MARY BRASWELL: Looking Back at first things on the first

On this first day of October and in this first Albany Herald weekend edition, here is a look at other “firsts” in history.

— Scott Paper Company introduced the first paper towels in 1907.

— Motel Inn was the world’s first motel. Built in 1925, architect Arthur Heineman coined the term “motel,” meaning motor inn. He could not, however, afford the trademark registration fee, so competitors were able to use the word motel. Originally, one night’s stay cost $1.25. The motel, located in San Luis Obispo, Calif., is still in operation today.

— Edward H. Johnson, vice president of Thomas Edison’s electric company, created the first electric Christmas lights and displayed them on his personal tree in December 1882.

— John David Sweeney Jr. held America’s first Social Security card. He died at age 61 and never collected any benefits.

— The first music video aired on MTV in August 1981. It was “Video Killed the Radio Star” by the Buggles.

— Mary Surratt was the first woman executed by the U.S. government. Her hanging took place in 1865 after she was found guilty of conspiracy in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

QUIK QUIZ

Dolly Madison, wife of President James Madison, was the first to serve which of the following at the White House?

a) ice cream

b) chitterlings

c) iced tea

d) filet mignon

—A partial shot of a toilet was first seen on television in a 1957 episode of “Leave it to Beaver.” Wally and Beaver ordered an alligator from the back of a comic book and decided to keep it in the toilet tank. The network was opposed to showing a toilet, as it was considered “offensive imagery,” but a compromise was reached to show the tank but not the bowl. The first flushing toilet in a movie was in “Psycho” (1960).

— Five hundred businessmen in Chicago pooled resources for the purchase of the city’s first motorized ambulance. The year was 1899 and the vehicle’s top speed was 16 mph.

— The first three American films released on VHS were “The Sound of Music,” “Patton” and “M*A*S*H.”

— Daniel Freeman was the first person to stake a claim under the Homestead Act in 1863. Freeman’s new home included 160 acres near Beatrice, Neb.

— On Dec. 21, 1913, the first Word-cross puzzle appeared in the Christmas edition of the New York World, a major newspaper at that time. Arthur Wayne had the job of creating puzzles for the newspaper and unknowingly started the worldwide crossword puzzle craze that survives today.

— While Neil Armstrong was the first man to set foot on the moon, his space partner also accomplished a first during the memorable landing in 1969. An elder in the Presbyterian Church, Buzz Aldrin became the first man to take communion while on the moon. The small service held with Armstrong was hushed up by NASA.

— Outlaw John Dillinger was the first person to hold the title of “public enemy No. 1.” In the spring of 1934, Dillinger was shot down in the streets of Chicago by FBI agents.

— In 1857, John Gayetty marketed the first commercially manufactured toilet paper in the U.S.

— “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” was Walt Disney’s first animated feature film. While the list continues to grow, Snow White is considered the first Disney Princess.

— The first U.S patent for a washing machine was issued to Nathaniel Briggs in 1797. It was better known as a scrub board or wash board.

— It was 1917 when the Chattanooga Bakery in Tennessee introduced the first MoonPie. The two chocolate covered graham crackers with a marshmallow center were developed to sell to miners as a snack.

— The first actor to play Batman was not Adam West. Lewis Wilson played the Caped Crusader in a 15-chapter serial for Columbia Pictures in 1943.

— Christmas Seals were first sold in 1907, with proceeds benefiting the fight against tuberculosis.

— Bengal, India, shipped the first elephant to the U.S. On display in New York City, its diet was described as “thirty pounds of rice besides hay and straw, all kinds of wine and spirituous liquors and every kind of vegetable.”

— Eddy Arnold was featured on the first 7-inch, 45 rpm vinyl record. The Tennessee Plowboy and his Guitar performed “Texarkana Baby” and “Bouquet of Roses.”

— The first edition of Noah Webster’s dictionary was copyrighted in 1828.

— Originally called the “Health Kup,” individual drinking cups were introduced in 1912. They were renamed “Dixie Cups” in 1919, a name that came from a line of dolls made by the Dixie Doll Company.

— In 1823, the first grapefruit trees were planted in Florida around the Tampa Bay area by Frenchman Count Odette Phillipe. Today, Florida produces more grapefruit than the rest of the world combined.

— The first G-rated film to be named Best Picture was “Oliver!” in 1969. The next year, “Midnight Cowboy” became the first (and only) X-rated film to take the honor.

— The State Reform School for Boys at Westborough, Mass., opened in 1848. Children who refused to attend public schools were sent. This was the first publicly funded reform school, combining education and juvenile justice systems.

— Frank Woolworth opened the first Five-and-Dime store, located in Utica, N.Y., in 1879.

— The first female to be appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court was Sandra Day O’Connor in 1981.

— “Please Please Me” was the first single released by the Beatles in the U.S. (February 1963).

— In 1973, a General Motors research team invented the first car safety air bags.

QUIK QUIZ ANSWER: a) ice cream (1810)

Each week Albany Herald researcher Mary Braswell looks for interesting events, places and people from the past. You can contact her at (229) 888-9371 or [email protected]. Follow @ABH_MBraswell on Twitter