MILESTONES: November 1, birthdays for Jenny McCarthy, Gary Player, Tim Cook

Brooklyn Today

November 1, 2017 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Jenny McCarthy. Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

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Greetings, Brooklyn. Today is the 307th day of the year.

On this day in 1899, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page reported that a telephone industry war was brewing to compete with the Bell Company, which had held a monopoly since Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876. The Bell Company had been established soon afterward. However, in 1899 a group of independent telephone companies across the U.S. banded together, against the Bell Company to form the Continental Telegraph Telephone and Cable Company. American Telephone & Telegraph also came into being around this time.

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On this day in 1926 the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page published the obit of Harry Houdini, the infamous magician who kept the world spellbound with his secrets of escape. The Eagle remarked that these feats were “performances which no other man ever had duplicated under his challenge.” Unfortunately, reported the Eagle, Houdini now took his secrets with him to the grave. Houdini died of peritonitis, which was caused by a blow to the abdomen.

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On this day in 1944, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page reported that a force of American B-29 Superfortress planes had raided Tokyo and Yokohama. Conflicting reports were being circulated on whether the Mariana Islands were also a U.S. airbase. Further west, in the European front, British sea-borne forces on the Allied side made a surprise landing on Walcheren Island in Western Holland. This was seen as a move to open up Antwerp as a supply port.

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On this day in 1951, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page reported on a U.S. Army atomic blast exercise that was so powerful that it rocked Las Vegas, 90-miles away, with the force of an earthquake. The Army noted there were no casualties, but that took into account only military personnel. It was the news media who reported the damage to stores in the downtown Las Vegas area.

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include actor Penn Badgley, who was born in 1986; actress Toni Collette, who was born in 1972; Apple CEO Tim Cook, who was born in 1960; publisher Larry Flynt, who was born in 1942; singer Lyle Lovett, who was born in 1957; model, actress and activist Jenny McCarthy, who was born in 1972; former golfer Gary Jim Player, who was born in 1935; actress and Goodwill Ambassador for UNAIDS Aishwarya Rai, who was born in 1973; actress Rachel Ticotin, who was born in 1958; and former baseball player Fernando Anguamea Valenzuela, who was born in 1960.

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THE HOCKEY MASK WAS INVENTED ON THIS DAY IN 1959. Tired of stopping hockey pucks with his face, Montreal Canadiens goalie Jacques Plante, having received another wound, reemerged from the locker room with seven new stitches and a face mask he had made from fiberglass and resin. Cliff Benedict had tried a leather mask back in the ’20s, but the idea didn’t catch on until Plante wore his. Soon after, goalies throughout the NHL began wearing protective plastic face shields.

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TODAY IS NATIONAL AUTHORS’ DAY. It was adopted by the General Federation of Women’s Clubs in 1929, and in 1949 was given a place on the list of special days, weeks and months prepared by the U.S. Department of Commerce. The resolution states in part: “By celebrating an Authors’ Day as a nation, we would not only show patriotism, loyalty and appreciation of the men and women who have made American literature possible, but would also encourage and inspire others to give of themselves in making a better America.”

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NOVEMBER IS NATIONAL ADOPTION MONTH, which is observed to raise awareness of the needs of children waiting to be adopted and to recognize people who have adopted or were adopted. For more information, visit adoptioncouncil.org.

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A PRESIDENT FIRST OCCUPIED THE WHITE HOUSE ON THIS DAY IN 1800. Philadelphia had served as the nation’s capital from 1790 to 1800, but on this day President John Adams and his family moved into the newly completed building as Washington, D.C. became the new capital.

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THE BROOKYLN HISTORICAL SOCIETY (BHS) will host “Women’s Suffrage Turns 100! Part 1: Women Can Vote. Now What?” tonight at 7 p.m. After a long, complicated battle, on Nov. 6, 1917, women won the right to vote in New York state. While a major victory, this fight amplified rifts among equal rights constituents and advocates, primarily between African American women and white women. BHS Director of Public History Julie Golia will sit down with historian Deborah Gray White to discuss the 100th anniversary and its reverberations. 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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“God give me strength to face a fact though it slay me.” — Thomas Huxley