November 19: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

November 19, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1925, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “CAIRO (AP) — The condition of the mummy of Tutankhamen has been found to be such that it will be impossible to remove it from its gold coffin, Drs. [Douglas] Derry and Saleh Hamdi announced today in a report on the unwrapping of the mummy, which has occupied seven days. The experts announce that the mummy is firmly glued to the bottom of its gold coffin with a dried pitchlike material. It will also be futile to attempt to make X-ray pictures on account of the numerous layers of gold, faience and other materials covering the body to the knees.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1938, the Eagle reported, “A special prayer for all victims of racial and religious persecution, stressing the plight of Jews in Germany, will be offered today and tomorrow by millions of Catholics, Protestants and Jews at religious services throughout America. The supplication, a plea for surcease from ‘cruelty and persecution, imprisonment and exile,’ has been written in connection with the Day of Prayer sponsored by the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America and the National Conference of Jews and Christians. Bishop Thomas E. Molloy of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn has instructed the priests of the diocese to pray for the world’s afflicted, and the directors of the Brooklyn Church and Mission Federation have also endorsed the Day of Prayer.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1946, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (U.P.) — Increasing numbers of United Mine Workers left their jobs today as the period of grace shrank in which John L. Lewis must decide whether to risk jail or call off a national soft coal shutdown scheduled for tomorrow night. The Solid Fuels Administration reported that 87,000 of the union’s 400,000 soft coal miners were idle and 272 pits shut down. It estimated production losses yesterday and today at 633,487 tons. Normal daily production is about 2,200,000 tons. At the rate in which members of the AFL’s UMW were walking out ahead of the deadline, it was apparent that vital bituminous production will be at a dead stop by Thursday morning unless Lewis rules otherwise. If he does not, if he chooses instead to stand pat on his announcement last week that the UMW would consider its contract with the government terminated by midnight Wednesday, Lewis presumably will be in contempt of a court order that he call off the shutdown. He also will be subject to possible prosecution under the Smith-Connally act.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1948, the Eagle reported, “LONDON (U.P.) — Princess Elizabeth and her baby Prince are making such satisfactory progress that no more daily bulletins will be issued regarding them, Buckingham Palace announced today.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “Walter O’Malley, revealing that he receives concrete offers ‘continuously,’ stated today that the Dodgers are ‘not for sale,’ and fired a point-blank ‘no’ to the rumored possibility that the franchise is in danger of moving to another city, particularly Los Angeles. Back in his Montague St. office after a week’s tour of Puerto Rico and Cuba, the Dodger president smiled, ‘If our good fans in Los Angeles want to see our Dodgers, let them come to Ebbets Field next season.’ Insisting there are ‘no present plans’ to sell or move the Dodgers, O’Malley did admit, ‘What the future holds, I don’t know. We’re interested in our attendance problems and our lack of parking facilities.’ O’Malley also admitted that a possible Dodger franchise shift, presumably to Los Angeles, has been ‘explored very fully’ for future reference. Explaining all the concrete offers he’s received for the Dodgers since taking over as club president in the fall of 1950, O’Malley said, ‘Somebody is trying to buy the Dodgers every month as long as I can remember.’”

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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 on this day in 1921. 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 he was paralyzed in a car accident, 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