November 22: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

November 22, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1843, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “In fourteen of the States of the Union, public thanksgiving will be observed this year, and in three of them for the first time. On the 30th inst., in Maryland, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Michigan, Missouri and Indiana. On the 7th December, in Maine, Vermont and New Jersey. In New York on the 14th December. The 3rd inst. in Georgia, and the 16th in the City of Charleston, have already been observed as such.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1884, the Eagle reported, “The New England Society of the City of New York have offered to erect a statue commemorating the Landing of the Pilgrims in Central Park. It will probably be located near the Seventy-second street entrance.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1896, the Eagle reported, “Thanksgiving day will, as usual, be one of the great days of the year in the Brooklyn churches. The religious denominations in this city have always held to the historic idea of the day, and have devoted their churches to the giving of thanks for the blessings of the year. It has been, with most of them, a patriotic celebration. In many of the churches the President’s proclamation is read from the pulpit. Most of the sermons dwell upon patriotic topics and no Thanksgiving service is considered complete without the singing of ‘America’ by the whole congregation.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1914, “NEW HAVEN, CONN., NOV. 21 (AP) — Harvard’s football juggernaut crushed the Yale eleven by a score of 36 to 0 in the Blue ‘bowl’ here this afternoon while 71,000 spectators watched the gridiron rout in stupefied amazement. The Crimson machine rushed up and down the field almost at will, scoring in every one of the four periods of play and when the sixty minutes of battle had elapsed had succeeded in rolling up the largest number of points ever registered against an Eli eleven. With the exception of the 1885 Yale victory of 48 to 0, it was the greatest score ever made in the thirty-four games played since 1875. The one-sided score fails to give the slightest inkling of the thrilling scope of the play, of the remarkable strategy and individual brilliancy with which the game fairly bristled. Surrounded by more than a third of a mile of towering tiers of humanity the two elevens struggled back and forth the length of the gridiron every second or third play bringing the thousands to their feet, so intense was the excitement and spectacular the play. No game of equal calibre on Eastern football fields in many years has furnished a similar and sustained interest.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1925, the Eagle reported, “ALBANY, NOV. 21 (AP) — “‘Throughout the length and breadth of our land peace and prosperity reign. We have reason to be abundantly grateful to God for His blessings and His eternal guidance,’ Governor Alfred E. Smith said in his annual Thanksgiving Day proclamation, made public today. It follows: ‘As the year draws to its close we are reminded again of the abundant blessings of our life under the free institutions of our great democracy. Not thankfulness alone for benefits bestowed, but a deep sense of loyalty to our nation and our flag stirs our hearts. We have passed through dangers sometimes unconscious of their very presence; disaster has befallen some of those most faithful in the service of our country; others have been miraculously saved from catastrophe, death; in all, the Hand of Divine Providence has been manifest to guide, to aid, to inspire.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1944, the Eagle reported, “A dual lighting system for the runways at Idlewild Airport, Queens, has been proposed and approved by pilots, engineers, city and army representatives and officials of the Civil Aeronautics Authority, it was announced today by Maj. Elmer Haslett at LaGuardia Field. The major, who is director of the Bureau of Aviation for the City Department of Marine and Aviation, said the projected lighting system had been adopted by the experts, who met in his office last night in a three-hour conference. Contact lights will be installed every 100 feet along the borders of the runways, according to the plan, and a second system of similar lights at 200-foot intervals, to be used in case the first system fails, will also be installed. This will be an improvement over the system in use at LaGuardia Field, which has only one set of runway lights at 200-foot intervals. Major Haslett said 3,500 feet of the first 10,000-foot runway at Idlewild Field already has been built to a width of 45 of the ultimate 200-foot width.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1963, the Brooklyn Record reported, “If you have served in the armed forces and thought of associating with a reserve outfit since your discharge, you may apply at this time — even though it has been as far back as World War II. If you have acquired a special skill since your discharge, in many cases the Naval Reserve offers you a rate commensurate to your skill and years of experience up to the rank of Chief Petty Officer. If you affiliate now with the Naval Reserve you are entitled to an average of 14 percent increase in pay signed by President Kennedy Oct. 1, 1963.”

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Scarlett Johansson
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” star Terry Gilliam, who was born in 1940; former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Roy Thomas, who was born in 1940; Space Shuttle astronaut Guion Bluford, who was born in 1942; International Tennis Hall of Famer Billie Jean King, who was born in 1943; former N.Y. Mets President Sandy Alderson, who was born in 1947; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Tina Weymouth (Talking Heads), who was born in 1950; “Mad About You” star Richard Kind, who was born in 1956; “Halloween” star Jamie Lee Curtis, who was born in 1958; “Civil Wars” star Mariel Hemingway, who was born in 1961; “Shutter Island” star Mark Ruffalo, who was born in 1967; singer and actor Tyler Hilton, who was born in 1983; “Black Widow” star Scarlett Johansson, who was born in 1984; media personality Hailey Bieber, who was born in 1996; and “All Together Now” star Auli‘i Cravalho, who was born in 2000.