MILESTONES: October 16, birthdays for Angela Lansbury, Bob Weir, Suzanne Somers

October 16, 2019 Brooklyn Eagle History

Angela Lansbury. Photo by Casey Curry/Invision/AP

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include actress Angela Lansbury, who was born in 1925; singer-songwriter John Mayer, who was born in 1977; actress Kellie Martin, who was born in 1975; former baseball player Juan González, who was born in 1969; Olympic swimmer Melissa Belote, who was born in 1956; actor, screenwriter, director and producer Tim Robbins, who was born in 1958; actress and businesswoman Suzanne Somers, who was born in 1946; musician and songwriter Bob Weir, who was born in 1947; director Kenneth Lonergan, who was born in 1962; former hockey player Paul Kariya, who was born in 1974; actor Barry Corbin, who was born in 1940; and screenwriter, director and producer David Zucker, who was born in 1947.

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BROOKLYN BIRTH CONTROL ORIGIN: On this day in 1916, Margaret Sanger and Ethel Byrne open the first birth control clinic in the U.S. at 46 Amboy St. in Brownsville. The clinic was shut down by police after only nine days and Sanger was incarcerated, but the clinic had already served ever 400 women. Sanger coined the term “birth control.” Nine years later, she would open the Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau in Manhattan, establishing further locations in 1930.

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OUR DICTIONARY’S DAD: Noah Webster was born on this day in 1758. Known as the “Father of American Scholarship and Education,” Webster believed that the English language had been corrupted by the British aristocracy and needed to be revolutionized in the U.S. His famous “Blue-Backed Speller” marked a large change for U.S. education; students had previously been learning from British texts. Webster is the namesake of today’s “Merriam-Webster” dictionaries. He died in on May 28, 1843 in New Haven, Connecticut.

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QUICK-WITTED WORDSMTH Oscar Wilde was born on this day in 1854. An Irish poet and playwright, Wilde helped popularize the philosophy of aestheticism during the late 19th century. He is best known for his 1890 novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray” and 1895 play “The Importance of Being Earnest.” Wilde was persecuted for his homosexuality and was incarcerated for two years, during which we wrote “De Profundis.” He died on Nov. 30, 1900 in Paris, France.

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

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“A pure democracy is generally a very bad government. It is often the most tyrannical government on earth; for a multitude is often rash, and will not hear reason.” —Noah Webster, who was born on this day in 1758