June 4: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

June 4, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1905, Brooklyn Daily Eagle columnist Frederick Boyd Stevenson wrote, “Teaching parents how to feed their children properly, as to the nourishing qualities of food and the manner in which it should be cooked, is the subject that will be soon investigated by the commissioner of health. The request for this investigation comes through the Board of Education. It is the final result of the statement made by Robert Hunter in his book on ‘Poverty,’ to the effect that between sixty and seventy thousand children in New York City alone often went breakfastless to school. This statement has been shown to be erroneous and without statistical basis, but it may lead to further investigation along these lines that will be exceedingly beneficial not only in correcting present unhealthful conditions, but in producing for the future sturdier and more useful men and women. To be thoroughly equipped mentally for the struggle of existence, one must be, first of all, thoroughly equipped physically. While Mr. Hunter shot wide of the mark in his reckless statement, it has been the means of opening new fields of research. The question, then, is not that children go to school hungry, but that they are overfed with food that does not produce either brawn or brain.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1911, the Eagle reported, “Vacation days are here again and the Eagle once more places at the disposal of its readers its annual Summer Resort Directory, that is issued for the seventeenth consecutive year. Experience has proven that the Eagle’s Summer Resort Directory is both the most complete and the most accurate that is issued, and for this reason the most helpful to those who, through its pages, make their choice of the place in which to spend vacation days. The directory this year, given away with today’s issue of the Eagle, consists of 60 pages, in which are to be found every point of information requisite to a choice of summer hotel or boarding place in a wide radius of resorts in the eastern part of the United States. … An especial feature of the book this year relates to the location of summer camps for boys and girls, with names and addresses of the directors and other matters relating to them. The growing popularity of these camps, both with the boys and girls themselves, and in the favor of parents who have come to learn the desirability of the free outdoor life they offer, make this department one of especial timeliness and interest.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1938, the Eagle reported, “‘Going on a sleighride’ — that’s the taking of narcotics to a drug addict. A ‘joy-stick’ — that’s his opium pipe. ‘Cold turkey’ — that’s when he is deprived of his ‘snow’ by enforced treatment. The average person is not able to converse with a drug addict because of the quaintness of his vocabulary, T. Vincent Quinn, assistant United States attorney in charge of the Criminal Department in the office of Michael F. Walsh, told members of the Brooklyn Boys’ and Girls’ Week Junior Committee last night in the Hotel Bossert. Members of the committee, successful in a contest conducted by the Eagle, recently held borough administrative posts for a day. Mr. Quinn, explaining the activities of his department, informed his youthful audience that persons of their age especially must be protected from marijuana, which he described as the newest of deadly drugs. He declared that a drug addict is a ‘most dangerous enemy of society, since such a person will do anything to obtain money for continuing his habit.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1953, the Eagle reported, “Not to be outdone by the pomp, pageantry and publicity surrounding the crowning of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, Brooklyn held its own coronation last night and named a 15-year-old high school student ‘Teen Queen of Williamsburg.’ The young lady, Rayla Teichberg, was picked from seven contestants to climax the annual ‘Keen Teen Variety Show,’ staged by the Neighborhood Youth Council of Eastern District High School, Marcy Ave. and Keap St., last night. She is a fourth term student at Eastern District. Miss Teichberg was crowned by Cindy Roberts, a teenage model and star of WCBS-TV’s ‘The Big Payoff.’ Approximately 1,500 persons attended the show, which, in a series of six sketches, told the story of the school from 1905, when it opened, to the present. Eighty students sang, danced and acted in the review, with music by the school’s swing band.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer, who was born in 1928; “Coming Home” star Bruce Dern, who was born in 1936; former Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman, who was born in 1937; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Michelle Phillips (The Mamas and the Papas), who was born in 1944; former Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle, who was born in 1953; “Greenleaf” star Keith David, who was born in 1956; “Nite and Day” singer Al B. Sure!, who was born in 1968; “Party of Five” star Scott Wolf, who was born in 1968; “Saturday Night Live” star Horatio Sanz, who was born in 1969; “ER” star Noah Wyle, who was born in 1971; Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie, who was born in 1975; “Gotham” star Robin Lord Taylor, who was born in 1978; model and actress Bar Refaeli, who was born in 1985; Paramore drummer Zac Farro, who was born in 1990; and “Total Eclipse” star Mackenzie Ziegler, who was born in 2004.

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DIRECT HIT: The Battle of Midway began on this day in 1942. A Japanese task force attempted to capture Midway Island in the Central Pacific, but American bombers from the island and from two nearby aircraft carriers sent the enemy into retreat. The Japanese lost four carriers, two large cruisers and three destroyers. Midway was one of the most decisive naval battles of World War II. Japan never regained its margin in carrier strength, and the Central Pacific was made safe for American troops.

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ROME FREE: Rome was liberated on this day in 1944. The U.S. 9th Army, commanded by General Mark Clark, entered the southern suburbs of Rome as the last of the German rear guard retreated from Mussolini’s former capital. Fearful of a last-ditch effort by the Germans to hold the city, the populace remained behind closed doors as Clark’s forces entered the Eternal City.

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

Quotable:

“A lesson taught with humor is a lesson retained.”

— Dr. Ruth Westheimer, who was born on this day in 1928