December 22: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

December 22, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1845, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Charles Dickens is about to commence a new daily paper in London: capital £100,000 — or about half a million of dollars!”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1925, the Eagle reported, “With the assurance from the executive committee that the Sesquicentennial International Exposition, which is to be held in Philadelphia, will open on June 1, 1926, the New York sesquicentennial committee tendered a dinner to W. Freeland Kendrick, Mayor of Philadelphia, last night at the Hotel Roosevelt, Manhattan. The occasion marked the beginning of the united effort of leading commercial and civic interests in both cities to make the coming exposition the greatest in the history of this generation.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1941, the Eagle reported, “WEAF promises an interesting array of Christmas programs this week starting with a batch of colorful broadcasts this evening. At 5:45 today the Rockefeller Center Choristers, made up of workers of the tenant companies in Rockefeller Center and led by John R. Jones, will present another in their series of holiday concerts. They will sing from the Sunken Plaza directly beneath the giant Christmas tree.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1944, the Eagle reported, “PARIS (UP) — Front reports today said American 1st Army troops in desperate fighting have stopped the German drive across Belgium, but there was no indication that the dangerous Nazi thrust across Luxembourg had halted and Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower called upon his men to rise to new heights and turn Hitler’s ‘great gamble into his worst defeat.’ Eisenhower, in an order of the day to all American troops, left no doubt that the great battle of the west is the crisis which will determine whether Germany can be crushed quickly or whether the war must be prolonged many months. As his dramatic order was flashed out to grim-faced American GIs, the first encouraging report since the Nazi thrust was launched six days ago was wirelessed by United Press War Correspondent Jack Frankish from U.S. 1st Army Headquarters. Frankish reported that the Germans had been stopped cold in their forward progress in Belgium for the first day since the attack started. Frankish reported that ‘the German counteroffensive failed to penetrate any deeper into Belgium’ than the spearhead which already had lunged 35 miles to slash the vital Liege-Bastogne-Arlon highway at a point 60 miles from Brussels and 14 miles west of Malmedy.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1949, the Eagle reported, “Cecil DeMille’s ‘Samson and Delilah,’ the film version of the Biblical story of a woman’s treachery, amplified and adorned with glowing Technicolor, peopled by Hedy Lamarr, Victor Mature and 27 other principals, plus 1,000 extras, last night swept, in all its glory and the added brilliance of a gala premiere, simultaneously into the N.Y. Paramount and Rivoli Theaters. If Paramount Pictures, presenting this film, is right in its forecast, one Broadway theater is not big enough to hold the crowds who will be clamoring for tickets. Paramount Pictures could be right. ‘Samson and Delilah’ is magnificent. It has the fascination of being just true enough to the Bible story to give it a kind of semi-documentary air, and at the same time it employs the tried-and-found-successful technique of a genuine De Mille offering, a type of film which the public has found easy to take since 1927. At that time, De Mille first overwhelmed moviegoers with ‘King of Kings.’”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1961, the Bay Ridge Home Reporter said, “Santa Claus will arrive in Bay Ridge late Sunday night … It is expected that he will visit virtually every Bay Ridge home sometime between midnight Sunday and dawn on Christmas Day, when he returns to his North Pole headquarters. Traveling aboard his traditional reindeer-driven sleigh, Santa has visited this neighborhood every year, as far back as the memory of the oldest resident can recall. Earlier there was some concern that Santa, because of the hectic international situation, might decide to remain at his North Pole headquarters and skip his annual trip this year. However, reports from the Arctic Circle state that he has decided to risk the hazards of rockets, missiles, sputniks and assorted spacecraft for at least another year.”

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Jordin Sparks
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Pretty Woman” star Hector Elizondo, who was born in 1936; former N.Y. Mets pitcher Jerry Koosman, who was born in 1942; Baseball Hall of Famer Steve Carlton, who was born in 1944; journalist Diane Sawyer, who was born in 1945; former L.A. Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey, who was born in 1948; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick), who was born in 1948; former St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Lonnie Smith, who was born in 1955; “Schindler’s List” star Ralph Fiennes, who was born in 1962; U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who was born in 1970; “American Idol” winner Jordin Sparks, who was born in 1989; “All About That Bass” singer Meghan Trainor, who was born in 1993; and “High School Musical” star Joshua Bassett, who was born in 2000.

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CENTER STAGE: Giacomo Puccini was born on this day in 1858. The Tuscany native composed the beloved operas “La Boheme” (1896), “Tosca” (1900), “Madama Butterfly” (1904) and “Turandot” (1924). He died in Belgium in 1924.

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WATERMARK: The Lincoln Tunnel opened on this day in 1937. Designed by Ole Singstad, the 1.5-mile tunnel under the Hudson River connects Midtown Manhattan with Weehawken, N.J. It is owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and its three tubes carry a combined average of more than 112,000 vehicles a day.

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

Quotable:

“When I no longer thrill to the first snow of the season, I’ll know I’m growing old.”

— former First Lady Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson, who was born on this day in 1912