September 21: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

September 21, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1901, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “This month the famous English ‘Dictionary of National Biography’ will be brought up to date by the addition of three supplementary volumes, bringing it down to the death of Queen Victoria, on January 22. Sidney Lee, the Shakespeariographer, writes up the Queen; E.T Cook, the recent editor of the Daily News, does John Ruskin; Herbert Paul, whose ‘Men of Letters’ we reviewed recently, has the honor of handling Gladstone; Gosse does Browning and Dr. Garrett does Matthew Arnold. A conspicuous galaxy, both of biographers and biographees!”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1902, an Eagle editorial said, “‘Castles in the air,’ according to the Century Dictionary, ‘visionary projects; vague dreams of impossible wealth; a term of contempt among practical men.’ And yet hard-headed New York business men, than whom there are none more practical on the face of the earth, are even now building castles in the air to the value of more than sixty million dollars; castles in the air, the possession of any one of which would mean to the average family wealth beyond the dreams of avarice; castles in the air, the floor space of which is equivalent to 16 percent of the area of Manhattan Island; castles in the air below City Hall alone the floor area of which is 25 percent of the land area below City Hall; castles in the air, built over small sections of that land valued at over $8,000,000; castles very much in the air — say fifteen to twenty-five stories in the air. Building operations in New York are necessarily so scattered that the casual observer never realizes how much is going on. In fact, even those whose business is building do not take in the extent of the work that is being done in their own line. A member of one of the biggest construction companies in the world said in his Broadway office only a day or two ago: ‘Why, there’s nothing much doing now. Things are very quiet.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1946, the Eagle reported, “LAKE SUCCESS (U.P.) — The United Nations Security Council wiped the Soviet Ukraine’s charges against Greece and Britain off its agenda today only to confront another sharp skirmish between Russia and the Western Powers. The Ukrainian case ended in defeat for Russia late yesterday when, in a rapid crossfire of votes, the Council decided to end three weeks of debate by dropping the case without any action whatsoever. Soviet Delegate Andrei A. Gromyko bounced back from this rebuke by announcing, as current Council President, that delegates would meet again Monday to consider his request for an inventory of all armed forces maintained by the Allies in foreign countries other than the ex-enemy states. The United States intended to lead a fight against even placing the Russian proposal on the Council’s agenda because, American officials said, it does not represent a complaint nor does it concern a threat to international peace and security.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1949, the Eagle reported, “ST. LOUIS (U.P.) — The Dodgers have their own iron man first baseman. Gil Hodges isn’t any Lou Gehrig yet, but he’s got a young consecutive game streak going and he never gets hurt. The Hoosier Hercules has played all 147 games this year and has a holdover skein, but Gil doesn’t know what the total is — he only knows that he was in 134 games in 1948 and some of those were as a catcher. ‘I wouldn’t know where my catching ended and my first basing started,’ he confessed. ‘I guess there must have been a gap some place in catching, although [Bruce] Edwards was hurt and they hadn’t brought up [Roy] Campanella.’ At mention of Gehrig’s 2,130 straight games, Hodges turned a little pale. ‘That’s a lot of ball playing,’ he gasped. ‘I don’t believe I have to figure breaking that record for about 10 years. I’ve got plenty of time to choke up,’ he added with a grin. He hasn’t had any explanation why he hasn’t been in any bad collisions at the bag. He’s always leaving first to take wild throws and stabbing at flying runners. ‘About all I do is try and get out of their way,’ he said. “So it must be that I’ve been lucky. I hope it still rides with me.’”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include 1988 NBA Coach of the Year Doug Moe, who was born in Brooklyn in 1938; film and TV producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who was born in 1943; actress and author Fannie Flagg, who was born in 1944; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Don Felder (The Eagles), who was born in 1947; “Doctor Sleep” author Stephen King, who was born in 1947; Basketball Hall of Famer Artis Gilmore, who was born in 1949; “Ghostbusters” star Bill Murray, who was born in 1950; “Friends” co-creator Marta Kauffman, who was born in 1956; filmmaker Ethan Coen, who was born in 1957; “Full House” star Dave Coulier, who was born in 1959; “Last Man Standing” star Nancy Travis, who was born in 1961; former N.Y. Yankees first baseman Cecil Fielder, who was born in 1963; “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star Cheryl Hines, who was born in 1965; TV personality Nicole Richie, who was born in 1981; and “Lost” star Maggie Grace, who was born in 1983.

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THE JOURNEY BEGINS: “The Hobbit” was published on this day in 1937. University professor J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy classic featuring Bilbo Baggins was published by George Allen & Unwin in the U.K. Well-received by critics and the public, it has never been out of print. Its international success spurred Tolkien to amplify his world of hobbits, dwarves, elves and dragons in “The Lord of the Rings” in the 1950s.

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KICKOFF TIME: “Monday Night Football” premiered on this day in 1970. Following the complete merger of the American Football League and the National Football League, ABC joined CBS and NBC in televising weekly games. The show began as an experiment but soon became an institution. Announcers Howard Cosell, Keith Jackson and Don Meredith called the first game, a 31-21 victory by the Cleveland Browns over the New York Jets.

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

Quotable:

“I always want to say to people who want to be rich and famous: ‘Try being rich first. See if that doesn’t cover most of it.”’

— actor Bill Murray, who was born on this day in 1950