March 27: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

March 27, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1906, a Brooklyn Daily Eagle editorial said, “The proposal to put ‘Tom Sawyer’ and ‘Huckleberry Finn’ on the restricted list, with ‘The Decameron,’ ‘The Launching of the Ship’ and Shaw’s plays, in our public library, resulted in some literature from Mark Twain that was worth at least two cents a word, but that may have been as good as wasted on those to whom he sent it. Because they probably thought it was immoral, and maybe it sounded like it. A debased public sentiment has defeated the scheme, however, and the youth of our town will continue to read of the wickedness of Tom and Huck and apply it at home and in school in the usual fashion.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1929, the Eagle reported, “The voices of three favorites of the silent screen will be heard for the first time on Saturday when Clara Bow, Florence Vidor and Wallace Beery make their talking picture debuts on Broadway. Miss Bow will shatter her long-standing silence in ‘The Wild Party,’ scheduled to open at the Rialto, while Miss Vidor and Mr. Beery will be seen and heard in ‘Chinatown Nights,’ which will open simultaneously at the Paramount Theaters here and in Manhattan.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1933, the Eagle reported, “Students of the School of Engineering of Columbia University overwhelmingly expressed their readiness to bear arms in defense of the United States, rejected war as an instrument of national policy, favored capitalism and denied that the ‘world is going to hell,’ in their answers to a questionnaire made public today. The questionnaire was for the 1933 Columbia Engineer, yearbook of the school. The students expressed their views as follows: Would you bear arms in defense of the United States and its Constitution? Yes, 138; no, 54; perhaps, 26. Do you believe in war as an instrument of national policy? No, 186; yes, 24; perhaps, 8. In what fundamental social doctrine do you believe? Capitalism, 78; socialism, 50; limited capitalism, 32; nothing, 32; technocracy, 6; communism, 5; Christianity, 3; scattering, 13 (democracy, anarchy, liberalism, nihilism, Rooseveltism, syndicalism, co-operation, laissez faire, more honesty). Is the world going to hell? No, 147; yes, 32; perhaps, 39.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1938, the Eagle reported, “VIENNA, MARCH 26 (U.P.) — The Jews ‘must get out,’ Herman Wilhelm Goering, Adolf Hitler’s representative, declared today in a speech opening the campaign for next month’s plebiscite on the union of Austria and Germany. Speaking of Vienna, Goering said, ‘A city in which 300,000 Jews live cannot be called German. But Vienna must become a German city. It has to fulfill tasks in the cultural and economic fields. In neither can Jews be employed … The Jews must know that they must get out … This has nothing to do with hatred but it is a necessity.’ … Goering revealed plans to take over Jewish business concerns. He said he had ordered authorities ‘to undertake the necessary steps legally and quietly to bring Jewish firms into Aryan hands.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1942, the Brooklyn Spectator reported, “The city’s campaign to persuade business concerns to stagger working hours of their employees and thereby level off the peaks of the transportation rush at 9 A.M. and 5 P.M. has begun in earnest, George A. Sloan, Commissioner of the New York Department of Commerce, announced yesterday. The plan is to change both the time at which large groups of employees report to work and the time they leave, so that they will use transportation facilities either a little earlier or a little later than usual. The purpose is to ease the burden on the transportation lines, already threatened with heavier traffic because of tire shortages, and to prevent larger concentrations of people than is necessary. This is meant as a precaution in case of bombing. Mr. Sloan said that the principle of the stagger system was approved Tuesday at a meeting of the executive committees of the Mayor’s Business Advisory Committee and of the New York City Defense Council and that it was agreed that a special committee should be appointed to enlist the co-operation of employers in establishing the system.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1951, the Eagle reported, “PHOENIX, ARIZ. (U.P.) — Rookie Mickey Mantle stubbornly refused to surrender the spotlight today as the world champion New York Yankees returned to their Spring home base to resume their exhibition schedule against major league opposition. Mantle sent his average soaring to .432 as he hit two homers, tripled with the bases filled and knocked in seven runs as the Yankees swamped the University of Southern California, 15 to 1, yesterday. Meanwhile, Joe DiMaggio went hitless in two tries and his Spring average dwindled to .188.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Star Wars” actor Julian Glover, who was born in 1935; composer Malcolm Goldstein, who was born in Brooklyn in 1936; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Tony Banks (Genesis), who was born in 1950; former NFL quarterback Randall Cunningham, who was born in 1963; Oscar-winning filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, who was born in 1963; “Licence to Kill” star Talisa Soto, who was born in Brooklyn in 1967; “NCIS” star Pauley Perrette, who was born in 1969; Songwriters Hall of Famer Mariah Carey, who was born in 1970; “Lost” star Elizabeth Mitchell, who was born in 1970; “Firefly” star Nathan Fillion, who was born in 1971; “Big Girls Don’t Cry” singer Fergie, who was born in 1975; and former San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey, who was born in 1987.