December 25 – Eggnog Riot

Posted on December 25, 2013

On Christmas Day in 1826 (and, to be honest, on Christmas Eve as well), about 70 cadets at West Point turned the Christmas party into a riot.

Why is it called the Eggnog Riot?

You might see eggnog in grocery stores around this time of year. It is sweetened milk mixed with whipped eggs, and it is richer and frothier than regular milk.

Eggnog is generally sold only in November and December.

Many people add eggnog to coffee or tea. Many people add ground cinnamon, nutmeg or pumpkin spice to their eggnog. And some people add alcohol.

In 1826 the commander of West Point military academy informed the cadets that there would be no alcohol in their holiday-party eggnog. The commander made this rule partly because he didn't want drunk-and-disorderly behavior.

So what happened next? Some of the cadets decided to smuggle in alcohol to spike the eggnog on the sly. And the people who drank the eggnog started to act drunk and disorderly! 

I do not think this incident convinced the commander that his cadets could, in fact, drink responsibly!

One of the most famous people involved in the Eggnog Riot was a guy named Jefferson Davis. He would later become president of the Confederate States of America, when the South broke away from the U.S. at the beginning of the Civil War. Davis didn't face court martial because of his involvement in the Eggnog Riot, but around 20 cadets did.

If you celebrate Christmas, have fun today. But no rioting!

We wish you a merry Christmas 

We wish you a merry Christmas

We wish you a merry Christmas

And even more Christmas fun!

Also on this date:

Coronation Day 

No “L” Day 

Christmas birthdays 

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest pages on:

• December holidays 
• December birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in December
  

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

• January holidays 
• January birthdays 
• Historical anniversaries in January

June 16 – First Ladies' Day at a Baseball Game

Posted June 16, 2013

The year was 1883.

The team was the New York Gothams. (The team that later became the NY Giants.)

The idea? Let's attract more women to watch baseball games—and hopefully they will become fans, so we can sell more tickets to games, and fill the grandstands.

In order to lure women to baseball, the Gothams' owner declared this date in 1883 Ladies' Day, and all women were allowed in to the game for free. It wasn't one of those strings-attached offers; you didn't have to pay for one ticket to get one ticket free, for example. That meant that women could go to the game for free either alone or in groups of women, rather than having to be escorted by a man.

And, guess what? It worked so well that there were Ladies' Days in many different ball parks all over the U.S., for about 100 years! Women really did become fans who would pay for tickets all through the season.

I don't know if umpire Bill Carpenter would think that Ladies' Day was such a good idea. Apparently the Washington Senators team had a Ladies' Day in 1897, and about 1,000 women went to the game. One of the players, “Win” Mercer, was very popular with women fans, and when he got into an argument with the umpire and was thrown out of a game, many of those women stormed the field. They either chased him all over the field, threatening him with their parasols, as one account would have us believe, or they shoved Carpenter to the ground and ripped his clothing, as another story said. Either way, this extraordinary event is called the Ladies' Day Riot.

That parasol looks so innocent,
doesn't it?

To celebrate the day, perhaps you can attend a baseball game—whether you are male or female, adult or kid. Just don't forget your parasol!

Also on this date:

Father's Day in the U.S.A. 

Anniversary of British universities being open to people of all faiths (hooray for freedom of religion!)

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest pages on June holidays, historical anniversaries in June, and June birthdays.

And here are my Pinterest pages on July holidays, historical anniversaries in July, and July birthdays.

February 10, 2011

A Riot Over a Film! – 1920

A very popular Irish song called Kathleen Mavourneen was made into a silent film. It starred Theda Bara, a hugely popular star. (Apparently she was as big as Charlie Chaplin at the time, although I've never heard of her.) Whether the film was good or not we don't know (apparently this film is “lost”—no copies known to exist anywhere), but we do know that the reception of the film was terrible.

First, people were used to seeing Theda Bara as a vamp, a beautiful and sexy woman who destroys men for fun. Her title role in Kathleen Mavourneen was a sweet little Irish girl—and apparently that was hard for many people to swallow when she was close to 40 years old and had played tons of vampish roles.

Sadly, another reason that some people didn't accept Theda Bara as the star was that she was Jewish. Apparently some Irish Catholics were upset that a Jewish actress would play an Irish Catholic role.

I know. Sad. But true.

Another complaint was that the film portrayed Irish poverty. Sources from today say that the Irish critics were being ridiculous because castles and the middle class had also been depicted, and because other silent films with actress Mary Pickford had also shown Irish poverty. (Pickford was Canadian with English and Irish ancestry, but she was called “America's Sweetheart.”)

At any rate, during the showings of Kathleen Mavourneen, people rolled stink bombs down theater aisles, protests and riots broke out, a few people were injured, and theaters incurred thousands of dollars worth of damage. A censored version was made with material cut according to the demands of two Catholic priests—but the new, censored version still caused riots. Eventually the film was pulled.

Theaters lost money, big time. The film company lost extensive amounts of money. And Theda Bara's career was pretty much over.

Protest. Censorship. Art. Bigotry.

This tale from the past seems wholly horrible, and we could shrug it off thinking that was the “bad old days.” But there are movies made today that seem objectionable to certain groups, and we still struggle with the ethical questions that this story raises. Is Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ anti-Semitic? (In other words, does it encourage bigotry to Jews?) Do the Harry Potter movies encourage witchcraft—and is that a problem? Do filmmakers have a responsibility to de-glamorize smoking? Or to discourage violence? Should art that couples together religious icons and bathroom appliances be put on display? What should people who object to movies, books, or art pieces do to voice their objections? Is there ever a good reason to censor these things?

Many of those questions are difficult to answer, but some answers are simple. Obviously, there is never a good reason for rioting and violence. And bigotry is just plain old bad. Period.