1851 Technology, Texas: Gail Borden developed condensed milk, which meant that milk could be kept without refrigeration for the first time. He used a vacuum pump and established the “Dairyman’s Ten Commandments” to ensure hygiene. He worked in Texas but returned to Connecticut to raise money to develop the invention. A few years later Borden’s milk was a substantial part of Union army rations in the Civil War.
1901 Literature, Moscow: Medical doctor Anton Chekhov’s play ‘Three Sisters” opened at the Moscow Art Theater. Chekhov observed and listened to his patients and they inspired his imagination.
1961 Cinema, New York City: ‘The Misfits’ premiered, directed by John Huston from a screenplay by Arthur Miller. The taming of the mustangs for domesticity seems a metaphor for it three screen stars who were too big, too wild, too other worldly, too old, too vulnerable, too much of the past to live today. It was a doomed production in that it’s three stars died within a year. In hindsight, it has the inevitability of a Greek tragedy.
1983 Politics, London: To reduce deaths in traffic accidents, England required drivers and front-seat passengers to wear seatbelts. Red Queen Barbara Castle had long campaigned for mandatory seatbelts for a generation and had forced manufactures to include them when she was a minister of the crown. A biography of herself is to be found elsewhere on this blog.
1990 Commerce, Moscow: The first McDonalds in Russia opened in Moscow; ti was and still is the world’s biggest McDonalds. More than 30,000 people lined up in deep winter for Big Macs. The emphasis was placed on courteous and considerate customer service and experience which was virtually unknown in Russia at the time. This Moscow McDonalds was a joint venture between McDonalds Canada and the Soviet government. It was a great success and we saw more than one on our Russian sojourn, but none from the inside.
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