Since I just celebrated my birthday, I decided to see what was going on 64 years ago. I found 386 listings in the New York Times historical index for that date and skimmed the headings for about 150 of them. #11 was “All exits covered: Patton gains bring last German escape roads under big U. S guns.” It was fascinating to look at the article and see that detailed maps were published showing positions and movements of various companies – there was evidently much more interest in exact progress than in present-day wars.
#67 was “Children’s aid group to hold opera party” (much more in my interest range) and I found out that that Society was taking over the performance of “Die Walkure” with Lauritz Melchior at the Metropolitan Opera on December 14th – that would have been fun to be there! Clicking on the view of the full page (“page image”) let me see another article (“Traviata offered to large audience”) and just by clicking on the article, I was able to see the whole article and find out that Dorothy Kirsten was Violetta and Jean Morel conducted. The links are really neat!
Typically, I read a few obituaries and found that E. S. Kelley had died, a prolific composer of whom I have never heard.
Well, that was an interesting adventure indeed. Since I use many of the databases regularly anyhow, it was fun to spend a little more time with the specifics of one of the most useful. I know how to get e-mail notification of holds, but I do not wish to because Luciano’s dulcet tones are too alluring and I don’t always check my e-mail every day.
