December 20: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

December 20, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1932, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “The offices of the Radio City Music Hall, which opens Dec. 27, under the direction of ‘Roxy,’ have been buried under a storm of mail requesting, begging or demanding seats for the premiere. The capacity of the house, the largest theater in the world, is 6,200. By exact count, 61,838 persons ordered seats by mail.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1934, the Eagle reported, “Redistricting legislation scheduled for enactment by the Democratic Legislature in 1935 will open the door to a new era of political conflict in Flatbush. The battlefields of Gowanus, Williamsburg and Bushwick will take a back seat when legislative mapmakers carve up the 2nd, 18th and 21st A.D.’s, reducing the handicaps of territory and population which have throttled most party insurrections in Flatbush in recent years. These three districts, which with the 16th (Coney Island-Bensonhurst), the 9th (Bay Ridge) and the 22nd (East New York) embrace 50 percent of the borough’s 709,000 registered voters, are going to be subdivided. This means that where today there are only six districts south of the Prospect Park-Eastern Parkway line, after reapportionment there will be about 10 or 11. Brooklyn’s representation in the Assembly will be augmented by no more than one or two seats in the redistricting (at the expense of Manhattan) but several districts in Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Bushwick and South Brooklyn, whose inhabitants have been slowly migrating toward Flatbush and surrounding neighborhoods, will be thrown together.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1940, the Eagle reported, “Since the baseball season ended there have been vague rumors that Phil Rizzuto, a Queens kid who is built like a fire hydrant, might displace Frank Crosetti as the regular shortstop of the Yankees. It’s hard to say whether these rumors were caused by Rizzuto’s great all-around record at Kansas City or the fact that Crosetti was hit by a pitched ball only ten times in the American League campaign. That was enough to lead the league, but Crosetti may be slipping, at that. For he was hit 13 times in 1939, 15 times in 1938 and 12 times in both 1937 and 1936. He has topped the American League as a target in five successive years. Fred Allen, radio’s most assiduous finder of unimportant facts and fancier of strange specialties, might do worse than guest-star Crosetti some evening in an effort to locate the secret of his success. Whether or not Crosetti actually enjoys being hit, the fact remains that he has been bopped no fewer than 78 times in his nine seasons with the Yankees. Certainly no big leaguer has been hit nearly that often over the same period.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1943, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (U.P.) — Turkey, tunes, talks and religious services make up the Christmas Day program prepared for America’s fighting men ashore or afloat in all parts of the world. Wherever an American service man can safely lay aside his gun to take up his knife and fork he’s going to get a Christmas dinner featuring the traditional turkey and the usual trimmings. And the navy is seeing to it that its men at sea receive the same. There’ll be Christmas trees, too. The American Red Cross is distributing kits, including gaily colored balls, tinsel and even a couple of sleigh bells. Three hours of special Christmas radio programs have been produced and transcribed in this country by the Armed Forces Radio Service for the benefit of men overseas. They will feature entertainment stars and name brands, as well as personal greetings from Secretaries of War and Navy Stimson and Knox, and the top commanders of the various armed forces. President Roosevelt will broadcast directly to them from Hyde Park on Christmas Eve. The voices of fighting men overseas will be brought home by radio. There will be a broadcast of a midnight mass from some place behind the battle lines in Italy. A chorus of 200 American soldiers in the Holy Land will be another event. From an island in the South Pacific will come a special Christmas-tree decorating program.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1946, the Eagle reported, “Mr. and Mrs. Alex Stewart, mother and dad of James Stewart, will attend the benefit showing of their son’s first post-war starring picture, Frank Capra’s ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ at the Globe Theater tonight. The showing will be for the Boys Club of New York.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1957, the Bay Ridge Home Reporter said, “For a long time greeting cards for the Christmas season had drifted far from the spirit of the first Noel sung by the angels in the hills outside Bethlehem. But this year greeting card manufacturers report that people in all walks of life are showing a greater interest in the religious significance of Christmas than at any time in the history of the U.S. Over 25% of the nearly 2,500,000,000 Christmas cards that will be sent during the coming weeks are completely religious, according to the Greeting Card Association. And though nearly three-fourths of the cards will more or less ignore the birth of the Christ Child, the increase of religious Christmas cards is significant when one remembers that some 10 years ago it was quite difficult to find artistic religious cards in quantity.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Peter Criss (Kiss), who was born in 1945; illusionist Uri Geller, who was born in 1946; “Law & Order” creator Dick Wolf, who was born in 1946; musician and record producer Alan Parsons, who was born in 1948; “Logan’s Run” star Jenny Agutter, who was born in 1952; “The Practice” star Michael Badalucco, who was born in Brooklyn in 1954; “Ring My Bell” singer Anita Ward, who was born in 1956; Minutemen co-founder Mike Watt, who was born in 1957; Runaways bassist Jackie Fox, who was born in 1959; former N.Y. Knicks shooting guard Trent Tucker, who was born in 1959; AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famer Freddie Spencer, who was born in 1961; Black Crowes singer Chris Robinson, who was born in 1966; former N.Y. Mets third baseman David Wright, who was born in 1982; “Moneyball” star Jonah Hill, who was born in 1983; singer and actress JoJo, who was born in 1990; and “Awkward” star Jillian Rose Reed, who was born in 1991.