Happy New Year’s Eve
The event we know today as the celebration of New Year’s Eve in Times Square began in 1904. 1904 was the year the intersection of Broadway and Seventh Avenue (previously called Long Acre Square) was renamed Times Square, because the New York Times newspaper headquarters were built there.
It was newspaper owner Adolph Ochs idea to celebrate New Year’s Eve with a big party. So, in 1904 he shot fireworks from the top of the building, and continued to do so each year until 1907 when the city banned fireworks. That’s when the idea of the “ball drop” came in. It was inspired by “time balls”. Time balls were used in the 1800s to assist ship captains in telling time and precisely setting their instruments while out at sea.
The first ball weighed 700 pounds and contained 100 light bulbs. Today, the ball weights 17 times that and features 32,000 LEDs. The New Year’s Eve ball has been dropped every year since 1907, except in 1942 and 1943 because of “dimout” restrictions due to WWII.
Are you wondering what dance-related things happened in history the same year as the first ball drop in NYC? Here are a few:
- In
1907, Nikolai Legat staged a revival of Les
Saisons at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre.
- Michel Fokine
created Chopiniana
to music composed by Chopin. It premiered February 23, 1907 at the Maryinsky
Theatre and starred Anna Pavlova, Vera Fokina and Anatole Oboukhoff.
- Anna Pavlova premiered Dying Swan on December 22, 1907,
choreographed for her by Michel Fokine, music by Leon Saint-Saens for Carnival
of Animals.
- Lincoln
Kirstein is born on May 4, 1907 in Rochester, New York.
- Nijinsky
became a soloist at the Maryinsky
Theatre, St.
Petersburg.
From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:
History Factoid #140:
“ The first New Year’s
Eve celebration in Times Square was held in 1904.”
Link of the Day:
Quote of the
Day:
“Tonight’s
December thirty-first,
Something is about to burst.
The clock is crouching, dark and small,
Like a time bomb in the hall.
Hark, it's midnight, children dear.
Duck! Here comes another year!”
― Ogden Nash
Something is about to burst.
The clock is crouching, dark and small,
Like a time bomb in the hall.
Hark, it's midnight, children dear.
Duck! Here comes another year!”
― Ogden Nash
Help
expand the knowledge base!
Leave a comment about any instructions, ideas,
or images that worked best for you!
My latest
book is a coloring book! It is available on Amazon.
Want to know
more about me? Read my interview at Ballet Connections:
Or
"Like" me on my Facebook Author Page:
Or
visit my Pinterest page:
