A Look Back
Some random events that happened 90 years ago!
This past weekend, my family and I celebrated my Nana's 90th birthday. Technically she doesn't turn 90 until April 27th, but we were surprising her by getting almost all of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren together to celebrate her, and this was simply the date that works best. 90 is such an impressive number, it got me thinking...what and who else is 90 years old?
So, I went through Wikipedia and made a list of the things I found most fascinating. It's hard to conceive of 90 years, and especially since Nana is still so spry and lively. It's a long time - almost a century - and yet somehow not that long at all.
While making this list I saw a lot of Hitler's actions in Nazi Germany, and a lot of them are eerily similar to things happening now, or things that seem very possible in our near future. Hitler banning certain topics from lectures. Jewish people's rights being slowly but surely stripped away. People getting jailed for "allegedly insulting" Hitler. Invoking the death penalty for "pacifism" during times of war. Nazi Germany banning jazz from the radio. Things I knew, but it was stark to read in a list among actually fun "fun facts" and bits of trivia, and it got me thinking about how much Nana, and others of her generation, have seen over her lifetime. World War II, women getting the right to vote, the Civil Rights Movement, and more. And to watch Trump turn back the clock on so much of that is just devastating.
Nana sees what's happening in this country and knows it's despicable. That's the word she uses, despicable. And I'd have to agree. We went to the library the other day and drove by some Hands Off protesters, and I rolled down the window so we could clap and whoop for them. (Her favorite sign was one that read simply, DUMP TRUMP.) "It's awful what that man is doing," she reiterated. "Just despicable."
But what's NOT despicable is Nana, 90 years young and so full of joy, and who shares a birth year with many cool people and things. This list surprised me because my concept of time is apparently even more broken than I realized. And keep in mind this is only the things that happened DURING the year 1935; the number of things YOUNGER than Nana would be even more surprising, I'm sure.
So without further ado, and in no particular order, here are 15 random things that happened the year my perfect Nana was born.
Amelia Earhart became the first person to successfully complete a solo flight from Hawaii to California - a fact so wild to me that it's what inspired me to make this list in the first place.
The first canned beer is sold in Virginia by Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company. I can't believe Nana is the same age as one of my other favorite things: CANNED BEER.
Elvis Presley was born. (Wild to think Elvis would be 90 if he were still alive!)
Iceland passed a law legalizing abortion in certain circumstances. Many point to this as the first law of its kind in the world.
Parker Brothers began selling the board game Monopoly. MONOPOLY! And now, 90 years later, I play it on the little computer that lives in my pocket.
Sonny Bono was born. (Cher wouldn't come into the world until 11 years later.)
Porky Pig made his debut in the Warner Bros. short film I Haven't Got a Hat. That's all, folks!
The horror film Bride of Frankenstein premiered in Los Angeles. She wouldn't get a name until 50 years later, when Jennifer Beals played Eva in The Bride.
Babe Ruth did a lot of baseball things I didn't care about the particulars of but the fact that he was alive when Nana was little is wild to me.
Mary Berry from Great British Bake Off was born to rid the world of soggy bottoms.
The Rip Van Winkle Bridge opened between Hudson, New York and Catskill, New York and I have never heard of this bridge but the name was too cute to not mention.
The historical drama film Anna Karenina premiered at the Capitol Theatre in New York City. 30-year-old Greta Garbo played the titular role.
The first ten Penguin Books paperbacks went on sale in Britain, credited as the first to offer good quality literature physically and content-wise in paperback. (One of the best modern inventions, in my opinion; Nana would surely agree.)
The Gershwin opera Porgy and Bess was performed for the first time at the Colonial Theatre in Boston. I've been to that theatre and didn't realize it's actually the oldest still-running theatre in Boston!
Julie Andrews was born! 30 years later, she would make the movie Sound of Music, and 30 years after THAT, Nana and I would watch together over and over, sometimes just restarting the first VHS instead of moving onto the second, dancing around her living room while singing Sixteen Going on Seventeen and My Favorite Things.
And that's where we'll end things, in celebration of Nana, who is even better than raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles AND warm woolen mittens.