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Hailing from Ottawa, Canada, Dan Aykroyd made a name for himself as one of the original cast members of Saturday Night Live. Before coming to New York, he honed his comedic skills with the Second City Comedy Troop in Toronto and began his acting career as a student at Carleton University in Canada. Aykroyd’s friendship with John Belushi and their on-screen chemistry brought success to the duo... Continue reading
George Gershwin was born in Brooklyn in 1898. He began his musical career as a song-plugger on Tin Pan Alley, and published his first song, “When You Want ‘Em, You Can’t Get ‘Em,” which earned him five dollars. Soon after, he co-composed “Swanee”, which sold more than a million copies.
In 1924, George collaborated with his brother, lyricist Ira Gershwin, to write musicals including “Funny Face... Continue reading
PT 109 was the first commercial theatrical film about a sitting United States President released while he was still in office. It was released in June 1963, just five months before Kennedy was assassinated. JFK's father, Joseph Kennedy had been a Hollywood producer and he used his influence to negotiate the film rights and ensure that Jack Warner would guarantee his "personal... Continue reading
On October 5, 1941, the Brooklyn Dodgers led the NY Yankees 4-3 and were one out from winning Game 4 and tying the World Series at 2 games apiece. Yankee batter Tommy Henrich swung and missed for strike three, but the 3rd strike got passed Dodger catcher Mickey Owen, allowing Henrich to reach first base. The Yankees then rallied for 4 runs to win the game and take a 3-1 lead in the Series. The... Continue reading
Teenager, Clara Lemlich riled up the masses at the Cooper Union and touched off the first strike in the garment industry in New York City. Approximately 25,000 workers, mostly women are walking the picket line. Intolerable conditions and pay are the basis for this work stoppage.
Ford Motor Company rented space from an old wagon manufacturing shop for $75 a month to open its first factory in 1903. They earned roughly $37,000 in its first year-and-a-half of business, turning out an average of 15 cars a day and selling each automobile for $200.
Frank Lloyd Wright was born in Richland Center, Wisconsin on June 8, 1867 to William and Anna Wright. While attending college at the University of Wisconsin, he took a job in the engineering department but left two years later to follow his dream to design buildings, finding work as an architect in Chicago.
Wright married Catherine Tobin when he was twenty-two and was determined to design and... Continue reading
Led by the enthusiasm of the “Cameron Crazies”, Duke University’s Cameron Indoor Stadium is one of college basketball’s most exciting and electric atmospheres. It is also one of the toughest venues for opposing teams. Since the building’s opening in 1940, the Duke Blue Devils’ Men’s Basketball team has won roughly 84% of their home games. That percentage is even higher in the modern era under... Continue reading
On May 24, 1935 the Cincinnati Reds played the Philadelphia Phillies at Crosley Field in Cincinnati, Ohio in the first ever night game in major league baseball history. Prior to the game, President Franklin Roosevelt ceremoniously switched on the lights from the White House. Though the Reds averaged only 6,000 fans per game that season, more than 20,000 fans were in attendance for this historic... Continue reading
Known as both "Big Jawn" and "The Big Cat" he was a smooth fielding first baseman, and a solid hitter. In his early career for the St. Louis Cardinals he hit for high averages, hitting .364 in 1937, .337 in 1938 and won the National League batting title in 1939 with an average of .349.
He then changed his strategy and hit for power leading the National League in HR in 1939... Continue reading
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Bobby Thomson -“The Shot Heard Around the World”
The NY Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers, cross-town rivals, had tied for first place at the end of the 1951 season and were now knotted at 1 game apiece in their best of three tie-breaker series to determine the NL pennant. The Dodgers led the deciding game 4-1 entering the bottom of the ninth inning. In the bottom of the ninth, three of the first four Giants got base hits off Dodgers’ pitcher Don Newcombe, cutting the Dodgers’ lead to 4-2. With one out and runners on 2nd and 3rd base, the Dodgers were just two outs from the pennant when Ralph Branca relieved Newcombe to face the Giants’ Bobby Thomson. Thomson had hit a career-best 32 home runs that season with 101 RBIs, and had two hits already in this game. Should the Dodgers walk him to set up a possible game-ending double play with twenty year-old rookie Willie Mays on deck? …or should they follow standard baseball strategy and not intentionally put the winning run on base? Dodger manager Chuck Dressen elected to pitch to Thomson, and on the 0-1 pitch from Branca, Thomson hit a dramatic pennant-winning 3-run home run, forever known as the “Shot Heard Around the World.” As Bobby Thomson jubilantly circled the bases, Giants’ play-by-play radio announcer Russ Hodges gleefully and repeatedly proclaimed “The Giants Win The Pennant! The Giants Win The Pennant!”.