MILESTONES: July 18, birthdays for Kristen Bell, Priyanka Chopra, Wendy Williams

July 18, 2018 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Kristen Bell. Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

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Greetings, Brooklyn. Today is the 199th day of the year.

On this day in 1914, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Houdini, the ‘Handcuff King,’ can break all sorts of confining apparatus — on the stage. But when it comes to breaking out of jail, once he is inside for some offense, he either cannot or would not do it. Yesterday, Houdini, known off the stage as Theodore Weiss, of 394 East 21 St., was speeding along Ocean Parkway, between Avenues J and M, when he was stopped and arrested by motorcycle Policeman Leonard Preston. In the Flatbush court this morning, Preston told Magistrate Dodd that Houdini was going 32 miles an hour. Houdini indignantly denied this and said that his rate of speed was 20 miles an hour. Magistrate Dodd, however, imposed the fine of $25 or three days imprisonment. It would be easy for the great Houdini to break out of jail within a day, but he chose to pay the $25 instead under severe protest.”

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On this day in 1842, the Eagle published the following advertisement: “Three Dollars Reward — Strayed from the subscriber, on the 13th instant, a brindle cow, with white back, white belly, white face, and right horn partially broken off. — Any person returning said cow, or giving information where she may be found shall receive the above reward. Richard Jackson, Wallabout Road.”

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On this day in 1893, the Eagle reported, “The president has not yet considered whom he will nominate to succeed the late Justice Blatchford. Mr. Cleveland when he can takes up one subject at a time … He has not been unaware that several excellent jurists have been discussed as successors to Samuel Blatchford, but he withholds his thought from subjects until the time to meet them comes. The time to meet this one has not yet come … Mr. Cleveland has consulted locality in his appointment of judges. Samuel Blatchford was a New Yorker. He succeeded Ward Hunt, a New Yorker. Ward Hunt succeeded Samuel Nelson, a New Yorker. If a New Yorker does not succeed Samuel Blatchford, occasion for surprise will exist.”

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On this day in 1938, the Eagle reported, “Dublin, July 18 (U.P.) — Douglas Corrigan, a Los Angeles airplane mechanic with a secret ambition to fly across the Atlantic, did it today — alone in a 1929 monoplane that had cost him only $900. He did it — about 2,800 miles from New York to Ireland — in 28 hours and 13 minutes — as casually as the ordinary person would motor 100 miles or so in an old flivver. Corrigan maintained that all the time he thought he was flying to California instead of Ireland. That was the story he had told when he took the 1929 model up from Floyd Bennett Airport in New York at dawn Sunday. Otherwise they wouldn’t have let him start. He had no navigating instruments, no radio, no safety equipment, no permission from the United States government, and his motor would only develop only 175 horsepower.”

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On this day in 1941, the Eagle reported from Cleveland, “No greater saga has been written in the annals of the national pastime than that inscribed by the glorious bat of Joe DiMaggio. And last night, finally, the end came. Jolting Joe, who on May 15 started a batting streak that continued without interruption through 56 official American League games and one All-Star tilt, was stopped … Weeks ago the old mark was wiped out, that of 44 games established by Wee Willie Keeler in 1897. From here on it was simply a question as to how far DiMaggio would go.”

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On this day in 1944, the Eagle reported, “Premier Gen. Hideki Tojo, who led Japan to war against the United States, has been relieved as chief of the Japanese general staff, Radio Tokyo announced in a broadcast heard by the United Press at San Francisco. Following so closely the resignation of Admiral Shigetaro Shimada as navy minister yesterday, the removal of ‘The Razor’ from control of the Japanese army indicated a major crisis in the Nipponese Empire. Earlier today Tokyo had quoted Tojo as saying that the American conquest of Saipan, 1,500 miles from the Japanese capital, had thrust upon Japan ‘an unprecedently great national crisis.’”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include actress KRISTEN BELL, who was born in 1980; Emmy Award-winning actor JAMES BROLIN, who was born in 1941; sportscaster and Olympic figure skater DICK BUTTON, who was born in 1929; actress and former Miss World PRIYANKA CHOPRA, who was born in 1982; actor CHACE CRAWFORD, who was born in 1985; actor VIN DIESEL, who was born in 1967; singer DION DiMUCCI, who was born in 1939; golfer NICK FALDO, who was born in 1957; publisher STEVE FORBES, who was born in 1947; former basketball player PENNY HARDAWAY, who was born in 1972; actress MARGO MARTINDALE, who was born in 1951; actress ELIZABETH McGOVERN, who was born in 1961; singer MARTHA REEVES, who was born in 1941; guitarist RICKY SKAGGS, who was born in 1954; and baseball executive and former manager and player JOE TORRE.

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HUNTER S. THOMPSON WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1939. The journalist and author was one of the first practitioners of Gonzo journalism, a style that featured first-person accounts and scathing criticism of contemporary American society. His most famous work, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” published in Rolling Stone magazine in 1972, featured an alter-ego character in search of the American Dream via use of hallucinogenic drugs. Other works include “Hell’s Angels,” and “The Great Shark Hunt.” Long hailed as a hero of counterculture, Thompson committed suicide at his home in Colorado in 2005.

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NELSON MANDELA WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1918. The former South African president was born to a Tembu tribal chieftain in Qunu, near Umtata, in the Transkei territory of South Africa. Giving up his hereditary rights, Mandela chose to become a lawyer and earned his degree at the University of South Africa. He joined the African National Congress (ANC) in 1944, eventually becoming deputy national president in 1952. His activities in the struggle against apartheid resulted in his conviction for sabotage in 1964. During his 28 years in jail, Mandela remained a symbol of hope to South Africa’s nonwhite majority and the demand for his release was a rallying cry for civil rights activists. That release finally came in 1990. He was the 1993 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1994, Mandela was elected president of South Africa in the first all-race election there. He died in 2013 in South Africa.

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CLIFFORD ODETS WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1906. The playwright began his writing career as a poet before turning to acting and helped found the Group Theatre in 1931. In 1935, he returned to writing with works for the Group Theatre such as “Waiting for Lefty” and “Awake and Sing.” His working-class views helped make him a popular playwright during the Depression years. Odets died in California in 1963.

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TODAY IS THE 100th ANNIVERSRY OF THE SILENT PARADE IN NEW YORK CITY. NAACP staged the Silent Parade on Fifth Aveune to protest lynchings and the East St. Louis, Illinois, race riots. Organized by James Weldon Johnson and W.E.B. du Bois, the parade was composed of more than 10,000 men, women and children. The protesters — mostly from Harlem — were silent. They held signs with messages such as “Mr. President, why not make America safe for democracy?” and “The First Blood for American Independence Was Shed by a Negro: Crispus Attucks.” Drummers took part but their instruments were muffled.

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

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“I have a theory that the truth is never told during the nine-to-five hours.” — Hunter S. Thompson, who was born on this day in 1939