November 30: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

November 30, 2021 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1890, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Old Fort Putnam and the rounded top of Crow’s Nest looked down upon an unwonted spectacle at West Point yesterday afternoon, one which had never come to pass in the history of the military academy. It was a game of football between the West Pointers and a team from the naval academy in Annapolis. Never before had a visiting team played within the sacred precincts of West Point, and never before had the two schools tried conclusions against each other in the athletic arena. It was, therefore, a remarkable occasion, and one long to be remembered by the cadets themselves, and by the crowd of visitors who witnessed the contest. This first meeting of the embryonic army and navy had been widely heralded by the alumni of Annapolis, who were mainly instrumental in bringing about the innovation, and in consequence an extended interest in the contest was aroused.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1903, the Eagle reported, “A fire that completely destroyed Brooklyn’s most historic theater, the Academy of Music, in Montague Street, broke out a few minutes before 9 o’clock this morning. The flames spread rapidly and in an hour and a half the fire had attained its height and had practically burned itself out. For the first hour of its progress the downtown portion of Brooklyn was in commotion. Business came to a standstill and a host of badly frightened folk watched the big pillar of flame and black smoke that rose above the house tops in the vicinity of Borough Hall. Not since the Brooklyn Theater was destroyed in a holocaust nearly thirty years ago has Brooklyn seen a blaze so spectacular and dramatic as that of this morning. The loss will not be less than $150,000 and may possibly reach $200,000.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1941, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON, NOV. 29 (INS) — The American Government tonight tensely awaited Japan’s decision for war or peace in the Pacific as the entire Far East, from Vladivostok to the Netherlands East Indies, stood to arms. A Japanese invasion of Thailand, launched from French Indo-China, official Washington believed tonight, would touch off a major conflict that will envelop the entire Far East in flames. The decision for or against such an invasion was expected by high American officials to be made by the Tokyo government over the weekend. A closer tie-up between Germany and Japan, with the two Axis powers operating together in an effort to drive American and British interests out of the Orient, was foreseen in informed Washington quarters, the United Press reported, as a more likely alternate to acceptance by Japan of American terms.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1947, the Eagle reported, “UNITED NATIONS HALL, FLUSHING, NOV. 29 (U.P.) — The United Nations General Assembly, in the most important decision yet made, tonight voted to partition Palestine into Arab and Jewish states, giving the Jews the homeland that they have sought for more than 2,000 years. The decision defied Arab threats to bathe the Holy Land in blood to prevent creation of a Jewish state in the Middle East. After the action, the Assembly adjourned until next September. The partition plan, engineered by the United States and Russia, called for Great Britain to leave Palestine by Aug. 1, letting a five-nation U.N. commission split the territory into Arab and Jewish states that will receive independence by Oct. 1. This plan won Assembly approval, 33 to 13, with 10 nations abstaining. The vote was easily the two-thirds majority required for the Assembly to act. In computing the two-thirds requirement, only the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ votes were counted. Arab delegates walked out of the great blue-and-tan Assembly Hall when the Assembly began electing members of a five-nation commission to administer the partition.”

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Chrissy Teigen
Dan Steinberg/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Sesame Street” creator Joan Ganz Cooney, who was born in 1929; “Alien” director Ridley Scott, who was born in 1937; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Roger Glover (Deep Purple), who was born in 1945; Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet, who was born in 1947; “The Princess Bride” star Mandy Patinkin, who was born in 1952; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer David Sancious (E Street Band), who was born in 1953; “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” star Colin Mochrie, who was born in 1957; Runaways lead singer Cherie Currie, who was born in 1959; former baseball and football player Bo Jackson, who was born in 1962; “Zoolander” star Ben Stiller, who was born in 1965; “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” star Walter Emanuel Jones, who was born in 1970; singer and TV personality Clay Aiken, who was born in 1978; “24” star Elisha Cuthbert, who was born in 1982; “The Big Bang Theory” star Kaley Cuoco, who was born in 1985; and model and TV personality Chrissy Teigen, who was born in 1985.

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TRAILBLAZER: Shirley Chisholm was born in Brooklyn on this day in 1924. The first African-American woman elected to the House of Representatives, she represented Bedford-Stuyvesant as a Democrat from 1969-1983. In 1972, she became the first African-American candidate for a major party’s presidential nomination. She died in 2005.

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RECIPE FOR SUCCESS: “The Joy of Cooking” was published on this day in 1931. America’s favorite all-purpose cookbook, self-published by Irma Rombauer (1877-1962), was a comforting voice for cooks during the Depression. The first commercial edition of the book appeared in 1936 and offered a revolutionary “action format” (chronologically ordered ingredients followed by instructions) now commonplace in cookbooks.

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

Quotable:

“I’d like them to say that Shirley Chisholm had guts. That’s how I’d like to be remembered.”

— U.S. Rep. Shirley Chisholm, who was born on this day in 1924