Cleveland Strip Clubs: On This Day in History: July 16 Brooklyn’s Barbara Stanwyck is Born
On This Day in History: July 16Brooklynâs Barbara Stanwyck is Bornby Brooklyn Eagle (edit@brooklyneagle.net), published online 07-16-2010
Superstar Barbara Stanwyck, growing up in a Brooklyn slum, had to be tough and capitalized on it â she made it work for her in a variety of characterizations that have enriched great movies and enhanced ordinary ones.
Her roles have included a con artist, jewel thief, reporter, stripper, moll, pioneer, society lady, killer, taxi dancer, eyewitness, rancher, dizzy debutante, nurse, evangelist, concert pianist, gambler, imposter, wife, mother, daughter, the other woman, white squaw, lesbian madam, and matriarch.
She was born Ruby Stevens on the morning of July 16, 1907 at 246 Classon Ave. (near present Pratt Institute) in Brooklyn, to Byron and Catherine McGee Stevens. She was of Scotch-Irish descent.
Her father was a tall, gaunt laborer who was then unemployed. Her mother had been in ill health for months. There were three older sisters, Maude, Mabel and Mildred and an older brother Malcolm.
Classon Avenue was near the Borden Milk plant. Down the street were the railroad tracks and the waterfront. It was a drab neighborhood in 1907 and a tough one.