Brooklyn Boro

October 5: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

October 5, 2021 Brooklyn Eagle History
Share this:

ON THIS DAY IN 1920, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “A colossal crowd which promised to be a record breaker an hour before the game, and which testified that baseball had lost none of its ancient popularity, despite the recent exposures at Chicago, swarmed over the available seating space at Ebbets Field to witness the first game of the 1920 World Series with Cleveland this afternoon. From the time the gates were opened, shortly after noon, until the hour when the umpire signaled ‘Play ball,’ the fans swarmed in at a score of entrances and feet echoed over the concrete runways with a sound as of thunder … Cleveland defeated Brooklyn by a score of 3 to 1 in the opening game … The American League champions got to Rube Marquard for two runs in the second inning and another in the fourth, while the Superbas scored their lone tally off [Stan] Coveleski in the seventh inning.

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Eagle reported, “First use of a walkie-talkie radio communication system by a motion picture studio is under way at Flagstaff, Ariz., where John Farrow is directing wagon train sequences for Paramount’s ‘California.’ Paramount was the first Hollywood studio to be licensed by the Federal Communications Commission to operate this equipment, according to Loren L. Ryder, head of the Paramount sound and engineering department. In addition to the walkie-talkie installations, director Farrow is using a new electric megaphone developed for the Maritime Service for communication between ships at sea. The long-range communications setup greatly facilitates location shooting, making it possible for the director and his staff to transmit instructions over long distances without relays. It is expected to shorten the shooting time in location work. While a licensed operator accompanies the walkie-talkie on location, the assistant directors and property men have been granted restricted FCC licenses, permitting them to operate the equipment. This marks the first purchase and use of the War Department’s salvage electronic equipment by a motion picture studio. Four walkie-talkie units are being used by Paramount.”

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “Crime in New York City is still increasing faster than it is in the nation as a whole, according to Police Commissioner Francis W.H. Adams. The commissioner, addressing the Advertising Men’s Post of the American Legion yesterday in the Hotel Lexington, reported that a number of recent ‘stopgap’ arrangements improvised to aid police work ‘aren’t really solving the problem.’ He cited an FBI report for August-September which showed a national crime increase of 8.5 percent, against 11 percent for the city. The department is ‘seriously underpaid and undermanned,’ he said.”

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “HOLLYWOOD — Marilyn Monroe, red-eyed from weeping, said through her attorney today ‘there is no chance of reconciliation’ with Joe DiMaggio. She ordered her divorce suit filed immediately. Friends of the couple tried to get the nine-month-old marriage back on its feet by urging them to reconcile. But the weeping actress, near hysteria, told Jerry Giesler, her attorney, that any patch-up ‘is out of the question.’ ‘I discussed the possibility of a reconciliation with her,’ Giesler said, ‘but she said no. There is a conflict of careers and a general incompatibility. Yes, Joe has struck out.’ The former Yankee slugger remained in the couple’s rented Beverly Hills home, but Giesler said he assumed the ex-ball player planned to move to an apartment soon. The divorce suit, to be filed in nearby Santa Monica, will charge DiMaggio with the usual mental cruelty. Marilyn will not seek alimony from the currently jobless sports figure, and the couple accumulated no community property during their brief union. Michael Chekhov, Marilyn’s vocal coach, said the famous star had become ‘morose’ recently over her wedded life. He said long before their recent gay whirl of New York she confided to him that ‘Joe is a wonderful guy but we don’t have enough in common.’”

***

Parminder Nagra
Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
Grant Hill
Ross D. Franklin/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Steve Miller, who was born in 1943; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Brian Johnson (AC/DC), who was born in 1947; baseball statistician Bill James, who was born in 1949; “Raiders of the Lost Ark” star Karen Allen, who was born in 1951; “Books of Blood” author Clive Barker, who was born in 1952; astrophysicist Neil de Grasse Tyson, who was born in 1958; Motorsports Hall of Fame of America inductee Michael Andretti, who was born in 1962; Hockey Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux, who was born in 1965; Hockey Hall of Famer Patrick Roy, who was born in 1965; “Melrose Place” star Josie Bissett, who was born in 1970; Basketball Hall of Famer Grant Hill, who was born in 1972; “ER” star Parminder Nagra, who was born in 1975; “Titanic” star Kate Winslet, who was born in 1975; “The Social Network” star Jesse Eisenberg, who was born in 1983; and “Luca” star Jacob Tremblay, who was born in 2006.

Brian Johnson
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

***

GRIDIRON GREAT: Bill Willis was born 100 years ago today. The defensive tackle was one of the first two African-Americans to break the color barrier in professional football when he and Cleveland Browns teammate Marion Motley debuted in the same game in September 1946. Willis won four AAFC championships (1946-49) and an NFL title (1950) and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1977. He died in 2007.

***

THE TRUMAN SHOW: President Harry Truman delivered the first televised Oval Office address on this day in 1947. He asked Americans to cut back on grain consumption to help Europeans still recovering from the devastation of World War II.

***

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

 

Quotable:

“I tell every young person that there is a formula for success. And that formula is to always do the very best you can with what you have wherever you are.”

— Pro Football Hall of Famer Bill Willis, who was born on this day in 1921

Subscribe to our newsletters


Leave a Comment


Leave a Comment