ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

ON THIS DAY IN 1875, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Senator Edmunds, of Vermont, offered a resolution yesterday, that on the 7th of January next the Senate proceed to the election of a President pro tem., in order that it might then be definitely settled whether the present presiding officer of the Senate was the President pro tempore within the Constitution. The resolution was referred to the Committee on Privileges and Elections. The consideration of the resolution of Senator Morton, of Indiana, authorizing the appointment of a Special Committee, to inquire into the recent election in Mississippi, was postponed until Monday, in consequence of the absence of a number of Senators, who had accepted an invitation to visit the Centennial buildings at Philadelphia.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1902, the Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON — The Navy Department contributed the most important development in the Venezuela situation over night in the form of a cablegram from Admiral Dewey announcing the proposed itinerary of the vessels of his fleet during the Christmas holidays. It is clearly seen that the plan provides for no undue concentration of ships along the Venezuelan coast, and so prudently and advisedly have its details been drawn up that Secretary Moody today cabled to the admiral the department’s approval of his orders. This will set at rest the rumors that the United States contemplates complicating the Venezuelan situation by dispatching a large naval force to La Guayra as an offset to the allied fleet.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1910, Eagle guest columnist John Elfreth Watkins said, “Uncle Sam has been talking to me about his friend Santa Claus. He tells me that this patron saint of all good boys and girls insures the salaries of some 150 men and women in the government service — officials, clerks and other trusted employees, who would all be superfluous were just Kris Kringle and nothing more eliminated from our Christmas customs and traditions. This corps of workers for which St. Nicholas is responsible is the force employed in the Dead Letter Office at Washington, and what makes them essential to good government is not the mere Christmas rush in the post office, but childhood’s worship of Santa Claus, that fat, jolly old elf who drags his plethoric pack down our chimneys on the night before the holiday of holidays. James Rankin Young, the veteran journalist and former representative, who directs the Dead Letter Office, may thank St. Nick when he draws his salary every half month as cordially as may the little army of letter resuscitators who work under his chieftainship.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1927, the Eagle reported, “Six hundred voices are expected to join in the singing of Christmas carols next Saturday, Dec. 24, in the Community Christmas exercises to be held under the auspices of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce at Boro Hall. This chorus, which thus definitely keeps alive the ancient tradition of the Christmas carol, is believed to be the largest that has appeared in any outdoor celebration in Brooklyn. Singing societies throughout the boro and glee clubs and choral groups from high schools and business concerns form the nucleus of the group which will appear on the steps of Boro Hall at noon on the day preceding Christmas. A special program has been arranged for the occasion by Frank Von Neer, who has directed the training of the chorus. Last year between five and ten thousand persons jammed Boro Hall Park to hear the Christmas carols and to listen to the speakers. It is estimated that more than 12,000 will take part in the exercises this week. Boro President James J. Byrne will speak, as will the Rev. Dr. S. Parkes Cadman, Mons. Francis J. O’Hara and Rabbi Alexander Lyons. Ralph Jonas, president of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, will introduce the speakers.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1935, the Eagle said, “One fine thing the movies have done — they’ve done many more than one, but this is special – the movies have given their patrons palaces to see pictures in. You can watch the most trivial movie now in a theater infinitely superior to the Metropolitan Opera House. It may cost a great deal more to get into the Metropolitan, but the Radio City Music Hall makes you more comfortable. It treats you like a human being, as a matter of fact; and, which is more, like a human being with a normally developed esthetic sense. Or even an esthetic sense above normal. This is one of the most commendable results of the mania of the movie people for doing even the littlest things in a big way — their desire to achieve the supreme, the epochal, the epical, the magnificent and the colossal. Even before their pictures were princelings among the arts they were building for their exhibitions the palaces of kings; chateaux such as the Capitol Theater and the Roxy. Then, with the coming of Rockefeller Center, a grand idea, the movie men, always ready for something new and big, created Radio City Music Hall and the Center Theater. Now anybody in the world with 55 cents in his pocket can sit down amid well-ordered magnificence and look at pictures of Hollywood actors photographed while making believe.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1946, the Eagle said, “RKO is still in the Irish import business. They brought over Maureen O’Hara in 1937, last year it was Sean McGlory (how Irish can you get?), and now they’re readying the welcome mat for Marna Kennedy, Dublin beauty contest winner.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1962, the Eagle said, “The Dick Van Dyke Show’s second bananas, Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam, are recording an album titled (honest!) ‘My Son, the Jokeslinger.’ … Dick Clark will host an ABC Christmas special titled, ‘The Gift of Talent.’ Does the title mean Dick will have no rock ‘n’ rollers on a show for a change?”

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Charles Oakley.
Photo: Arthur Mola/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Keith Richards (The Rolling Stones), who was born in 1943; Oscar-winning filmmaker Steven Spielberg, who was born in 1946; film critic Leonard Maltin, who was born in 1950; former White Lion drummer Greg D’Angelo, who was born in Brooklyn in 1963; former N.Y. Knicks forward Charles Oakley, who was born in 1963; Oscar-winning actor Brad Pitt, who was born in 1963; “Muriel’s Wedding” star Rachel Griffiths, who was born in 1968; International Tennis Hall of Famer Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, who was born in 1971; “Chandelier” singer Sia, who was born in 1975; “Dawson’s Creek” star Katie Holmes, who was born in 1978; “Beautiful” singer Christina Aguilera, who was born in Staten

Christina Aguilera.
Photo: John Locher/AP

Island in 1980; and “Bad Guy” singer Billie Eilish, who was born in 2001.

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SCORE ONE FOR OUR SIDE: The U.S. launched the world’s first communications satellite on this day in 1958. Known as SCORE (Signal Communications by Orbiting Relay), it broadcast a Christmas message via shortwave radio from President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The project served as the U.S. response to the Soviet Union’s Sputnik launches of 1957.

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Keith Richards.
Photo:Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

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

Quotable

“It’s great to be here. It’s great to be anywhere.” — Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, who was born on this day in 1943