1668 London, Literature: King Charles II appointed the first poet laureate John Dryden who was a prolific translator, playwright, poet, and essayist. None of his titles registers with me but perhaps with thee.
1742 Dublin, Music: In the secular New Music Hall was the premier of Georg Handel’s ‘Messiah’ which was not intended for Christmas, but rather Easter, nonetheless it has become a Christmas ritual.
1888 Paris, Philanthropy: Alfred Nobel read an obituary of himself which condemned him for inventing TNT. It was his brother Ludwig who had died, but the obituary with the care that distinguishes journalism now as then was about Alfred, not Ludwig. Still it set him thinking….and the Nobel Prizes were the result. A study of the Nobel Prizes is discussed elsewhere on this blog.
1902 Kemmerer (WY) J C Penney opened the first store which still operates. John Cash Penney negotiated volume discounts with suppliers and passed on the lower prices to customers. He also started house brands like Big Mac work clothes. In 1973 there were two thousand stores. Penney’s one of the first and few retailers to discontinue fire arms sales even in Wyoming gun country before Dick Cheney got there. Like the other high inventory retailers it has been hit hard by online rivals. One dominated Second Street in Hastings for years but has been gone for decades.
1964 Sasabe (AZ), Entertainment: Filmed on location, Sidney Poitier was awarded the best actor Oscar for the construction worker in ‘Lilies of the Field.’ He was the first black man to receive this award. When Ann Bancroft handed him the statute, she bussed him on the cheek that shocked the tiny minds and she was pilloried by many a Christian. Poitier had been a GI in World War II with a combat badge to prove it unlike so many of the tiny minds.
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