August 25: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

August 25, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1928, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reprinted the following story from the Columbia Dispatch: “The stork is hovering over Hollywood, and the entire motion picture industry is in a state of ill-suppressed excitement. The birth of a new brain-child, already named the ‘talking movie,’ is momentarily expected, and the coming event has cast its shadow before. Already we have seen this new wonder on the screen, but it is only the shadow of the real thing to come. Detractors of the idea have prepared their defense, and the public soon will have a brand new plaything. Just what form this new entertainment is to take remains to be seen. Great changes in technique, both acting and production, will be necessary. Kings and queens of the silent drama are due for a fall, observers predict, because of deficiencies in voice and enunciation. Screen actors will have to act, rather than pose, in the future. Intelligent reading of lines and pleasing voice tones will be of greater value than handsome faces and intriguing figures. For all of which, praises be! Writing for the screen will now take on a new importance. Scenarios must have clever lines to accompany the action. Hollywood will have need of playwrights, instead of synopsis and continuity writers. The asinine subtitle will be eliminated . All in all, the talking movie promises to be far superior, in some ways, to either the stage or the silent drama, for it combines the best features of each — the voices of the actors and fine writing of the playwrights of the one and the swift action and great scenic scope of the other.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1952, the Eagle reported, “The city may either have to levy new taxes or raise the transit fares five cents, it was revealed yesterday, as plans were laid for a series of top-level meetings on city finances between Mayor [Vincent] Impellitteri and Lt. Gov. Frank C. Moore. The fourth of a series of preliminary conferences on the city’s tangled fiscal affairs will be held Thursday in the offices of budget director Abraham D. Beame to insure that the Mayor and Moore will have ‘a complete picture.’ City and State fiscal experts have been working on a long-range financial program for the city since last May. They have estimated that the 1953-54 capital budget will outstrip the current one by $100,000,000 to $150,000,000. This year the city had an all-time record budget of $1,469,265,101 and, admittedly, has had to resort to stop-gap taxes to keep the municipal government in operation.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1952, the Eagle reported, “LONDON (U.P.) — Queen Mother Elizabeth has bought a 400-year-old windswept, isolated castle in the Scottish highlands — complete with ghost, a Buckingham Palace spokesman confirmed today. The queen mother visited Barrogill Castle, only eight miles from John O’Groats, the northernmost point of the British mainland, five times last week. Winds sweep the area year round. There is no electricity, no heating system except peat fireplaces and no telephone. Part of the roof was blown off last year and it will cost $56,000 to repair the castle. The farmers who live in huts in the area claim that the ghost of a woman who starved to death in the castle dungeons still walks the drafty halls.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “DENVER (U.P.) — President Eisenhower took on a busy work schedule today and entertained several visitors before going to the golf course for an afternoon of relaxation. The President had some 300 Congressional bills passed by the 83rd Congress awaiting his attention at his Summer White House office at Lowry Air Force Base. The first caller was Mrs. T.A. Stockton Jr., Republican National committeewoman for Colorado; the second, Mrs. Betty Harrington, Hawaii’s new Congressional delegate, who met the President to discuss plans for Hawaiian statehood legislation for 1955.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1961, the Bay Ridge Home Reporter said, “A recent throwaway from Packer’s Grocery store carried the following announcement: ‘The community’s prompt response to our recent public appeal for cooperation in stopping shopping cart losses has been most gratifying. Many carts have been returned to service and more are coming back daily. Yes, thanks to the great majority of supermarket shoppers who now realize the serious implications of this problem, we are well on our way to curbing shopping cart losses and abuses in this area. Hundreds of citizens have telephoned and written to pledge their cooperation. Many have asked that we continue this campaign. They recognize that the expense of replacing and repairing lost, strayed, or damaged carts represents a potential increase in their food bill. They are also aware of the accident and safety hazards arising from carts abandoned on the city’s streets and driveways. As a public service, we shall continue to call attention to this problem.’ This problem of the vanishing shopping carts is not only one of Packer’s. It is a problem facing all chain grocery stores using such carts. For some obscure reason some shoppers seem to feel that once they have their hands on the cart, it is theirs for keeps. Rather like the ashtrays and towels carried off in abundance by people who stay in hotels, only in this case, it is more serious. The carts are a great deal more expensive.”

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Rachel Bilson
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include “Saturday Night Fever” director John Badham, who was born in 1939; Baseball Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers, who was born in 1946; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Gene Simmons (Kiss), who was born in 1949; Judas Priest singer Rob Halford, who was born in 1951; Asia and Yes keyboardist Geoff Downes, who was born in 1952; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Elvis Costello, who was born in 1954; “Beetlejuice” director Tim Burton, who was born in 1958; “L.A. Law” star Blair Underwood, who was born in 1964; TV personality Rachael Ray, who was born in 1968; seven-time NBA champion Robert Horry, who was born in 1970; model and fashion designer Claudia Schiffer, who was born in 1970; “Game Shakers” star Kel Mitchell, who was born in 1978; “The O.C.” star Rachel Bilson, who was born in 1981; “Gossip Girl” star Blake Lively, who was born in 1987; former N.Y. Yankees pitcher Adam Warren, who was born in 1987; and “Black Lightning” star China Anne McClain, who was born in 1998.

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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.

Quotable:

“I would urge all bands that say they only care about credibility and don’t care about money to send Gene Simmons every dollar that they don’t want. I’d be happy to take it off them.”

— Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Gene Simmons, who was born on this day in 1949