Moments in Time – December 21, 2022

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• On Jan. 5, 1914, Henry Ford introduced a revolutionary pay deal of $5 per day wages for all of his employees. When asked about it, he told reporters that he wanted his workers to earn enough to be able to afford to buy a Ford motor car.
• On Jan. 3, 1938, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who contracted polio at age 39, founded the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, later renamed the March of Dimes Foundation. The moniker came courtesy of comedian Eddie Cantor, who said in a donations appeal, “Nearly everyone can send in a dime, or several dimes. However, it takes only 10 dimes to make a dollar, and if a million people send only one dime, the total will be $100,000.”
• On Jan. 2, 1941, The Andrews Sisters recorded “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” for Decca Records, about a Chicago trumpeter drafted into the Army in World War II who shakes up “Reveille” with his masterful licks. Originally intended for Lou Costello to perform in the comedy “Buck Privates,” it was reworked for The Andrews Sisters, who introduced it in the film.
• On Jan. 6, 1973, the 1939 Mercedes-Benz 770k sedan that Hitler was said to have used in a parade march was sold to Earl Clark at an auction for $153,000. Clark planned to exhibit the vehicle at his Dutch Wonderland Amusement Park in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
• On Jan. 7, 1981, truck driver Peter Sutcliffe admitted to being the “Yorkshire Ripper,” who killed 13 women in northern England over five years. Sutcliffe was caught on Jan. 2 after being stopped by the police with Olivia Reivers, a prostitute, and was arrested for having fitted his car with fake license plates.
• On Jan. 4, 2012, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah decreed that men could no longer sell female underwear in lingerie shops. The country previously allowed only men to work as shop keepers, but after female customers complained that they made the women uncomfortable, a new law allowed women to take their place.
• On Jan. 8, 2014, Mexican officials found two gray whale calves in a lagoon. The case was even more unusual because they were conjoined. Though found alive, the whales died soon after, and samples were taken for scientists to study their rarity.

© 2022 King Features Synd., Inc.