April 30: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

April 30, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1937, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “LONDON (A.P.) — The most excited little girl in all England on May 12 will be 11-year-old Princess Elizabeth, first female heir to the throne ever to participate in her parents’ coronation. Although she has no active part, she will go to Westminster Abbey with her 6-year-old sister, Princess Margaret Rose, to glimpse the pageantry. The two little girls will rise about 7:30 as usual and breakfast with their nurse in the palace nursery. There will be brief family prayers, but no lessons from their Scottish governess. A brief talk with their mother, with perhaps a few hints on behavior and etiquette, and they will be dressed to ride to the abbey in state carriages with escorts of mounted Life Guards. In the abbey robing rooms the sisters will part. Because of her age Margaret will not be allowed to march in the slow and tiring royal progress to the altar steps but will watch from the royal box. Elizabeth, who will be officially attended by a lady-in-waiting for the first time in her life, is expected to walk with the princes and princesses of the blood royal.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1947, Eagle sports columnist Tommy Holmes wrote, “There are many things that can be (and are) said for and against the Kentucky Derby, but, after all these years, it remains the No. 1 glamor horse race of our country and nothing much can be done about that. That will be the 73rd annual Derby to come up at Churchill Downs this Saturday, which is a surprising sequence for an event that scarcely caused a national ripple of interest at its inception. It all began on May 17, 1875 when a chestnut colt named Aristides won the first Kentucky Derby. Looking on in wide-eyed wonder among ‘the vast throng of almost 10,000 persons’ was a 13-year-old boy named Matt J. Winn. The 73rd running of this race certainly will present a terrific contrast. That wide-eyed boy of 1875 again will look on at the running of the Derby — his 73rd, believe it or not. But instead of being a spectator, as way back in ye olden days, the 85-year-old Colonel Winn will be director general of the race — just as he has been for well over the last quarter century.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1951, the Eagle reported, “TOKYO (U.P.) — United Nations tanks and infantry lashed out from their 30-mile defense arc around Seoul today in jabbing attacks against Red forces massing for a possible May Day assault on the ruined city. An estimated Chinese battalion — about 800 men — was engaged in one sector north of Seoul, but for the most part tank-infantry teams encountered only light to moderate resistance during aggressive patrols. More than 400 United Nations guns, hundreds of allied planes and the eight-inch batteries of the U.S. Navy cruiser Toledo off the west coast also pummeled the Reds throughout the day in an attempt to disrupt their preparations for attack. The Reds were pouring reinforcements by the thousands into their siege arc stretching from the Han River northwest of Seoul to the Han’s junction with the Pukhan River east of the former capital. At one point the Chinese were within four miles from Seoul. Allied fighters and bombers spotted a record 3,360 Communist trucks and other vehicles on the move behind the fronts last night and early today. They attacked 1,000 of them and destroyed or damaged at least 220. At the opposite end of the Korean front, an estimated three Communist battalions — possibly 2,000 to 2,500 men — hit the UN bridgehead north of the 38th Parallel east southeast of Inje. The Allies withdrew 1,000 yards, but at last reports were successfully holding their new positions.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1952, the Eagle reported, “Deputy Inspector Peter E. Terranova, head of the city’s Police Narcotics Squad, labeled the ‘availability of narcotics’ and ‘social insecurity’ as two of the prime factors in the alarming spread of drug addiction among the young, in a speech yesterday before a luncheon meeting of the Brooklyn Kiwanis Club at the Towers Hotel. Inspector Terranova, who is in charge of a flying squad of 100 picked men and women whose sole job is to track down traffickers in narcotics, explained that, especially among underprivileged youngsters, it is frequently the urge to ‘belong’ which leads lonely young people to join fast groups where it is ‘smart’ to try ‘reefers’ and progress through stages to ‘mainlining’ — injecting drugs into the veins. If narcotics were not so easily available to these misguided youngsters, Terranova pointed out, their restlessness would find other, less harmful outlets.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Ringworld” author Larry Niven, who was born in 1938; baseball player and manager Phil Garner, who was born in 1949; Oscar-winning director Jane Campion, who was born in 1954; Basketball Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas, who was born in 1961; “Heroes” star Adrian Pasdar, who was born in 1965; former N.Y. Giants running back Dave Meggett, who was born in 1966; “The Big Bang Theory” star Johnny Galecki, who was born in 1975; The Dresden Dolls founder Amanda Palmer, who was born in 1976; “Spider-Man” star Kirsten Dunst, who was born in 1982; actor and singer Drew Seeley, who was born in 1982; “Wonder Woman” star Gal Gadot, who was born in 1985; “Glee” star Dianna Agron, who was born in 1986; and “Blonde” star Ana de Armas, who was born in 1988.

Johnny Galecki
Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

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HARE APPARENT: Bugs Bunny debuted on this day in 1938. The “wascally wabbit” first appeared on screen in the theatrical short “Porky’s Hare Hunt,” directed by Ben “Bugs” Hardaway. Chuck Jones and Tex Avery further developed him into the character we know now. In “A Wild Hare” (1940), Bugs asks, “What’s up, Doc?” for the first time. The rabbit’s noisy carrot-munching was based on Clark Gable’s performance in “It Happened One Night” (1934).

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LIVE FROM NEW YORK: Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first TV president on this day in 1939. FDR was televised in New York, where he attended the opening ceremonies of the World’s Fair. However, the appearance was beamed to only 200 TV sets in a 40-mile radius.

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

Quotable:

“I like the lasso of truth. There is something so beautiful about the fact that people have to tell the truth when they have the lasso around them.”

— “Wonder Woman” star Gal Gadot, who was born on this day in 1985