History Brooklyn Boro

August 17, birthdays for Sean Penn, Robert De Niro, Thierry Henry

Brooklyn Today

August 17, 2016 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Actor Sean Penn celebrates his birthday today. AP photo

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Greetings, Brooklyn. Today is the 230th day of the year.

ON THIS DAY IN 1898, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle published an article titled “Mrs. Jones Was Gagged and Robbed by Guests.”

The article focused on a boarding house owner who was bound and robbed by one of her tenants in his room.

“The men stuffed her head into the pillow and then wrapped a sheet around her head to make her more secure,” the Eagle reported. “Finally they bound her hands behind her back with a towel which they took from a rack and, lifting her up bodily, took the earrings from her ears, the rings from her hands and the watch from her neck.”

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include Go-Go’s singer BELINDA CARLISLE, who was born in 1958; Oscar Award-winning actor ROBERT DE NIRO, who was born in Manhattan in 1943; producer and writer JULIAN FELLOWES, who was born in 1949; author JONATHAN FRANZEN, who was born in 1959; former soccer player THIERRY HENRY, who was born in 1977; actor ROBERT JOY, who was born in 1951; actress MAUREEN O’HARA, who was born in 1920 and died in 2015; Oscar Award-winning actor SEAN PENN, who was born in 1960; former auto racer NELSON PIQUET, who was born in 1952; actor MARK SALLING, who was born in 1982; Hall of Fame tennis player GUILLERMO VILAS, who was born in 1952; and actor DONNIE WAHLBERG, who was born in 1969.

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DAVY CROCKETT was born on this day in 1786. The American frontiersman, bear hunter, soldier and politician joined the settlers’ effort of Texas to gain independence from Mexico. He died during the final heroic defense of the Alamo in 1836. The larger-than-life figure once boasted, “I can run faster, walk longer, leap higher, speak better and tell more and bigger lies.”

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MARCUS GARVEY was born in Jamaica on this day in 1887. Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association through which he sought to organize Jamaicans (and after 1916, Americans) of African descent around principles of racial pride, racial separatism and economic empowerment through black business ownership. He died in 1940.

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MAE WEST WAS born in Brooklyn on this day in 1893. The stage and screen sire, famous for her naughty wisecracks, acted in vaudeville beginning at age 5 and made her Hollywood debut in 1932. She was unique among stars in that she wrote her own plays and film scripts — mostly concerning the joys of men and sex. Her Broadway play “Sex” resulted in her conviction for public obscenity in 1927, and she served time for eight days. Master of the risqué bon mot, in “I’m No Angel,” West said, “When I’m good, I’m very, very good, but when I’m bad, I’m better.” She died in 1980.

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BROOKLYN BRIDGE Park will host “Over and Back: How Ferries Built South Brooklyn” tonight at 6:30 p.m. starting at the Pier 1 entrance, as part of its Wednesday Night Tours series. The tour will chart the rise of New York’s ferry system in the 19th century and its influence on the development of Brooklyn Heights as a residential and commercial district. For more information, visit brooklybridgepark.org.

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

“You’ll have time to rest when you’re dead.” — Robert De Niro, who was born on this day in 1943