December 19: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

December 19, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1899, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “The Children’s Museum of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences in the Bedford Park Building on Brooklyn avenue, between Prospect and Park avenues, was opened to the public on Saturday and it will continue to be open and free to the public daily, from Monday to Friday inclusive, between the hours of 2 and 6 in the afternoon and Saturdays from 9 A.M. until 6 P.M. A large number of people visited the Museum Building Saturday and inspected the considerable exhibits which have been arranged under the direction of Professor R. Ellsworth Call, Ph. D, the curator. This is a type of museum where children and others can see the objects of nature gathered together under their respective classes and all labeled with their common as well as their scientific names. Here the child can trace the life history of the frog, of the fish, of the mammal and of the plant. There are big models of plants and animals also, colored true to life and so arranged that they can be taken apart and all the different portions of the structure shown. There are many other things of interest especially to those who are beginning the study of the natural sciences or who know something of natural science and yet are not full fledged scientists.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1917, the Eagle reported, “NEWARK, N.J. ― A convention of 1,000 New Jersey manufacturers to consider measures by which they can best serve the Government during the war was opened here today. Closer cooperation between the manufacturers and the Government was urged as one means of attaining the desired end. More than 1,000 New Jersey manufacturers are represented, together with New York City interests which have factories in New Jersey. The convention was called by the New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce. Governor Edge, State Senator Ernest R. Ackerman and several representatives of the Federal Government are among the speakers. Senator Ackerman urged Federal adoption of the daylight saving idea next year as one means of conserving the coal supply.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1920, the Eagle reported, “George Gipp, the Notre Dame athlete who died from pneumonia, was buried at home in Laurium, Mich., yesterday. Not only was he the individual star of the Notre Dame eleven, but was generally conceded to be the most brilliant halfback of the season. The past season was his second on the team and both in 1919 and 1920 he was chosen by many writers for mythical all-American elevens. In the opinion of football experts, Gipp combined all the qualities necessary in an all around star. A brilliant runner, he possessed an ability to side-step, dodge, and keep his feet, which frequently carried him many yards after he had apparently been brought to the ground. As a kicker, he was adept both at punting and at booting field goals. While a freshman at Notre Dame, he was credited with a 62-yard goal kick in a practice scrimmage. Added to his ability to run and kick, Gipp was an almost perfect forward passer, either standing or running. On the defense, he seldom missed his man and his speed enabled him to range back and forth so that he was in every play. In this season’s game against Army, Gipp went back despite an injured shoulder and won the contest for Notre Dame. In that game Gipp scored all of his team’s 17 points and stamped himself as probably the greatest back of his day.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1944, the Eagle reported, “PARIS (U.P.) ― German armored columns plunged recklessly through a storm of Allied bombs and shells today in a still-developing offensive that carried more than 20 miles into Belgium and forced the American 1st Army back to or behind the Nazi border at many points on a 70-mile front extending into southern Luxembourg. Rigid military censorship blacked out details on the progress of the German counterblow, but field dispatches said probably the greatest land and air battle of the western war was under way and growing hourly in fury. Both sides were reported pouring reinforcements into the big test of strength, but it was indicated the American 1st Army had not yet countered in full force and was still falling back slowly all along the line. Elsewhere on the long Western Front, American 9th Army troops carved out small gains at the edge of the Cologne plain above Aachen, and 3rd Army forces continued their slow progress into the German Saar Valley above Saarlautern and Sarreguemines. On the American 7th Army sector, Lt. Gen. Alexander M. Patch’s infantrymen extended their foothold in the corner of the Rhine Palatinate to as much as four miles on a 25-mile front, while farther south American and French troops of the French 1st Army scored local gains above Colmar and in the Vosges Mountains. But both sides were throwing their main effort into the blazing 1st Army front where the German high command appeared to be staking the Wehrmacht’s best divisions on a desperate gamble to check the Americans west of the Rhine.”

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Jennifer Beals
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

Tyson Beckford
Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “WKRP in Cincinnati” star Tim Reid, who was born in 1944; swimmer and Olympic gold medalist Claudia Kolb, who was born in 1949; Basketball Hall of Famer Kevin McHale, who was born in 1957; “Flashdance” star Jennifer Beals, who was born in 1963; Pro Football Hall of Famer Randall McDaniel, who was born in 1964; magician Criss Angel, who was born in 1967; model and actor Tyson Beckford, who was born in 1970; “Charmed” star Alyssa Milano, who was born in Brooklyn in 1972; Pro Football Hall of Famer Warren Sapp, who was born in 1972; former N.Y Giants wide receiver Joe Jurevicius, who was born in 1974; “Brokeback Mountain” star Jake Gyllenhaal, who was born in 1980; “The Practice” star Marla Sokoloff, who was born in 1980; former N.Y. Yankees pitcher Ian Kennedy, who was born in 1984; journalist Ronan Farrow, who was born in 1987; and chess grandmaster Nicolas Checa, who was born in 2001.

Jake Gyllenhaal
Scott Garfitt/Invision/AP

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SCREEN QUEEN: Cicely Tyson was born 100 years ago today. The Bronx native starred in “Sounder” (1972), “Fried Green Tomatoes” (1991), “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” (2005) and other feature films, earning the Honorary Academy Award in 2018. She won Emmys for two miniseries, “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman” (1974) and “Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All” (1994), and a Tony for “The Trip to Bountiful” (2013). Tyson also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2016). She died in 2021.

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TOP OF THE WORLD: “Titanic” premiered on this day in 1997. James Cameron’s re-creation of the doomed ocean liner’s only voyage stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane and Kathy Bates. The blockbuster film won 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, which tied it with 1959’s “Ben Hur.”

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

Quotable:

“Age is just a number. Life and aging are the greatest gifts that we could possibly ever have.”

— Oscar-winning actress Cicely Tyson, who was born on this day in 1924