TODAY IN HISTORY: JUNE 23

June 23 1902 Mercedes was registered as a brand name
On this day in 1902, German automaker Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) first registered “Mercedes” as a brand name.
Mechanical engineer Gottlieb Daimler sold his first luxury gasoline-powered automobile to the sultan of Morocco in 1899; a year later, he formed DMG in his hometown [or whatever] of Cannstatt, Germany. Emil Jellinek, a prominent Austrian diplomat and businessman who was extremely enthusiastic about the development of the automobile, ordered a car from Daimler in 1897. The carmaker delivered a six-horsepower vehicle with a two-cylinder engine, but it was too slow for Jellinek; to replace it, he ordered two of a faster model–the four-cylinder Daimler Phoenix. Soon, Jellinek began to sell Daimler cars to high society customers and to drive them in racing events, including Nice Week on the French Riviera, in 1899. He entered these races using the pseudonym “Mercedes,” the name of his elder daughter.

In April 1900, Jellinek signed an agreement with DMG to distribute and sell a new line of four-cylinder vehicles. He suggested they call the car Mercedes, feeling that the non-German name might sell better in France. On December 22, 1900, DMG delivered the first Mercedes to Jellinek. Designed by Wilhelm Maybach, chief engineer for DMG, the 35-horsepower vehicle featured a pressed-steel chassis (or frame), honeycomb radiator, mechanical intake valves and an improved gearbox; it could achieve a speed of 53 mph. For this combination of attributes, the 1901 Mercedes is considered to have been the first truly modern automobile.

At Nice Week in March 1901, Mercedes race cars nearly swept the field, and orders began pouring into DMG’s Cannstatt factory. “Mercedes” was registered as a brand name on June 22, 1902, and legally protected the following September 26. In June 1903, Emil Jellinek obtained permission to take the name Jellinek-Mercedes, observing that it was “probably the first time that a father has borne the name of his daughter.”

The famous Mercedes symbol, a three-point star, was registered as a trademark in 1909 and used on all Mercedes vehicles from 1910 onward. It had its origins in a story that Paul and Adolf Daimler, sons of Gottlieb Daimler and senior executives at DMG, remembered about their father, who died in 1900. On a postcard with a picture of Cologne and Deutz, where he was working at the time in the Deutz engine factory, the elder Daimler had drawn a star over the house where he was living. In the card’s message, he told his wife the star represented the prosperity that would shine on them in the future, when he would have his own factory.

June 23 1941 June World War II: North Africa

Tobruk was bombed by the German and Italian air forces.

June 23 1956

General Nasser (Khalid Gamal`Abd an-Nasir) was officially elected president of Egypt - although he had been the effective leader of Egypt since 14 Nov 1954 in the role of Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council.

June 23 1960

In preparation for Zaire's independence from Belgium on 30 June (formally Belgisch Congo and Congo Free State) Patrice Lumumba became the country's first prime minister.

June 23 1976

Angola's application to become a member of the United Nations Security Council was vetoed by the US.

June 23 1989: Batman released

On this day in 1989, Tim Burton’s noir spin on the well-known story of the DC Comics hero Batman was released in theaters.

Michael Keaton starred in the film as the multimillionaire Bruce Wayne, who had transformed himself into the crime-fighting Batman after witnessing his parents’ brutal murder as a child. As the film’s action began, mob henchman Jack Napier (Jack Nicholson) is gruesomely disfigured after Batman inadvertently dropped him in a vat of acid during a stand-off in a chemical factory. After killing his boss (Jack Palance), Napier–now known as the Joker–goes on the loose in Gotham City, wreaking havoc and trying to turn its people against the caped crusader. When Batman’s affection for a beautiful newspaper reporter, Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger), is revealed, the Joker uses her to draw his rival out into the open, with dramatic results.

Controversy had surrounded the casting of Keaton (best known for comedies like 1983’s Mr. Mom) as Batman. An entire roster of prominent leading men–reportedly including Mel Gibson, Dennis Quaid, Harrison Ford and Kevin Costner–were considered for the role, and Burton reportedly wanted to cast an unknown actor (a la Christopher Reeve in Superman). Having worked previously with Keaton in Beetlejuice (1988), Burton liked the idea of collaborating with him again, and the producers agreed, after screening Keaton’s 1988 film Clean and Sober, that Keaton had talent as a “serious” actor as well.

In a new marketing strategy that would become a trend for movies featuring super heroes, Warner Brothers hyped Batman as a major summer “event” long before its release. The results were stunning, as the film grossed some $100 million in its first ten days of release, including $82.8 million at the domestic box office alone. Reviews for the film were mixed, though most critics praised Nicholson’s scene-stealing performance as the Joker. For his creation of the movie’s impressive Batmobile and the dark, cavernous Gotham City, Batman’s production designer, Anton Furst, won an Oscar for Best Art Direction – Set Decoration.

Burton’s second Batman film, Batman Returns (1989), also starred Keaton as the caped crusader. Most critics considered the sequel, also a box-office hit, to be a better movie than its predecessor. Warner Brothers, seeking even greater commercial success for the franchise, hired Joel Schumacher to direct the next installment, Batman Forever (1995), which starred Val Kilmer as Batman; Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey were the villains in that film, while Nicole Kidman was the love interest and Chris O’Donnell came on as Robin, Batman’s sidekick. Kilmer, like Keaton before him, left the franchise before the making of the next planned film because he felt Batman was getting less attention than his enemies; George Clooney took his place for Schumacher’s Batman & Robin (1997), which was roundly panned by critics.

A few years later, the director Christopher Nolan reoriented the series, going back to Bruce Wayne’s childhood for Batman Begins (2005), starring Christian Bale in the title role. That film earned the best reviews of all the Batman films to date, and was a huge box-office success. Nolan and Bale returned for a 2008 sequel, The Dark Knight, which featured a stunning turn by Heath Ledger (who was found dead of an accidental prescription drug overdose soon after filming was completed) as the Joker. In its opening weekend, the film raked in some $158 million, surpassing the previous record-holder, 2007’s Spider-Man 3, to score the highest-grossing opening weekend of any movie in history.

Source: history.com, africanhistory.about.com