CAMILLE BOHANNON

On May 25, 1977, Memorial Day weekend opens with an
intergalactic bang as the first of George Lucas’ blockbuster
Star Wars movies hit  American theaters.

The incredible success of Star Wars–it received seven Oscars,
and earned $461 million in U.S. ticket sales and a gross of
close to $800 million worldwide–began with an extensive,
coordinated marketing push by Lucas and his studio, 20th
Century Fox, months before the movie’s release date. “It
wasn’t like a movie opening,” actress Carrie Fisher, who
played rebel leader Princess Leia, later told Time magazine.
“It was like an earthquake.” Beginning with–in Fisher’s words–
“a new order of geeks, enthusiastic young people with sleeping
bags,” the anticipation of a revolutionary movie-watching
experience spread like wildfire, causing long lines in front of
movie theaters across the country and around the world.

With flags flying above him, President Arthur leads the
first walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.

After 14 years, the Brooklyn Bridge over the East River opened
in 1883, connecting the great cities of New York and Brooklyn
for the first time in history.  

Thousands of residents of Brooklyn and Manhattan Island turned
out to witness the dedication ceremony, which was presided
over by President Chester A. Arthur and New York Governor
Grover Cleveland.

Designed by the late John A. Roebling, the Brooklyn Bridge
was the largest suspension bridge ever built to that date.

Chester Alan Arthur (1829 – 1886)

Fireworks and flags marked the opening of the Brooklyn
Bridge.

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show opened in London on May 9, 1887
giving Queen Victoria and her subjects their first look at a
romanticized version of the American West.

A well-known scout for the army and a buffalo hunter for the
railroads (which earned him his nickname), Cody had gained
national prominence 15 years earlier thanks to a fanciful novel
written by Edward Zane Carroll Judson. Writing under the pen
name Ned Buntline, Judson made Cody the hero of his highly sensationalized dime novel The Scouts of the Plains; or, Red
Deviltry As It Is. In 1872, Judson also convinced Cody to travel
to Chicago to star in a stage version of the book. Cody broke
with Judson after a year, but he enjoyed the life of a performer
and stayed on the stage for 11 seasons.

William Frederick Cody “Buffalo Bill” 
(February 26, 1846 – January 10, 1917)

Edward Zane Carroll Judson Sr.
(March 20, 1821 – July 16, 1886)

The biblical site of the Pool of Siloam will be fully open to the
public for the first time in 2,000 years following excavation,
according to a recent announcement from the Israel Antiquities
Authority (IAA), the Israel National Parks Authority (INPA) and
the City of David Foundation (CDF).

The Pool of Siloam is recorded in the Bible in 2 Kings 20:20 after
King Hezekiah made the pool to bring water to Jerusalem and
again in John 9:1-11 when Jesus healed a blind man with mud,
according to the Biblical passage. The IAA announced the
excavation on its Facebook page last week.

Jesus Heals the Blind Man at Pool of Siloam.