November 27, birthdays for Bill Nye, Blackbear, Jimmy Rollins

November 27, 2018 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Bill Nye arrives at night one of the Television Academy's 2017 Creative Arts Emmy Awards at the Microsoft Theater on Saturday, Sept. 9, 2017, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Phil McCarten/Invision for the Television Academy/AP Images)

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ON THIS DAY IN 1863, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “During the performance of ‘The Drunkard’ at the Academy of Music on Wednesday evening, the fire bells rang an alarm of fire for the second district. A number of firemen who were in the house ran out to go to the fire, when some person, either from mischief or fright, raised the cry of ‘fire,’ and in an instant the house was filled with confusion. Those nearest to the doors rushed out in the most frantic manner. The crowd on the galleries began to pour in an impetuous mass down the stairs. A policeman, who tried to stop the rushing mass of people, was carried with it to the ground floor. Some women fainted, and nobody seemed to know what was the matter. Finally the frightened people came to understand that there was no fire in the building and took their seats, and Mr. Clark, who had been interrupted in one of his drunken scenes, very gravely informed them that as soon as they were quiet, he would get drunk again to please them.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1918, the Eagle reported, “Borough President Edward Riegelmann today put the wheels in motion for the organization of a rousing welcome to be given to the Brooklyn boys soon to return from the battlefields of France. Plans for this had been under consideration, but action was greatly accelerated today by unofficial news from ‘over there’ that the 27th Division, which includes Brooklyn’s victory regiment, the Fighting 106th — the first American regiment to break the Hindenburg line in the sector between Cambral and St. Quentin — [which] contains a total of nearly 12,000 Brooklyn boys, had been withdrawn from the front, preparatory to embarkation and would ‘probably leave for America in a few days.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1941, the Eagle reported, “Washington, Nov. 27 (U.P.) — Authoritative sources today expressed fear that Japan’s answer to American demands that she withdraw from the Axis and get out of China may be a Japanese attack on Thailand within the next few days. This disclosure came as White House Secretary Stephen T. Early announced that President [Franklin] Roosevelt has arranged a mid-afternoon conference with Secretary of State [Cordell] Hull and two Japanese envoys. Information reaching Washington, and disclosed by sources other than Early, reported that the Japanese were massing troops in north and south Indo-China, apparently for an offensive against Thailand and the Burma Road in China. It was assumed here that the troops would be prepared to move in case the U.S.-Japanese exploratory talks broke down completely.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1942, the Eagle reported, “’Casablanca’ opened Thanksgiving at the Hollywood Theater. What timing! The smash Allied victory in the French Moroccan capital hasn’t had time to become yesterday’s news, you may say, and here’s Warner Brothers tossing ‘Casablanca’ to a news-eager and victory-happy public. What timing and, incidentally, what a picture! Now, don’t get the idea that ‘Casablanca’ is the latest news reel, equipped with the A.E.F. and Ingrid Bergman. It’s not a documentary at all; it’s a fiction, but it has got Ingrid Bergman and it also gives an authentic picture of the French Moroccan city and builds up for you the events that led to the present American occupation. ‘Casablanca,’ indeed, is a brilliant example of that new type of picture which has been getting polished off with increasing artistry, in Hollywood as well as in Britain during the past few months. It’s a war picture that is not about the war so much as it is about people, just people, who find themselves pocketed by one or another set of war circumstances.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include Oscar Award-winning director KATHRYN BIGELOW, who was born in 1951; rapper BLACKBEAR, who was born in 1990; actress ROBIN GIVENS, who was born in 1964; TV personality SAMANTHA HARRIS, who was born in 1973; TV host and mechanical engineer BILL NYE, who was born in 1955; baseball player JIMMY ROLLINS, who was born in 1978; author GAIL SHEEHY, who was born in 1937; actor FISHER STEVENS, who was born in 1963; and actor JALEEL WHITE, who was born in 1976.

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THE FIRST FACE TRANSPLANT WAS PERFORMED ON THIS DAY IN 2005. In a five-hour operation, French surgeons transplanted the skin, muscles, veins, arteries, nerves and tissues of a braindead patient onto the face of a woman who had lost her nose and the bottom part of her face after a dog attack. Doctors said the partial transplant, the first of its kind, created a “hybrid” face — resembling neither the dead donor nor the original face of the recipient. Isabelle Dinoire, the recipient of the transplant, died in 2016. Reports said she had succumbed to complications from her most recent operation.

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JIMI HENDRIX WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1942. One of the greatest rock guitarists in history, Hendrix revolutionized the guitar sound with heavy use of feedback and incredible fretwork. His success first came in England, and then he achieved fame in the U.S. after his appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. He died in London in 1970.

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BRUCE LEE WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1940. The actor and martial artist was born in San Francisco but was raised in Hong Kong. In 1959 he returned to the U.S. to teach martial arts, opening schools in Seattle and Oakland. Spotted at a competition by a TV producer, Lee was cast as Kato in TV’s “The Green Hornet” in 1966. He moved on to film, where he displayed an intense charisma that would make him a star. Before he could enjoy this new success, Lee died of a cerebral edema on in 1973 in Hong Kong. His films include “Fists of Fury” and “Enter the Dragon.”

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JAMES AGEE WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1909. Agee was a poet, critic, novelist (“A Death in the Family”), social historian (“Let Us Now Praise Famous Men”) and scriptwriter, born in Knoxville, Tennessee. He died in New York in 1955.

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

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“Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.” — Bruce Lee, who was born on this day in 1940