Milestones: Tuesday, June 20, 2023

Lessons and tidbits from history on this day

June 20, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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FIRST KEY AFRICAN-AMERICAN NOVELIST — Charles W. Chesnutt, born in Cleveland, Ohio, on June 20, 1858, less than three years before the start of the Civil War, became the nation’s first African-American novelist, focusing on the needs and struggles of his people and particularly of freed slaves. Among Chestnutt’s short stories were “The Conjure Woman” (1899), “The Wife of His Youth and Other Stories of the Color Line,” (1899), and “The Colonel’s Dream.” (1905)

Chestnutt’s work has been compared to that of later Black writers Richard Wright and James Baldwin, and of William Faulkner, who was white and whose ancestor had been a Confederate colonel.

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‘TOAST OF THE TOWN’ — This was the official title of the more familiarly-known Ed Sullivan Show” which made its television premiere 75 years ago, on June 20, 1948. The longest-running TV variety show, before its ending in 1971, introduced all varieties of performers, from Irving Berlin, comedian Victor Borge, actress Hedy Lamarr, Walt Disney and Fred Astaire. Most notable for the large audiences they garnered were the Beatles during their 1964 U.S. debut, and Elvis Presley. In his own way, host Ed Sullivan was a pioneer civil rights activist, whom he invited to perform on his show. He pushed back on pressure to exclude black entertainers and to avoid interacting with them on screen, even when the commands came from his hard-won sponsor, Ford’s Lincoln dealers, who particularly objected to his having kissed Pearl Bailey on the check and shaken the hand of Nat King Cole.

Sullivan biographer Jerry Bowles noted, “Sullivan once had a Ford executive thrown out of the theatre when he suggested that Sullivan stop booking so many black acts.”

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FIRST DOCTORATE WOMAN — Caroline Willard Baldwin was the first woman to earn a Doctor Of Science degree (though some sources say it was a Ph.D.), on June 20, 1895. Having earned a bachelor’s degree three years prior from the College of Mechanics at Berkeley, she was selected to speak at commencement. Baldwin’s paper, “A Photographic Study of Arc Spectra” was published in 1896 and can be found on the Internet.

Even with her doctorate, Baldwin was limited from chances to find a professorship as she was married with two children. She wound up teaching physics at the California School of Mechanical Arts, a vocational secondary school in San Francisco associated with UC Berkeley.

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BLACKLISTED DURING MCCARTHY ERA — Lillian Hellman, born on June 20, 1905 in New Orleans, was one of the 20th century’s foremost playwrights. Among her notable and successful works were The Children’s Hour (1934), The Little Foxes (1939) and Toys in the Attic (1960). She was summoned to appear before the House Committee on Un-American Activities and was blacklisted afterward for refusing to answer questions in what was widely viewed as a drumhead campaign to expunge the entire film and theatre industry.

. Hellman was the romantic companion for 30 years of detective fiction novelist Dashiell Hammett; he dedicated his novel, The Thin Man, to Hellman.

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‘DON’T GO BACK IN THE WATER’ — The blockbuster horror film JAWS, which was adapted from a Peter Benchley novel, was released on June 20, 1975. Steven Spielberg directed the film, with its ominous score with cello, about a great white shark preying on the beachgoers of a New England town.

Jaws was a resounding success, bringing in $272,257,035 in U.S. box office proceeds, and almost $483 million worldwide. The movie also won three Oscars — Best Editing, Best Sound and Best Original Score (by John Williams).

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MOST DECORATED SOLDIER — Audie Murphy, born in Texas on June 20, 1924, became the most decorated soldier in World War II, winning every U.S. medal for valor during combat, as well as the French and Belgian awards for bravery and heroism. At age 19, he held off a German unit for an hour and was able to wage a counteraction even while wounded and depleted of ammunition. Murphy, who was discharged with the rank of lieutenant, later served in the Texas Army National Guard, attaining the rank of Major with them.

Murphy later went into entertainment, with an acting career, mostly in Westerns, that spanned two decades. He played himself in the 1955 autobiographical film To Hell and Back, based on his 1949 memoirs. He was also an accomplished songwriter and horseman.

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PIONEERED FRENCH COMIC OPERA — Jacques Offenbach, born as Jacob in Cologne, Germany, on June 20, 1819, started his musical career as a cellist in the Opera Comique. He later opened his own theater and pioneered the French comic opera genre. Among his operettas: Orphée aux enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld, 1858), which introduced can-can music, and an unfinished grand opera, The Tales of Hoffmann, which was completed and produced after his death in October 1880.

Young Jacques was the son of a synagogue cantor who had abandoned music for one of the trades to support his large family. Jacques was the 7th of ten children, most of whom were girls. He was the second son born.

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A BLOODLESS SURRENDER — A minimal Spanish garrison on the Pacific island of Guam, finding itself unknowingly in the midst of a conflict between the United States and Spain, surrendered on June 20, 1898 to Captain Henry Glass, of the cruiser Charleston. The United States had dispatched the cruiser to capture Guam but was met with no resistance because Spain had seemingly neglected the island and lost contact two months prior. This ignorance actually saved the lives of those on the garrison, and Guam transitioned smoothly into U.S. jurisdiction. Although Capt. Glass had been ordered to destroy the garrison, he observed that it was already in a state of abject disrepair, and let it alone.

Guam is an unincorporated territory of the United States and is the southernmost of the Mariana Islands, which figured heavily in the Pacific Theater during World War II. The territory has gained the motto “Where America’s Day Begins”, because of its proximity to the International Date Line.

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LEGACY OF BROOKLYN-BORN SINGERS — Cyndi Lauper, born in Brooklyn on June 20, 1953, turns 70 today. The singer and composer, with saxophonist husband John Turi, started a band named titled Blue Angel and created a demo tape, which impressed the Allman Brothers Band’s manager, Steve Massarsky, so much that he purchased a contract for $5,000 and became their manager. Lauper released her first solo album, She’s So Unusual, which became a worldwide hit. More recently, Lauper won the Tony Award for Best Score for the 2013 Broadway musical “Kinky Boots,” (script by Harvey Fierstein). She also established True Colors United (TCU) in 2008 after learning that about 40% of American homeless youths identified as LGBT. Lauper also established the True Colors Residence in New York City for LGBT homeless youths.

Lauper’s father, Fred Lauper, was of Swiss-German ancestry, and a direct descendant of Christen Lauper, a leader of the Swiss peasant war of 1653.