April 21: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

April 21, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1864, a Brooklyn Daily Eagle editorial said, “Wonders will never cease, unless the vast interests involved in the welfare and progress of our rolling world are knocked from time into eternity by the recently revealed celestial danger now threatening us and to culminate in 1865, or some other equally annihilating circumstance which shall bring about the ‘rush of matter and the crash of worlds.’ The impending calamity now announced is that a large fiery comet, brilliant in train, magnificent in proportion and of unknown composition is careening with terribly increasing velocity in the direction of the sun, and will impinge upon the earth in its course. This is not stated on hearsay, as the celestial intruder has actually been discovered by a Bavarian astronomer, who gives it as his opinion that it will approach our globe within so short a distance as to seriously disarrange all our mundane affairs, and perhaps knock the little globe we inhabit into eternal smash.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1909, the Eagle reported, “Sunday baseball in many of its phases was the question threshed out before Magistrate [John F.] Hylan in the Flatbush Police Court today. The magistrate had six men, members of the Hawthorne Athletic Club and the Hanover Field Club, before him, all charged by Captain Dulfer and his detectives of the Flatbush station with having violated the law by playing a game of baseball on Sunday to which an admission fee was alleged to have been charged.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1926, the Eagle reported, “LONDON (AP) — The Duke and Duchess of York are the proud possessors of a girl baby. The little Princess made her advent into the world at 2:40 o’clock this morning in the childhood bedroom of the Duchess in the town house of her father, the Earl of Strathmore. The baby is the first child of the Duke and Duchess. The Duke of York is the second son of King George and Queen Mary. The Duchess was formerly Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. The couple were married in Westminster Abbey, April 4, 1923 … Although it is a somewhat remote contingency, there is a possibility that today’s baby one day may sit on the throne as a British sovereign. Should both the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York die before King George, with neither leaving an heir, the Duke of York’s daughter would stand in the same position with respect to the crown as did Queen Victoria when William IV died … The news of the birth of the Princess was immediately telephoned to the King and Queen at Windsor Castle … A message also was telegraphed to the Prince of Wales, who is on the Continent. He is the eldest uncle of the little Princess and has high regard for the Duchess, whom he calls ‘Queen Elizabeth.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1927, an Eagle editorial said, “A master of detective fiction is lost to the world in the death of Gaston Leroux at Nice. His was the genius of the ‘universal reporter.’ Europe, Asia and Africa had known him in many disguises, and from multifarious contacts he drew the themes of romance. Writers of crime stories who do not know men and women are always lacking in realism.” (Editor’s note: Leroux’s most famous work is the 1910 novel “The Phantom of the Opera,” which has been adapted multiple times for stage and screen. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s record-shattering musical version closed April 16 after a 35-year Broadway run.)

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ON THIS DAY IN 1948, the Eagle reported, “The Board of Estimate was closeted in executive session today on the city’s record $1,137,300,000 executive budget to see how increased revenue from the transit fare boost can be used to raise the salaries of city employees. The city budget is expected, according to estimates, to have an additional $81,000,000 available for pay raises as a result of Mayor [William] O’Dwyer’s decision to end the traditional nickel fare. He signed a Board of Transportation resolution raising fares to a dime on subway and elevated lines and to seven cents on surface lines yesterday and announced in a radio broadcast later that the new fares will become effective July 1.”

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Andie MacDowell. Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include comedy legend Elaine May, who was born in 1932; former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean, who was born in 1935; Bronze Star recipient and 1973 American League Rookie of the Year Al Bumbry, who was born in 1947; “Godfather of Punk” Iggy Pop, who was born in 1947; American Theater Hall of Famer Patti LuPone, who was born in 1949; “Taxi” star Tony Danza, who was born in Brooklyn in 1951; “24” star James Morrison, who was born in 1954; N.Y. Mets World Series hero Jesse Orosco, who was born in 1957; “Groundhog Day” star Andie MacDowell, who was born in 1958; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Robert Smith (The Cure), who was born in 1959; “Mad TV” star Nicole Sullivan, who was born in 1970; “X-Men” star James McAvoy, who was born in 1979; broadcaster and former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, who was born in 1980; and former Brooklyn Nets center Jarrett Allen, who was born in 1998.

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BRIT LIT: Charlotte Bronte was born in Yorkshire, England, on this day in 1816. She published her first novel, “Jane Eyre,” in 1847 under the pen name Currer Bell. It drew on her life experiences and is considered a cornerstone of British literature. Her sisters Emily and Anne were also novelists. Bronte died in 1855.

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VIVA LA VIDA: Anthony Quinn was born on this day in 1915. The Mexico native moved to the U.S. as a child and became a citizen in 1947. He won Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor for “Viva Zapata!” (1952) and “Lust for Life” (1956). He is best remembered for playing the title character in “Zorba the Greek,” for which he was nominated for Best Actor in 1964. He died in 2001.

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

Quotable:

“It is through the lens of history that we should view the conflicts of today, and so give us hope for tomorrow.”
— Queen Elizabeth II, who was born on this day in 1926