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January 26, birthdays for Ellen DeGeneres, Wayne Gretzky, Mark Dayton

Brooklyn Today

January 26, 2017 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
TV host Ellen DeGeneres celebrates her birthday today. Photo by Vince Bucci/Invision/AP
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Greetings, Brooklyn.  Today is the 26th day of the year.

Notable people born on this day include Eddie Van Halen and Ellen DeGeneres, among others.

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ON THIS DAY IN 1914, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle published an article titled “Parrot’s Cry Brings Police.”

The article focused on a parrot who was stuck in a fire and whose cries for help were mistaken for that of a baby.

“He heard what seemed to be a baby’s feeble cry, and at the risk of his life, crawled through the smoke in a dark room on the second floor, in an attempt to save the child. He was nearly stifled by the smoke and tried twice before he discovered that the noises came from a parrot, instead of an abandoned infant,” the Eagle reported.

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include singer Anita Baker, who was born in 1958; Roman Catholic priest and civil rights leader Father George Harold Clements, who was born in 1932; political activist Angela Davis, who was born in 1944; Gov. of Minnesota and former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton, who was born in 1947; comedian, actress and TV personality Ellen DeGeneres, who was born in 1958; cartoonist and writer Jules Feiffer, who was born in 1929; actor Scott Glenn, who was born in 1942; Hall of Fame hockey player Wayne Gretzky, who was born in 1961; soccer manager José Mourinho, who was born in 1963; singer and musician Andrew Ridgeley, who was born in 1963; actor David Strathairn, who was born in 1950; sportscaster, former baseball player and actor Bob Uecker, who was born in 1935; and guitarist Eddie Van Halen, who was born in 1955.

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“PHANTOM OF THE OPERA” PREMIERED ON THIS DAY IN 1988. The multiple-award-winning musical, based on the classic Gaston Leroux novel about the tortured soul haunting the Paris Opera House, premiered in London on Oct. 9, 1986. Its music and lyrics are by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Charles Hart, with book by Lloyd Webber and Richard Stilgoe. It premiered on Broadway in 1988 and in January 2006 became the longest-running show in Broadway history. In 2012, it reached its 10,000th performance.

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PAUL NEWMAN WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1925. The actor, director, race car driver and philanthropist appeared in 65 films, including “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “The Sting,” “Hud” and “Cool Hand Luke.” He received a Best Actor Oscar for “The Color of Money” in 1986. Newman was also a successful entrepreneur, establishing in 1982 Newman’s Own, a specialty foods company whose proceeds were donated to charity. He died in 2008 in Connecticut.

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THE DENTAL DRILL WAS PATENTED ON THIS DAY IN 1875. Dentist George F. Green of Kalamazoo, Michigan patented the electric dental drill, which was powered by an electromagnetic motor.

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TODAY IS OREGON’S JORIAD NORTH AMERICAN TRUFFLE DOG CHAMPIONSHIP. Hunting truffles, the most celebrated and expensive delicacies on the planet, requires knowledge of secret locales and trained truffle-hunting dogs. Spectators can cheer on dog teams as they race to search for hidden truffle-scented targets. Ten finalists then advance to the field trial: an authentic head-to-head and nose-to-ground action in the wild where nature alone determines where, what kinds and how many truffles are hidden. Winners are announced at an awards gala.

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THE GALLERY PLAYERS WILL PRESENT STEPHEN SONDHEIM’S “MARRY ME a Little” tonight at 8 p.m at The Gallery Players at 199 14th St., between Fourth and Fifth avenues. It is the first of 12 performances through Saturday, Feb. 13. For more information, visit galleryplayers.com

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

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“I’m a godmother, that’s a great thing to be, a godmother. She calls me god for short, that’s cute, I taught her that.” — Ellen Degeneres, who was born on this day in 1958

 

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