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MILESTONES: September 21, birthdays for Stephen King, Nicole Richie, Faith Hill

Brooklyn Today

September 21, 2017 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Stephen King. AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
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On this day in 1938, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page reported that Czechoslovakia had ceded to Hitler’s demand for partitioning the land, and surrendered Slovakia to Nazi forces, after “irresistible pressure” from Great Britain and France to do so. Czechoslovakia ceased to exist at 6:55 p.m. (1:55 p.m. Brooklyn time) that day …Meanwhile the grandfather of current NY State Assemblymember Joseph Lentol won a three-way primary the day before, on Sept. 20, 1938.  Three generations of Lentols have served in New York politics. The Eagle reported on that Sept. 21 front page that a Joseph Lentol made a comeback by beating Dr. Joshua A. Friedman by 200 votes. That Joseph Lentol —the grandfather — was a Democratic Party district boss at the time of the article published. He was also a New York state assemblyman from Kings County 14th District, 1919-20; and member of New York Democratic State Committee, starting in 1930. There is no published information on his death date or burial location. The middle generation, Edward S. Lentol (1909-81) served on the New York State Assembly, New York State Senate and as a justice on the New York State Supreme Court. He was still active on the bench at the time of his death. Now in 2017, Assemblymember Joseph Lentol the younger (D-District 50), serves Greenpoint, Williamsburg and Fort Greene.

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On this day in 1934, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle published several front-page stories related to the capture of Bruno Richard Hauptmann, the main suspect in the kidnapping and ransom extortion of the Charles Lindbergh baby two years earlier. New Jersey’s Gov. Harry A. Moore called for Hauptmann’s extradition to that state to match Hauptmann to John Doe indictments in 1932 for the murder of a child in New Jersey, the same state where the Lindbergh family resided. Meanwhile, Hauptmann had previously been deported from the United States in 1923. His German hometown labeled him their “bad boy.”

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On this day in 1954, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page reported that the Democratic State Convention was convening at the Fighting 69th Regiment Armory in Manhattan. The party was deeply fractured, but Brooklyn brought the largest bloc of 180 delegates — and they overwhelmingly supported Averell Harriman for the gubernatorial nomination. With Tammany Hall and city leaders backing Harriman, supporters of his opponent, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr., found he could get only 15 delegates — and convention tickets for his supporters were being capped at 100 … Meanwhile, the Brooklyn Dodgers saw their National League pennant and World Series dreams die at Ebbetts Field, as the New York Giants crushed the Bums 7-1.

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was born in 1954; Oscar Award-winning filmmaker Ethan Coen, who was born in 1957; former baseball player Cecil Grant Fielder, who was born in 1963; actress and author Fannie Flagg, who was born in 1944; Hall of Fame basketball player Artis Gilmore, who was born in 1949; country singer Faith Hill, who was born in 1967; author Stephen King, who was born in 1947; TV journalist Bill Kurtis, who was born in 1940; talk show host and actress Ricki Lake, who was born in 1968; actor Rob Morrow, who was born in 1962; comedian and actor Bill Murray, who was born in 1950; TV personality and fashion designer Nicole Richie, who was born in 1981; former U.S. Poet Laureate Kay Ryan, who was born in 1945; actress Nancy Travis, who was born in 1961; and actor Luke Wilson, who was born in 1971.

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HERBERT GEORGE WELLS WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1866. The English novelist and historian wrote such popular books as “The Time Machine,” “The Invisible Man,” “The War of the Worlds” and “The Outline of History,” among others. His contributions to the development of science fiction as a genre were profound, and he was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1921, 1932, 1935 and 1946. He died in 1946. Wells once wrote, “Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.”

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“THE HOBBIT” WAS PUBLISHED ON THIS DAY IN 1937. University professor J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy classic featuring Bilbo Baggins was published by George Allen & Unwin in the United Kingdom. Well received by critics and the public, it has never been out of print. Its international success spurred Tolkien to amplify his world of hobbits, dwarves, elves and dragons in “The Lord of the Rings” in the 1950s.

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EDDIE CANTOR WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1892. The entertainer, who started in vaudeville and ended up on Broadway, radio, film and TV, was born Israel Iskowitz to Belarussian immigrants in New York City. Cantor got his big break in the “Ziegfeld Follies” of 1917. A hugely popular comic and singer in the 1930s, he also helped start the March of Dimes fundraising campaign for polio research in 1938. Cantor died in 1964 in California.

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HURRICANE HUGO HIT THE AMERICAN COAST ON THIS DAY IN 1989. After ravaging the Virgin Islands, Hugo hit the American coast in Charleston, South Carolina. In its wake, Hugo left destruction totaling at least $8 billion.

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

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“Books are a uniquely portable magic.” — author Stephen King, who was born on this day in 1947

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