January 13: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

January 13, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1898, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Charles H. Ebbets has been elected to the presidency of the Brooklyn Base Ball Club, and preparations for the new season have already begun. The meeting of the board of directors, held at the office of the Brooklyn club’s attorneys, Redding, Kiddle & Greeley, in the Potter Building yesterday, was for the purpose of choosing a successor to the late Mr. [Charlie] Byrne and of adopting a set of resolutions in the latter’s memory. Mr. Ebbets’ election was the only definite action taken by the directors, as the remaining officers will not be selected until the annual meeting of the stockholders, which will probably occur early in February.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1934, the Eagle reported, “Continuation of the police drive against all forms of gambling jammed Night Court last night with 112 gambling cases and, according to a high police official, has definitely ended gaming in Chinatown. Of the 112 men rounded up in gambling raids throughout Manhattan and the Bronx, Magistrate Jonah Goldstein dismissed all but 18 as mere frequenters of the places. Despite this and the fact that other magistrates likewise are dismissing all persons arrested in gambling places except the alleged proprietors, Chief Inspector Lewis J. Valentine asserted that there would be no letup in raiding activity. ‘It’s too bad that we have to annoy the magistrates with such arrests,’ said Valentine, ‘but it is a good thing to harass the men who frequent gambling places. It proves that the gambler who runs the place does not enjoy police protection and cannot protect his patrons from arrest. Arrest them often enough and they soon realize it does not pay to go to gambling houses.’ Magistrate Goldstein lectured the frequenters of the places whom he discharged on disorderly conduct charges. ‘You would be far wiser to be home listening to the radio than gambling your hard-earned money,’ he told them.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1935, the Eagle reported, “OAKLAND, CAL., JAN. 12 (A.P.) — Through clouds, fog, capricious winds and some hair-raising silence, Amelia Earhart Putnam emerged out of Pacific skies today, landing here to complete the first solo flight ever made between Hawaii and California. The famous aviatrix flashed into Oakland like a red streak and landed at 1:31 p.m. P.S.T. (4:31 E.S.T.), 18 hours and 16 minutes out of Honolulu, 2,408 miles across the ocean. Not satisfied with two aerial trips across the Atlantic, one of them also a solo hop, and a long list of other honors already to her credit, the famous 36-year-old aviatrix challenged the Pacific as no other person, man or woman, ever has, and won neatly but not without a battle. So quickly was her swoop down on the airport that watchers did not recognize her swift red plane at first. When the crowd realized she had arrived at last, after more than three hours of anxious waiting and confusion over her whereabouts, it set up a mighty cheer and surged onto the field.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “An inventor with a ‘secret weapon’ sided with mothers today in the running battle of Mom vs. Moppet over how late the kiddies may stay up to watch television. Turning down childish pleas for ‘just one more show’ can be difficult, gadget maker Cyril J. White said, but firmness and a fixed, impersonal deadline are helpful. The deadline is where the ‘secret weapon’ comes in. ‘Many a mother, weakened by a barrage of begging, has muttered desperately ‘why don’t these darned TV sets shut themselves off,’ Mr. White said. ‘This can now be arranged.’ The secret, he said, is a device that can be pre-set to darken the screen and silence the sound whenever it’s time for the last televised hoofbeat to fade away. Mom doesn’t have to be near. The shut-off is definite and impersonal, Mr. White said, thus preventing arguments. The TV set can be turned on again, by hand or automatically just as easy, he said.”

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Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Misery” star Frances Sternhagen, who was born in 1930; “Night Court” star Richard Moll, who was born in 1943; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Trevor Rabin (Yes), who was born in 1954; “Bright Lights, Big City” author Jay McInerney, who was born in 1955; World Golf Hall of Famer Mark O’Meara, who was born in 1957; “Seinfeld” star Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who was born in 1961; “Kindergarten Cop” star Penelope Ann Miller, who was born in 1964; “Grey’s Anatomy” star Patrick Dempsey, who was born in 1966; “Grey’s Anatomy” creator Shonda Rhimes, who was born in 1970; “Baywatch” star Nicole Eggert, who was born in 1972; entrepreneur Andrew Yang, who was born in 1975; “Carnival Row” star Orlando Bloom, who was born in 1977; and former N.Y. Jets center Nick Mangold, who was born in 1984.

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WAVES OF THE FUTURE: Radio pioneer and electron tube inventor Lee De Forest arranged the world’s first radio broadcast to the public on this day in 1910. He succeeded in broadcasting the voice of Enrico Caruso and other stars of the Metropolitan Opera to several receiving stations in New York City, where listeners with earphones marveled at wireless music from the air.

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A MOB HIT: “The Sopranos” premiered on HBO on this day in 1999. The thinking viewer’s mob drama featured James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano, whose panic attacks drove him to seek out a psychiatrist (Lorraine Bracco), and revolved around Tony’s home and crime lives. TV Guide called it one of the greatest shows of all time. The final episode aired June 10, 2007.

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

Quotable:

“Happiness comes from being who you actually are instead of who you think you are supposed to be.”

— TV producer Shonda Rhimes, who was born on this day in 1970