March 25: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

March 25, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle History

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ON THIS DAY IN 1926, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Business associates of George O. Noville tendered him a testimonial dinner last night at the Crescent Club. Mr. Noville, who is a member of the automotive engineering staff of the Vacuum Oil Company, is to accompany the Arctic expedition headed by Lt. Commander Richard E. Byrd as fuel and lubrication engineer. According to present plans, Mr. Noville will accompany Commander Byrd and Floyd Bennett in the three-motored Fokker metal monoplane in which the final flight to the pole is made.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1928, the Eagle reported, “‘Wings,’ Paramount’s epic of the air, begins its final week at Teller’s Shubert Theater with this afternoon’s matinee. A production which has won approval wherever it has been shown, it has a fine cast of players which includes Clara Bow, Richard Arlen, Charles Rogers, Gary Cooper, Jobyna Ralston and Henry B. Walthall. During the last week at Teller’s, performances will be given twice daily. Its presentation here is similar in every respect to that which is now in its ninth month at the Criterion Theater in Manhattan.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1934, the Eagle reported, “Funds have been allotted by the Government for the improvement of the Devil’s Tower National Monument in Wyoming. This unique formation of rock has drawn tourists by the hundreds each year to this picturesque spot near Sundance. The tower rises about 1,250 feet high on a hill colorful because of the red beds and buff-colored sandstone and its forest of pines. The top of the tower is 790 feet above the top of this hill. It is often referred to as the eighth wonder of the world.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1941, the Eagle reported, “The 120th anniversary of Greece’s independence from Turkey was observed today with ceremonies at City Hall and Borough Hall inaugurating the ‘Help Greece’ drive of the Greek War Relief Association for $10,000,000. At City Hall, Council President Newbold Morris, as Manhattan’s first contributor in the street solicitation campaign, had its official button pinned on his lapel by a young girl costumed to represent Greece, accompanied by two young women in costumes symbolic of the United States and Great Britain. Drawing upon the memory of his studies in Yale, 20 years ago, Mr. Morris recited Byron’s ‘Maid of Athens’ from the steps of City Hall. Attending the ceremonies, which were witnessed by several hundred persons, were Nicholas Lely, Greek consul-general; Spyros P. Skouras, national president of the association, and S. Gregory Taylor, director. Mr. Morris also welcomed Nicholas Venizelos, ten-year-old refugee who is a grandson of Greece’s World War Premier. As Brooklyn’s first official contributor, Borough President [John] Cashmore, at Borough Hall, received his button from Helen Scourby, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Scourby of E. 19th St., and Aphrodite Maravelas, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Carantos Maravelas of Lincoln Road, wearing the costumes of the Evzones, the Greek skirted soldiers, and Mrs. Nicholas Psaki, secretary of the women’s auxiliary of the relief association in New York.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1942, the Eagle reported, “Ten bulls got loose in Williamsburg today and, as if they were in ten china shops, broke down walls, caused people to run helter-skelter and generally disturbed the peace. Twenty policemen with lassoes captured them. The animals were being transported in a truck of Max Bell & Sons, 287 McKibbin St., to the slaughterhouse of the C. Lehman Packing Company, 321 Johnson Ave. On S. 9th St., between Roebling and Havemeyer Sts., something broke, the tailboard of the truck fell and the bulls jumped. Scattering, they galloped off in several directions but chiefly toward Pete McGuinness’ ‘Garden Spot of the Universe,’ Greenpoint. But they didn’t get near enough to find out whether the garden spot had good grazing. It took police a little over an hour to clear the streets.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1948, the Eagle reported, “Political activities of [Henry] Wallace-for-President forces in a Brooklyn district were under investigation by District Attorney McDonald today, with a possible grand jury probe hinging on results brought to light in the preliminary inquiry. A ruling in the Supreme Court, holding that fraud had been perpetrated on voters in connection with the circulation of petitions for Brooklyn’s coming primary elections, was having the effect of spurring the prosecutor’s official activities. District Attorney McDonald confirmed to the Brooklyn Eagle that for ten days his office had been looking into the situation. ‘We’re still working on it,’ Mr. McDonald said. Evidence may be presented to the grand jury, he added, if the findings call for such a move. The prosecutor’s inquiry is concentrated on petitions which sought to enter leadership and so-called county committee candidates in the Democratic party’s primary in the 24th A.D., an American Labor party stronghold, where independent Democrats for Wallace have been organized.”

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ON THIS DAY IN 1954, the Eagle reported, “Council President Abe Stark today recommended an immediate conference between leaders in the television industry and interested city agencies to consider the construction of a ‘Television City’ before the industry is lost to California just as the movies skipped town for Hollywood in the 1920s. Among the possible locations for the ‘TV City’ would be the old Vitagraph Studio at 1268 E. 14th St. in Flatbush, or the old World’s Fair grounds in Flushing, said a spokesman for Mr. Stark.”

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Sarah Jessica Parker
Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include film critic Gene Shalit, who was born in 1926; Apollo 13 astronaut Jim Lovell, who was born in 1928; journalist and activist Gloria Steinem, who was born in 1934; Domino’s Pizza founder Tom Monaghan, who was born in 1937; Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Elton John, who was born in 1947; “Die Hard” star Bonnie Bedelia, who was born in 1948; former N.Y. Mets and Yankees outfielder Lee Mazzilli, who was born in Brooklyn in 1955; “Desperate Housewives” star Marcia Cross, who was born in 1962; basketball coach Avery Johnson, who was born in 1965; “Sex and the City” star Sarah Jessica Parker, who was born in 1965; Baseball Hall of Famer Tom Glavine, who was born in 1966; “Saved by the Bell” star Lark Voorhies, who was born in 1974; race car driver Danica Patrick, who was born in 1982; and comedian and former Cobble Hill resident Jenny Slate, who was born in 1982.