November 19: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

November 19, 2021 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1899, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “A meeting of the physicians comprising the consulting board of the Quarantine Station was held yesterday afternoon at the office of Dr. Herman M. Biggs, 5 West Fifty-eighth street, Manhattan, to take action to prevent the spreading of what may be bubonic plague, several cases of which may be at Quarantine. At the conclusion of the meeting, a statement was issued, saying that there was absolutely no need for alarm. When the British steamship J.W. Taylor, Captain Waters, reached port yesterday morning from Santos, Brazil, her captain and one of the crew were found to be suffering from what is supposed to be bubonic plague. One of the crew, Robert Hope, 22 years old, the steward, died from the disease on the voyage and was buried at sea. When the Quarantine officers boarded the vessel, they were informed of the disease and immediately took necessary precautions against the spreading of the disease. Captain Waters and the cook, Robert Burns, were ordered to be taken to Swinburne Island. The remaining members of the crew are well.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1920, the Eagle reported, “After Controller Craig had asked the mayor of New York City to crack Aldermanic President LaGuardia over the head with a gavel; after LaGuardia and Craig and Boro President Curran had stripped the dictionary for violent invectives; after Mayor Hylan had splintered a gavel in beating a jazz tune to a succession of language that ripped in blue streaks through the air, it was officially agreed that the Board of Estimate was in session today.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1933, the Eagle reported, “SAVANNAH, GA. (A.P.) — In the presence of a cheering crowd attending the Georgia bicentennial celebration, President [Franklin] Roosevelt here today denounced the ‘tories’ who oppose his monetary policies as ‘experimentation’ and hailed the new rapprochement with Russia as a step toward peace. In his first public discussion of the recognition of the Soviet government, Mr. Roosevelt said: ‘I believe sincerely that the most impelling motive that has lain behind the conversations which were successfully concluded yesterday between Russia and the United States was the desire for peace and for strengthening of the peaceful purposes of the civilized world.’ The listeners standing on the wide spreading stadium field applauded, as they did again when the president turned on the critics of his gold control monetary program. ‘It has been remarked of late by certain tories,’ said the president in reference to his monetary policy, ‘that those who are today in charge of government are guilty of great experimentation. If I read my history right, the same suggestion was used when Englishmen, protesting in vain against intolerable conditions at home, founded new colonies in the American wilderness, and when Washingtons and Adamses and Bullocks conducted another great experiment in 1776.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1949, the Eagle reported, “SARATOGA SPRINGS (U.P.) — Mayor [William] O’Dwyer and model Sloan Simpson were forced to delay their flight back to Manhattan overnight when they found the weather worse than 25 reporters who followed them to this spa to do some matrimonial sleuthing. The mayor ordered a New York police plane to come and get him and the 33-year-old model yesterday after he told newsmen he was cutting his vacation here short because of their ‘unnecessary intrusion.’ However, bad weather prevented the plane from taking off. ‘Well, we can’t get out of here tonight,’ said the mayor. ‘But we’ll try to get out as early as we can tomorrow.’ O’Dwyer said if flying conditions permitted the plane to reach Saratoga, he and Sloan would take off for Floyd Bennett Field at 12:30 p.m. He said he and Miss Simpson would take the spa baths this morning. The dapper 59-year-old widower denied emphatically that he and Sloan already were married, that they intended to be married this weekend, or that they were even engaged. ‘I am not going to discuss our friendship or where it may lead,’ he said. ‘Now either the press goes home, or I go. I told you fellows that nothing unusual would happen in Saratoga and I expected you to leave us alone.’”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include talk show host Dick Cavett, who was born in 1936; media mogul Ted Turner, who was born in 1938; fashion designer Calvin Klein, who was born in 1942; former NFL wide receiver Ahmad Rashad, who was born in 1949; “Star Trek: Voyager” star Robert Beltran, who was born in 1953; Space Shuttle commander Eileen Collins, who was born in 1956; “The West Wing” star Allison Janney, who was born in 1959; “Sleepless in Seattle” star Meg Ryan, who was born in 1961; two-time Oscar-winner Jodie Foster, who was born in 1962; “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” star Terry Farrell, who was born in 1963; tap dancer and choreographer Savion Glover, who was born in 1973; Olympic gold medalist Kerri Strug, who was born in 1977; “Star Wars” star Adam Driver, who was born in 1983; and rapper Tyga, who was born in 1989.

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AMERICAN BEAUTY: Gene Tierney was born in Brooklyn on this day in 1920. The glamorous film star turned heads with her performance in “Laura” (1944) and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for “Leave Her to Heaven” (1945). Her other well-known films include “Heaven Can Wait” (1943), “A Bell for Adano” (1945), “The Razor’s Edge” (1946) and “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir” (1947). She died in 1991.

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HEART OF A CHAMPION: Roy Campanella was born 100 years ago today. The Philadelphia native was one of the first black major leaguers and a star of one of baseball’s most famous teams, the Brooklyn Dodgers’ “Boys of Summer.” A three-time National League MVP, he established three single-season records for a catcher – most putouts (807), most home runs (41) and most runs batted in (142). His career was cut short on Jan. 28, 1958, when an automobile accident left him paralyzed, but he became an inspiration for people with disabilities. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1969 and died in 1993.

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

Quotable:

“I never want to quit playing ball. They’ll have to cut this uniform off of me to get me out of it.”

— Baseball Hall of Famer Roy Campanella, who was born on this day in 1921