Oklahoma! opened on Broadway on March 31, 1943. In spite of 
a less-than-promising lead-up, it would go on to set a Broadway
record of 2,212 performances before finally closing five years
later.

SANDY KOZEL

The crew of the Apollo 8 (from left): Frank Borman, William Anders and James Lovell Jr. (AP Photo) 

 

Borman announced that the crew had a final message for
the people of Earth as each man took turns reading the 
first 10 verses of the book of Genesis from the Bible.

The Apollo 8 mission paved the way for Apollo 11, fulfilling
President John F. Kennedy’s goal of landing a man on the
moon before the end of the decade.

Apollo 8 command module in the Museum of
Science and Industry.

More than two years after the Berlin Wall was constructed by
East Germany to prevent its citizens from fleeing its communist
regime, nearly 4,000 West Berliners were allowed to cross into
East Berlin to visit relatives.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a film about a group of
patients at a mental institution, opened in theaters. Directed
by Milos Forman and based on a 1962 novel of the same
name by Ken Kesey, the film starred Jack Nicholson and
was co-produced by the actor Michael Douglas.

Louise Fletcher (1934 – 2022) & Jack Nicholson (87).

The inauguration of the Suez Canal at Port Said.

The Suez Canal, connecting the Mediterranean and the Red
seas, was inaugurated in an elaborate ceremony attended by
French Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III.

In 1854, Ferdinand de Lesseps, the former French consul to
Cairo, secured an agreement with the Ottoman governor of
Egypt to build a canal 100 miles across the Isthmus of Suez.

An international team of engineers drew up a construction
plan, and in 1856 the Suez Canal Company was formed and
granted the right to operate the canal for 99 years after
completion of the work.

Construction began in April 1859, and at first digging was
done by hand with picks and shovels wielded by forced
laborers. Later, European workers with dredgers and
steam shovels arrived.

Ferdinand de Lesseps, the architect of the
Suez Canal.

Early photographs of dredging in the Suez Canal from
1868-69. Norbert Schiller Collection.