brooklyn Heights home that was ransacked while its owner entertained a guest downstairs.

“Police indicated that the thief made his entry through a bedroom door leading out to a terrace on the third floor. Very few clues were left behind in the slick haul, which was facilitated by the fact that the noise of the rain and Mrs. Kern’s radio masked the thief’s actions,” the Eagle reported.

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include actress HELENA BONHAM CARTER, who was born in 1966; reality star SCOTT DISICK, who was born in 1983; actress GENIE FRANCIS, who was born in 1962; actress PAM GRIER, who was born in 1949; actor, singer, musician and songwriter LENNY KRAVITZ, who was born in 1964; sportscaster BRENT MUSBURGER, who was born in 1939; singer STEVIE NICKS, who was born in 1948; actor PHILIP MICHAEL THOMAS, who was born in 1949; and singer HANK WILLIAMS JR., who was born in 1949.

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JOHN WAYNE WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1907. The American motion picture actor was the quintessential Western actor for five decades. Among his films are “Stagecoach,” “Red River,” “The Searchers” and “True Grit,” for which he won a Best Actor Oscar. Wayne died in California in 1979.

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LEVON HELM WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1940. Helm formed The Band in the late 1950s, and played drums with the roots rock outfit on legendary albums such as “Songs from Big Pink” and “The Last Waltz.” As a bandleader, he issued a string of solo records in the 1980s and ’90s, and continued to work steadily. Helm died of cancer in 2012 in New York City.

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JAY GOULD WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1836. The American financier, seen by some as a robber baron, joined the board of the Erie Railroad in 1867 and made millions manipulating Erie stock. In 1869, he conspired to control the price of gold by buying up all the gold in New York City, causing the Black Friday Panic of Sept. 24, in which thousands of investors sustained losses and Gould made a fortune. He began developing railroads in the West in 1872 and by 1880, he controlled more than 8,000 miles of railroad track. He also gained control of the Western Union Telegraph Co. and several elevated railroads in New York City. Gould died in 1892 in New York City.

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TODAY IS THE FEAST OF SAINT AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY. Pope Gregory sent Augustine to convert the pagan English. Augustine became the first archbishop of Canterbury. He died in 604.

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

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“Courage is being scared to death… and saddling up anyway.” — actor John Wayne, who was born on this day in 1907