History Brooklyn Boro

January 20, birthdays for Bill Maher, Rainn Wilson, Questlove

Brooklyn Today

January 20, 2017 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Comedian and TV host Bill Maher celebrates his birthday today. Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP, File

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Greetings, Brooklyn. Today is the 20th day of the year.

Notable people born on this day include Buzz Aldrin and David Lynch, among others.

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ON THIS DAY IN 1914, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle published an article titled “Steel Plant Coming Here.”

The article focused on rumors of the location of a new steel plant.

“If negotiations are completed, it became known today, one of the largest steel plants in the country will be located on the Brooklyn waterfront. On account of the incomplete condition of the plans for the big project, which means the most important industrial movement in many years, announcement as to the exact location of the plant has been withheld,” the Eagle reported.

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include former astronaut EDWIN “BUZZ” ALDRIN, who was born in 1930; actor TOM BAKER, who was born in 1934; actor JAMES DENTON, who was born in 1963; Emmy Award-winning comedian and actor ARTE JOHNSON, who was born in 1934; actor LORENZO LAMAS, who was born in 1958; director, writer and producer DAVID LYNCH, who was born in 1946; comedian and TV host BILL MAHER, who was born in 1956; musician and TV personality QUESTLOVE, who was born in 1971; baseball player GEOVANY SOTO, who was born in 1983; actor SKEET ULRICH, who was born in 1970; and actor RAINN WILSON, who was born in 1968.

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GEORGE BURNS WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1896. The comedian began in vaudeville without much success until he teamed up with Gracie Allen, who became his wife. As Burns and Allen, the two had a long career on radio, in film and with their hit TV show “The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show.” Later, he played the roles of God and the Devil in the “Oh, God!” movies. He lived to be 100 and died in 1996 in California.

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TODAY IS INAUGURATION DAY. The 20th Amendment provides that “The terms of the president and vice president shall end at noon on the 20th day of January . . . and the terms of their successors shall then begin . . .”

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FEDERICO FELLINI WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1920. Four of the director and screenwriter’s movies won Oscars for Best Foreign-Language Film: “La Strada” (1956), “Nights of Cabiria” (1957), “81/2” (1963) and “Amarcord” (1974). He received an honorary Oscar in 1993 in recognition of his cinematic accomplishments. Fellini died in 1993 in Rome.

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“CESSATION OF HOSTILITIES” WAS SIGNED ON THIS DAY IN 1783. The British and U.S. commissioners signed the preliminary document, which was ratified by England’s King George III Feb. 14 and led to the treaties of Paris and Versailles that September, ending the war.

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HUDDIE “LEAD BELLY” LEDBETTER WAS BORN ON THIS DAY in 1889. Born on a plantation, Ledbetter learned guitar while working as a sharecropper. He got his start in the music business as a collaborator of Blind Lemon Jefferson, playing his 12-string at juke joints and dances. In the 1930s, while serving time in Angola Prison, Lead Belly met folklorists and researchers John and Alan Lomax, who first recorded his most famous song “Goodnight Irene,” as well as early versions of the eventual standards “Rock Island Line” and “Midnight Special.” Lead Belly worked off and on with the Lomaxes over the next several years and also cut sides for Capitol and the pioneering Folkways label. He died in New York in 1949.

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THE BROOKLYN MUSEUM WILL HOST “MARATHON READING: ‘Let America Be America Again’” today from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Artists, writers, performers, activists and community members will gather for a daylong reading of Langston Hughes prescient 1935 poem “Let America Be America Again.” The event is free and open to the public. Readings will take place every 30 minutes.

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