December 13: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

December 13, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1844, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “In twenty minutes after the President’s Message had been sent to the House, a synopsis of it was transmitted to Baltimore by Morse’s Telegraph.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1844, the Eagle reported, “DEC. 11 — In the Senate, the following bills were introduced: by Mr. Tappan, for the establishment of the Smithsonian Institute; by Mr. Tappan, in regard to naval furloughs; by Mr. Benton, for the Annexation of Texas.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1931, the Eagle reported, “Two features of the Pasadena, Cal., Tournament of Roses — the famous Rose Bowl parade and the Tulane-Southern California game — will be visualized for radio listeners over WEAF on Jan. 1 at 1:45 p.m. The parade will consist of hundreds of gorgeous floats, covered with living flowers from California’s gardens, entered by almost every community on the Pacific slope. Following graphic word pictures of the parade, the announcers, Don Wilson and Don Thompson, will take the radio audience to the Rose Bowl, where Tulane will line up against Southern California. The 1932 Tournament of Roses will be known as the 10th Olympiad Tournament, in celebration of the coming Olympic games, which will be held in Los Angeles in 1932. It will be the 43rd of the colorful floral pageants. The floats in the parade will be decorated with grasses, ferns, smilax, vines, palms, roses, lilies, chrysanthemums and poinsettias — to say nothing of a host of lovely girls, the pick of California beauty. In the parade the tribute to the Olympic games will be marked by the presence of the official Olympic Band, playing the hymn of the games. Massed flags of all nations will follow the band, then contingents of municipal officials, church representatives, civic organizations, veterans’ service associations and screen stars.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1938, the Eagle reported, “Kate Smith makes one of her infrequent guest appearances when she is heard on ‘We, the People’ over WABC tonight at 9 o’clock. Kate’s personal story for the evening will be about Irving Berlin’s new patriotic hymn, ‘God Bless America,’ which Kate sang for the first time on her own program a few weeks ago. Kate will tell how Berlin wrote the song with the express provision that it not be used commercially, preferring to have it become a national anthem which would be sung by the youth of America in classrooms.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Eagle reported, “Housing Commissioner Joseph Platzker today urged Borough President Cashmore to call a conference of borough bankers and builders in an effort to speed a Brooklyn housing program for veterans. Mr. Platzker pointed out that, starting Jan. 1, more than 1,000 dischargees a day will be returning to the city, one-third of them to Brooklyn, and that ‘with the situation as tight as it is in Brooklyn, speed is a necessary element.’ He offered his ‘full co-operation in all possible ways’ and said he would be ready to attend any such conferences. Mr. Cashmore’s office announced later that ‘we have received no message concerning Mr. Platzker’s suggestion.’ Actually, a spokesman said, ‘the first we heard of it was when we read about it in today’s Brooklyn Eagle.’ In reality, the spokesman added, ‘this office had made arrangements for a conference to consider the report of Mayor-elect William O’Dwyer’s Housing Committee, which we have been advised will be ready about Dec. 17.’ At the same time, Mr. Platzker hailed President Truman’s order to place ceiling prices on old and new homes and the President’s selection of a housing expediter to facilitate channeling of building supplies into construction of low-cost homes.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1957, the Brooklyn Record reported, “‘Currier and Ives — Seventy Years of America’ is the title of the latest exhibition at the Brooklyn Public Library’s Ingersoll Building. The exhibition will be shown through December. Nathaniel Currier was twenty-two years old when in 1835 he published the first print under his own name. It recorded the effect of a serious fire in New York a few days earlier, and was an immediate success. Therefore, there was scarcely a news event of any importance which did not find its way into a Currier lithograph. At the same time, from his own shop, from dealers, and from street pushcarts, Currier sold sentimental pictures of home life, dramatic scenes from prairie and pioneering life, exciting events at racecourses and the hunt. These, together with reproductions of political and other cartoons of the period, make a vivid and colorful summary of American life and character, from 1835 to the end of the century. James Merritt Ives joined the firm in 1852 as a bookkeeper and became so valuable that he was made a partner in 1857. From then until the firm was discontinued in 1907, all the lithographs became known as Currier and Ives prints.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Mary Poppins” star Dick Van Dyke, who was born in 1925; “That’s Incredible!” host John Davidson, who was born in 1941; Baseball Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins, who was born in 1942; “Motor City Madhouse” singer Ted Nugent, who was born in 1948; “Just Shoot Me” star Wendie Malick, who was born in 1950; “Boardwalk Empire” star Steve Buscemi, who was born in Brooklyn in 1957; Pro Football Hall of Famer Richard Dent, who was born in 1960; sportscaster Mike Tirico, who was born in 1966; Oscar-winning actor Jamie Foxx, who was born in 1967; Hockey Hall of Famer Sergei Fedorov, who was born in 1969; Evanescence singer Amy Lee, who was born in 1981; golfer Rickie Fowler, who was born in 1988; “Willow” singer Taylor Swift, who was born in 1989; and N.Y. Yankees infielder Gleyber Torres, who was born in 1996.