November 24: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

November 24, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1929, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “If the program of public improvements which Mayor [Jimmy] Walker outlined in his message to the city’s department heads and aides is put into operation, the next four years will be the busiest and most fruitful period in the history of the municipality. The total cost of the projects to be undertaken is upward of $1,000,000,000 and are as varied as the expenditures are staggering. Mayor Walker announced to the Merchants Association last week that it is his determination to push these improvements with all possible speed and asked for the cooperation of the association and other public spirited civic organizations and individuals in his efforts to carry out the vast proposals. The enormous improvements will require a vast army of workmen, unification of city departments and the confidence of the public, the Mayor pointed out in outlining the problems to be confronted in speeding the work of construction of the city’s great transit system. The Triborough Bridge uniting Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan, one of the items in the vast program, is under way. Subway construction in Brooklyn is progressing, and property values in the area of new transit lines are enhancing in value. Among the projects that will receive immediate attention, the Mayor said, will be extension of the subway lines, the midtown tunnel, the Narrows tunnel, a Brooklyn to Queens by-pass, redrafting of building code, prosecution of the transit unification policy, encouragement of city parks and complete rehabilitation of city hospitals.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1938, the Eagle reported, “PLYMOUTH, MASS. (AP) — A youthful rabbi today mounted a Christian pulpit in this seaside town which was the birthplace of Thanksgiving Day and thanked God that Christians and Jews in America ‘share the attributes of truth, justice and humanity.’ Selected by the Rev. Carl Knudsen, pastor of the Church of the Pilgrimage, to give the Thanksgiving sermon as ‘our answer to anti-Semitism,’ 26-year-old Rabbi Samuel F. Friedman of Beth Jacob Synagogue shattered a precedent of 317 years in addressing the annual union service. ‘We are blessed,’ he said, ‘in living in a country where law and order abide for the welfare of its inhabitants; where its people enjoy liberty and the right to pursue happiness.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1944, the Eagle reported, “Mrs. Cora Tabet of Turkey Hills Farms, Harriman, N.Y., had turkey on her table and her car in the garage yesterday thanks to Patrolman Samuel Katz, who nabbed two alleged car thieves and also recovered the main course in Mrs. Tabet’s Thanksgiving dinner which was on the auto’s back seat. Mrs. Tabet had come to Manhattan to buy her Thanksgiving fowl. According to police, Edward Benduksky, 24, of 524 4th Ave., and Felix Ryak, 24, of 497 New Jersey Ave., stole her car and its holiday contents while Mrs. Tabet was in another store shopping. Patrolman Katz noticed the two alleged car thieves when they fled after committing a minor traffic violation at Carlton and St. Mark’s Aves. They were arrested after a 70-mile-an-hour chase in which Katz fired four shots. They were charged with grand larceny in Felony Court.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Eagle reported, “Harassed police, battling to stem the rising tide of crime in the city, today clamped an ‘unofficial’ 2 a.m. curfew on loiterers and subway sleepers. Seventy-one arrests were made shortly after the curfew was put into effect. Policemen and detectives questioned all suspicious looking persons on street corners and in subways. If loiterers failed to answer satisfactorily, they were taken to precinct houses for further questioning. Of the 71 arrests, 54 were made in Manhattan, 15 in Brooklyn, one in Queens and one in the Bronx. Most of those seized were booked on charges of vagrancy, but burglary and grand larceny charges also were pressed. Knives and other weapons were found on many. Police paid special attention to subway sleepers. It was pointed out that muggers often feign sleep and then attack subway riders.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1961, the Bay Ridge Home Reporter said, “Fall days and rain-slicked streets brought the question of kids using unguarded school crossings to the forefront this week, and a recent survey by this paper of all crossings in Bay Ridge and Sunset Park shows that the percentage of unguarded crossings has risen to 30 percent. The first survey showed 27 percent unguarded, and later surveys indicated a drop to only 17 percent of the 59 crossings here unguarded. Thirty-four uniformed school guards were on duty when the survey was taken, and seven police officers were also directing child and car traffic at busy intersections. As many as 11 officers were placed on school crossing duty when this paper first began to point out the number of dangerous intersections in Bay Ridge and Sunset Park that were potential death traps for youngsters that failed to give all of their attention to vehicles. Two intersections which police have noted as two of the most dangerous in Bay Ridge in connection with automobile accidents are also guarded. One, at 86th St. and Fourth Ave., is guarded with a police officer. The other, at 60th St. and Fourth Ave., is guarded by a uniformed school guard.”

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Sarah Hyland
Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Basketball Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson, who was born in 1938; former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who was born in 1940; former Beatles drummer Pete Best, who was born in 1941; “Head of the Class” star Billy Connolly, who was born in 1942; former White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater, who was born in 1942; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Bev Bevan (Electric Light Orchestra), who was born in 1944; “The A-Team” star Dwight Schultz, who was born in 1947; “Star Trek: The Next Generation” star Denise Crosby, who was born in 1957; “Orange County” star Colin Hanks, who was born in 1977; “Grey’s Anatomy” star Katherine Heigl, who was born in 1978; former N.Y. Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who was born in 1982; and “Modern Family” star Sarah Hyland, who was born in 1990.