The TV Commercial
TV commercials are a $60 billion dollar a year industry in the US alone. The business began on July 1, 1941, ahead of a Phillies-Dodgers game aired by NYC’s WNBT from Ebbets Field. Bulova was the first advertiser — they paid $9 for the privilege.
Why that date? The FCC had issued commercial licenses to 10 stations with a start date of July 1, and New York’s WNBT had 1 of them. They were the only station to take advantage of the new rules on that date, giving New York dibs on the beginning of TV advertising.
Gin Rummy
You might think gin rummy goes back to medieval times — or at least has a history so old that no one can trace the beginnings — but the game comes from a particular time and place, Brooklyn in 1909. Elwood Thomas Baker (1854-1938) and his son Charles Graham Baker (1883-1950) came up with the game, which has gone on to become one of the most popular card games in the world.
The ASPCA
Two million Americans are members of the ASPCA, which got its start as the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals on April 10, 1866. NYC-born Henry Bergh founded the organization in New York, where it has remained headquartered ever since, as America’s first humane society.
Source: “Made In NYC,” by Ethan Wolff, March 2024, City Guide New York
Contributed by Bobbie Roggemann