December 10: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

December 10, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1936, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “LONDON (AP) — King Edward of England abdicated his ancient mighty throne today. He will marry Wallis Warfield Simpson as man, not monarch. Albert Frederick Arthur George, the tall, 40-year-old Duke of York, will rule over the 495,000,000 subjects of the greatest empire on the earth. He will reign as George VI. In ‘a message from His Majesty the King, signed by his own hand,’ somber Stanley Baldwin, the Kingdom’s first Minister, announced the abdication to a House of Commons in which tension and hysteria were breathing, living things. It was understood that Edward probably will broadcast a farewell to the nation and proceed to some foreign destination, which is being kept a close secret, said the United Press. Around the globe, through sundown and dawn, to those who bear allegiance to England’s King, flashed this message from their Sovereign: ‘After long and anxious consideration, I have determined to renounce the throne to which I succeeded on the death of my father, and I am now communicating this, my final irrevocable decision.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Eagle reported, “The Citizens Transit Committee, foreseeing a subway fare showdown in the ‘very near future,’ was prepared today to reintroduce its Transit Authority bill at the next session of the State Legislature, Paul Windels, chairman of the committee, declared. The bill provides that the city-owned transit facilities be turned over to an authority with full power to operate the lines and finance the costs. Mr. Windels, reviewing other provisions of the bill, said the authority would raise the subway fare to 10 cents, with an exception in the case of school children, who would be allowed to continue riding for 5 cents.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1953, the Eagle reported, “UNITED NATIONS, N.Y. (U.P.) — The Russians curtly rejected President Eisenhower’s ‘Christmas present’ offer of peaceful development of the atom today, but amazed and concerned United Nations diplomats hoped it did not represent the Kremlin’s final stand. Russian delegate Andrei Vishinsky cast a pall over the closing moments of the UN General Assembly Wednesday when he said the President’s plan could not be considered ‘without the unconditional prohibition of the atomic weapon and strict international control.’ Moscow Radio echoed him in an even stronger vein, charging that Mr. Eisenhower had ‘threatened atomic war.’ Their concerted action left no doubt that both spoke on orders directly from the Kremlin. Nevertheless, the UN diplomats said Mr. Eisenhower had scored a major victory. They said his plan directing international energies, including Russia’s, toward development of the atom for agriculture, medicine and power, would convince even the fence-sitters that the United States was working constructively toward peace.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1962, the Eagle reported, “The biggest news in New York today was being made by the newspapers themselves. Nine Manhattan and Long Island sheets with a circulation of more than 5,000,000 were shut down by a strike of craft unions. The newspaper you are reading — the Brooklyn Eagle — meanwhile had beefed up production and circulation to meet the added demands brought on by the lack of other newspapers. The Eagle’s added efforts were being confined primarily to Brooklyn. Additional facilities and personnel have been put at the disposal of advertisers who care to make use of the Eagle’s production and circulation facilities. An extra shift has been added to the news staff to increase coverage of both Brooklyn and greater New York events. But officials of Newspaper Consolidate Corp., publishers of the Eagle, announced there would be no increase in advertising or circulation rates during the strike emergency. Indications Sunday were that the strike would not be a short one. Bertram A. Powers, president of Local 6 of the International Typographical Union, said, ‘I’d say it was going to be a long strike.’”

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Emmanuelle Chriqui
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Basketball Hall of Fame referee Dick Bavetta, who was born in Brooklyn in 1939; “Lost” star Fionnula Flanagan, who was born in 1941; “The Partridge Family” star Susan Dey, who was born in 1952; Accept guitarist Wolf Hoffmann, who was born in 1959; “Wallander” star Kenneth Branagh, who was born in 1960; “Fame” star Nia Peeples, who was born in 1961; celebrity chef Bobby Flay, who was born in 1964; Dinosaur Jr. singer J Mascis, who was born in 1965; White Stripes drummer Meg White, who was born in 1974; “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan” star Emmanuelle Chriqui, who was born in 1975; former N.Y. Jets running back Matt Forte, who was born in 1985; “Raven’s Home” star Raven-Symone, who was born in 1985; and Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, who was born in 1996.

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DRAMA QUEEN: Agnes Nixon was born 100 years ago today. The Chicago native created the groundbreaking soap operas “One Life to Live” (1968-2011) and “All My Children” (1970-2012), which introduced daytime TV to taboo social issues such as cancer, abortion, interracial relationships and AIDS. She also created “Loving” (1983-95) and its spin-off “The City” (1995-97). She died in 2016.

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HERE I COME: “The Mighty Mouse Playhouse” premiered on this day in 1955. The adventures of the pint-sized cartoon superhero — a tongue-in-cheek version of Superman — became a hit for CBS and a favorite among Saturday morning cartoon watchers. In the 1970s, comedian Andy Kaufman brought the character’s popularity to new heights when he used the show’s iconic theme song in his act.

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

Quotable:

“Saying nothing sometimes says the most.”

— poet Emily Dickinson, who was born on this day in 1830