December 21: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

December 21, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle History

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mberON THIS DAY IN 1842, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Professor [Samuel] Morse has his eletro-magnetic telegraph established between two of the committee rooms in the Capitol at Washington, and it is there attracting much attention. The inventor is desirous of obtaining assistance from Congress to bring his invention into practical operation.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1853, the Eagle reported, “CORRECTION — We stated in Monday’s paper that the residents of Yellow Hook, in the town of New Utrecht, at a public meeting, had resolved to change the name of the place to ‘Bay Bridge,’ and that ‘Thomas G. Bergen’ presided at the meeting; it should have read ‘Bay Ridge,’ and ‘Tunis E. Bergen’ presided.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1866, the Eagle reported, “John Gray, one of the soldiers of the Revolution, of whom nothing has heretofore been publicly known, is living in Noble Co., Ohio. He is one hundred and three years old; was born in Fairfax County, Va., and enlisted in the Continental army in 1781, serving for three months, taking part in one minor engagement, and being honorably discharged at the end of this term. His period of service was so short that he is not entitled to a pension under any existing law. He has been unable to support himself for the last seventeen years, and his neighbors now ask Congress to give him a special pension.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1902, the Eagle reported, “In the first of the Friday evening dances of the winter, presented this year by a new committee, danced on Friday evening at the Pierrepont Assembly Rooms, Brooklyn society had one of the very best of its balls of recent days. Many things contributed to this. First, the dancing rooms were very attractively made up, with their greenery, their Christmas trees, their mistletoe. Again there was a famous array of the debutantes. But what was of far greater importance, the Heights older set, that collectively is not nearly so much seen now as it should be, turned out in large numbers. There was a pleasing assembling of young married couples. It might almost have been imagined that night that the hands of society’s clock had been put back several years.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1935, the Eagle reported, “In hundreds of thousands of Jewish homes and synagogues the first night of the eight-day Hanukkah commemoration was observed last night with the lighting of one Hanukkah candle. Tonight two lights will be kindled. The ceremonies will continue through next Friday, when eight candles will be lighted. Hanukkah services commemorate the purge of the Temple and the victories of the Maccabees over the Syrian king, Antiochus Epiphanes, who attempted to force the Jews to idolatry and the abandonment of God 2,100 years ago. The kindling of eight lights through the week signifies the miracle through which one day’s supply of oil for the Temple’s holy light lasted for a full week after the purge and until a new supply could be secured. Last night in Brooklyn synagogues rabbis compared the situation of the Maccabees 21 centuries ago with the plight of the Jews in Germany, Rumania and other European countries where anti-Semitism exists.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1962, the Eagle reported, “BRIDGEPORT, CONN. (UPI) — Two senators and a congressman today joined Radio Station WICC in its campaign to persuade the National Football League to lift a television blackout on the Dec. 30 championship game between the New York Giants and the Green Bay Packers. Sen.-Elect Abraham A. Ribicoff, D-Conn., sent a telegram to NFL president Pete Rozelle today urging him to reconsider his decision to black out New York City and parts of Connecticut from television coverage of the game. Ribicoff said the blackout is a ‘disservice to thousands of loyal football fans.’ Sen. Thomas J. Dodd, D-Conn., sent a similar message, saying the lifting of the television blackout would ‘create more fans for the Giants.’”

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Samuel L. Jackson
Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include talk show host Phil Donahue, who was born in 1935; Oscar-winning actress Jane Fonda, who was born in 1937; “Pulp Fiction” star Samuel L. Jackson, who was born in 1948; former N.Y. Mets outfielder Dave Kingman, who was born in 1948; film producer Jeffrey Katzenberg, who was born in 1950; International Tennis Hall of Famer Chris Evert, who was born in 1954; “Malcolm in the Middle” star Jane Kaczmarek, who was born in 1955; actor and comedian Ray Romano, who was born in 1957; former N.Y. Rangers right wing Joe Kocur, who was born in 1964; “NewsRadio” star Andy Dick, who was born in 1965; “24” star Kiefer Sutherland, who was born in 1966; “Before Sunrise” star Julie Delpy, who was born in 1969; and “The Walking Dead” star Steven Yeun, who was born in 1983.

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DWARF STARS: “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” premiered on this day in 1937. America’s first full-length, animated feature film was a labor of love for Walt Disney and involved more than 750 artists and 1,500 colors in four years of development. It features the classic songs “Some Day My Prince Will Come” and “Whistle While You Work.” Disney received a special Oscar for the film, along with seven miniature Oscars.

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CHRISTMAS STARS: The first lunar voyage was launched on this day in 1968. Apollo 8 orbited the moon on Dec. 24 and returned to Earth Dec. 27. Astronauts Frank Borman, James A. Lovell, Jr. and William A. Anders were the first men to see the side of the moon that faces away from Earth.

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

Quotable:

“Whenever I walk off the golf course, I thank God that I’m able to tell a joke. I thank God I’m good at something.”

— comedian Ray Romano, who was born on this day in 1957