Milestones: Friday, November 24, 2023

November 24, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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‘THE HOLLYWOOD TEN’ — The House of Representatives, on Nov. 24, 1947, voted 346 to 17 to approve citations of contempt against 10 Hollywood writers, directors, and producers. The vote that took place after the Hollywood men had refused to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee’s hearings; they were sentenced to a year in jail for refusing to answer whether they were at the time or had previously been members of the Communist Party. During the interrogations, the Hollywood Ten counter-attacked with claims that the HUAC’s questions violated their First Amendment rights. HUAC Chair J. Parnell Thomas, going on the premise that the Hollywood Ten were trying to destroy the U.S. Constitution, asserted that this foundational document “was never intended to cloak or shield those who would destroy it.”

However, the men refuted that statement, arguing that Congress was citing the very Bill of Rights for contempt.“The United States,” their statement concluded, “can keep its constitutional liberties, or it can keep the Thomas committee. It can’t keep both.”

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RAGTIME MASTER — SCOTT JOPLIN, WHOSE BIRTHDAY OF NOV. 24, 1868 is considered an approximation, was an influential American musician and composer who became known for ragtime and its syncopated one-two beat that became popular as a dance rhythm. Born into a musical family in Texarkana, along the Texas-Arkansas border, Joplin showed aptitude in several instruments, including guitar and piano; a German teacher named Julius Weiss in Joplin’s hometown helped further the young musician’s training. For a while, he worked as a traveling musician. He composed many rags, with “Maple Leaf Rag,” “Magnolia Rag” and “Pineapple Rag” among his most enduring pieces. Joplin also wrote the opera “Treemonisha” about a rural community near his hometown. As an American music genre, ragtime has enjoyed a resurgence, particularly during the 1970s as the score for the 1973 movie “The Sting,” which won an Academy Award for Best Picture.

“Treemonisha” was produced on Broadway in 1975. Here in Brooklyn, the Packer Collegiate Chorus, under the direction of then-music director Warren Swenson, sang excerpts from “Treemonisha” as part of its annual spring concert on Friday, May 21, 1976, that also featured music by American composers William Billings and Charles Ives.

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EXCOMMUNICATED FROM JUDAISM — THE DUTCH PHILOSOPHER BARUCH SPINOZA, born on Nov. 24, 1632, became one of the great rationalists of the 17th century, but at the expense of his belonging in Jewish circles. His family had fled from persecution in their native Portugal. Although trained in Talmudic scholarship, his viewpoints diverged in an unorthodox direction. His Jewish community — fearing persecution — tried to discourage Spinoza from pursuing his views, even to the point of bribing him with a thousand florins to silence him. After he refused, Spinoza was brought before a rabbinical court, which solemnly excommunicated him. It is Spinoza to which is attributed the adage: “Peace is not an absence of war. It is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.”

Spinoza refused all rewards and honors bestowed on him. He also gave his share of his father’s inheritance to his sister.

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JFK JR.’S FAMOUS SALUTE — JOHN F. KENNEDY JR. WAS BORN ON NOV. 25, 1960, IN WASHINGTON, D.C., just weeks before his father’s inauguration as the 35th president of the United States. At the time, the elder John F. Kennedy was a U.S. senator from Massachusetts; inaugurated as president in 1961, he was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1960. Nov. 25, which was proclaimed a national day of mourning, was also John-John’s third birthday. United Press International photographer Sam Stearns, covering the slain president’s funeral, captured the exact moment when the toddler saluted his father’s casket. The photo became iconic because it was the only one of its kind. Apparently, the other press photographers on the scene were so focused on Jacqueline Kennedy that they missed this particular opportunity.

JFK Jr. attended law school and then became the editor and publisher of George magazine. He and his wife, Carolyn Bessette, and Carolyn’s sister, Lauren, also died tragically when, on July 16, 1999, the plane he was piloting crashed off Cape Cod. They were en route to a Kennedy family wedding.

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FAMOUS INDUSTRIALIST — ANDREW CARNEGIE, born Nov. 25, 1835 in Scotland, became an American financier, philanthropist and benefactor of more than 2,500 libraries. As a youth, he quickly demonstrated an aptitude for the work in a telegraph office and a quick and discerning ear for differentiating between signals to translate them. This talent led Carnegie, in turn, to work as a telegraph operator for a railroad company in Pennsylvania. Again, his astuteness led to new opportunities and investments in the railroad industry and iron and steel manufacturing industry, where he made his fortune. Carnegie became a major philanthropist and benefactor, with several institutions bearing his name: Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh; the Carnegie Hall in Manhattan; Carnegie Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio, which was a major steel-producing city; and several libraries.

Carnegie wrote in 1889, “Surplus wealth is a sacred trust which its possessor is bound to administer in his lifetime for the good of the community … The man who dies … rich dies disgraced.”

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ORIGINAL FIRST THANKSGIVING — THE FIRST U.S. HOLIDAY BY PRESIDENTIAL PROCLAMATION ACTUALLY CAME FROM FOUNDING FATHER GEORGE WASHINGTON, ON Nov. 26, 1789. It was this day that he proclaimed as a Thanksgiving Day, after a request from both Houses of Congress, to set “a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity to peaceably establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.” That proclamation had been issued on Oct. 3, 1789. Then, in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed that the last Thursday in November — which, that year, also fell on Nov. 26, would be observed as Thanksgiving.

It wasn’t until 1939 that the fourth Thursday in November (rather than an actual date) was set as Thanksgiving. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued that proclamation. In years when November has five Thursdays, Thanksgiving falls during the penultimate week, as is the case in 2023.

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CREDITED WITH ALLIED VICTORY — THE NOW-ICONIC WORLD WAR II-ERA FILM, “CASABLANCA,” MADE ITS NEW YORK DEBUT ON THANKSGIVING DAY, NOV. 26, 1942, the same city from whence came its male lead — Humphrey Bogart — as well as the character he played, successful saloon owner Rick Blaine. Playing opposite Bogart was the beautiful but mysterious Ingrid Bergman, playing Rick’s former lover, Ilse Lund, who suddenly shows up with a prominent resistance leader (Paul Henreid). Some historians believe that “Casablanca,” with its themes of sacrifice on the part of the three main characters, helped the Allies win World War II. Aljean Harmetz, in “The Making of Casablanca: Bogart, Bergman and World War II,” reports that the Office of War Information required filmmakers to ask themselves that very question during the war. Accordingly, the film’s premiere was moved several weeks earlier; “Casablanca,” being ready to roll, was a gift both to the military and the movie’s producer.

“Casablanca” was a critical and box office success, winning Best Picture at the following year’s Academy Awards, as well as Oscar statues for Best Director and Best Writing/Screenplay.

See previous milestones, here.