December 16: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

December 16, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1883, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “The cold snap of yesterday brought joy to the Fulton street merchants. ‘You have no idea,’ said one of the most prominent, ‘of the influence of the weather upon our business. It runs up and down like the mercury. A continuance of mild temperature until Christmas would involve for us a loss of thousands of dollars. The effect is felt mainly in dress goods and wraps, and it is in those lines that we gain the most substantial profits. It looks now as if Jack Frost would pull us through the season all right.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1923, Eagle columnist Frederick Boyd Stevenson wrote, “What does the President of the United States of America mean to you? The day after the election when the hollering is all over — what difference does it really make to you who is elected? And how much do you have to do with selecting the President? … They are beginning to round up the starters in the Big Race. The Republicans have fixed on the place and the date of their convention and the Democrats are logrolling and pulling in that direction. Candidates are beginning to come to the front for nomination on the tickets of the two big parties. There are lots of would-be candidates who, in the pleasing vernacular of the day, have thrown their hats into the ring and who are willing to endeavor to boost themselves into the arena by their bootstraps. But, outside of seeing their names in the papers among the ‘other rans,’ their dreams of the Chair will fade softly and gently away like an Ectoplasm.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1936, the Eagle reported, “HOLLYWOOD (U.P.) — A second memorandum to the movie industry from the office of Will Hays, concerning use of the royal romance of the Duke of Windsor and Mrs. [Wallis] Simpson in pictures, blasted hopes of several major studios today. The opinion was informal but emphatic, and stated that thumbs still were down. It was in response to a request made following the abdication of King Edward VIII.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1936, the Eagle reported, “LONDON (U.P.) — King George VI was unlucky today in the first start of his racing colors. The King’s Marconi was second favorite in the New Windsor Handicap Steeplechase at Windsor at odds of 5 to 1, but finished out of the money in a field of nine.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1953, the Eagle reported, “Fashion design students in the Home Economics School of Pratt Institute presented creations ranging from cocktail gowns to atomic protection suits during a recent supper show in the faculty dining room. The atomic protection suits were the result of a functional design project. The purpose was to utilize street wear which would serve as protection for the wearer in case of an atomic explosion.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1962, the Eagle reported, “LE HAVRE, FRANCE (UPI) — The bulletproof truck roared up to the pier with an escort of six motorcycle police officers and six cars jammed with policemen. A lovely lady with an unfashionable hairstyle and an enigmatic smile was ushered through customs, escorted by 45 members of the Corps Republicain De Security — France’s toughest policemen — with submachine guns hanging from their shoulders. Surrounding the area were 30 or 40 plainclothes detectives, armed with pistols. The lady was received aboard the 60,000-ton French liner France by Captain Georges Croisile. She was taken to her first-class cabin where six surete men sealed the door and took up positions in adjoining cabins. The famous passenger was Lisa Di Anton Maria di Noldo Gherardini — better known as the ‘Mona Lisa.’ The world’s most celebrated painting by Leonardo da Vinci, officially chronicled in the records of the Louvre Museum in Paris as ‘La Jaconde,’ sailed aboard the France Friday for New York. The Mona Lisa, painted around 1503, is on its way for exhibition for about two months in the National Gallery in Washington at the personal invitation of Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy.”

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Krysten Ritter
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Battlestar Galactica” star Terry Carter, who was born in Brooklyn in 1928; actress and author Joyce Bulifant, who was born in 1937; “Face to Face” star Liv Ullmann, who was born in 1938; journalist Lesley Stahl, who was born in 1941; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Tony Hicks (The Hollies), who was born in 1945; “The Walking Dead” star Xander Berkeley, who was born in 1955; former N.Y. Giants center Bart Oates, who was born in 1958; former NFL tackle William “Refrigerator” Perry, who was born in 1962; “Law & Order” star Benjamin Bratt, who was born in 1963; “Ford v Ferrari” director James Mangold, who was born in 1963; “Jessica Jones” star Krysten Ritter, who was born in 1981; former N.Y Giants defensive back Antrel Rolle, who was born in 1982; and “The Chronicles of Narnia” star Anna Popplewell, who was born in 1988.

Benjamin Bratt
Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

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HARBORING A GRUDGE: On this day in 1773, the Sons of Liberty protested a new tax by boarding three British ships and dumping 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor.

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THAT’S A FACT, JACK: “Dragnet” premiered on this day in 1951. The famous crime show stressed authenticity and its episodes were supposedly based on real cases. Jack Webb starred as the stoic Sgt. Joe Friday, who was determined to get “just the facts.” The show is also known for its theme music and a narrative epilogue describing the fate of the bad guys.

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

Quotable:

“Selfishness must always be forgiven you know, because there is no hope of a cure.”

— novelist Jane Austen, who was born on this day in 1775