December 30: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

December 30, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1875, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. ― The Middletown trustees have ordered the church bells to be rung and locomotive and factory whistles to be blown in honor of the advent of the Centennial year. The churches will have open services from 11 o’clock to 12 o’clock, and will be illuminated until 1 o’clock. There will be bonfires, illuminations, fireworks and a torchlight procession of one hundred horsemen.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1887, the Eagle reported, “Professor Charles A. Young, LL.D., of Princeton, gave the fourth lecture in his course of six on the heavenly bodies at the Brooklyn Institute, Washington street, near Concord, last night. The subject of the lecture was: ‘Our Sister Planets: Their relative positions, magnitudes and motions; their physical conditions and changes; their atmospheres and satellites.’ The professor began by saying that stars for the most part keep their places. The ancients noticed that there were four or five that did not. These they called ‘The Wanderers.’ Their names were Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. It was not till 1781 that another was known and that, Uranus, was discovered by Herschel. After this one, by some years, Neptune came to light. Within the orbits of these planets are moving 270 known stars called asteroids.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1900, the Eagle reported, “Only very few of those who for many months past have been arguing for or against expansion have more than a faint idea of how the United States have expanded during the 117 years that have elapsed since Great Britain, by the treaty of 1783, recognized our sovereignty over the land we claimed north of the Spanish and east of the French possessions. During all these years we have expanded at a rate of 30 acres of land for each minute.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1912, the Eagle reported, “ST. AUGUSTINE, FLA. ― On his return trip from the Panama Canal zone, President Taft paid his first visit to the oldest town in the United States today, stopping at St. Augustine as the guest of the Board of Trade. The President was driven up St. George’s street, reputed to be the oldest in the country, and through the old gate at Fort Marion, the ancient Spanish fortress. He held a brief reception after breakfast before continuing his journey to Washington.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1944, the Eagle reported, “PARIS (U.P.) — Lt. Gen. George S. Patton hurled more than 100,000 troops and hundreds of tanks into his spreading counteroffensive against the southern wall of the Ardennes salient today and drove an armored wedge halfway across the Nazi pocket to within 12 miles of the United States 1st Army spearheads in the north. Rolling northward with increasing speed all along their 45-mile attack front, Patton’s armored columns hammered out gains of one to six miles in 24 hours and drove the Nazis back across the Luxembourg border into Germany on a six-mile stretch of their right flank. Patton’s most dangerous thrust, however, was ripping across the waist of the extended German salient northwest of Bastogne, threatening tens of thousands of Nazi troops stalled in the western end of the bulge. Field dispatches, admittedly lagging 24 hours or more behind the battle, said Patton’s troops early yesterday had driven five miles beyond Bastogne, apparently to Compogne sector west of the Arlon-Bastogne highway. At that point they were less than 12 miles from a juncture with the 1st Army forces battering against the enemy’s northern flank.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1949, the Eagle reported, “To handle the enormous crowds storming the Capitol Theater where ‘Adam’s Rib’ opened on Christmas Day, the management announces that the doors are open daily at 9 a.m. for the holiday week (with the exception of Sunday, with an 11:30 a.m. opening). Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn are starred in ‘Adam’s Rib,’ MGM’s hilarious comedy of husband and wife, both lawyers, who take opposite sides in the trial of a woman who has shot her philandering husband. The star-studded accompanying in-person show headlines Eddy Duchin and his orchestra, Tony and Sally De Marco, Mitzi Green and the Kanazawa Trio.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Baseball Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax, who was born in Brooklyn in 1935; former NFL player Jim Marshall, who was born in 1937; singer-songwriter Paul Stookey, who was born in 1937; “Cheers” co-creator James Burrows, who was born in 1940; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Patti Smith, who was born in 1946; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jeff Lynne (ELO), who was born in 1947; TV personality Meredith Vieira, who was born in 1953; “Moesha” star Sheryl Lee Ralph, who was born in 1956; actress and comedian Tracey Ullman, who was born in 1959; political commentator Sean Hannity, who was born in 1961; former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was born in 1963; golfer Tiger Woods, who was born in 1975; “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” star Eliza Dushku, who was born in 1980; and L.A. Lakers forward LeBron James, who was born in 1984.

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BEST WESTERN: “The Roy Rogers Show” premiered on TV on this day in 1951. It starred Rogers and his wife Dale Evans, Pat Brady as Rogers’ sidekick who drove a jeep named Nellybelle, the singing group Sons of the Pioneers, Rogers’ horse Trigger, Evans’ horse Buttermilk and a German shepherd named Bullet. The half-hour show was especially popular with young viewers.

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THE FULL MONTY: “Let’s Make a Deal” premiered on this day in 1963. Monty Hall hosted the outrageous and no-skill-required game show. Audience members, many of whom wore costumes, were selected to sit in the trading area, and some were picked to “make a deal” with Hall by trading something of their own for something they were offered. At the end of the show, the two people who had won the most were given the option to trade their winnings for a chance at the “Big Deal” hidden behind one of three doors. A 21st-century revival is hosted by Wayne Brady.

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

Quotable:

“I became a good pitcher when I stopped trying to make them miss the ball and started trying to make them hit it.”

— Baseball Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax, who was born in Brooklyn on this day in 1935