May 30: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

May 30, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1900, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “The somewhat remarkable announcement in a morning paper today that the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company would take a 10 cent fare for a Coney Island trip only from those who were willing to pay it is based on elastic facts. An impression would be created by the newspaper report that all a passenger had to do to get to Coney Island for 5 cents was to give the conductor an icy stare when he came to collect the second cash installment, squelch him thereby and thereafter ride unmolested. Apparently, this would be what some persons term an ‘easy thing,’ or in other words a ‘cinch.’ It was also stated that the conductors on the sea shore routes had explicit orders not to put any economical passengers off their cars, but to take the name and address of each, if they could get it. These elastic facts, according to a railroad official, can be reduced to the simple statement that the conductors have been requested to use discretion in dealing with refractory passengers. The company believes that tact is not only cheaper than litigation but that it will be found more successful in the collection of fares.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1937, the Eagle reported, “HOLLYWOOD, CAL., MAY 29 — Aid of Secretary of Labor [Frances] Perkins in settling the month-old film strike was sought today by the Federated Motion Picture Crafts. Stymied by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, whose officials demand producers negotiate through them, the F.M.P.C. appealed to the executive committee of the American Federation of Labor, with which both are affiliated. The striking crafts brought strikebreaking and jurisdictional charges against the I.A.T.S.E. ‘We voted to appeal to Secretary Perkins for a Department of Labor conciliator to investigate this strike,’ said William Cullen, F.M.P.C. president. ‘We expect her representative will secure arbitration of all our difficulties.’ The strikers also decided to shift their pickets from the studios to Hollywood and Los Angeles film theaters this afternoon.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1941, the Eagle reported, “Dr. Kurt Heinrich Reith, a suave, well-financed German diplomat, described by Federal agents as the No. 1 Nazi agent for the Western Hemisphere, was held without bail at the Ellis Island immigration station today pending deportation proceedings. He was charged with entering the country illegally and under false pretenses after a visit to every South American country. He said his business in the United States was private. Department of Justice agents said that statement was false, charging he had been a German political agent for more than 20 years; that he was in Belgium greeting the invading German armies in 1914; in Vienna serving as German minister when Austrian Nazis revolted and assassinated Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss, and that his business on this side of the Atlantic was similar to that of Nazi political and economic ‘tourists’ who swarm to countries Germany hopes to invade. Reith was seized by two immigration officers yesterday afternoon at his $600 a month suite in the luxurious Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1942, the Eagle reported, “Soldiers, sailors and marines of the present war marched with the veterans of the first World War and the Spanish-American War today in Brooklyn’s annual Memorial Day parade. Leading them as grand marshal was Robert G. Summers, 99-year-old Civil War veteran. There were at least 15,000 persons in the line of march of the borough’s first wartime Memorial Day parade since 1918. The added significance lent the observances by the presence of men from the country’s present armed forces was also shown in other local rites. Many organizations utilized the day to dedicate community service flags. The main parade with its soldiers, sailors, veterans and members of affiliated organizations, started at Lafayette and Bedford Aves., headed south along the latter to Eastern Parkway and thence to the official reviewing stand opposite the Brooklyn Museum. The parade marked the 76th anniversary of Brooklyn’s Grand Army of the Republic, and for Grand Marshal Summers, who will be 100 years old Nov. 17, it was the third at which he has officiated.”

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Marissa Mayer
Peter Barreras/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include real estate developer Larry Silverstein, who was born in Brooklyn in 1931; “2001: A Space Odyssey” star Keir Dullea, who was born in 1936; former N.Y. Rangers goalie Gilles Villemure, who was born in 1940; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Lenny Davidson (the Dave Clark Five), who was born in 1944; former Brooklyn Nets coach P.J. Carlesimo, who was born in 1949; “Groundhog Day” actor Stephen Tobolowsky, who was born in 1951; “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” star Colm Meaney, who was born in 1953; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Topper Headon (the Clash), who was born in 1955; “Revenge of the Nerds” star Ted McGinley, who was born in 1958; “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” co-creator Kevin Eastman, who was born in 1962; Tony-winning actress Tonya Pinkins, who was born in 1962; Country Music Hall of Famer Wynonna Judd, who was born in 1964; Pavement co-founder Stephen Malkmus, who was born in 1966; Charlatans singer Tim Burgess, who was born in 1967; Tony-winning actress Idina Menzel, who was born in 1971; and businesswoman and investor Marissa Mayer, who was born in 1975.

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BREAKING NEWS: Benjamin Towne published the first issue of the Pennsylvania Evening Post on this day in 1783. It was the first daily newspaper in the U.S.

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WHAT’S UP, DOC?: Mel Blanc was born in San Francisco on this day in 1908. One of the greatest voice artists in history, he is best known for “Looney Tunes” and “Merrie Melodies,” in which he performed the voices of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd and many others. He died in 1989.

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NATIONAL TREASURE: The Lincoln Memorial was dedicated on this day in 1922. It was designed by architect Henry Bacon and stands in West Potomac Park in Washington, D.C. A skylight lets light into the interior where the compelling statue Seated Lincoln, by sculptor Daniel Chester French, is situated.

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

Quotable:

“I always did something I was a little not ready to do. I think that’s how you grow.”

— businesswoman Marissa Mayer, who was born on this day in 1975