Happy Birthday, New York!!

Today is the anniversary of New York's legislature voted to approve the US Constitution, joining the  United States of America.

New York is one of the most popular (?) and well-known states. Ask any American to name a handful of states and inevitably they will name New York. And foreigners? My guess is it and California and Texas are the three most-well known states.

Lots of people to introduce this time, so let's get to it!

Date of Admittance:

July 26, 1788 

Parentage: New York was named after the Duke of York (King James II) who helped captured the territory in 1644. And of course, it was then also stolen from the Native Americans for some beads and wompoms. According to history and that old song, "Even old New York was once Nw Asterdam" because originally there was a large Dutch immigrant presence. 

Place in the Family

Number 11
Between Virginia (6-25-1788)

and North Carolina (11-21-1789)

Motto

Excelsior!
(Ever upward)
That's the American Dream
right there, as well as
the slogan of the Marvel Universe

Nick-Name

"The Empire State"
It's never had a self-comfidence problem, haha

State Flag

A blue banner with the state seal in the center,
Lady Liberty on the left and Lady Justice on the right.
Hudson River in the state crest, with the motto
on the bottom.

First City You Probably Think of

When You Think "New York"

uhh...New York? ;-)  

Actual State Capital: Albany

State Size (Area) is 27th of 50.

Population is closer to 3rd of 50.

(per 2000 Census figures)

New York Sports:

Can YOU name them all?
NFL 






MLB

 

 NBA

NHL

Anybody From New York
Ever Grow Up To Be President?

Yes!
New York claims more than four, but I'm going
only with the guys who were actually born there

Can you name them all?






(8) Martin Van Buren
(13) Millard Fillmore
(25)Theodore Roosevelt
(32) Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Good vs Evil
(Entertainment Version)

Christopher Reeve
Actor, Director, Hero

Woody Allen
Director, Actor, Pedophile

Broadway Stars

Jerome Kern

"Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" etc

Ethel Merman

"Annie Oakley" etc

Eugene O'Neill

Anna Christie, The Iceman Cometh, etc

Arthur Miller

The Crucible, etc

Film Stars From New York
(Golden Age Version)
The Marx Brothers
Cocoanuts, Duck Soup, etc

Bogie & Bacall 

Academy Award Winning Actor,
Beloved Actress

Lena Horne

Actress, Singer

Bancroft & Brooks
Academy Award Winning Actress,
Comedian, Actor, Writer, Director, Producer

Kirk Douglas
Actor

Rod Steiger

Academy Award Winning Actor

TV Celebrities From New York

(Golden Age Version)

Lucille Ball

actress, comedienne, icon

Jackie Gleason

actor, band-leader, icon



Shirley Booth
Academy Award-winning actress
 

Frances Bavier

"Aunt Bea"

 

Michael Landon

"Bonanza," "Little House" etc

Barbara Bel Geddes

"Dallas"

Musical New Yorkers

Sammy Davis, Jr

"The Candyman"  etc

Neil Diamond

"Sweet Caroline" etc

 

Carole King

"Tapestry"

 

Billy Joel

"The Piano Man"

Rick James

"Super Freak"

Cyndi Lauper

"She's So Unusual"

Jennifer Lopez
"J-LO"  

The Notorious B.I.G.
"Mo' Money Mo' Problems" etc

Jay-Z
"Empire State of Mind" etc

Lady Gaga
"Born This Way" etc

Sporty New Yorkers

Lou Gehrig

Baseball Hall of Fame player

Sandy Koufax

Baseball Hall of Fame player

Julius Erving

Basketball Hall of Fame player

Kareem Abdul Jabbar

Basketball Hall of Fame player

 Carl Yastrzemski

Baseball Hall of Fame player

New York Businessmen

William Fargo

founder of Wells-Fargo

George Eastman

founder of Eastman-Kodak

John D Rockefeller

founder of Standard Oil

Donald Trump

Trump Unlimited

New York Literary Figures

Walt Whitman
Leaves of Grass



Herman Melville
Billy Budd, The Whale, etc



Washington Irving
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Comic Professionals From New York

Stan Lee

The Father of the Marvel Universe

Jack Kirby
The Co-Creator of the Marvel Universe


Will Eisner
Classic Golden & Silver Age Creator of
"The Spirit"  



Neal Adams
Classic Bronze Age Artist

 
George Perez
Classic Modern Age Artist

Scott Adams

Dilbert 

Tom Toles

Syndicated Editorial Cartoonist

Film Stars From New York
(Modern Age Version)

Jane Fonda

Academy Award Winning Actress

Robert DeNiro

Academy Award Winning Actor

Tom Cruise

Academy Award nominated Actor

Oliver Stone

Academy Award Winning Director

Adrien Brody

Academy Award Winning Actor

Anne Hathaway

Academy Award nominated Actress

 
TV Celebrities From New York

(Modern Age Version)

Jay Leno

comedian, host of The Tonight Show

Jerry Seinfeld

comedian, actor

Tim Russert

long-time host of "Meet The Press"

Rosie O'Donnell

actress & talk show host

Fran Drescher 

actress, "The Nanny"

Matt Lauer
host, NBC's "Today Show"

Roy Romano
"Everybody Loves Raymond"

Supreme Court Justices

From New York

believe it or not, three of the nine
current Justices are from New York!!

John Roberts

Chief Justice, US Supreme Court
(2005-)

Ruth Bader Ginsberg

Associate Justice, US Supreme Court
(1993-)

Sonia Sotomayor

Associate Justice, US Supreme Court
(2009-)



Fictional New Yorkers

Too too many to mention....
but here are some of my favorites!

You Can't Take It With You


The Bowery Boys


West Side Story Gangs


Peter Parker and
the Entire Marvel Universe!


The Bunker Family


Barney Miller's Precinct

The Friends Gang 

The Seinfeld Gang

Most Famous New Yorker

The Statue of Liberty

She's actually from France. ;-)  

A Song For You....

"New York, New York"

Written by Fred Ebb & John Kander
(introduced in the 1977 Martin Scorcese movie
"New York New York" starring Robert DeNiro
and Liza Minnelli....I always thought it was
a standard....and Frank Sinatra made it his own!)

P.S. Frank is from New Jersey; and he sings the other song called

"NY, NY" from his musical comedy ON THE TOWN,

at the beginning of this version!