MILESTONES: February 28, birthdays for Jason Aldean, Olivia Palermo, Joel Pimentel

Brooklyn Today

February 28, 2018 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Jason Aldean. AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki

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Greetings, Brooklyn. Today is the 59th day of the year.

On this day in 1934, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page featured a story about the funeral Mass for former New York Giants manager John McGraw. According to the story, McCraw, nicknamed “Little Napoleon,” had “first won fame” playing with the Baltimore Orioles. By the time of his death, McGraw had already been retired for two years. Five thousand attended his solemn Requiem Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan. After the funeral, his body was placed on a train to return to Baltimore for burial.

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On this day in 1922, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page featured an Associated Press story about Great Britain’s White Paper that ended British rule over Egypt and granted a limited independence. Egypt had been under a British protectorate since 1882, when Britain invaded Egypt. Together, they continued expanding into the Sudan. Then, in 1899, Egypt and Britain formally agreed to a joint protectorate. British Prime Minister David Lloyd George issued the White Paper, whose full title was the Unilateral Declaration of Egyptian Independence. The document unilaterally ended England’s protectorate over Egypt and granted it nominal independence except in foreign relations, communications, the military and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. The Eagle headline declared that Egypt was now “free to work out its own destiny.”

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On this day in 1930, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page reported that a dying former President and Supreme Court Chief Justice William Howard Taft was growing weaker, but “still smiles as life ebbs away.” Taft was the only president to also serve later as chief justice, a role to which he had long aspired. However, he had to resign that post the previous week as his health deteriorated. He did, however, live until March 8, 1930.

Also on this day, the NYC Board of Estimate issued a decree that changed zoning restrictions, thus allowing apartments to be built on Shore Road. The local community thus lost a four-year battle to prevent building construction along this stretch of Bay Ridge, which incorporated portions of 86th Street, Narrows Avenue, Third and Fourth avenues, Marine Avenue and 101st Street.

The Board of Estimate, established under the City Charter in 1897 for the Great Consolidation, wielded a large amount of power, although it no longer exists. Its members were the mayor, comptroller, City Council president and the five borough presidents. However, a 1989 Supreme Court decision said that the Board of Estimate violated the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, related to “one man, one vote.”

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On this day in 1933, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page reported that the German cabinet declared emergency martial law to prevent a supposed siege by Communists on the day after the Reichstag building fire. Herman Goering, minister without portfolio, was convinced that the communists were behind the Reichstag attack. Meanwhile, Chancellor Adolf Hitler banned the Communist and opposition press. (Goering’s title of minister without portfolio refers to an official — usually in coalition governments — who does not head any specific department but has authority and a cabinet vote).

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On this day in 1951, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page devoted extensive coverage to the college basketball game-fix bribe scandal, including a series piece by Ben Gould that was placed above the masthead. The Eagle had learned of an additional college that had become involved in the game-fixing. The Eagle reported that authorities were closing in on these boys and that their arrest was imminent. Moreover, Madison Square Garden said it would ban games. Fast-forward to 2018 and Brooklyn author Matthew Goodman, who is working on a book about the 1950-51 Basketball Scandal. Goodman pointed out that the City College team was “entirely minority, eight Jewish players and four black players, in a time when the NBA had no black players …. Overnight they went from heroes to villains. It turns out that they were part of a much larger system of corruption, a lot of which was discovered by the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.” For the full article, visit http://www.brooklyneagle.com/articles/2017/12/7/brooklyn%E2%80%99s-narrative-historian-conversation-eagle.

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include country singer JASON ALDEAN, who was born in 1977; former auto racer MARIO GABRIELE ANDRETTI, who was born in 1940; architect FRANK GEHRY, who was born in 1929; tennis player JELENA JANKOVIC, who was born in 1985; actress ALI LARTER, who was born in 1976; actor ROBERT SEAN LEONARD, who was born in 1969; former hockey player ERIC LINDROS, who was born in 1973; former reality TV star OLIVIA PALERMO, who was born in 1986; Tony Award-winning singer and actress BERNADETTE PETERS, who was born in 1944; pop singer JOEL PIMENTEL of CNCO, who was born in 1999; Tony Award-winning actor, singer, dancer, director and choreographer TOMMY TUNE, who was born in 1939; and actor JOHN TURTURRO, who was born in Brooklyn in 1957.

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BEN HECHT WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1894. He is known for his newspaper column “1,001 Afternoons in Chicago,” which popularized human interest sketches. His play “The Front Page,” written with Charles MacArthur, was a hit on Broadway and on film. He was a successful reporter and his first novel “Eric Dorn” resulted partly from his time reporting from Berlin after WWI. Hecht wrote or co-wrote a number of successful movie scripts, including “Notorious” and “Wuthering Heights.” He died in New York City in 1964.

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CHARLES BLONDIN WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1824. The daring French acrobat is remembered for his 1895 conquest of Niagara Falls on a tightrope. Blondin died in 1897 in England.

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THE USS PRINCETON EXPLODED ON THIS DAY IN 1844. The newly built “war steamer,” cruising on the Potomac River with top government officials as its passengers, fired one of its guns (known, ironically, as the “Peacemaker”) to demonstrate the latest in naval armament. The gun exploded, killing Abel P. Upshur, secretary of state; Thomas W. Gilmer, secretary of the Navy; David Gardiner, of Gardiners Island, N.Y.; and several others. Many were injured. U.S. President John Tyler was on board and narrowly escaped death.

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MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1533. The French essayist and philosopher was one of the most significant thinkers of the French Renaissance. He is known for popularizing the essay as a literary genre. Montaigne died in France in 1592.

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TODAY IS NATIONAL TOOTH FAIRY DAY. Why shouldn’t the tooth fairy have her own day? Every kid in the country knows about her and every parent is her assistant. Celebrate the hard work she does on the graveyard shift and brush, floss and read books about the tooth fairy in her honor.