100 Years Ago: 1918

Some new cases of influenza have appeared in these cities, but according to reports by physicians, the situation has changed but little since Saturday. One Lewiston doctor stated to the Sun last night that the disease seemed to be on the increase here and it was his opinion that the local theatres should be closed and other measures taken to safeguard the people. Continuing this the physician said: “I have several cases of influenza or grippe and some of them are quite severe. So far the disease seems to appear in a milder form here than in Massachusetts, but a person may take the disease in severe form from a patient suffering from a mild attack. If we have been more fortunate than some of the other places. we should not be laxer in our efforts to prevent the spread of the disease. I believe that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. and that now is the time for action on the part of the municipal officers, if they would prevent a serious epidemic in this city. This is a serious matter and I don’t believe there is any such thing as being too cautious. Therefore I would say, close the local theatres at once and prohibit all public gatherings.”

50 Years Ago: 1968

Two hundred and fifty Washington dignitaries turned out in cool sunny weather Monday for a ceremony marking the completion of steel work on the $50 million John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Among them was Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D., Mass., who was sworn in as a trustee of the center to replace his slain brother, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. A crane hoisted steel masks of comedy and tragedy, symbols of the theater to a girder atop the 109-foot-high framework. The U.S Navy Band played and Major Walter E. Washington said the center would serve young and old, rich and poor, “the kind of democracy John Fitzgerald Kennedy wanted.” The center, which is to open in 1970, will include an opera house, concert hall, two theaters and an exhibition gallery.

25 Years Ago: 1993

Prince Charles plans both a book and TV documentary in which he’ll spill his guts about Princess Diana, Camilla Parker-Bowles, those tapes, and his performance as a father, London’s Sun newspaper reported Monday. Buckingham Palace had no immediate response, but the Sun newspaper quoted a royal source as saying that Queen Elizabeth has given her permission for the project. “They believe it is time to be completely open about everything that has happened,” noted the source. “They accept it as almost impossible to separate his work and his life.” Broadcaster David Dimbleby, who’s interviewed Charles extensively, reportedly will assist on the project, but he refused to discuss it, noting: “I am treating it as any other enterprise of this kind.” Meanwhile, there are hopeful rumblings among match-lovers at reports that Prince Edward — known in the Brit press as “Eddie the Unready” —has hit it off with Astrid Ullen de Schooten Whettnal, long-named cousin of Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf. They’re both 29. But don’t hold thy breath.

The material used in Looking Back is reproduced exactly as it originally appeared, although misspelling and errors may be corrected.