Moments in Time: Bombshell Mae West
The History Channel
On April 19, 1927, blond bombshell Mae West was confronted by the New York Police Department's Municipal Vice Squad, sentenced to 10 days in a workhouse on the charge of obscenity for her play titled "Sex," and fined $500. She later quipped that the only thing that really bothered her about the experience was having to wear cotton underwear.
On April 23, 1940, a fire broke out in the Rhythm Club in Natchez, Mississippi, causing the deaths of more than 200 African Americans due to boarded up windows and a padlocked back door. At the time, it was the second deadliest building fire in American history.
On April 20, 1957, the Mayflower II, a replica of the original Mayflower that transported Pilgrims to the New World, set out to re-create that voyage from Brixton, England to Plymouth, Massachusetts. The journey took 55 days, and the ship is currently docked at the Plimoth Patuxet Museum.
On April 17, 1964, the Ford Motor Company unveiled its new Mustang model at the New York World's Fair. Championed by Ford Division general manager Lee Iacocca, the car came with a suggested retail price of $2,368 and was a great success, with more than a million sold in just its first 18 months.
On April 18, 1988, a retired U.S. auto worker identified as "Ivan the Terrible" was found guilty of Nazi war crimes in an Israeli court and sentenced to death. His conviction was overturned in 1993 after evidence suggested another Ukrainian was actually Ivan the Terrible, and he was returned to America, but later deported back to Ukraine when a judge ruled there was enough evidence to prove he had indeed been a death camp guard.
On April 22, 1993, the Holocaust Memorial Museum opened in Washington, D.C. Dedicated to documenting, studying and interpreting the history of the Holocaust, it serves as the official American memorial to the millions of Jews and others who lost their lives under the directives of Hitler's Nazi Germany.
On April 21, 2014, Kraft Foods recalled 96,000 pounds of Oscar-Meyer hot dogs that had been mislabeled. The company stated that some of their "Classic Cheese Dogs" had been placed in regular hot dog packaging, posing a threat to consumers with dairy allergies.
(c) 2023 King Features Synd., Inc.