Firsts (17 page)

The first movie musical was 1929’s
The Broadway Melody.
Billed as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s “All Talking All Singing All Dancing” picture, it was a smash hit and won the Academy Award for Best Picture. The musical was written by Norman Houston and James Gleason; directed by Harry Beaumont; and starred Charles King, Anita Page, and Bessie Love. The plot follows the romances of musical comedy stars set against the backstage of a Broadway revue. Other firsts for
The Broadway Melody:
it became the first sound movie to win Best Picture, and composer George Cohan’s “Give My Regards to Broadway” was given its talkie debut in the film.

Aside from local city boards who tried to censor or rate movies, it was on October 7, 1968, when the movie industry adopted a universal film ratings system for the first time. Prior to that, filmmakers followed the self-imposed Motion Picture Production Code of 1930, commonly called the Hays Code. The first movie ratings in 1968 were G for general audiences, M for mature audiences, R for no one under 16 admitted without an adult, and X for no one under 16 admitted. This first ratings system removed the restriction regarding what type of content could be included in films and gave moviegoers the information necessary to determine if a certain film contained content they wanted to view or allow their children to see.

On June 26, 1896, the first movie theater to run shows on a regular basis was Vitascope Hall in New Orleans, Louisiana. There was no concession stand, smoking was permitted, and tickets cost 10¢ each, which allowed moviegoers to sit in available seats on a first-come-first-served basis. The theater seated 400 viewers and was the brainchild of the English-born William T. “Pop” Rock, a pioneering film exhibitor who used vigorous advertising slogans that included “After Breakfast Visit the Vitascope.” Rock also instigated coupons that admitted any child under the age of 10 for free if accompanied by an adult. The first viewings were short movies of comic pieces and scenic landscapes. The venture proved to be profitable.

On July 3, 1977, the first human magnetic resonance image (MRI) was made of the chest cavity of Dr. Lawrence Minkoff in the Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York. The MRI machine, named Indomitable, took 4 hours, 45 minutes to produce an image. Dr. Raymond Damadian, an American physician and researcher, along with postgraduate assistants Doctors Larry Minkoff and Michael Goldsmith, had worked for several years to reach this point. This first scanner was conceived to take advantage of the relaxation differences among the body’s tissues. It provided imaging contrast that was many times better than that of x-rays.

In March 1662, Blaise Pascal, a French innovator, physicist, and mathematician, devised the concept of, secured financing for, and launched operations for the first municipal bus service. The horse-drawn omni-buses were to “circulate along a predetermined route in Paris at regular intervals regardless of the number of passengers.” Pascal’s bus service started with 7 horse-drawn vehicles, each able to carry 6 to 8 passengers. Initially, it was a free service, but when a fare was introduced, ridership declined. The bus routes were out of business by 1675. Also contributing to their demise was the fact that France was in tough economic times.

The first murder in the Bible occurred when Cain, a farmer, killed his brother Abel, a shepherd, in the creation year 36. The two were the first and second sons of Adam and Eve. According to Genesis 4:1-16, Cain killed his brother after God rejected Cain’s sacrifice but accepted Abel’s. Cain’s sacrifice was fruits of the soil, while Abel’s was fat portions of flock. Genesis 4:8 further explains: “And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.” (King James Version) It was premeditated murder caused by anger, jealousy, and pride.

The modern music video has its roots in the first Beatles major motion picture,
A Hard Day’s Night.
Throughout the 1964 movie, there were musical segments of songs. The first music video was in the movie’s opening credits song, “A Hard Day’s Night,” which showed fans chasing The Beatles. The next song, “I Should Have Known Better,” portrayed The Beatles actually singing the song and playing musical instruments. Also in 1964, the band began filming short promotional films, or music videos, for their songs to be aired on television variety shows. They were clips from the movie.

On June 14, 1777, the first national flag was the American flag, which represented the United States of America. The flag symbolized a country status and was formally adopted as the national standard by the Second Continental Congress. Except for the adding of a new star for each new state that joined the union and changes in the arrangement of the stars, the flag displayed today is the same as the first flag. Legend has it that a group headed by George Washington commissioned seamstress Betsy Ross to implement their design for presentation to Congress.

The first national holiday, the Centennial Celebration of Washington’s Inaugural, was held April 30, 1889, as authorized by an act of Congress on March 21, 1889, in observance of the centennial of the inauguration of President George Washington. Various societies, large and small, all across the United States held parades and inaugural balls to honor the former president. Although no longer a national holiday, the Centennial Celebration of Washington’s Inaugural set the stage for considerations for other noteworthy events to be honored.

On March 1, 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed into law an act of Congress that established Yellowstone National Park as the first lands to be set aside for public use, which made Yellowstone the world’s first national park. The park, administered by the federal government “for the benefit and enjoyment of the people,” was a tract of land 55 by 65 miles, located about the sources of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers in present-day Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. George Catlin, a self-taught artist, is generally credited with conceptualizing a national park.

In 1912, the first commercial neon sign was sold to a Paris barber. Its 3½-foot-tall red letters spelled out CINZANO, which probably referred to the manufacturer of several famous Italian products, including wines. Paris-born chemist and inventor George Claude’s associate, Jaques Fonseque, sold the sign. Earlier, Claude had discovered that passing an electric current through inert gases made them light up very brightly. In 1910, Claude made his first public display of neon lamp, lighting two 38-foot-long tubes at the Paris Expo.

During the sixteenth century in what is now modern Italy, the first news agency was a private group of correspondents paid by the merchants and traders of Venice to collect and deliver information, especially on the movements of the Ottoman Turkish fleet, which was in a conquering, looting mode. It was, at times, very dangerous work as the correspondents pooled their efforts and news-gathering sources. The news agency reported on anything that might affect the shipping and commerce trades, such as the safest trade routes and cargo manifests. Although most of the reported news was verbally dispersed, some centralized written letters were distributed.

From his earliest days in radio broadcasting in 1932 to his last
All Things Considered
commentary in 2000, Robert Trout was the first news correspondent of note. Born Robert Albert Blondheim in 1909 Wake County, North Carolina, his career spanned virtually the entire history of radio news, including the repeal of Prohibition, the coverage of World War II, and numerous presidential elections and coronations. Trout coined the phrase “fireside chat” to describe President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s radio addresses. In March 1938, he conducted the first CBS
World News Roundup
that presented on-the-spot reporting via shortwave from reporters all over Europe. Trout’s accomplishments go on and on. He died in November 2000 at the age of 92, 2 weeks after his final National Public Radio broadcast.

The first known forms of regularly distributed written information were the newspapers or news posters published in Rome around 59 B.C.E. These first newspapers were parchment sheets called
Acta Diurna Populi Romani
(
Daily Transactions of the Roman People
) and
Acta Senatus
(
Transactions of the Senate
). They kept the public informed about current events, including conflicts, governmental affairs, executions, deaths, births, and marriages. The text was handwritten multiple times and posted on buildings around Rome and other cities. It was then recopied by scribes to be further hand distributed. One of Julius Caesar’s first acts of power was to require the
Acta
to be published on a daily basis.

Introduced in July 1906, the first newsreel was
London Day by Day,
produced by British filmmaker Will G. Barker. The newsreel was a short, silent documentary regularly released in a public presentation place and contained filmed news stories and items of topical interest.
London Day by Day
featured daily events of London street life and was shown at the Empire Theater in Leicester Square. This daily first newsreel was short-lived due to the tremendous workload and expense required to continually produce and distribute it. Newspapers still provided the best news at that time.

On June 27, 1954, the USSR’s Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant went online. Constructed by Soviet engineers and located about 55 miles from Moscow, it was the world’s first nuclear power plant to generate electricity for a power grid. Its output was around 5 megawatts of electric power, which was enough to power about 2,000 then-modern homes. It was also the first nuclear power station in the world. The Obninsk plant was a prototype design that used a graphite moderator and water coolant and was a forerunner for future designs and nuclear developments. It ceased operations April 29, 2002, due to lack of funding and loss of popularity for nuclear power.

The world’s first nuclear-powered vessel, the USS
Nautilus
(SSN 571), was christened on January 21, 1954. The U.S. Navy submarine was planned and personally supervised by Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, “the father of the nuclear navy.” After various tests, the vessel was put to sea on January 17, 1955, and signaled her historic message: “Underway 11:00 on nuclear power.” The
Nautilus
measured 320 feet in length and carried 13 officers and 92 enlisted men. In addition to being the first nuclear-powered ship, it also holds the title of the first submerged voyage under the North Pole. The
Nautilus
was used in the naval blockade of Cuba during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. The sub’s last voyage under its own power was in 1979, and on May 20, 1982, it was designated a National Historic Landmark. Today, the USS
Nautilus
is part of the U.S. Navy Submarine Force Museum in Groton, Connecticut.

Around 250 B.C.E., the first nursing school was started in India, founded by the works of the great physician Charaka. No women were allowed as students because only men were considered “pure” enough to become nurses. The policy of the
Charaka Samhita,
a document written by Charaka, stated that these men “should be imbued with kindness, competent to cook food, skilled in bathing and washing the patient, rubbing and massaging the limbs, lifting and assisting him to walk about, well skilled in making and cleansing of beds, and never unwilling to do anything that may be ordered.” Charaka was also the first physician to present the concepts of digestion, metabolism, and immunity.

From around 300 B.C.E., the Thirteen Towers of Chankillo constituted an ancient sun observatory. Located in Peru within an area of rock outcrops and sand ramps, the observatory consists of a 1,000-foot-long spread of cubic stone blocks that are regularly spaced apart, forming a toothed horizon. About 750 feet to the east and west are two observation points. From these vantage points, the towers along the horizon correspond to the rising and setting positions of the sun over the course of a year. This first observatory was also used to mark solar dates.

Aside from the spillage aftermath of military oil tankers sunk during the strategic warfare of World War II, the first oil spill from a commercial tanker of note occurred March 18, 1967. The supertanker
Torrey Canyon
ran aground off the coast of Cornwall, England, and struck Pollard’s Rock in the Seven Stone Reef. The 974-foot tanker spilled some 119,000 tons of Kuwaiti crude oil into the sea, creating an oil slick that was 35 miles long and almost 20 miles wide. The vessel was under the command of Italian-born Captain Pastrengo Rugiati. Apparently, strong currents pushed the ship off course while it was on autopilot.