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383_9 | the collection grew bigger, while some old and worn out tools disappeared; nevertheless, the collection of ancient instruments is still big, various and rich. |
383_10 | In 2013, the classical lyceum of Altamura started an auction in order to sell 989 scientific instruments "broken, obsolete or unusable". A few local politicians expressed fears and contacted the principal of the high school. The principal explained that the scientific instruments being auctioned were modern and they had no historical value; he also added that the ancient instruments of the collection are and will always be "absolutely untouchable".
The environment
The university started with courses focused on history and ancient languages, but soon it changed its inherent structure. Rector Gioacchino de Gemmis was the main promoter of the reformation of the university, and he wanted it to also incorporate scientific and technical subjects. Students educated in those disciplines could modernize agriculture and production systems of the region. |
383_11 | In the 1780s, a scientific circle of students and professors devoted to math and science () developed. Those took care of obtaining scientific books and keeping up-to-date. At that time, scientific subjects weren't much appreciated in the city and in the whole kingdom. In one of his writings, Luca de Samuele Cagnazzi recounted how hard it was for his Altamuran friend - Paolo Ruggeri - to study math, which was his favorite subject. Ruggeri's father was an Altamuran doctor who wanted his father to study theology. When Ruggeri came back to his hometown Altamura, he brought some math books with him, that his father confiscated, ordering him to devote himself to theology. But Ruggeri, breaking his father's orders, often went to the house of Luca de Samuele Cagnazzi and his brother in order to study, borrowed math books from them and went to the nearby countryside of Altamura in order to study. It also occurred that Ruggeri lost some books or that his father had them confiscated, asking a |
383_12 | servant to give the books back to Cagnazzi and to not borrow them anymore. Rector Gioacchino de Gemmis esteemed him very much and asked him to become a math professor at the University of Altamura. He successfully taught for a few years, before becoming ill with pulmonary tuberculosis and dying very young. |
383_13 | Professors
Many professors taught in the University of Altamura, and one of those was the founder of the university himself, Marcello Papiniano Cusani, who taught law and canon law (at that time those were called i due diritti, "the two legal frameworks").
Giuseppe Carlucci
One of the first and most notable professors of the university was Giuseppe Carlucci. In 1749, he was given the teaching of philosophy and geometry. He was Altamuran and he was described as a professor of "supreme justice, probity and humanity". Luca de Samuele Cagnazzi, in his autobiography, remembers him as an open-minded person, who "hated the superstition that was promoted by silly priests". He also studied mathematics and philosophy, and he was largely self-taught since at that time there was "little love for these sciences" |
383_14 | In order to show his scientific skills, he wrote a treatise in which he demonstrated the certainty of the Earth's motion, dismissing the beliefs and oppositions of that period. The work earned him the admiration of many scholars of that period. In particular, Msgr. Celestino Galiani greatly appreciated his treatise in a letter dated 30 November 1748.
Luca de Samuele Cagnazzi
Another notable teacher was Luca de Samuele Cagnazzi, who was an ex-student of the same university selected to be the assistant of Professor Giuseppe Carlucci for the chair of philosophy and geometry. Following Carlucci's death, he took up his position.
The work of Cagnazzi was devoted to promoting scientific knowledge, which, at that time, was still at an early stage in the Kingdom of Naples. In particular, he provided the university library of scientific books and provided the students with scientific tools for experiments.
Vitangelo Bisceglia |
383_15 | In 1783, Vitangelo Bisceglia was invited to Altamura by rector Gioacchino de Gemmis, in order for him to teach and become his vicar. Inside the university, Bisceglia could teach, among other things, his favorite subject, i.e. botany, and he also managed the university. In that period, Bisceglia showed that he was also skilled in the field of history and law; he wrote a popular treatise entitled Difesa dei dritti e prerogative della real chiesa di Altamura contro le pretensioni del Vescovo di Gravina (written in Altamura on 7 maggio 1795), in which he proved that the privileges and tax exemptions enjoyed by Altamura Cathedral were legal, ending a long-lasting dispute with the bishop of nearby city Gravina in Puglia. This work granted him a great deal of popularity.
He also established a small botanic garden inside the university. |
383_16 | Other professors
Other noteworthy professors were Leopoldo Laudati, professor of Ancient Greek and Hebrew grammar, as well as Manfredi, Angelastri and Ruggiero.
Rectors
Marcello Papiniano Cusani (1748-1752)
Giuseppe Mastrilli (1753-)
Bruno Andrisani
Celestino Guidotti
Gioacchino de Gemmis (1782-)
Maffione di Bisceglie
Gioacchino de Gemmis (1806-1812)
See also
List of Italian universities
Altamura
Gioacchino de Gemmis
Luca de Samuele Cagnazzi
Vitangelo Bisceglia
References
Bibliography
Altamura
Buildings and structures in the Province of Bari
Education in Apulia |
384_0 | David Porter (born November 21, 1941) is an American record producer, songwriter, singer, entrepreneur and philanthropist.
Porter was a 2005 inductee into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, with catalog sales exceeding 400 million units. In 2015, Rolling Stone listed him among the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time. He is best known for songwriting, having written Sam & Dave's "Soul Man" (1968 Grammy winner), and "Hold On, I'm Comin'". His songs have been sampled in Mariah Carey's "Dreamlover" (1993 Grammy winner), and Will Smith's "Gettin' Jiggy wit It" (1999 Grammy winner).
He is also the founder of the Memphis-based Consortium MMT, a nonprofit organization seeking to develop the music industry in Memphis.
Porter has over 1700 songwriter and composer credits for a range of artists, including Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Celine Dion, Otis Redding, Drake, ZZ Top, Tom Jones, Ted Nugent, Bonnie Raitt, Wu-Tang Clan, Eminem, Patsy Cline, Albert King and Eurythmics.
Biography |
384_1 | Early life
Porter was the ninth of 12 children born to James and Corean Porter in Memphis, his second oldest brother was COGIC Bishop W. L. Porter (1925–2009). Porter's career began in music after singing in church, school, Memphis venues and competitions, often with close friend and classmate Maurice White, who later founded Earth, Wind and Fire. Porter graduated from Booker T. Washington High in 1961 and later attended LeMoyne College. While still a high-school student working at a grocery across from Satellite Records, he went over to find if the label would consider recording soul music.
After meetings with Chips Moman, Porter became active at Satellite as a songwriter. With this role, Porter arranged for his friends and classmates to record for the Satellite label, including Booker T. Jones, William Bell, and Andrew Love. Soon after, Satellite rebranded as Stax Records and redefined their focus to become a soul music label.
Stax career |
384_2 | Porter was the first staff songwriter at Stax Records and developed his skills in A&R and songwriting. In Porter's A&R capacity, he signed acts including The Emotions, Homer Banks, The Soul Children and was a catalyst for bringing in Isaac Hayes as a writing partner. As house composers for Stax Records, Porter and Hayes penned most of Sam & Dave's hits, including "Soul Man", "I Thank You", "When Something Is Wrong with My Baby" and "Hold On, I'm Comin'". They also wrote material for Carla Thomas ("B-A-B-Y"), Johnnie Taylor ("I Got to Love Somebody's Baby" and "I Had a Dream"), and The Soul Children. Starting in the late 1960s, Hayes became increasingly focused on his own recording career, eventually leading to the end of the songwriting partnership. The Hayes-Porter duo composed 200 songs during their collaboration. |
384_3 | Porter then began recording his own albums for Stax. He did a single for Stax itself in 1965, "Can't See You When I Want To", a remake of which became a Top 30 R&B hit for Porter. He cut several albums for Stax in the early 1970s, including a concept LP, Victim of the Joke? which includes an upbeat cover of The Beatles' "Help!". Also, he released on other labels under the pseudonyms Little David and Kenny Cain.
Porter began working with songwriting partner Ronnie Williams, and later went on to engineer the brief relaunch of the Stax label in 1978, after the bankrupt label's assets were acquired by Fantasy Records. He and Hayes received Pioneer Awards from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 1999.
Songwriters Hall of Fame
On June 9, 2005, Porter was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame alongside Bill Withers, Steve Cropper, Robert B. Sherman, Richard M. Sherman, John Fogerty, and his longtime writing partner Isaac Hayes. |
384_4 | The Consortium MMT
In 2012, Porter founded The Consortium MMT, a 501(c) non-profit with the goal of developing a viable music industry in Memphis through structured teaching, experience and mentorship. Porter was awarded the 2013 Governor's Arts Award for his achievements including the founding and success of The Consortium MMT venture.
Awards, honors and positions
Awards and honors |
384_5 | Songwriters Hall of Fame Inductee
Rolling Stone 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time
Mr. David Porter Street honorary in Memphis, Tennessee
Grammy Awards and Nominations (various, over a 50-year span)
RIAA Certified One-Million Sales Award, Soul Man by Sam & Dave
Broadcast Music, Inc., Citation of Achievement 1969, Soul Man
Broadcast Music, Inc., Citation of Achievement, Dreamlover 1st Award
Broadcast Music, Inc., Citation of Achievement, Dreamlover 2nd Award
Broadcast Music, Inc., Citation of Achievement, Gettin' Jiggy Wit It
Broadcast Music, Inc., Pop Award
Rhythm and Blues "Pioneer Award" Winner, 1999
The University of Memphis "Distinguished Achievement Award" In the Creative and Performing Arts, 1992
The University of Memphis Board of Trustees Award, 2008
The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Award of Appreciation
2013 Governor's Arts Award (awarded on basis of arts achievements and work with the Consortium MMT)
Boards, commissions and entrepreneurship |
384_6 | Chapter President and National Trustee, The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
Chairman, Memphis/Shelby County Film, Tape and Music Commission
Member of the Board, Youth Villages
Trustee, University of Memphis Board of Visitors
Member of the Board, State of Tennessee Film/Music Commission
Member of the Board, TPC annual PGA golf event benefiting St. Jude Hospital
Member of the Board, Orpheum Theatre (Memphis)
Member of the Board, Memphis State Music Advisory Board
Director, Bank of Bartlett
Owner, Da Blues (blues club) at Memphis International Airport
Owner, IPR Records
Owner, Robosac Music, LLC (music publishing company)
Investor, Xsite (Memphis, Little Rock)
Investor/Partner B.B. Kings Blues Club (Memphis, Los Angeles)
Stax-era discography (1965–74) |
384_7 | Songwriting and production with Isaac Hayes
1965: "Candy", by the Astors
1965: "You Don't Know Like I Know", by Sam & Dave
1966: "Let Me Be Good to You", by Carla Thomas
1966: "B-A-B-Y", by Carla Thomas
1966: "Your Good Thing (Is About to End)", by Mabel John
1966: "Hold On, I'm Comin'", by Sam & Dave
1967: "When Something is Wrong with My Baby", by Sam & Dave
1967: "Soul Man", by Sam & Dave
1968: "I Thank You", by Sam & Dave
1969: "So I Can Love You", by The Emotions (production only)
1969: "The Sweeter He Is", by The Soul Children
1969: "Soul Sister Brown Sugar", by Sam & Dave
Albums
All albums issued on Stax Records' Enterprise label.
1970: Gritty, Groovy, & Gettin' It
1971: ...Into a Real Thing
1973: Victim of the Joke? An Opera
1974: Sweat & Love |
384_8 | Singles
All singles issued on Stax Records' Enterprise label unless otherwise noted.
1965: "Can't See You When I Want To" b/w "Win You Over" (Stax)
1970: "One Part Love, Two Parts Pain" b/w "Can't See You When I Want To"
1971: "If I Give It Up, I Want It Back [Pt. I]" b/w "If I Give It Up, I Want It Back [Pt. II]"
1972: "Ain't That Loving You (for More Reasons Than One)" b/w "Baby I'm-a Want You" (with Isaac Hayes)
1972: "I'm Afraid the Masquerade Is Over" b/w "Hang On Sloopy"
1972: "When the Chips Are Down" b/w "I Wanna Be Your Somebody"
1973: "Long as You're the One Somebody in the World" b/w "When You Have to Sneak, You Have to Sneak"
1974: "I Got You and I'm Glad" b/w "Falling Out, Falling In"
References
External links
1941 births
Living people
American funk musicians
American soul musicians
Musicians from Memphis, Tennessee
Stax Records artists |
385_0 | Am Yisrael Foundation () is a Tel Aviv and New York-based foundation and umbrella nonprofit organization for a variety of initiatives that promote Zionist engagement among Jewish young adults residing in Israel, including providing leadership platforms for young Jews who have made Aliyah, or are contemplating immigration to Israel.
The Am Yisrael Foundation describes itself as “a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that launches, supports, and funds initiatives that empower modern Zionist pioneering amongst Jewish young adults." The Foundation serves as an incubator for social entrepreneurial activities that foster Jewish identity, community development, leadership, volunteerism, a culture of Tzedakah, grassroots civic engagement, Zionist action, and fundamental Jewish values. |
385_1 | History
The Am Yisrael Foundation's activities were launched in 2007 by Jay M. Shultz, a Fair Lawn, New Jersey-born entrepreneur. Shultz moved to Israel from New York City in 2006, and settled in Tel Aviv. Concerned about mounting assimilation among young Jews, he was convinced that Aliyah offered part of the solution. Yet he found Tel Aviv lacking in social and cultural frameworks for young English-speaking adults who took this step. To address this lacuna and further his idea of modern-day Zionist pioneering in Israel, he launched a series of social entrepreneurial initiatives focusing on the Tel Aviv area. The Am Yisrael Foundation as the umbrella organization under which these programs operate was formally established in 2013 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. |
385_2 | One of the objectives of the organization is to leverage the backgrounds of Western immigrants in partnership with their native Israeli peers to cultivate a culture of pro-active “Observant Zionism” with the ultimate goal of developing networks critical for the vibrant survival of the Jewish People and Israel’s civil and economic positive development. |
385_3 | Vision and ideology
The work of the Am Yisrael Foundation is rooted in an ideology of “Observant Zionism,” which sees every Jew as responsible for building up the Jewish homeland and contributing to “Am Yisrael,” the Jewish People.
Observant Zionism
Observant Zionism is not a specifically religious or secular ideology, yet it is based on traditional Jewish thought and practice, and the belief that “God helps those who help themselves.” Acting on the idea that man was put on this earth to elevate the physical into the spiritual, "Observant Zionism" advocates a proactive “roll-up your sleeves” philosophy combined with continued respect for the traditions of old. The Am Yisrael Foundation believes that this form of pioneering Zionism can be translated into community work, educational initiatives, civil action, Aliyah, serving in the IDF and business entrepreneurship.
Emblem |
385_4 | The Am Yisrael Foundation logo shows twelve stalks of wheat. Wheat is a symbol of sustenance in Jewish tradition and one of the Seven Species of the Land of Israel. The stalks of wheat, also a reference to the biblical dream of Joseph and the Twelve Tribes of Israel, are arranged in four groupings of three, recalling the encampment of the Israelites around the Mishkan while they wandered in the desert. In contrast to the inequality between the brothers in Joseph’s dream, the stalks of wheat in the Am Yisrael Foundation logo stand together as one unified cohesive family. The four corners of the logo's square are empty referencing the "Ingathering of the Exiles" Gathering of Israel from the four corners of the world.
Affiliated organizations
The organizations that operate under Am Yisrael Foundation auspices include:
TLV Internationals |
385_5 | TLV Internationals, one of Israel’s largest organizations for young Olim, plans community events for English-speakers in Tel Aviv and helps newcomers over the hurdle of adjusting to life in Israel. TLV Internationals is run by young grassroots volunteers from a variety of backgrounds and nations, claiming over 50,000 followers. The organization serves as an advocate for the interests of the international community in Israel within the business sector, local municipalities, and the national government. TLV Internationals hosts large annual national holiday and special events for Jewish young adults including; Yom HaAtzmaut, Yom HaZikaron, Yom HaAliyah, and the "Batzir" grape harvest. |
385_6 | White City Shabbat
White City Shabbat organizes communal Shabbat and Jewish holiday meals in Tel Aviv for young adults. The organization also matches up people interested in attending a Friday night Shabbat dinner or Shabbat lunch with potential hosts for home hospitality. On June 21, 2014 in Tel Aviv, White City Shabbat set the Guinness World Record for the Largest Shabbat Dinner on Earth.
Tel Aviv International Salon
Tel Aviv International Salon is a speakers forum that organizes nonpartisan lectures in Tel Aviv, and invites Israeli leaders and decision-makers to speak to audiences of young adults. Former speakers have included lawyer Alan Dershowitz, R. James Woolsey Jr., sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer (Dr. Ruth), Isaac Herzog, politician Naftali Bennett, politician Yair Lapid, politician Tzipi Livni, Mossad director Meir Dagan, Natan Sharansky, Rav Yisrael Meir Lau, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, and Ambassador Michael Oren. |
385_7 | In the Great Debate Series, opposing experts are brought in to debate controversial issues. In the Business Leader Series, Israeli businessmen discuss Israeli financial and economic issues. The Ambassador Series is hosted at the private residences of foreign ambassadors in Israel, offering an inside look on international issues and Israeli relations.
Shomer Israel Fellowship
Shomer Israel Fellowship hosts monthly lectures for Jewish young adults on Zionism and organizes monthly night trips to the Negev and Galilee to help farmers and ranchers living on a Kibbutz or Moshav in outlying areas guard their property. |
385_8 | Tel Aviv Arts Council
Tel Aviv Arts Council brings together young patrons of the arts for events that focus on celebrating Israeli creative culture. The Tel Aviv Arts Council organizes performances, lectures on art history, and cultural events that combine art and social networking in an effort to promote Israeli art and convey the message that Israeli innovation goes beyond technology. The Tel Aviv Arts Council has sponsored an Israeli Cinema Series, a Gallery Series an Art Tour Series, and the Young International Artist Award in partnership with Outset Israel. The Tel Aviv Arts Council has had collaborations with major cultural institutions such as the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Shenkar College of Engineering and Design, the Tel Aviv Cinematheque, and the Batsheva Dance Company. |
385_9 | Adopt-A-Safta
Adopt-A-Safta (“Adopt-A-Grandmother”) is an organization that pairs young volunteers with lonely Holocaust Survivors following the Big Brother/Big Sister model. The connection provides the Survivors with a “family” connection and personal warmth that may be missing from their lives as they age. According to the Foundation for the Benefit of Holocaust Victims, simple loneliness is the chief complaint of Holocaust Survivors in Israel, and that 35 Survivors die every day, so the efforts of Adopt-A-Safta are ultimately a race against time.
Each year, Adopt-A-Safta hosts a large Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Memorial Day) commemorative event for hundreds of Jewish young adults in Tel Aviv.
ProjecT.A. |
385_10 | ProjecT.A. organizes civic action drives such as substantive engagement with various departments of the Tel Aviv-Yafo municipality, volunteering to become trained emergency response medics, and a call to sign up as volunteer police officers with the Israel National Police. At a meeting held with the Tel Aviv Police’s Yarkon subdistrict civil guard in 2014, young immigrants from different backgrounds submitted their candidacy for police training, ultimately becoming the first young Olim volunteer police force in Israel.
Tel Aviv Center of Jewish Life |
385_11 | Tel Aviv Center of Jewish Life, has revitalized Judaism in the White City and holds Shabbat and Jewish holiday event that attract large numbers of young Olim and native-born Israelis under the leadership of Rabbi Shlomo Chayen. Although the center formally identifies as modern religious Zionist, Ashkenazi and Sephardi, it is a relaxed congregation that welcomes all Jews from any background. In addition to hosting Shabbat meals in partnership with White City Shabbat, the center offers prayer services, Torah classes, Jewish philosophy seminars and Talmud study groups.
Special projects and events
Events sponsored by the Am Yisrael Foundation are attended by young adults, Israeli and international, as well as tourists, embassy staff and members of the foreign press. |
385_12 | In 2015, the Am Yisrael Foundation raised funds for a Torah scroll written in honor of the 72 IDF soldiers killed in battle during Operation Protective Edge.
The Torah dedication ceremony at 86 Ben Yehuda - Ichud Olam Jewish Community Center in Tel Aviv. commenced with a procession of singing and dancing through the streets of Tel Aviv led by Israel’s Chief Rabbi, Yisrael Meir Lau.
Yom HaAliyah |
385_13 | Am Yisrael Foundation's President Jay M. Shultz was the driving force behind the creation of a new national Israeli holiday, Yom HaAliyah () (Aliyah Day). On June 21, 2016, the Knesset voted in favor of adding Aliyah Day to the calendar. Aliyah Day will be celebrated on the tenth of the Hebrew month of Nisan , when according to the Bible in the Book of Joshua, Joshua and the Israelites crossed the Jordan River at Gilgal into the Promised Land. This was the first documented “mass Aliyah.” Yom HaAliyah was established to acknowledge Aliyah as a core value of the State of Israel and the Jewish People, and to honor the ongoing contributions of Olim to Israeli society. |
385_14 | As the tenth of Nisan occurs a few days before the Passover holiday, when schools are not in session, the school system will also mark the holiday on the seventh of the Hebrew month of Heshvan. That date is also symbolic as the Torah portion read out in synagogues that week, Lekh Lekha, relates the story of how the biblical patriarch Abraham is ordered by God to leave his home and his family and go up to the Land of Israel.
The Yom HaAliyah bill was presented to the Twentieth Knesset by Miki Zohar of Likud, Hilik Bar of Israeli Labor Party, and Michael Oren of Kulanu. |
385_15 | Awards and recognition
On June 13, 2014, Am Yisrael Foundation’s White City Shabbat set the Guinness World Record for the world's largest Shabbat dinner. Held at Hangar 11 at Tel Aviv Port, the event was attended by 2,226 people, including Alan Dershowitz, Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai, Israeli basketball star Tal Brody and former US Ambassador Michael Oren. The event took almost a year of preparation and involved “60 days of crowd-sourced fundraising, 800 bottles of Israeli wine, 80 bottles of vodka, 50 bottles of whiskey, 2,000 challah rolls, 80 long tables, 1,800 pieces of chicken, 1,000 portions of beef and 250 vegetarian meals.” A total of 2,300 diners signed up for the dinner and another 3,000 were placed on the waiting list. |
385_16 | Am Yisrael Foundation is an official member of the World Zionist Organization's American Zionist Movement, which consists of 39 U.S. national Jewish Zionist organizations and works across a broad ideological, political and religious spectrum linking the American Jewish community together in support of Israel, Zionism and the Jewish People. Am Yisrael Foundation stands by the Jerusalem Program, which is the official platform of the World Zionist Organization and the global Zionist movement, having been most recently amended and adopted in June 2004, as the successor statement to the “Basel Program” of 1897 adopted at the First Zionist Congress convened by Theodor Herzl. The Jerusalem Program states that: Zionism, the national liberation movement of the Jewish people, brought about the establishment of the State of Israel, and views a Jewish, Zionist, democratic and secure State of Israel to be the expression of the common responsibility of the Jewish people for its continuity and |
385_17 | future. |
385_18 | See also
Culture of Israel
Start-up Nation
Gathering of Israel
References
External links
Am Yisrael Foundation website
Am Yisrael Foundation Facebook page
TLV Internationals website
Tel Aviv International Salon website
Tel Aviv Arts Council website
Adopt-A-Safta website
White City Shabbat website
Jewish organizations based in Israel
Jewish organizations
Non-profit organizations based in Israel
Foundations based in Israel
Jewish charities based in the United States
Jewish organizations based in the United States
Charities based in Israel
International Jewish organizations
Jewish educational organizations
Jewish community organizations
Jewish charities
Volunteer organizations of Israel
501(c)(3) organizations
International organizations based in Israel
Zionist organizations
Aliyah
Zionism
Immigration to Israel |
386_0 | A diner is a small, inexpensive restaurant found all over the United States, as well as in Canada and parts of Western Europe. Diners offer a wide range of foods, mostly American cuisine, a casual atmosphere, and, characteristically, a combination of booths served by a waitstaff and a long sit-down counter with direct service, in the smallest simply by a cook. Many diners have extended hours, and some along highways and areas with significant shift work stay open for 24 hours. |
386_1 | Considered quintessentially American, many diners share an archetypal exterior form. Some of the earliest were converted rail cars, retaining their streamlined structure and interior fittings. From the 1920s to the 1940s, diners, by then commonly known as "lunch cars", were usually prefabricated in factories, like modern mobile homes, and delivered on site with only the utilities needing to be connected. As a result, many early diners were typically small and narrow to fit onto a rail car or truck. This small footprint also allowed them to be fitted into tiny and relatively inexpensive lots that otherwise were unable to support a larger enterprise. Diners were historically small businesses operated by the owner, with some presence of restaurant chains evolving over time. |
386_2 | Diners typically serve staples of American cuisine such as hamburgers, french fries, club sandwiches, and other simple, quickly cooked, and inexpensive fare, such as meatloaf or steak. Much of the food is grilled, as early diners were based around a gas-fueled flat-top. Coffee is a diner staple. Diners often serve milkshakes and desserts such as pies, cake or ice cream. Comfort food cuisine draws heavily from, and is deeply rooted in, traditional diner fare. Many diners will serve regional cuisine as well, such as clam chowder in New England and tacos in California.
Classic American diners often have an exterior layer of stainless steel siding—a feature unique to diner architecture. In some cases, diners share nostalgic, retro-style features also found in some restored drive-ins and old movie theatres.
History |
386_3 | A crude precursor of the diner was created in 1872 by Walter Scott, who sold food out of a horse-pulled wagon to employees of the Providence Journal, in Providence, Rhode Island. Scott's diner can be considered the first diner with walk-up service, as it had windows on each side of the wagon. Commercial production of such "lunch wagons" began in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1887, by Thomas Buckley. Buckley was successful and became known for his "White House Cafe" wagons. Charles Palmer received the first patent (1893) for the diner, which he billed as a "Night-Lunch Wagon." He built his "fancy night cafes" and "night lunch wagons" in the Worcester area until 1901.
Prefabricated diners
As the number of seats increased, wagons gave way to pre-fabricated buildings made by many of the same manufacturers which had made the wagons. Like the lunch wagon, a stationary diner allowed one to set up a food service business quickly using pre-assembled constructs and equipment. |
386_4 | The Transfer Station neighborhood of Union City, New Jersey was the site, in 1912, of the first lunch wagon built by Jerry and Daniel O'Mahoney and John Hanf, which was bought for $800 and operated by restaurant entrepreneur Michael Griffin, who chose the location for its copious foot traffic. The wagon helped spark New Jersey's golden age of diner manufacturing, which in turn made the state the diner capital of the world. In the decades that followed, nearly all major U.S. diner manufacturers, including Jerry O'Mahoney Inc., started in New Jersey. Jerry O'Mahony (1890–1969), who hailed from Bayonne, New Jersey, is credited by some to have made the first such "diner". The O'Mahony Diner Company of Elizabeth, New Jersey, produced 2,000 diners from 1917 to 1952. Only approximately twenty remain throughout the United States and abroad. Others more credibly credit Philip H. Duprey and Grenville Stoddard, who established the Worcester Lunch Car and Carriage Manufacturing Company in |
386_5 | Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1906, when O'Mahony was still just 16. |
386_6 | Until the Great Depression, most diner manufacturers and their customers were located in the Northeast. Diner manufacturing suffered with other industries during the Depression, though not as much as many industries, and the diner offered a less expensive way of getting into the restaurant business as well as less expensive food than more formal establishments. After World War II, as the economy returned to civilian production and the suburbs boomed, diners were an attractive small business opportunity. During this period, diners spread beyond their original urban and small town market to highway strips in the suburbs, even reaching the Midwest, with manufacturers such as Valentine. After the Interstate Highway System was implemented in the U.S. in the 1960s, diners saw a boom in business as mobile travellers would stop for a meal. |
386_7 | In many areas, diners were superseded in the 1970s by fast food restaurants, but in parts of New Jersey, New York, the New England states, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, the independently owned diner remains relatively common. Since the 1970s, most newly constructed diners lack the original narrow, stainless steel, streamlined appearance, and are usually much bigger buildings, though some are still made of several prefabricated modules, assembled on site, and manufactured by the old line diner builders. A wide variety of architectural styles were now used for these later diners, including Cape Cod and Colonial styles. The old-style single module diners featuring a long counter and a few small booths sometimes now grew additional dining rooms, lavish wallpaper, fountains, crystal chandeliers and Greek statuary. The definition of the term "diner" began to blur as older, prefabricated diners received more conventional frame additions, sometimes leaving the original structure nearly |
386_8 | unrecognizable as it was surrounded by new construction or a renovated facade. Businesses that called themselves diners but which were built onsite and not prefabricated began to appear. These larger establishments were sometimes known as diner-restaurants. |
386_9 | Manufacturers
Bixler Manufacturing Company
DeRaffele Manufacturing Co. Inc
Fodero Dining Car Company
Jerry O'Mahony Diner Company
Kullman Dining Car Company
Mountain View Diners Company
Silk City Diners
Tierney Dining Cars
Worcester Lunch Car Company
Sterling Streamliner diners
Inspired by the streamlined trains, and especially the Burlington Zephyr, Roland Stickney designed a diner in the shape of a streamlined train called the Sterling Streamliner in 1939. Built by the J.B. Judkins coach company, which had built custom car bodies, the Sterling and other diner production ceased in 1942 at the beginning of American involvement in World War II. Two Sterling Streamliners remain in operation: the Salem Diner at its original location in Salem, Massachusetts and the Modern Diner in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
Architecture |
386_10 | Like a mobile home, the original style diner is narrow and elongated and allows roadway or railway transportation to the restaurant's site. In the traditional diner floorplan, a service counter dominates the interior, with a preparation area against the back wall and floor-mounted stools for the customers in front. Larger models may have a row of booths against the front wall and at the ends. The decor varied over time. Diners of the 1920s–1940s feature Art Deco or Streamline Moderne elements or copy the appearance of rail dining cars (though very few are, in fact, refurbished rail cars). They featured porcelain enamel exteriors, some with the name written on the front, others with bands of enamel, others in flutes. Many had a "barrel vault" roofline. Tile floors were common. Diners of the 1950s tended to use stainless steel panels, porcelain enamel, glass blocks, terrazzo floors, Formica, and neon sign trim. Diners built in the 2000s generally have a different type of architecture; |
386_11 | they are laid out more like restaurants, retaining some aspects of traditional diner architecture (stainless steel and Art Deco elements, usually) while discarding others (the small size, and emphasis on the counter). |
386_12 | Cuisine
Many diners serve casual food, such as hamburgers, french fries, club sandwiches, and other simple fare. Much of the food is grilled, as early diners were based around a grill. There is often an emphasis on breakfast foods such as eggs (including omelettes), waffles, pancakes, and French toast. Menus may somewhat resemble those from greasy spoon-style restaurants. Some diners serve these "breakfast foods" throughout the business day and others that focus on breakfast may close in the early afternoon. These are most commonly known as pancake houses. Coffee is ubiquitous at diners. Many diners do not serve alcoholic drinks, although some may serve beer and inexpensive wine, while others—particularly in New Jersey and on Long Island—carry a full drink menu, including mixed drinks. Many diners serve hand-blended milkshakes. The food is usually quite inexpensive. |
386_13 | There is regional variation among diners with traditional food. In the U.S., Michigan and the Ohio Valley at "Coney Island–style" restaurants, coney dogs are served, as are certain types of Greek cuisine like gyros influenced by Greek diner owners. In Indiana and Iowa, pork tenderloin sandwiches are often on the menu. The Northeast has more of a focus on seafood, with fried clams and fried shrimp commonly found in Maine and cheesesteak sandwiches and scrapple in Pennsylvania. Diners in the Southwest U.S. may serve tamales. In the southern U.S., typical breakfast dishes include grits, biscuits and gravy, and soul food such as fried chicken and collard greens. In New Jersey, the "Taylor Ham, Egg, and Cheese Sandwich" is a feature of many diners. Many diners have transparent display cases in or behind the counter for the desserts. It is common with new diners to have the desserts displayed in rotating pie cases. Typical desserts include a variety of pies and cheesecake. |
386_14 | Immigrant influences
Several international ethnic influences have been introduced into the diner industry in the U.S., because of generations of immigration. Many diners in the United States—especially in the Northeast—are owned or operated by first and second generation Americans. Greek-Americans, Eastern European Americans, as well as Polish, Ukrainian, Eastern European Jews, Italian-Americans, Mexicans and Cubans may have notable presences. These influences can be seen in certain frequent additions to diner menus, such as Greek moussaka, Slavic blintzes, and Jewish matzah ball soup, deli-style sandwiches (e.g., corned beef, pastrami, Reubens), and bagels and lox.
Cultural significance |
386_15 | Diners attract a wide spectrum of the local populations, and are generally small businesses. From the mid-twentieth century onwards, they have been seen as quintessentially American, reflecting the perceived cultural diversity and egalitarian nature of the country at large. Throughout much of the 20th century, diners, mostly in the Northeast, were often owned and operated by Greek-American immigrant families. The presence of Greek casual food, like gyros and souvlaki, on several northeastern diners' menus, testifies to this cultural link. |
386_16 | Diners frequently stay open 24 hours a day, especially in cities, and were once the most widespread 24-hour public establishments in the U.S., making them an essential part of urban culture, alongside bars and nightclubs; these two segments of nighttime urban culture often find themselves intertwined, as many diners get a good deal of late-night business from persons departing drinking establishments. Many diners were also historically placed near factories which operated 24 hours a day, with night shift workers providing a key part of the customer base. For this reason, diners sometimes served as symbols of loneliness and isolation. Edward Hopper's iconic 1942 painting Nighthawks depicts a diner and its occupants, late at night. The diner in the painting is based on a real location in Greenwich Village, but was chosen in part because diners were anonymous slices of Americana, meaning that the scene could have been taken from any city in the country-and also because a diner was a |
386_17 | place to which isolated individuals, awake long after bedtime, would naturally be drawn. The spread of the diner meant that by 1942 it was possible for Hopper to cast this institution in a role for which, fifteen years earlier, he had used an Automat all-night restaurant. The diner as an institution in this painting is a vignette mimicked by a movie lead-in aired nightly on the Turner Classic Movie Channel. |
386_18 | But as a rule, diners were always symbols of American optimism. Norman Rockwell made his 1958 painting, The Runaway, generically American by placing his subjects, a young boy and a protective highway patrolman, at the counter of an anonymous diner. In television and cinema (e.g. The Blob, Happy Days, Grease and Diner), diners and soda fountains have come to symbolize the period of prosperity and optimism in America in the 1950s. They are shown as the place where teenagers meet after school and as an essential part of a date. The television show Alice used a diner as the setting for the program, and one is often a regular feature in sitcoms such as Seinfeld. The diner's cultural influence continues today. Many non-prefab restaurants (including franchises like Denny's) have copied the look of 1950s diners for nostalgic appeal, while Waffle House uses an interior layout derived from the diner. |
386_19 | Manhattan was once known for its diners. The Moondance Diner was shipped to Wyoming to make room for development.
Diners provide a nationwide, recognizable, fairly uniform place to eat and assemble, desirable traits mirrored by fast food chains. The types of food served are likely to be consistent, especially within a region (exceptions being districts with large immigrant populations, in which diners and coffee shops will often cater their menus to those local cuisines), as are the prices charged. At the same time, diners have much more individuality than fast food chains; the structures, menus, and even owners and staff, while having a certain degree of similarity to each other, vary much more widely than the more rigidly standardized chain and franchise restaurants. The Poirier's Diner and Munson Diner, both manufactured by the Kullman Dining Car Company of Lebanon, New Jersey, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. |
386_20 | Diners have figured significantly in American films and television since the form developed. In I Love Lucy, the episode titled "The Diner" shows the perils, pitfalls, and difficulty in operating a diner, to much comedic effect. Archetypal appearances include significant scenes in classic films such as Sullivan's Travels and The Killers. The 1982 "rites of passage" film Diner was centered on an eatery shared by the protagonists. Waitress in 2007 was about a waitress in a diner. Television series include the Food Network show Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. Pennsylvania Diners and Other Roadside Restaurants, is a 1993 documentary. Diners are the focus of photorealist painter John Baeder who spent about 40 years painting diners across the US. In 1990, Williams Electronics Games introduced a pinball machine entitled Diner. The object of the game is to serve all customers to light-up Dine Time (the jackpot).
See also |
386_21 | List of diners, a list of notable diners in the US
Diner lingo, American verbal slang used by staff in diners
Lunch counter, a small diner-like restaurant located within another retail establishment
Greasy spoon, any small, cheap eatery including diners
Cha chaan teng, a diner-like café in Hong Kong
Dhaba, a roadside diner in India
Mamak stall, a diner-like restaurant in Malaysia
Warung, cheap eatery in Indonesia
References |
386_22 | Further reading
Baeder, John, Diners. Rev. and updated ed. New York: Abrams, 1995.
Butko, Brian, and Kevin Patrick. Diners of Pennsylvania. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1999.
Garbin, Randy. Diners of New England. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2005.
Gutman, Richard J. S. American Diner: Then and Now. New York: HarperPerennial, 1993.
Witzel, Michael Karl The American Diner. MBI Publishing Company, 1998.
"Greasin' up the Griddle, and Rollin' into History" The Journal of Antiques and Collectibles, August 2003, retrieved on December 29, 2007.
Charles Palmer's 1893 patent
External links
American culture
Canadian culture
Fast food
Nightlife
Northeastern United States
Restaurants by type |
387_0 | The following events occurred in June 1948: |
387_1 | June 1, 1948 (Tuesday)
Israeli planes bombed Amman in the first attack on an Arab capital city. Arab officials said six Arab civilians were killed.
Israel and the Arab League both announced that they were willing to accept the UN's request for a four-week ceasefire.
The Republican Party presidential primaries concluded.
Disappearance of Virginia Carpenter: 21-year old Mary Virginia Carpenter went missing in Denton, Texas in a much-publicized case that remains unsolved.
Mexico City's government-owned Hotel del Prado opened without the traditional blessing of Catholic Archbishop Luis María Martínez due to the inclusion of a controversial mural painted by Diego Rivera depicting 19th century atheist writer Ignacio Ramírez holding an open book with the words "God does not exist." Rivera suggested that the Archbishop "bless the hotel but condemn my mural."
Sports goods brand, Puma was founded in West Germany. (now Germany) |
387_2 | Born: Powers Boothe, actor, in Snyder, Texas (d. 2017); Tom Sneva. race car driver, in Spokane, Washington |
387_3 | June 2, 1948 (Wednesday)
The UN Security Council decided that both Israel and the Arab states had accepted unconditionally its demand for a four-week truce despite reservations by both sides, and asked the UN mediator Folke Bernadotte to set a time for the ceasefire order to go into effect.
The first Battle of Negba was fought. The Egyptian army attacked the kibbutz of Negba but was repulsed.
The British House of Lords voted 181–28 to reject the five-year moratorium on capital punishment that the House of Commons had approved.
About 3,500 people attended a rally at the Washington Monument organized by followers of Henry A. Wallace to urge enactment of civil rights legislation and protest the Mundt-Nixon Communist Control Bill.
Born: Jerry Mathers, actor, in Sioux City, Iowa
Died: hanged at Landsberg Prison for crimes against humanity:
Viktor Brack, 43, German Nazi;
Karl Brandt, 44, German Nazi SS officer;
Karl Gebhardt, 50, German doctor; |
387_4 | Waldemar Hoven, 45, German Nazi physician;
Joachim Mrugowsky, 42, German Nazi hygienist;
Wolfram Sievers, 42, German Nazi |
387_5 | June 3, 1948 (Thursday)
A referendum was held in the Dominion of Newfoundland to decide its political future. None of the three options (join Canada, regain independence or remain under British rule) achieved the required 50% approval, so a second referendum was scheduled for July 22 with the least popular option (remain with Britain) dropped.
Operation Pleshet ended in Egyptian tactical victory when the Israeli attack was repulsed.
Higinio Moríñigo was overthrown as President of Paraguay in a bloodless coup. Juan Manuel Frutos took over as provisional president.
Construction of the Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hills near Custer, South Dakota began with the first dynamite blast. |
387_6 | June 4, 1948 (Friday)
Daniel François Malan became 3rd Prime Minister of South Africa. The era of apartheid had begun.
Ohio's State Secretary ruled that the group supporting Henry A. Wallace for president was not entitled to appear on the state's ballot, calling attention to the fact that the group's original affidavit failed to include a statement that it was not directed by a foreign government. Wallace said that his party would fight the ruling in court.
Buckingham Palace announced that Princess Elizabeth would be undertaking no public engagements after the end of June, indirectly confirming rumors that she was due to have a baby in the fall.
Born: Bob Champion, jump jockey, in Guisborough, England; David Haskell, actor, in Stockton, California (d. 2000) |
387_7 | June 5, 1948 (Saturday)
The United States Atomic Energy Commission announced plans to build the world's largest atom-smasher at Los Alamos, New Mexico at a cost of $2 million.
My Love won the Epsom Derby.
Died: Glen Edwards, 30, American test pilot (plane crash)
June 6, 1948 (Sunday)
Presidential elections were held in Ecuador, resulting in a narrow victory for Galo Plaza.
The Battle of Nitzanim began between Israeli and Egyptian forces over the kibbutz of Nitzanim.
Another pastoral letter from Primate József Mindszenty was read in Hungarian Catholic churches, telling parishioners to stop consuming government-controlled radio and newspapers.
Born: Richard Sinclair, bassist, singer and founding member of the rock band Caravan, in Canterbury, England
Died: Louis Lumière, 83, French film pioneer |
387_8 | June 7, 1948 (Monday)
Edvard Beneš resigned as President of Czechoslovakia. The public explanation given was his health and the "overall political situation," but a United Press report indicated that he disapproved of the Ninth-of-May Constitution and the conduct of the recent elections.
The first of two days of anti-Jewish rioting broke out in the towns of Oujda and Jerada in the French protectorate in Morocco.
June 8, 1948 (Tuesday)
Czech Prime Minister Klement Gottwald assumed the functions of the President and signed the Ninth-of-May Constitution into law.
The first vehicle to bear the Porsche name was registered: the Porsche 356 sports car.
NBC's Texaco Star Theater made the jump from radio to television. It would be one of the earliest hit TV shows and give host Milton Berle the nickname of "Mister Television".
Born: Jürgen von der Lippe, television presenter and comedian, in Bad Salzuflen, Germany |
387_9 | June 9, 1948 (Wednesday)
Israel and the Arab League agreed to observe the four-week ceasefire beginning Friday at 6 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time.
US President Harry S. Truman began a whirlwind two-day tour of the state of Washington that was described as "non-political" but nevertheless served as a tune-up for the upcoming presidential campaign. During his first speech in Spokane, Truman denounced the 80th United States Congress for having what he famously called a "do-nothing" record.
Born: Gudrun Schyman, politician, in Täby, Sweden; Gary Thorne, sports announcer, in Bangor, Maine |
387_10 | June 10, 1948 (Thursday)
The Battle of Nitzanim ended in Egyptian victory.
By a vote of 78–10, the US Senate passed a selective draft bill authorizing up to 250,000 men aged 19 to 25 to be called for up to two years of military service.
In Puerto Rico Law 53, better known as the Gag Law, was signed into law with the goal of suppressing the independence movement in Puerto Rico. The law would remain in force until 1957.
The radio anthology series Hallmark Playhouse premiered on CBS.
June 11, 1948 (Friday)
The Arab-Israeli truce went into effect.
The Danish passenger steamship Kjobenhavn struck a mine in the Kattegat and sank with the loss of 341 of the 402 people aboard.
A rhesus monkey named Albert I became the first primate astronaut when he was launched inside a V-2 rocket in White Sands, New Mexico with virtually no publicity. He died of suffocation during the flight.
Died: Hugh Dorsey, 76, American lawyer and 62nd Governor of Georgia |
387_11 | June 12, 1948 (Saturday)
President Truman made a foreign policy speech in Berkeley, California declaring that his country would not allow the world to be split into two spheres of influence dominated by the US and the Soviet Union.
1948 Anti-Jewish riots in Tripolitania: Riots broke out between the Arab and Jewish communities of Tripoli, resulting in the deaths of 13-14 Jews and 4 Arabs and destruction of 280 Jewish homes.
The Women's Armed Services Integration Act was enacted in the United States, allowing women to permanently serve in the US military.
Citation won the Belmont Stakes to complete the Triple Crown of horse racing.
Born: Len Wein, comic book writer and editor, in New York City (d. 2017) |
387_12 | June 13, 1948 (Sunday)
In the first immigration case since the Arab-Israeli truce began, the liner Kedmah anchored in Tel Aviv from Marseille carrying 420 people. Under the truce terms, all men between the ages of 14 and 45 were to be interned in a refugee camp if they immigrated to Israel during the four-week truce period.
Born: Garnet Bailey, ice hockey player, in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, Canada (d. 2001)
Died: Osamu Dazai, 38, Japanese author (suicide by drowning); Jimmy Frise, 56, Canadian cartoonist |
387_13 | June 14, 1948 (Monday)
Klement Gottwald was unanimously elected President of Czechoslovakia by the National Assembly.
Russian authorities in Germany halted shipment of coal from the British occupation zone to Berlin and closed the Elbe River bridge on the main Berlin-Helmstedt highway, allegedly for "repairs."
Half of London's dockworkers began a wildcat strike in protest of eleven dockers being punished for refusing to handle a "dirty" cargo of zinc oxide unless they were paid more.
A prototype of TV Guide appeared on newsstands in New York, originally called TeleVision Guide. The first cover subject was Gloria Swanson, who at the time was starring in a short-lived television series, The Gloria Swanson Hour.
Born: Linda Clifford, singer and actress, in New York City; Steve Hunter, rock guitarist, in Decatur, Illinois; Laurence Yep, writer, in San Francisco, California
Died: Gertrude Atherton, 90, American author |
387_14 | June 15, 1948 (Tuesday)
Russia accepted a US proposal to arrange a conference on Danube River navigation.
The Western Tai'an Campaign ended in Communist victory.
The People's Daily newspaper group was established.
The Detroit Tigers hosted their first night game at Briggs Stadium, defeating the Philadelphia Athletics 4-1 before a crowd of 54,480. Wrigley Field in Chicago was now the only major league ballpark to not have lights installed, and would continue to hold out until 1988.
The horror comedy film Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein was released, marking the first of several films in which the comedy team of Abbott and Costello meet classic characters from the Universal Horror series of films.
Born: Paul Michiels, singer and songwriter, in Heist-op-den-Berg, Belgium |
387_15 | June 16, 1948 (Wednesday)
The twelve-year guerrilla war known as the Malayan Emergency began between British Commonwealth forces and the Malayan National Liberation Army. The first overt act of the war occurred when three European plantation managers were killed at Sungai Siput by members of the Malayan Communist Party.
Hungarian Parliament nationalized the country's religious schools over the bitter protests of the Catholic Church. |
387_16 | June 17, 1948 (Thursday)
United Airlines Flight 624: A Douglas DC-6 airliner crashed near Aristes, Pennsylvania, killing all 39 passengers and 4 crew aboard.
The Battle of Shangcai began during the Chinese Civil War.
US Congress overturned a presidential veto for the third time in four days. By a vote of 297–102, the House overrode Truman's veto of the Reed-Bulwinkle Bill exempting railway rate agreements from antitrust laws.
The US Senate shelved the controversial Mundt-Nixon bill after deciding there was not enough time left to consider it during that congressional session. The bill would be revived in 1950 as the Mundt–Ferguson Communist Registration Bill.
Born: Dave Concepción, baseball player, in Ocumare de la Costa, Venezuela |
387_17 | Died: Earl Carroll, 54, American theatrical producer, director, songwriter and composer (killed on United Airlines Flight 624); Changampuzha Krishna Pillai, 36, Malayalam poet (tuberculosis); Beryl Wallace, 39?, American dancer, singer and actress (killed on United Airlines Flight 624) |
387_18 | June 18, 1948 (Friday)
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights completed over two years of work on a draft for a Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The draft was approved by a vote of 12-0 and would now be sent to the Economic and Social Council.
UN mediator Folke Bernadotte arrived on Rhodes to begin negotiations with Jewish and Arab delegations for a permanent peace settlement in Palestine.
June 19, 1948 (Saturday)
After a 19-hour overnight filibuster in the US Senate, the House passed a stop-gap bill for the induction of 21 months of military service for men aged 19 through 25.
The Battle of Shangcai ended in Communist victory.
The biographical film Fighting Father Dunne starring Pat O'Brien was released.
Born: Nick Drake, singer-songwriter, in Rangoon, Burma (d. 1974); Lea Laven, pop singer, in Haukipudas, Finland; Phylicia Rashad, actress, in Houston, Texas |
387_19 | June 20, 1948 (Sunday)
US Congress completed a marathon 44 hour and 15 minute session passing a whirlwind of legislation, including a foreign aid bill appropriating over $6 billion for global relief. It was the second-longest Senate session in history, surpassed only by one in 1915 that lasted 54 hours 10 minutes.
The first of the series of Cairo bombings occurred, killing 22 Jews.
The new Deutsche Mark was introduced in Western Germany, replacing the Reichsmark.
The TV variety program The Ed Sullivan Show premiered on CBS under its original title, Toast of the Town. The program would run until 1971, airing 1,068 episodes.
The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer topped The New York Times Fiction Best Seller list for the first of eleven consecutive weeks.
Born: Ludwig Scotty, President of Nauru, in Anabar, Nauru
Died: Norah Lindsay, 75, Indian-born English socialite and garden designer |
387_20 | June 21, 1948 (Monday)
The Republican National Convention opened in Philadelphia. It was the first convention in US history to be televised.
The Manchester Baby, the world's first electronic stored-program computer, ran its first program.
Columbia Records held a press conference at the Waldorf Astoria New York to announce a new format of record - the LP, containing up to 22½ minutes of music per side.
The Gathering Storm, the first volume in Winston Churchill's historical book series The Second World War, was published in the United States.
The British troopship HMT Empire Windrush arrives at the Port of Tilbury, near London. The passengers on board include one of the first large groups of post-war West Indian immigrants to the United Kingdom,
Born: Lionel Rose, boxer, in Drouin, Victoria, Australia (d. 2011); Philippe Sarde, film composer, in Hauts-de-Seine, France; Andrzej Sapkowski, fantasy author, in Łódź, Poland |
387_21 | June 22, 1948 (Tuesday)
Thomas E. Dewey entered a commanding position at the Republican National Convention when Pennsylvania Senator Edward Martin withdrew from consideration and threw his support to Dewey.
The British drama film Oliver Twist based on the Charles Dickens novel of the same name and starring Alec Guinness, Robert Newton and John Howard Davies premiered at the Odeon Leicester Square in London.
Born: Shōhaku Okumura, Sōtō Zen priest, in Osaka, Japan; Todd Rundgren, musician, songwriter and producer, in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania; Franciszek Smuda, footballer and coach, in Lubomia, Poland |
387_22 | June 23, 1948 (Wednesday)
The Republican National Convention unanimously adopted a party platform. Pledges included a reduction of public debt, promotion of small business, "eventual statehood for Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico," a foreign policy "which welcomes co-operation but spurns appeasement," and "a vigorous enforcement of existing laws against Communists."
The British government called in soldiers to begin unloading food supplies tied up in the 10-day dockworker's strike.
Born: Larry Coker, footballer and coach, in Okemah, Oklahoma; Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, in Pin Point, Georgia |
387_23 | June 24, 1948 (Thursday)
The Berlin Blockade began. Russian authorities cut off electricity to Berlin's western zones and halted rail transport between western Germany and the city as well, claiming "technical difficulties." Britain retaliated by banning the shipment of Ruhr coal and steel to the Soviet occupation zone.
Thomas E. Dewey was unanimously chosen Republican nominee for president on the third ballot at the National Convention. "I thank you with all my heart for your friendship and confidence," Dewey said in his acceptance speech. "I am profoundly sensible of the responsibility that goes with it. I accept your nomination. In all humility, I pray God that I may deserve this opportunity to serve our country."
The Military Selective Service Act became effective in the United States.
Born: Patrick Moraz, keyboardist and composer, in Morges, Switzerland |
387_24 | June 25, 1948 (Friday)
The Republican National Convention ended after Governor Earl Warren of California was named the party's vice presidential candidate.
Folke Bernadotte reported to the UN Security Council that Egypt had acted contrary to the "letter and spirit" of the ceasefire by halting an unarmed Israeli food convoy.
In China, the Hebei–Rehe–Chahar Campaign ended in Communist victory.
Joe Louis retained the world heavyweight boxing title with an 11th-round knockout of Jersey Joe Walcott before a crowd of 42,667 at Yankee Stadium.
Golda Meir was named Israel's representative to the Soviet Union.
Died: William C. Lee, 53, American general and commander of the 101st Airborne Division during World War II |
387_25 | June 26, 1948 (Saturday)
The Berlin Airlift began with 32 flights by US C-47s in West Germany to the Tempelhof Airport in Berlin. 80 tons of provisions were delivered on the first day.
Civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph called for a civil disobedience campaign to resist the new draft law until President Truman issued an executive order against segregation in the military.
This week's issue of The New Yorker included the short story "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson.
Stanley Skridla, 28, was found dead in Oregon, Illinois. His murder is still unsolved.
June 27, 1948 (Sunday)
The Czech Social Democratic Party was absorbed into the Communist Party.
Died: Lilian Velez, 24, Filipino actress and singer (murdered) |
387_26 | June 28, 1948 (Monday)
The Fukui earthquake killed over 3,700 people in Fukui Prefecture, Japan.
King George VI proclaimed a state of emergency throughout the United Kingdom as the London dock strike threatened to spread to other ports. Prime Minister Clement Attlee gave a radio address telling the strikers, "This is not a strike against capitalists or employers. It is a strike against your mates; a strike against the housewife; a strike against the common people who have difficulties enough."
Folke Bernadotte submitted proposals to both sides in the Arab-Israeli conflict that he hoped would "lay a basis for a solution of the Palestine question."
Tito–Stalin Split: A Cominform Resolution accused the Communist Party of Yugoslavia of departing from communism by "undertaking an entirely wrong policy on the principal question of foreign and internal politics." Following the resolution, the Party was expelled from Cominform and the Informbiro period began in Yugoslavia. |
387_27 | Columbia Records released the very first LP, a recording of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto by Nathan Milstein and the New York Philharmonic.
Ronald Reagan got a divorce from his first wife, Jane Wyman.
Lotte Group, a confectionery and global conglomerate in South Korea and Japan was founded.
Born: Kathy Bates, actress, in Memphis, Tennessee; Deborah Moggach, novelist and screenwriter, in England |
387_28 | June 29, 1948 (Tuesday)
The Central Committee of Yugoslavia's Communist Party defied the Cominform by issuing a point-by-point refutation of the Cominform's charges and making it clear that Yugoslavia would not be dictated to by the Soviet Union and other Cominform powers and would only discuss the dispute in a "basis of equality."
London dock workers voted to end their 16-day strike and go back to work rather than face the government's threat to invoke its broad emergency powers.
The body of Mary Jane Reed, 17, was found in Oregon, Illinois. Her murder is still unsolved.
Born: Leo Burke, professional wrestler, born Leonce Cormier in Dorchester, New Brunswick, Canada; Fred Grandy, actor and politician, in Sioux City, Iowa; Ian Paice, rock drummer (Deep Purple), in Nottingham, England. |
387_29 | June 30, 1948 (Wednesday)
A federal court in Boston sentenced Robert Henry Best to life in prison for broadcasting Nazi propaganda during the war.
A Bulgarian Junkers Ju 52 flying from Varna to Sofia with 17 passengers aboard was hijacked by seven anti-Communists who killed the pilot and radio operator, then flew the plane to Istanbul where they sought political asylum.
The last British soldiers left Palestine through the port of Haifa.
Bob Lemon of the Cleveland Indians pitched a 2-0 no-hitter against the Detroit Tigers at Briggs Stadium.
The musical film Easter Parade starring Judy Garland and Fred Astaire had its world premiere in New York.
The film Oliver Twist starring Alec Guinness and based on the Charles Dickens novel of the same name premiered in London.
Born: Raymond Leo Burke, Roman Catholic cardinal prelate, in Richland Center, Wisconsin; Vladimir Yakunin, businessman, in Melenki, Vladimir Oblast, USSR |
387_30 | Died: Omobono Tenni, 42, Italian motorcycle road racer (killed in an accident during practice) |
387_31 | References
1948
1948-06
1948-06 |
388_0 | Charles Auguste Louis Joseph de Morny, 1er Duc de Morny () (15–16 September 1811, Switzerland10 March 1865, Paris) was a French statesman.
Biography
Morny was born in Switzerland, and was the extra-marital son of Hortense de Beauharnais (the wife of Louis Bonaparte and queen of Holland) and Charles Joseph, Comte de Flahaut, making him half-brother of Emperor Napoleon III and grandson of Talleyrand. His birth was duly registered in a misleading certificate, which made him the legitimate son of Auguste Jean Hyacinthe Demorny, and born in Paris on 23 October 1811, and described as a landowner of St. Domingo. M. Demorny was in fact an officer in the Prussian army and a native of St. Domingo, though he owned no land there or elsewhere. |
388_1 | Morny was educated by his grandmother, Adelaïde Filleul. After a brilliant school and college career the future duc de Morny received a commission in the army, and the next year he entered the staff college. The comte de Morny, as he was called by a polite fiction, served in Algeria in 1834–1835 (during the French conquest of Algeria) as aide-de-camp to General Camille Alphonse Trezel, whose life he saved under the walls of Constantine.
When Morny returned to Paris in 1838, he secured a solid position in the business world by establishing a major beet-sugar industry at Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne and by writing a pamphlet Sur la question des sucres in 1838. In these and other lucrative speculations he was helped by his mistress Françoise Mosselman, the beautiful and wealthy wife of the Belgian ambassador, Charles Aimé Joseph Le Hon, Comte Le Hon. Eventually there were few great commercial enterprises in Paris in which he did not have an interest. |
388_2 | Although Morny sat as deputy for Clermont-Ferrand from 1842 onwards, he took at first no important part in party politics, but he was heard with respect on industrial and financial questions. He supported the government of Louis Philippe, because revolution threatened his commercial interests, but before the Revolutions of 1848, by which he was temporarily ruined, he considered converting to the Bourbon legitimist cause represented by the Comte de Chambord. His attitude was expressed by the witticism with which he is said to have replied to a lady who asked what he would do if the Chamber were "swept out." "Range myself on the side of the broom handle," was his answer. Presently he was admitted to the intimate circle of his half-brother Louis Napoleon, and he helped to engineer the coup d'état of 2 December 1851 on the morrow of which he was appointed to head the ministry of the interior. |
388_3 | After six months in office, during which Morny showed his political opponents moderation and tact, he resigned his portfolio, ostensibly because he disapproved of the confiscation of the Bourbon-Orléans property but really because Napoleon, influenced by Morny's rivals, resented his claim to a foremost place in the government as a member of the Bonaparte family. He then resumed his financial speculations. When in 1854 the Emperor appointed him president of the Corps Législatif, a position which he filled for the rest of his life, he used his official rank to assist his schemes. |
388_4 | In 1856, Morny was sent as special envoy to the coronation of Alexander II of Russia and brought home a wife, Princess Sophie Troubetzkoi, who through her connections greatly strengthened his social position. Sophie was legally daughter of Prince Sergey Vasilyevich Trubetskoy, but may have been the illegitimate daughter of Nicholas I of Russia. In 1862, Morny was created a Duke. It is said that he aspired to the throne of Mexico, and that the French expedition sent to place Archduke Maximilian on the throne was prompted by Napoleon III's desire to thwart this ambition. |
388_5 | In spite of occasional disagreements, Morny's influence with the emperor remained great, and the liberal policies which he advocated enabled him to serve the imperial cause through his influence with the leaders of the opposition, the most conspicuous of whom, Émile Ollivier, was detached from his colleagues by Morny's efforts. But while he was laying the foundations of the "Liberal Empire" his health deteriorated and was further injured by quack medicines. The emperor and the empress visited him just before his death in Paris on 10 March 1865. |
388_6 | Morny's valuable collection of pictures, including Jean-Honoré Fragonard's The Swing, was sold after his death. In spite of his undoubted wit and social gifts, Morny failed to secure the distinction he desired as a dramatist, and none of his pieces, which appeared under the pseudonym of M. de St Rémy, including Sur la grande route, M. Choufleuri restera chez lui le . . ., and the Les finesses du mari, among others, met with success on the stage.
M. de Chenneviėres, the director of the Beaux-Arts, admired Morny's taste in pictures as well as the man himself. Charles de Morny was, he opined,"the most perfectly polite, the most elegant, the best bred man of his time". |
388_7 | Thoroughbred horse racing
Morny played an important role in the development of the thoroughbred horse racing and breeding industry in France. In 1860, he purchased the English Triple Crown champion West Australian and brought him to France for breeding purposes. In 1862 Morny built the Deauville-La Touques Race Course near Deauville. The Prix Morny is named in his honour.
Family |
388_8 | He had married at Saint Petersburg on 7 January 1857, Princess Sofia Sergeyevna Trubetskaya (Moscow, 25 March 18368 August 1898), the only daughter of Prince Sergey Vasilyevich Trubetskoy (181412 May (30 April Old Style), 1859) and his wife Ekaterina Petrovna Mussina-Pushkina (1 February 1816c. 1897). Their children included:
Marie Eugenie de Morny (1857–1883), who married a Spanish noble, José Ramón Gil Francisco de Borja Nicolás Osório y de Heredia, 9th Conde de La Corzana (1854–1919), in 1877 in Madrid, and had a son:
José Osorio y de Morny (Madrid, 1878Madrid, 1905). He married María de la Purificación Dorticos-Marín y León, Marquesa de Marín (1878–1928), in 1902 in Madrid. He had no children.
Auguste Charles Louis Valentin de Morny (1859–1920), who succeeded his father as the 2nd Duc de Morny. He married Carlota de Guzmán-Blanco y de Ybarra (Caracas, 1869Courbevoie, 1939) in 1886 in Paris and had three children: |
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