Carole King was born in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn on February 9, 1942, the daughter of an insurance broker and a public school teacher.
At the age of four, Carole began playing piano. She attended local public schools and graduated from Midwood High School where she formed a vocal quartet called the Cosines (remember
Peggy Wood was born in Brooklyn on February 9, 1892, the daughter of Eugene Wood and his wife Mary. She was named Margaret after both grandmothers.
As a young girl her family moved from place to place. Her father was a magazine writer who loved music and wanted his daughter to become an opera singer.
The ocean liner Normandie was built in France in 1931-32. On May 5, 1935, she was declared the largest ship in the world and remained so until 1940. On May 29 she made her maiden voyage from Le Havre to New York at record-breaking speed.
Until 1939, the pride of the French Line, the sleekest passenger vessel the North Atlantic had ever known, crossed the Atlantic regularly, but the outbreak of World War II prevented her return to Europe, so she was moored at Pier 88 at the foot of West 49th Street in Manhattan. There the enormous liner sat for two years, manned by a skeleton crew.
In addition to publishing a daily newspaper for 114 years (1841-1955), the original Brooklyn Daily Eagle published other informational works as well, most notably, and consistently, the Eagle Almanac, which was updated and released annually from 1896 to 1929.
Eagle photographer Mario Belluomo recently came upon a 1914 edition of the Eagle Almanac in a used bookstore. Its subtitle, “A Book of Information, General of the World, and Special of New York City and Long Island,” is apt.
“One of these days — POW, right in the kisser,” Jackie Gleason, as Ralph Kramden (the blustery Brooklyn bus driver), would say to Audrey Meadows as Alice Kramden in so many TV episodes of the sitcom “The Honeymooners.” Or he’d shake his fist in her face and threaten “To the moon, Alice!” It never seemed to faze Alice Kramden, but it was so nice when he’d say to her: “Baby, you’re the greatest.” The Kramdens lived in a Bensonhurst flat {read more...}
An Exploration of Brooklyn Using Lain’s City Directory, 1884
By Dennis Holt
Our first installment of this series, about what parts of Brooklyn were like in 1884 and who lived there, was about the block of Henry Street in Brooklyn Heights between Middagh and Cranberry streets.
This chapter reports on where Henry Street begins, the space between Fulton and Middagh. The configuration is the same now as in 1884: the east side was unbroken between Fulton and Middagh, where probably about 100
Comedian Chris Rock was born in Andrews, N.C., on Feb. 7, 1966, but he grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. His mother, Rose, was a school teacher and his father, Julian, a truck driver who passed away in 1987. Chris was the oldest of six children. His father was a strict disciplinarian who didn’t permit any disobedience or disrespect. His mother inspired him to find a worthwhile career. She had him bused to a school where she felt {read more...}
“Babe” Ruth was born George Herman Ruth in Baltimore, Md., on Feb. 6, 1895, and was educated at St. Mary’s Industrial School in that city.
Ruth was one of the most phenomenally gifted and popular players in the history of baseball. He began his career in 1914 as a left-handed pitcher for the Baltimore team of the International League. Later, in the same year, he played for the Providence team of that same league and then became a member of the Boston Red Sox of the American League. He pitched for Boston until the 1919 season, when his unusual ability as a batter and
By John B. Manbeck
a Brooklyn historian
Special to The Brooklyn Eagle
Last month/year I promised a column on Manhattan Beach trivia. Here goes.
The grand hotels, or caravansaries as they were called, started with the Manhattan Beach Hotel—initially a 306 room hotel which grew to 353 rooms—which was built in four months in 1877 between today’s West End
It wasn’t just because the cost of the subway to get to Coney Island in the early 1900s was only five cents that the Island was named the “Nickel Empire,” it was because almost everything there — from the hot dogs to the rides — was
For the record — squash tennis is played on a four-walled court, usually “singles” is the game played. The court for this sport is 32 feet long and 18½ feet wide; its front and side walls are each 16 feet high, and its rear wall is 9 feet high. Rackets are used as in regular tennis only smaller in size and a black rubber ball is used. A game consists of 15 points.
The game is begun by one of the players hitting the ball so that it strikes the front wall above the service line, which is 6½ feet above the floor; the ball
Heading from Chicago to New York, 59-year old Captain Albert DeWitt had just announced to 72 passengers and crew that they would be landing at La Guardia Airport in five minutes. The new Lockheed Electra prop-jet DeWitt was flying had {read more...}
Thomas Calabro was born in Brooklyn on February 3, 1959. He studied at Stuyvesant High School and at the Actors Studio in Manhattan. While at Fordham University, Calabro got his first big break when classmate Denzel Washington had to drop out of the school production of A Midsummer’s Night Dream and Calabro took over the {read more...}
On Feb. 2, 1902 a front-page story in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that “Three of Each Four Voters Favors Sunday Saloons.” Six years earlier, in 1896, New York State passed the Raines Law, which prohibited the sale of alcohol {read more...}
William Rose Benét was born in Brooklyn on February 2, 1886. After attending the U.S. Military Academy, he graduated from Yale University in 1907. He became a writer as did his younger brother Stephen Vincent Benét. His collection of colorful, romantic poems entitled The Falconer of God and Other Poems (1914) juxtaposed images of the {read more...}
