June 14 2013 Fri BDE.pdf - Brooklyn Daily Eagle

On This Day in HistoryBrooklyn’s Only Daily Record of Historical Events in the BoroughFounded1841The first Madison Square Garden (1879) proved inadequate. This is the second, whichopened on June 16, 1890. It was designed by Stanford White. When built it was the secondtallest building in New York with the largest auditorium in the U.S., seating 8,000.Two more have been built since — 1925 and 1968. Photo: New-York Historical Society‘New’ Madison Square Garden OpensMANHATTAN — OnJune 16, 1890, a series of orchestralconcerts, includingtwo ballets, conducted by EduardStrauss, brother of JohannStrauss (the WaltzKing), marked the opening ofa new Madison Square Gardenin Manhattan. It was builtto replace a grimy, draftyGarden opened by WilliamVanderbilt on May 31, 1879and demolished in 1889. Thenew building was designed ina Moorish style by StanfordWhite and erected at a cost ofJune 16FROM THE ORIGINAL EAGLE AND OTHER SOURCESWrote Oscar-Winning “Love Story”BROOKLYN — Erich(Wolf) Segal was born in theFlatbush section of Brooklynon June 16, 1937 to SamuelM. Segal, an orthodox rabbi,and Cynthia (Shapiro) Segal.Of his father he has said: “Itwas he who instilled in me thelove of learning and whomade me take Latin as well asHebrew. Avocationally, RabbiSegal was a sculptor, artist,and musician of more than averagetalent, and musical competencewas one of the traitshe passed on to Erich, whoplays the piano well. Segal attendedthe Crown HeightsYeshiva and Midwood HighSchool, where he registeredstraight A’s. He was too frailfor most varsity sports, but hetook up running for therapeuticreasons after injuring a legin a canoe accident when hewas sixteen, and he made thehigh school track team. (Hehas continued to run ten milesa day on a regular basis.) Eventhough the Segals moved toManhattan he continued hisstudies at Midwood.In 1954 Segal graduatedfrom high school and enteredHarvard College, where he rantrack, and with composer JoeRaposo, wrote Harvard’sHasty Pudding Show of 1958.When he took his B.A. degreein 1958, he was both class poetand Latin salutatorian. In 1959,when he earned his M.S. degreefrom Harvard, he met AliMacGraw (later the star of thefilm version of Segal’s LoveStory) during a theatrical productionat nearby WellesleyCollege, and the two remainedfriends thereafter.Dutch Officials Buy Rich FarmlandFLATLANDS— On June 16,1636, Dutch officialspurchased land fromthe Indians in what isnow southeasternBrooklyn. Theynamed it Flatlands.The soil in this areawas very rich, a factthat attracted the CanarseeIndians, whocalled the landKeskachauge. Thepurchase was madeby Jacob van Corlear,Andries Hudde,Wolfert Gerritsenvan Couwenhoven,and Wouter vanTwiller, the governorDetail ofold engravingof PeterStuyvesantof New Netherland. It was under theirauspices that settlements were builtnear what became Beverly Road andUtica Avenue and near Kings Highwayand Flatlands Ave.Jointly the settlements were calledNew Amersfoort in 1647, named aftera city on the River Eem in theprovince of Utrecht. Cowenhoven$1 million. It was topped by areproduction of the GiraldaTower of Seville, later to betopped by Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s statue of Diana, financedby some of WallStreet’s most noted tycoons.The second tallest buildingin New York at the time,it had the largest auditoriumin the U.S. seating 8,000, atheater, a concert hall, apartment,a roof cabaret, and thecity’s largest restaurant. TheGarden was the site of theHorse Show, the WestminsterKennel Club shows, bicycleraces, long-distance footraces, boxing matches, physicalculture exhibitions, andpolitical rallies. It was the siteof the 1924 Democratic NationalConvention, whichlasted 17 days. In 1925 it wasrazed to make way for thenew headquarters of NewYork Life Insurance. A newarena was built at 50th Streetand 8th Avenue. Opening inNovember 1925 it was useduntil the present one wasopened in 1968.Map shows the original towns of Kings Countybklyn-geneology-ngo.comowned a plantation near the site onKings Highway where the FlatlandsDutch Reformed Church was built ata later date.Around 1651 Governor PeterStuyvesant acquired a large plot inthe town. He granted residents localrule in 1661.The primary occupation of thecolonists was farming. They grewcorn, squash, beans, and tobaccoand fed their cattle salt hay.Clams were harvested in JamaicaBay by the fishermen of thesettlement. Slaves accounted forabout 20 percent of the populationand were an important part of theeconomy until New York Stateabolished slavery in 1827. In the1830s the population was aboutseven hundred, making Flatlandsone of the two smallest towns inthe county.In 1896 Flatlands became a partof the city of Brooklyn. The presentFlatlands neighborhood is boundedto the north by Flatlands Avenue, tothe east by Paedergat Basin, to thesouth by Avenue U, and to the westby Flatbush Avenue.Erich Segal who gave us LoveStory in book and movie form(early 1970s), was born inBrooklyn on June 16, 1937.In 1961 Segal wrote a musicalspoof (with music by JoeRaposo) of the Trojan war —Sing, Muse! — while workingfor his Ph.D at Harvard. Itplayed off-Broadway for 39performances. In 1970 and1971 Segal scored sensationallyboth in bookstores and atthe movie box office with hisnovel and film script LoveStory. Strictly as characters,aside from the story line, thestar-crossed hero and heroineof Love Story were based on ayoung man and woman Segalhad known, in separate connections.He first wrote LoveStory as a film script, which hefinished in a few weeks. It wasrejected by every motion picturestudio in the U.S. It wastoo soap-opera-ish for thetimes.Ali MacGraw read theoriginal scenario and persuadedexecutives at Paramountpictures to film it even asSegal was rewriting it as anovel. The novel zoomed tothe top of the best-seller lists,where it remained for months.The movie version became aphenomenal success. Even thestoniest of hearts could not resista tear or two, and manymoviegoers wept openly at thetragic tale.The movie was nominatedfor seven Oscars. Segal’s otherscreen credits include YellowSubmarine, The Games,R.P.M. and Jennifer on MyMind. Segal’s novels includeActs of Faith and Man, Womanand Child.Segal has written books,essays, and translations.He died January, 2010.Birthdays — June 16Cobi JonesAndrew MillsJoyce Carol OatesBilly “Crash” Craddock,singer (“Don’t DestroyMe,” “Ruby, Baby”),born in Greensboro, NCRoberto Duran, formerboxer, born in Chorilla,PanamaCobi Jones, soccerplayer, played in 1994World’s Cup, born inWestlake Village, CALaurie Metcalf, actress(“Roseanne” [EmmyAward, 1992]; DesperatelySeeking Susan), born inEdwardsville, ILPhil Mickelson, golfer,born in San Diego, CAJoyce Carol Oates, author(Triumph of the SpiderMonkey, The Time Traveler),born in Lockport, NYWayne Monte(“Tree”) Rollins, basketballplayer, born in WinterHaven, FLJoan Van Ark, actress (Val in “Knot’s Landing”),born in New York, NYKerry Wood, baseball player, born in Irving, TXFriday, Brooklyn June 14, Daily 2013 Eagle • Brooklyn June 16, Eagle 2013 • 70