MILESTONES: March 22, birthdays for Reese Witherspoon, Keegan-Michael Key, William Shatner

Brooklyn Today

March 22, 2018 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Reese Witherspoon. Photo by Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP

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Greetings, Brooklyn. Today is the 81st day of the year.

On this day in 1929, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page reported that U.S. special agents had raided a system of speakeasies in Manhattan, confiscating “great amounts” of liquor and equipment. One of the locations raided had a complete bottling plant. The special agents had banded themselves into patrols and entered the speakeasies simultaneously.

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On this day in 1929, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page reported that Howard S. Behr and Francis Scherier, an attractive male-female aviator team, circled the air for several minutes while trying to locate a suitable landing spot. Local police thought their plane was in trouble. The pair eventually landed in a homeowner’s backyard in Baltimore, nonchalantly alighted, and took a motorcar to complete their mission — a shopping spree.

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On this day in 1933, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page reported that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, first in his first month in office, signed the 3.2 beer bill. The bill legalized the production and consumption of beer within the limits of 3.2 percent alcohol or 4 percent volume. It also allowed those imprisoned under the “dry laws” to be released.

Also on that page, several groups of Christians and Jews organized mass protest meetings with city and religious officials about German Chancellor Adolf Hitler’s treatment of German Jews. One group was convening at Madison Square Garden, with scheduled speakers to be Rabbi Stephen Wise; Bernard S. Deutsch, president of the American Jewish Congress; and Bishop William T. Manning, who was head of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. Former Gov. Al Smith was also a scheduled speaker at that event. A group of 35 Christian leaders also signed a protest letter to the German government, asking it to prevent the persecution of Jews. Among the signers was the Rev. S. Parkes Cadman, a prominent Brooklyn preacher.

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On this day in 1938, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page gave extensive coverage to a warning that the Gestapo in Germany sent to an American man in Queens, after censoring correspondence between the man and a lady friend in Germany that was deemed critical of the Nazi movement. The article and sidebars, which included images of the letter from the Gestapo, pointed out that that Nazi agents were also already present in the United States. The story exposed the fact that some United States citizens were also professing loyalty to Adolf Hitler.

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On this day in 1948, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page reported that a Democratic club based in Brownsville and East New York revolted against President Harry S. Truman’s decision to abandon the partitioning of Israel that would have given land and independence to Jews and Arabs alike in the Holy Land. Calling the president’s decision a “betrayal of Palestine and the Jewish people,” the Democratic club posted their protest in the window and said they would no longer support Truman, also a Democrat. The club was apparently well-connected; its leader, Nathan W. Math, was a high-ranking member of Mayor William O’Dwyer’s administration and a protege of powerful Brooklyn Democrats Borough President John Cashmore and Frank J. Sinnott.

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include singer and guitarist George Benson, who was born in 1943; sportscaster Bob Costas, who was born in 1952; actor Bruno Ganz, who was born in 1941; U.S. Sen. Orrin Grant Hatch, who was born in 1934; actor and comedian Keegan-Michael Key, who was born in 1971; composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, who was born in 1948; actor Matthew Modine, who was born in 1959; actor James Patterson, who was born in 1947; TV evangelist Pat Robertson, who was born in 1930; actor William Shatner, who was born in 1931; Tony Award–winning composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim, who was born in 1930; former figure skater Elvis Stojko, who was born in 1972; actor M. Emmet Walsh, who was born in 1935; and Oscar Award-winning actress Reese Witherspoon, who was born in 1976.

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CHICO MARX WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1887. Known for his sly wisecracks and put-on Italian accent, he was the oldest of the five Marx brothers. The brothers, in various combinations, performed first as a singing group and later as a comedy act featuring music. After honing their act on the vaudeville circuit, they mounted three successful shows on Broadway, two of which were made into movies, “The Cocoanuts” and “Animal Crackers.” After the team disbanded in 1941, Chico led his own big band before settling into semiretirement until his death at age 74 in 1961.

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LOUIS L’AMOUR WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1908. The popular author began writing stories in the 1930s, initially selling them to pulp magazines. Despite an interruption by military service during WWII, L’Amour was a successful writer of adventure stories, Westerns and scripts for TV and film. He eventually authored 116 Western novels that sold 20 million copies in 20 different languages. He was the first novelist to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Freedom and was also given the Presidential Medal of Freedom. L’Amour died in 1988 in California.

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THE LASER WAS PATENTED ON THIS DAY IN 1960. The first patent for a laser (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) was granted to Arthur Schawlow and Charles Townes of Bell Labs.

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AL NEUHARTH WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1924. The flamboyant, innovative media executive transformed the American media landscape first as chief executive of the Gannett Company and then as the founder of USA Today. Neuharth grew Gannett from a regional news group into the nation’s largest newspaper chain. USA Today is the only major daily established in the U.S. after WWII. It brought color, lifestyle coverage, shorter articles and other innovations to media and was embraced by the public. Neuharth died in Florida in 2013.

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

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“Nobody got anywhere in the world by simply being content.” — writer Louis L’Amour, who was born on this day in 1908