History Brooklyn Boro

January 19, birthdays for Dolly Parton, Paula Deen, Frank Caliendo

Brooklyn Today

January 19, 2017 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Singer and actress Dolly Parton celebrates her birthday today. Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

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Greetings, Brooklyn. Today is the 19th day of the year.

Notable people born on this day include Paula Deen and Cindy Sherman, among others.

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ON THIS DAY IN 1930, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle published an article titled “Air Pollution Rapped at Institute Session.”

The article focused on the adverse effects that smog has on city residents and plant life.

“Dr. Cauble cited statistics showing that New York City was being robbed of from 23 to 42 percent of the sunlight that it should receive because of the smoke in the atmosphere coming partly from its own chimneys and partly from the chimney’s in New Jersey’s industrial section that lie in direct line between the city and the direction from which the prevailing winds blow,” the Eagle reported.

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include singer and actor DESI ARNAZ JR., who was born in 1953; comedian FRANK CALIENDO, who was born in 1974; actor and singer MICHAEL CRAWFORD, who was born in 1942; actress DREA DE MATTEO, who was born in 1972; chef PAULA DEEN, who was born in 1947; actress SHELLEY FABARES, who was born in 1942; Olympic gymnast SHAWN JOHNSON, who was born in 1992; director RICHARD LESTER, who was born in 1932; broadcast journalist ROBERT MacNEIL, who was born in 1931; singer and actress DOLLY PARTON, who was born in 1946; actor WILLIAM RAGSDALE, who was born in 1961; orchestra conductor SIMON RATTLE, who was born in 1955; photographer CINDY SHERMAN, who was born in 1954; actress BITSIE TULLOCH, who was born in 1981; basketball coach JEFF VAN GUNDY, who was born in 1962; actor SHAWN WAYANS, who was born in 1971; and Tony Award-winning actor FRITZ WEAVER, who was born in 1926.

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EDGAR ALLAN POE WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1809. The American poet and storywriter is often called “America’s most famous man of letters.” Born in Boston, he was orphaned in dire poverty in 1811 and was raised by Virginia merchant John Allan. A magazine editor of note, he is best-remembered for his poetry (especially “The Raven”) and for his tales of suspense. Poe died in Maryland in 1849.

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“48 HOURS” PREMIERED ON THIS DAY IN 1988. The CBS prime-time news program airs each week. After 15 years, the program changed format to focus on crime mysteries presented by a revolving stable of reporters, who include Erin Moriarty, Peter Van Sant, Richard Schlesinger and others.

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PAUL CÉZANNE WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1839. The post-impressionist painter sought to “treat nature by the cylinder, the sphere, the cone.” His portraits, still lifes and landscapes are a seminal bridge from the Romantics and Impressionists to the Fauves, Cubists and later modernists. He created such masterpieces as “The Bathers” (1875), “The Card Players” (1892) and “Compotier, Pitcher and Fruit” (1892–94). Cézanne died in France in 1906 of pneumonia after painting outside in the rain.

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JOHN H. JOHNSON WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1918. The grandson of a slave, Johnson rose from abject poverty to become one of the most influential black businessmen in America. In 1942 he launched the first of his successful magazines, Negro Digest, which reached a circulation of 50,000 within eight months. In 1945 came Ebony, followed by Jet in 1951. By the time of his death in Chicago in 2005, Johnson’s company was the world’s largest African-American owned-and-operated publishing operation. He served the U.S. as goodwill ambassador and received numerous honors, the most important of which was the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996 for “building self-respect in the black community.”

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THE BROOKLYN HISTORICAL SOCIETY (BHS) WILL HOST “CAPOTE ON SCREEN: Murder by Death” tonight at 7 p.m. In his first and only credited on-screen role, Truman Capote finds himself at the center of a murder mystery in this delightfully satirical ode to the detective film genre. Slate’s Kristen Meinzer and Newsday’s Rafer Guzman will introduce the film. This is the second film of a four-part series offered in connection with the exhibition “Truman Capote’s Brooklyn: The Lost Photographs of David Attie.” For more information, visit brooklynhistory.org.

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

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“If you wish to forget anything on the spot, make a note that this thing is to be remembered.” poet and writer Edgar Allan Poe, who was born on this day in 1809