January 31: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

January 31, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1886, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Those whose nerves can find tone in the grotesquely horrible, which is happily, in this case, the utterly impossible also, had better draw the curtains in some mysterious chamber and at midnight or thereabouts, by a flickering fire and solitary lamp, shut themselves in while they peruse the ‘Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,’ by Robert Louis Stevenson, published in an ‘authorized edition’ by Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1888, the Eagle reported, “The champion wing shot of England, William Graham, was defeated in a pigeon match yesterday by Annie Oakley, of New York. The match was for a purse of $100.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1922, the Eagle reported, “An unusually effective dramatization of a short story was revealed at the Belmont Theater last night when ‘The Monkey’s Paw,’ a story in three scenes, by W.W. Jacobs, dramatized by Louis N. Parker, was presented as a curtain raiser to the delightful performance of ‘S.S. Tenacity,’ which has been appealing to discriminating theatergoers for some time. It is surprising that more short stories are not turned into short plays. Americans are supreme in the art of the short story, but they are far from it in the art of the short play. Three plays like ‘The Monkey’s Paw’ would start an American Grand Guignol on the road to success. It is nothing but a revised version of the century-old fairy tale about the three wishes which all turn out badly, proving that we are much better off by letting fate settle things for us. The tale is well told, is loaded with suspense and is admirably acted. Augustin Duncan, Lucy Beaumont, Tom Powers, Claude Cooper and Howard Claney make improbabilities seem probable for a whole hour. If you want to realize that every one of us is superstitious whether or not we admit it, see ‘The Monkey’s Paw.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1935, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (AP) — Amelia Earhart, who recently flew solo from Hawaii to California, had breakfast today with President and Mrs. Roosevelt.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Eagle reported, “Reginald E. Gillmor, president of the Sperry Gyroscope Company, last night warned that ‘the German war is not ended and it is still quite possible that their creative minds may develop the atomic bomb or some other powerful and devilish weapon which might defeat us or force us into a negotiated peace.’ Addressing about 1,500 engineers, technicians and manufacturing officials at the dinner, a feature of the all-day conference of the Engineering Committee on War Production in the Hotel Commodore, on the subject, ‘The Creative Mind and Victory,’ he declared that ‘we can not count on the end of the war until all Axis war effort of every kind has been stopped dead in its track.’ ‘And let us not for a moment discount the Japanese,’ he added. ‘They are fanatic to an unbelievable degree. They call this the 100-year war and mean it. They have large reserves of well-disciplined troops. It is probable that they are receiving every possible assistance from Germany, whose leaders hope that the Japanese can at least bring about a negotiated peace in the Far East, thus retaining a nucleus of power for a future Axis war. And it is a mistake to underestimate the creative minds of the Japanese.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1949, Eagle sports columnist Tommy Holmes said, “The confectioners should do a fine business with birthday cakes today … Branch Rickey Jr. and Jersey Joe Walcott are both 35 … Don Hutson, the old pass-catching genius of the Green Bay Packers, is 36 … Frankie Parker, the indomitable pat-ball specialist, is 33, and Jackie Robinson of the Dodgers reaches his 30th anniversary.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1952, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (UP) — President Truman said today he will have his name removed from the New Hampshire Presidential primary, but he added that this was not indicative of his plans for the future. The Chief Executive told newsmen that if he decided to become a candidate for re-election, he would not have to enter any primaries. He told his weekly news conference that all these primaries would be just so much eyewash when the Democratic National Convention meets. The President’s decision will leave Senator Estes Kefauver (D., Tenn.) alone in the Democratic Presidential primary in New Hampshire. Mr. Truman said the reason he was withdrawing from the New Hampshire primary was because there was no sense as he saw it in being entered in any preference primary. The President for the first time in many weeks evidenced some displeasure about playing the question-and-answer game with reporters over his possible 1952 re-election plans. He said enough questions had been asked on that subject and he suggested that it be dropped since there were so many other important things to be discussed. The Chief Executive’s name was entered in the New Hampshire primary by James D. McPhail, a Manchester (N.H.) lumber dealer. The President has 10 days in which to withdraw. He told reporters that his name would be taken off the ballot.”

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Kerry Washington
Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

Justin Timberlake
Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include composer Philip Glass, who was born in 1937; Baseball Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan, who was born in 1947; “A Different World” star Glynn Turman, who was born in 1947; Sex Pistols singer John Lydon, who was born in 1956; swimmer and Olympic gold medalist Shirley Babashoff, who was born in 1957; “Without a Trace” star Anthony LaPaglia, who was born in 1959; “Road House” star Kelly Lynch, who was born in 1959; news host Martha MacCallum, who was born in 1964; “Good Will Hunting” star Minnie Driver, who was born in 1970; “Arrested Development” star Portia de Rossi, who was born in 1973; former N.Y. Knicks forward Othella Harrington, who was born in 1974; “Scandal” star Kerry Washington, who was born in 1977; singer-songwriter Justin Timberlake, who was born in 1981; singer-songwriter Marcus Mumford, who was born in 1987; and N.Y. Knicks shooting guard Donte DiVincenzo, who was born in 1997.

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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.

Quotable:

“Life is not a spectator sport. If you’re going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you’re wasting your life.

— Baseball Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson, who was born on this day in 1919