The Cubs are in the playoffs and could make it to the World Series. Is this their year? They haven’t won the World Series since 1908 and haven’t played in a World Series since 1945. Some people have attributed the World Series drought to a curse by Billy Sianis, who was ejected from Wrigley Field for … Continue reading Universal News: The Chicago Cubs vs. the Detroit Tigers in the 1945 World Series
In this week of firsts, we consider the women who first ran for major party nominations in the United States: Margaret Chase Smith and Shirley Chisholm. Margaret Chase Smith Margaret Chase Smith won her first seat in the House of Representatives in a special election after her husband, Clyde Smith, died in 1940. One week … Continue reading Cracking the Glass Ceiling: Margaret Chase Smith and Shirley Chisholm
Squirrels have long been popular in American culture. In 1959 Jay Ward introduced us to Rocky the Flying Squirrel and today we have the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and her squirrel friends. The Washington Post even has an annual squirrel photography contest. So it’s no surprise that in 1953 the producers of the Universal Newsreel series … Continue reading Universal News Presents “A Whirl with the Squirrels”
This year, Martin Luther King Jr. Day falls on January 18, the anniversary of a march that Dr. King helped lead from Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church to the Selma Courthouse for the purpose of voter registration. The marchers were not allowed to register, but this was just one skirmish in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s … Continue reading From Selma to Montgomery: The Selma Voting Rights Movement
There aren’t many schools that include jumping out of an airplane as part of your final exam, but that’s just what these women parachute riggers had to do in 1951. Women sailors in the Navy went through the same training as men at the Parachute Materials School at Naval Air Station Lakehurst in New Jersey. These … Continue reading Spotlight on Veterans: Navy Women in Parachute Rigger Training
On October 30, 1938, CBS broadcast a radio play of H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds. The novel, first published in serial form in 1897, tells the story of an alien invasion of England. The Mercury Theatre on the Air production changed the location to New Jersey and employed a series of news bulletins to heighten the realism of the story. … Continue reading This Week in Universal News: The War of the Worlds Broadcast, 1938
On October 21, 1967, an estimated crowd of 100,000 gathered by the Lincoln Memorial in Washington to protest the Vietnam War and march on the Pentagon. Organized by the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, the demonstration was the first major national protest against the Vietnam War. Along with the signs, chants, and other … Continue reading This Week in Universal News: The March on the Pentagon, 1967
On October 2, 1967, Thurgood Marshall was sworn in as a Supreme Court Justice. Marshall had a long history of fighting for civil rights in the legal system, most famously when he argued against school segregation in the Brown v. Board of Education case. Marshall served on the Supreme Court until 1991. He died in … Continue reading This Week in Universal News: Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall is Sworn In, 1967
As the Washington, D.C. area descends into playoff fever, The Unwritten Record takes a look back to the last postseason match-up between the Nationals and the Giants, the 1933 World Series contest between the American League's Washington Nationals (also known as the Senators) and the National League's New York Giants.* The action was covered in … Continue reading The Washington Nationals vs. The New York Giants, 1933
For the release of a new short film about Austria's Lipizzan horses, Universal-International, the maker of Universal News, staged a special publicity event at a drive-in movie theater. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IvnUi61dQA From the release sheet: "HORSE NIGHT" AT THE DRIVE-IN, CALIFORNIA - "Horse night" at the drive-in. An enterprising theatre manager sets up oats and rye on … Continue reading This Week in Universal News: A Drive-In Movie for Horses, 1954.
