MILESTONES: September 28, birthdays for Gwyneth Paltrow, St. Vincent, Bam Margera

Brooklyn Today

September 28, 2017 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Gwyneth Paltrow. Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

Share this:

On this day in 1920, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page featured several stories about the upcoming World Series and a baseball scandal. The National Commission, at the request of the Cleveland Indians, agreed to start the Series in Brooklyn, which would give the Indians more time to prepare their ballfield in case they won the American League pennant. Cleveland wound up beating the Chicago White Sox for the pennant and defeated the Brooklyn Robins (later the Dodgers) for the championship … Meanwhile, evidence continued to mount that several White Sox players had conspired with gamblers to “throw” the previous year’s Series against the underdog Cincinnati Reds. Despite their acquittal at trial in 1921, Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis permanently banned eight of the White Sox from professional baseball, including one of the game’s greatest hitters, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson.

****

On this day in 1933, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page reported that the Roosevelt White House approved the third-party mayoral candidacy of prominent businessman Joseph V. McKee. As a result, the mayoral race became three-legged, with Tammany Hall’s pick of John Patrick O’Brien and Fiorello LaGuardia. McKee served as acting mayor immediately after Jimmy Walker’s surprise resignation in 1932, but then lost to O’Brien in a special election that year. O’Brien wound up serving only one year, as Fiorello LaGuardia then won the 1933 mayoral election. LaGuardia, notwithstanding his somewhat irascible nature, would become one of New York City’s most beloved and effective mayors. He was instrumental in establishing LaGuardia Airport, the city’s first municipal airport adjacent to Flushing Bay.

****

On this day in 1951, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page continued ongoing reportage of the Harry Gross trial. The Eagle’s investigative reporter Ed Reid provided an analysis of what had transpired in the Special Session court the previous day when, at the last minute, County Judge Samuel Leibowitz ruled that the police officers’ names were not to be read aloud. He had ruled that to name them publicly would violate their civil rights. Reid explained that the procedural rules in a departmental trial differ from those in a county trial, such as when the case was tossed out when Gross balked. Reid reported also that on Sept. 28, Brooklyn District Attorney Miles McDonald made available the 34 witnesses who were scheduled to testify at that earlier trial.

****

NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include actress and animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot, who was born in 1934; actress and singer Hilary Duff, who was born in 1987; actress Janeane Garofalo, who was born in 1964; actor Frankie Jonas, who was born in 2000; actor Jeffrey Jones, who was born in 1947; Hall of Fame football player Steve M. Largent, who was born in 1954; Commissioner of Major League Baseball Robert Manfred, who was born in 1958; reality TV star Bam Margera, who was born in 1979; basketball player Emeka Okafor, who was born in 1982; golfer Se Ri Pak, who was born in 1977; Oscar Award-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow, who was born in 1973; singer and musician St. Vincent, who was born in 1982; and comedian, TV personality and actress Suzanne Whang, who was born in 1962.

****

ED SULLIVAN WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1901. Known as the “King of TV Variety,” Sullivan was born in New York City and started his media career in 1932 as a sportswriter for the Daily News. His popular variety show, “The Ed Sullivan Show,” ran from 1948 until 1971. It included such acts as Elvis Presley and The Beatles. He died in New York City in 1974.

****

FRANCES WILLARD WS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1839. One of the best-known, most influential women of the late 19th century for her temperance and suffrage work, Willard was also influential in American education. She was one of the first female administrators of a major coeducational university when she was made dean of women for Northwestern University’s Women’s College. She left education to work with the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, of which she was president from 1879-1898. She died in New York City in 1898, and more than 20,000 people paid their last respects at her services.

****

THE FIRST NIGHT FOOTBALL GAME WAS PLAYED ON THIS DAY IN 1892. The first night football game in America was played between Mansfield State Normal School (now Mansfield University) and Wyoming Seminary at Mansfield, PA.

****

MARCELLO MASTROIANNI WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1924. One of the great international stars of cinema, Mastroianni worked with the master directors of the mid-20th century, among them Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti. Two of his most famous roles were the world-weary journalist of “La Dolce Vita” and the in-crisis movie director of “81/2” — both films directed by Fellini. He was nominated for Oscars three times and twice won the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival. Mastroianni died in Paris in 1996.

****

THE BROOKLYN HISTORICAL SOCIETY (BHS) will host “Book Talk: ‘Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971’” tonight at 6:30 p.m. Winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in History, Heather Ann Thompson will share the complicated and gripping tale of the five-day prison uprising, as well as the muddied investigations, lawsuits and untold stories that followed. For more information, visit brooklynhistory.org.

****

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

****

“The world is wide, and I will not waste my life in friction when it could be turned into momentum.” — Frances E. Willard, who was born on this day in 1839