Brooklyn Today for Jan. 30

January 30, 2013 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

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Good morning. Today is the 30th day of the year. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle of January 30, 1881, carried an article about the custom of sending valentines. Everywhere you went in Brooklyn in those days, the unnamed Eagle writer said, you saw Cupids and hearts in store windows. He traced the custom to the Middle Ages in France, where, he said, young men and women chose their sweethearts for the coming year by throwing names into a hat.
During the late 19th century, according to the Eagle, Valentine’s cards were often accompanied by rhymes. Here’s an example of such a poem:
“All that I hear
“All that I see
“Is a magic mirror
“That shows only thee.”

Well-known people who were born today include comedienne Brett Butler, former Vice president Dick Cheney, musician-singer Phil Collins, actor Gene Hackman (‘The French Connection, “”The Unforgiven,” “the Royal Tenenbaums”), baseball manager Davey Johnson, actress Vanessa Redgrave (“Julia,” “Long Day’s Journey Into Night”) and chess champion Boris Spassky.